MEANING OF THE SOUND: MAGIC AND SUFI MYSTICISM IN THE PHONIC STRUCTURE OF THE MALAY CHARM AND CHANT

The poetics of oral Malay charms (incantations) is based on lexical repetitions and parallelisms intended to enhance their magic power. These poetical devices, in their turn, bring forth phonic repetitions of different kinds (alliterations, assonances, etc.), which make possible an increase in information conveyed by the incantation without diminishing its magical efficacy. One of the forms of such repetitions is the anagram, i.e. a device based on the division of the word-theme, for instance the name of the spirit invoked, into individual sounds or syllables and their reiteration in other words of the text. The article discusses the structure and meaning of anagrammatic sound organisation, its origin from the magic notion of the equivalency between the whole and its part, as well as the use of poetical devices of oral literature, and of the anagram in particular, in written Sufi works (Hikayat Si Burung Pingai, verses by Abd al-Jamal and Syair Perahu) which resort to the archaic poetics of the charm and chant, although reconsidering them from the new perspective.