Pragmatic Analysis of Qasidas by Alaudin Sabit

Expressions of Gratitude

Abstract

This paper focuseson the two qasidas written in Ottoman Turkish by Bosnalı Alaeddin Sabit, a 17thcentury-poet from Užice in Ottoman Bosnia. A pragma­tic analysis of these qasidas reveals that the poems refer to an extralinguistic reality, i.e. the relationship between the poet and his patron, the grand vizier. Since these qasidas have only two chapters dedicated to laudation (medhiye) and prayer (dua), this distinguishes them from the classical Ottoman qasida form. Couplets in Sabit’s qasidas include indirect expressions of gratitude to his benefactor and thus bring to light this relation of patronage. Historical pragmatics was used as the theoretical framework for this paper since it deals with texts from the past and approaches them through speech act theory.