An Ecolinguistic Perspective on Framing of Animals in Quranic Discourse

Abstract

Whether animals are of lower rank compared to humans or not is a debatable issue among scholars of various disciplines. However, there is no denying that they play a significant part in sustaining ecological balance on earth. The discourses in this regard play a considerable function in presenting animals in either beneficial or destructive roles. Such studies can contribute to spreading awareness regarding animals’ prominence from religious perspectives. The present study aims to examine the religious discourse concerning the ways animals are framed linguistically. For the said purpose, the Quran (the Holy book for followers of Islam) is chosen to analyze the framing technique used to portray animals concerning target words/ phrases. The identified frames are further described with reference to the ecological perspective. The content analysis technique is used to identify target words that are later used to recognize frames. The findings reveal that animals are most importantly presented in four significant frames: as beings, as benefactors, as ornaments, and as celestial signs. These frames further reflect how animals are represented in various roles, from food sources to valuable possession and from war tools to Godly signs. The beneficial story of animals’ existence as narrated in the Quran provides a comprehensive overview of their role in bio-network.

Man and Woman Identity in Dalihan Na Tolu

“…Furthermore, a study analyzing the framing of animals in quranic discourse found that animals in Qur'an are framed into beings, benefactors, ornaments, and celestial signs. These findings got after analyzing the data from the Qur'an by Stibb''s theory of ecolinguistics (Hameed, 2021).…”

Greening Gray Beirut: A Cognitive Eco-linguistic Approach to Digital Discourse تخضير بيروت الرمادية : تحليل لغوي بيئى معرفى للخطاب الإليكترونى

“…The speaker has appealed to the people to come together and take action through the use of material processes. Hamed (2020) analyzes thirteen examples of digital discourses having an ecological concern about the harms of single-use plastic from an eco-critical perspective. Her study has approached four Facebook pages that have an environmental focus directed against single-use plastic products.…”

Framing and metaphor in the discourse of Sumatran orangutans’ conservation: Ecolinguistics study

“…Some researches about framing have elaborated cognitively about how people think of their environment (Hulme et al, 2018;Zeniakin, 2022). Meanwhile some researches focus to talk about framing in ecolingustics (Ain et al, 2021;Hameed, 2021;Riaz et al, 2022). The outcomes of Riaz's show the importance of acts and events highlighted in the text.…”