The Generic Structure Potential of Friday Sermons in Jember, Indonesia

Abstract

The research studies Friday sermons from the linguistic perspective, especially from the generic structures, not from the religious (Islamic) point of view. The structures of Friday sermons in Jember may vary from one text to another. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the reason why the generic structures of Friday sermons in Jember can vary, to present the actual structures of each Friday sermon, and to reconstruct the generic structure potential (GSP) to accommodate the various elements, sequences, and iterations occurring in Friday sermons in Jember. The research results show that (1) the variations of the actual structures of Friday sermons in Jember are determined by the optional elements, the optional element orders, and the iterations of the elements, but variation does not affect the acceptance of the sermon practices religiously, and (2) those variants of the actual structures of Friday sermons still belong to the same contextual configuration, consequently a GSP can be generated to accommodate the actual structures of different Friday sermons in many different mosques in Jember. The paper concludes that the GSP model could be applied to other Friday sermons not only in Jember but also in any other different cities.