An Analysis of Semantic Deviation in Rumi’s Masnawi According to Leech’s Classification

An analysis of semantic deviation in Rumi’s Masnawi Rumi, as a great teacher of ethics and mysticism, in his Masnawi, had the difficult task of presenting the abstract and complex mystic concepts, which have been new to most of his readers, in a concrete language. In addition, to do so, Rumi did his best to free the people of his time of old ways of thinking and present them with new ways of looking at things. This, however, could not be done in the everyday language. Therefore, in his poetry, to a great extent he distanced himself from the norms of the standard language and many instances of linguistic deviation can be seen in his poetry.
This article tries to analyze semantic deviation in Rumi’s Masnawi according to the classification of linguistic deviations made by Geoffrey leech. The findings of this research show that semantic deviation in Masnawi not only show Rumi’s skills in handling Farsi, they also show that in Masnawi there is a unity of form and content, that is, a fresh subject resulted in a fresh language.