Investigating the Manifestations of the Science of Semantics in the Poetry Collection of Shaukat Bukhari

Abstract

The science of Ma‘ānī (semantics) examines the appropriateness of speech in accordance with the context and circumstances of the speaker, the audience, the setting, the subject matter, and the literary genre. The focus of this discipline lies in the analysis of sentence types from the perspective of their secondary meanings. The present study, conducted using a descriptive-analytical method, aims to explore the manifestations of the science of semantics in the poetry collection (Dīvān) of Shaukat Bukhari. The findings of this research indicate that Shaukat Bukhari, in his efforts to enrich his speech and engage the mental faculties of his audience, skillfully and astonishingly employs various fundamental concepts of semantics such as assertive attribution (isnād-i khabarī), restriction and exclusivity (qaṣr wa ḥaṣr), performative utterances (inshāʾ), principles of separation (faṣl) and connection (waṣl), brevity (ījāz), elaboration (iṭnāb), among others. These rhetorical techniques are utilized in such a masterful way that readers not only derive immense aesthetic pleasure from reading this monumental work, but also gain profound insights through its layered secondary meanings.