surveying the letter of mas'ud i of ghazni to arsalan khan in tārīkh-i bayhaqī using fairclough's critical discourse analysis

critical discourse analysis has proved to be of great help in analyzing the form and meaning of literary works. certain scholars such as norman fairclough have greatly improved such studies. the present study deals with one of the political letters of mas'ud i of ghazni to arsalan khan written by his secretary abul-fazl bayhaqi. the complete version of the letter has been recorded in bayhaqi’s history. using fairclough's method, the article tries to study power relations. in this letter, bayhaqi carefully employs diction, grammatical structure (e.g. active and passive voices), and modality to show the king’s power even after his dandanghan failure.