A Syntactic Analysis on The English Translation of Surah Yasin Using Theory of Tree Diagrams

ABSTRACT

Syntax is a branch of linguistics that studies the rules, or “patterned relations” that govern the way words combine to form phrases and phrases combine to form sentences. Tree diagram is one of popular theory of syntactic analysis. It is very interesting if we are able to analyze sentences using theory of tree diagrams proposed by Diane Bornstein. As Moslem and student of UIN Malang, it is necessary for us to understand the syntactic patterns of holy Qur’an especially surah Yasin. This surah is called the hearth of the holy Qur’an. In linguistic perspective, this surah has some uniqueness. Most of the verses of this surah have the form of sentences that contain all kinds of sentences; simple sentence, compound sentence, complex sentence, and compound complex sentence. Positive sentences of this surah mostly consist of complex sentences. Besides, most of negative sentences of this surah consist of compound sentences that use
coordinate conjunction “nor”. In addition, interrogative sentences of this surah have the form of yes/no questions and wh-questions. So, this surah has complete analysis of all kinds of sentences.

Related to the phenomena, the research problems investigated, namely “what syntactic patterns of positive, negative, and interrogative sentences are used in the English translation of surah Yasin using theory of tree diagrams proposed by Diane Bornstein?” The objectives of this study are to describe the syntactic patterns of positive, negative, and interrogative sentences used in the English translation of surah Yasin using theory of tree diagrams. The writer limits her study on the English translation of surah Yasin translated by Thomas B. Irving. In order to get deeper analysis, she analyzes only the surface structure of positive, negative, and interrogative sentences of the surah.

This study uses descriptive qualitative method because the data are in the forms of words rather than numbers. The writer describes the syntactic patterns of positive, negative, and interrogative sentences used in the English translation of surah Yasin using theory of tree diagrams. The data source of this study is the the English translation of surah Yasin selected from Irving’s book entitled “The Qur’an The First American Version.” The steps to collect the data are finding Irving’s book, reading the English translation of surah Yasin, and selecting the positive, negative, and interrogative sentences of the surah. After collecting the data, several steps are done, as follows: First, writing down the positive, negative, and interrogative sentences of the surah. Second, analyzing the data using Bornstein’s theory of tree diagrams. Third, describing the diagrams in the form of surface structure. Fourth, finding and mentioning