پژوهشنامه زبان ادبی
پیاپی 3 (پاییز 1402)

Emotional action is a non-verbal action that expresses the narrator’s emotions and emotional behavior. This research examines the signs of fear in three volumes of selected stories of Bijan Najdi using a descriptive-analytical method. Its objective is to read the text to uncover the explicit and implicit meanings of “the feeling of fear” exhibited by narrative characters through the use of verbal elements in those stories. These elements range from the smallest ones to the largest ones, such as “sound, word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, and ultimately the text itself”. The signs of fear exhibited by the narrative characters in Najdi’s stories can be studied from three perspectives: narrative, language, and imagery. From the narrative perspective, the main sources of Najdi’s narrative structure are character, setting, and point of view. From the linguistic perspective, the grammatical structure of sentences, the structure of action verbs, and sounds are the expressive devices to convey the feeling of fear. From the imagery perspective, simile is one of the expressive devices used to achieve this goal. Among the various types of fear, logical and abnormal fears have the most prevalent, and they are presented differently in connection with each character. Sex, age, and social class of the characters are determining factors in the frequency of different types of fear. The research findings indicate that the story’s general atmosphere corresponds with the type of language used in the text, and linguistic mechanisms work towards inducing the intended meaning.

In Tajziyat al-Amsār wa Tazjiyat al-Aʿsār, also known as Tārikh-e Wassāf, the author Wassāf al-Hazra describes the Chinese Dār al-Molk during the conquests of Kublai Khan as the “greatest city of China.” The name of this city has been recorded differently in various manuscript and printed versions of Tārikh-e Wassāf, such as Khutrāy, Khenrāy, Khenzāy, Khunzāy, and so on. However, in the Bombay lithograph edition, this city has been mistakenly identified as Khānbāligh (what is now Beijing), and in subsequent texts have followed this error by recording it as Khutrāy. This study examines the name of this city in 11 earliest manuscripts of Tārikh-e Wassāf, as well as other historical texts from the Mongol period and Chinese sources. Khunzāy, which has been erroneously recorded as Khutrāy in the manuscript and print versions of Tārikh-e Wassāf, actually refers to an ancient port city in China. In various ancient historical texts, as well as Persian, Arabic, and European travelogues, it is recorded under different names, such as Khānju (al-Tafhim), Khansā (Ibn Battuta’s Travelogue), Khansāy (Jāmeʿ al-Tavārikh, Tārikh-e Banāketi, Nuzhat al-Qolub, Khatāynāma), Khingsāy (Jāmeʿ al-Tavārikh), Hinksāy (Āthār va Ehyā), Kinsay (The Travels of Marco Polo), Cansay (The Travels of Friar Odoric), Campsay (The Travels of John of Marignolli), and Cassay (The Book of the Estate of the Great Cann, Set Forth by the Archbishop of Soltania). This city is known today as Hangzhou, Hanzhou, or Hangju, and is pronounced as Khunzāy in the earliest manuscripts of Tārikh-e Wassāf. This pronunciation aligns with one of the earliest pronunciations of the city’s name (character 行) in the early Mandarin period, which had a pronunciation between zamma (o) and fatha (a).

Letters serve as an important means of communication and message transmission, particularly within governmental institutions, where specific principles must be observed. The Divān-e Resālat was an important and extensive organization within the monarchy system, where official state letters were composed in both prose and poetry. The number, significance, and diversity of letters are also worthy of reflection from a literary perspective. Referred to by various names such as molattafa, methāl, manshur, roqʿa, goshādnāma, peymānnāma, fathnāma, shekastnāma, and others, these letters contain important information and can serve as a valuable source for understanding the worldview and extent of power held by rulers during their reign. This article aims to examine and compare the manshur letters in Tārikh-e Beyhaqi and al-Tawassol elā al-tarassol from a literary perspective, using a library based descriptive analytical method. The manshur letters in Tārikh-e Beyhaqī, as narrated by Abu’l-Fazl Beyhaqi, are characterized by their brevity. Beyhaqi himself provides a general overview of these letters without delving extensively into their literary aspects. Only a few references to literary devices such as rhyme, metonymy, and repetition are made in his overview. The content of these letters primarily served political purposes, reflecting the rulers’ perspectives in delegating the responsibility of governing and controlling subordinate regions to individuals. On the other hand, the manshur letters of al-Tawassol elā al-tarassol, authored by  Bahā al-Din Baghdādi, exhibit greater length and employ a wider range of literary techniques. Baghdādi skillfully incorporates literary devices such as allusion, simile, metaphor, metonymy, rhyme, pun, and oxymoron in the composition of these letters. While Tārikh-e Beyhaqi holds significance due to its chronological precedence and its deployment by Baghdādi, the manshur letters included in al-Tawassol elā al-tarassol are lengthier and offer more detailed accounts, owing to the educational purpose of the book.

In recent years, interdisciplinary studies in Literature and Linguistics have gained momentum, particularly focusing on topics such as “masculine literature,” “feminine literature,” “masculine writing,” and “feminine writing,” which have captured the attention of researchers. These studies primarily explore the relationship between language and gender. Within this context, the analysis of linguistic features related to gender becomes instrumental in the stylistic examination of women’s literary works, especially novels. This research investigates the linguistic disparities in terms of prominent lexical components between female and male characters in the novels of Daneshvar and Arastui using a descriptive-analytical approach. The main research question is as follows: How do linguistic differences between women and men manifest in terms of lexical components within the narrative structure of Daneshvar’s and Arastui’s novels? The findings indicate that the language employed by female characters in the narrative contexts of these novels differ in terms of vocabulary and idiomatic expressions from that of male characters. While some lexical parameters correspond to Lakoff’s linguistic features, others deviate from them. As all four novels are penned by women and revolve around female experiences, there is a notable prevalence of women-specific vocabulary. Another characteristic of women’s language in these novels is the utilization of precise and detailed imagery, along with inclusion of multiple color words. The female characters of both novelists, influenced by their lack of confidence resulting from patriarchal societies, employ more hedges, intensifiers, and approximations. Additionally, they opt for polite language in their conversations, avoiding the use of taboo words and oath words, which reflects linguistic structures used by cautious and subordinate speakers.

This article aims to explore the theoretical discussions surrounding simile in Persian rhetorical books. The study traces the evolution of the topic from the earliest available texts to contemporary rhetorical works. It examines in detail the authors’ perspectives on simile, their usage of terminology, and the aspects they may have overlooked. Many of these aspects are critically analyzed. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the terms and terminologies employed in earlier books and those found in contemporary rhetorical works, providing a basis for further and more comprehensive comparisons with reference to these texts. The final section of the article focuses on an implicit and elusive form of simile found in the Divān-e Hāfez. This particular type of simile, known as tashbih-e tabādor is intricately woven into the layers of artistry within Hāfez’s verses. Several examples of this phenomenon are presented and thoroughly analyzed.

From the early examples of mystical sonnets (ghazals) in Persian literature to the present day, the expression of love and the depiction of amorous states have had a special place and extensive manifestation in mystical themes. ʿAttār’s ghazals should be considered as early examples of such poetry that blends amorous and mystical themes. The theoretical elaboration and mystical coding of this integration can also be extracted from within ʿAttār’s ghazals. The theoretical foundations of integrating love and mysticism need to be sought primarily in the mystical belief in the Unity of Existence. Linguistic, stylistic, and mystical analysis of the concepts of form and meaning reveal the structural link between love and mysticism in different layers of ʿAttār’s compositions. This article examines the amorous-mystical structure of ʿAttār’s ghazals and deciphers his unique symbolic language in this field, drawing on the existing literature on the meanings and themes of Persian ghazals until the 8th/14th century. The examination is also conducted by employing theoretical mysticism, cognitive linguistics, and deconstructive stylistics centered around the dichotomy of form and meaning. The research adopts a library-based approach, accompanied by inductive data collection and classification, as well as qualitative, explanatory, and exploratory analysis, leading to several main findings it elucidates the formation process of several commonly used symbols such as “locks of hair,” “face,” “beauty spots,” and “lips” in ʿAttār’s ghazals; it critically examines the stylistic discussion of “integrating love and mysticism”; and it analyzes various aspects of form and meaning in different linguistic, literary, and mystical domains.