A Study of the Evolution and Instances of Local Language in Contemporary Poetry

The entrance of local elements into language is among the transformations of theoretical foundations of poetry in the contemporary literature which has led to the creation of local literature. Considering the sheer number of languages, dialects and accents in Iran, local literature did not gain acceptance in the classic Iranian literature and was not taken seriously as a stylistic feature of literary eras. However, after the Constitutional Revolution in Iran, conventions of classic poetry were swept away and a transformation occurred in the semantic and formal structures of the language. In this transformation, non-poetic and linguistic change was approved and consequently paved the way for local language in poetry. Local language was reinstated in the contemporary poetry by the emergence of Nima Yooshij. He frequently used local terms in the standard language and also invited others to do the same; to this end, elements of local language independently entered the standard language through dialectical and semantic deviation, and have continued to do so. This paper studies the evolution of local language in the period from the Constitutional Revolution to the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The objective of this research is to study the status of local literature and language in the contemporary poetry. Samples were chosen from the poems of well-known nativist poets. Document analysis is used as the method of the present research and its content is written in a descriptive-analytical manner. By studying the evolution of local literature, we aim to answer the following questions:When did local language emerge in poetry and how was it developed and reinstated?
What role did Nima Yooshij play in reinstating local language?
Who are the nativist poets in the contemporary poetry?
How is local language used in the contemporary poetry?
In addition to linguistic personification, how has the presence of local language transformed the meaning? Findings: Our analysis indicates that the Constitutional Revolution’s poetry, owing to its linguistic diversion from classic poetry is an entry point of local language into poetry. In the following periods, poets like Nima grew and became a part of literary tradition. Native poets freely utilized the elements of those languages into their poetry, and this was not seen as humor, but an innovation and poetic dexterity. Following Nima, in the 1940s, the 1950s, the 1960s, and the 1970s, the fruitful presence of local language can be seen which is manifested in two ways: first as a separate language, instances of which were also present in the classic poetry, and second combining local languages with the standard langue which was not used as a style in the classic poetry, but in the contemporary poetry is regarded as lexical deviation. In terms of the local languages used, dialects such as Mazandarani, Gilaki, Southern dialect, Turkish and also Neishabouri dialect can be seen in contemporary poems and nearly fifteen well-known poets have incorporated local language into their poems, the most prominent of whom are Nima Yooshij and Manouchehr Atashi. With the emergence of Nima and his ability to combine native language with the standard language, local language was able to move from the margins of the literature into it and, as a linguistic element, in addition to personification exaggeration, create a kind of national unity in terms of language. Nima composed poems in his native language. Before him, also, several poets such as Malekol Shoara-Bahar had composed poems in their native languages; however, his important contribution, which ultimately transformed the language, was that he entered the native terms of his region into his poetry as an element of deviation, such that the poem is not deprived of its poetic form; he also encouraged other poets to use various terms in their poems. He says that exploring the vocabulary of villagers, names of various things (e.g., trees, herbs, animals, etc.) each is a boon and there is no need to be afraid of utilizing them. Do not assume that the incontrovertible rules of language are those of the standard language of the capital, the force of usage has created these rules (Yooshij, 1989). The entrance of the elements of local language into the standard languages and the fusion of native terms and their linguistics elements did not cause poems to deviate from the linguistic logic, but this deviation led to the linguistic development of poets. In the poems of these poets, we encounter a language system where native terms are not discordant with other words, but take readers’ imagination beyond the mentality of the poet, laying bare his linguistic personification in the language system.
After Nima, other poets followed suit and each with respect to their native region, utilized their native language in their poetry. Among the prominent poets who paid a lot of attention to local language Ashraf-Al-Din Gilani known as Nasim-e-Shomal, Iraj Mirza, Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar, Nima Yooshij, Manouchehr Atashi, Sohrab Sepehri, Hossein Monzavi, Mohammad Ali Bahmani, Hushang Ebtehaj, Mohammad-Reza Shafiei Kadkani,and Khosrow Golsorkhi can be named. Similarly, in the poems of Tehrani poets such as Forough Farrokhzad, Ahmad Shamlou, and Simin Behbahani and others who did not lean toward local language, Tehrani language and dialect is highlighted. Local languages, considering the living regions of poets studied in this research and their tendencies include Tehran, South of Iran, Khorasan, Mazandaran and Gilan, Hormozgan, Kashan, and Azerbaijan. By reinstating local langue as such, contemporary poetry took up a regional appearance which in addition to linguistic personification, led to increased cultural interaction among poets. Today, the elements of native literature, in addition to being an independent entity, take an active part in Persian poetry. Through an independent language system and elements of local language, instances of local language in the poems of poets are combined with the Persian language as a dialectical deviation. In an independent language system, the entirety of the poem is composed with a local dialect and accent, however, elements of the local language are combined with the standard language in a way that indicates a deviation. The terms are used as collocations and substitutes with coordination. In terms of substitution, they are wisely chosen to create the highest level of semantic and verbal symmetry once combined with other elements of the poem in terms of collocation. In collocation processes in a language systems, elements involved in the story and event are placed together such that it is not possible to eliminate one and substitute another and it is necessary that all the elements of language are used together (Shairi, 2012).