Stylistic Analysis of the Early Period of Afghan Persian Journalistic Prose (1290–1308 SH/ 1911–1929 CE)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran.

2 Corresponding author, Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Guilan, Guilan, Iran.

10.22103/jll.2025.25885.3216

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to conduct a stylistic analysis of Afghan Persian journalistic prose during its early formative period (1290–1308 SH/1911–1929 CE). The study sought to answer the question of whether, in accordance with a general readership, any changes occurred in the prose of journalistic writers of this period.
Method and Research: This study employed a descriptive–analytical method and adopted a layered stylistic approach. To address the research question, five stylistic layers, including phonological, lexical, syntactic, rhetorical, and ideological, were examined in selected editorials from this period. The analysis aimed to present a more precise picture of the stylistic structure of the Afghan branch of Persian prose during this time.
Findings and Conclusions: The findings indicated that the journalistic prose of this era was influenced by classical Persian prose and bureaucratic traditions. At the phonological layer, rhythm and musicality produced through alliteration, rhymed prose, and purposeful lexical repetition enhanced the aesthetic quality of the text and were employed to convey the writers’ intended meanings. At the lexical layer, Arabicized diction and a sense of grandeur, together with political and religious codes, frequently appeared, endowing the text with a serious, formal, and governmental character. The abundance of complex and lengthy (hypotactic) sentences constituted a salient feature of the syntactic layer, aligning with the intellectual and didactic function of the editorials. The use of contrasts and semantic oppositions, as well as the employment of metaphors and similes, characterized the rhetorical layer. At the ideological layer, the co-presence of monarchism, modernism, and religious legitimacy was observed, which may signal the emergence of a discourse of religious modernism.

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References

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Journal of Prose Studies in Persian Literature
Volume 28, Issue 58
March 2026
Pages 79-99

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