Investigating the Function of the Lexical Layer in Nahj al-Fasaha Based on Layered stylistics

Layered stylistics provides a detailed analysis and interpretation of texts. Among the multiple layers of a text, the lexical layer is the most useful layer that reflects the style and consequently the intended meaning of the speaker or author. The present research has analyzed the hadiths and the sermons of the Prophet (PBUH) in Nahj al-Fasaha using descriptive, analytical and statistical method of layered stylistics and has demonstrated the beauty of the its linguistic aspects. The results show that the function of the words in the discourse and the context governing the hadiths and sermons have expressed the meanings intended by the Prophet (PBUH) so well that no other word or context can express them with the same quality. The frequency of words is abstract in total, but its percentage is different in the two mentioned categories, in hadiths 65.37 and in sermons 67.51. This ratio shows the subjectivity of the ruling style of hadiths and sermons. There are more implicit references in hadiths and explicit references in sermons, and this has made the literary aspect of the hadiths more outstanding than the sermons. Also, the high frequency of the unmarked words has made the style of these two formal and has highlighted the religious, educational and moral aspects of the content and has perfected the impact of the words.