Document Type : علمی- پژوهشی

Author

Group of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.

Abstract

Contemplation on the narratives of the military secret reservoir shows that the whole structure of this work is a discourse consisting of twenty articles on various topics. .Paid. From the point of view of sign-semantics, what seems important in this discourse is the method of arrangement and semantic development of the poet's words, because in each article he starts from generalities and gradually - especially in the final verses of each article - moves his speech towards the artist. Which then brings an anecdote related to the subject and meaning of the discourse of the article, and in doing so, in addition to giving new meaning to the discourse, provides a platform for the expansion and proof of the meaning of the discourse. The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of expansion and proof of meaning in the discourse of the repository of secrets, so the author has used the theory of "semantic methodology" by Vincent Zhou (1997) to prove the claims and also to scientifize the results. The results of the present study, which are provided in a descriptive-analytical manner, show that in the article, the system in the repository of secrets first brings general information in a discourse with a specific space, then by limiting the scope of speech, connects its speech to an anecdote. A fictional character confirms and expands the meaning and content of the discourse in that article.

Highlights

Analysis of the Process of Semantic Expansion of Discourse in the Nezâm­i’s Maxzan al-Asrâr

(Based on Vincent Zhou's Theory of Semantic Methodology)[1]

 

Contemplation on the stories of the Maxzan al-Asrâr shows that the whole structure of this work is a discourse consisting of twenty chapters on various subjects. From the point of view of sign-semantics, what seems important in this discourse is the method of arrangement and semantic development of the poet’s words, because in each chapter he starts from generalities gradually, especially in the final verses of each chapter, he speaks artistically in a direction that is followed by an anecdote related to the subject and meaning of the chapter’s discourse, and in addition to giving new meaning to the discourse, provides a platform for expansion and proof of meaning to discourse.  The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of expansion and proof of meaning in the discourse of Maxzan al-Asrâr, so the author has used the theory of “semantic methodology” by Vincent Zhou (1997) to prove the claims and also to scientifize the results. The results of the present study, which are provided in a descriptive-analytical manner, show that in each chapter, the system in the of Maxzan al-asrâr first brings general information in a discourse with a specific space, then by limiting the scope of speech, connects its speech to an anecdote. A fictional character confirms and expands the meaning and content of the discourse in that article.

Keywords

Meaning Production, Semantic Expansion, Semantic Methodology, of Maxzan al-Asrâr, Vincent Zhou.

 

Introduction

The system of educational discourse is based on the transfer of the ideas of a "I" to "you", and what seems important in this genre is "meaning" in the first place. In such a way that the object (meaning of the word) takes precedence over the container (text).

Therefore, in educational literature, the main reliance is on the meaning of words and meaning-making. “Meaning-making is a process during which the sign changes, becomes complex, shifts and moves forward in a fluid and unstable way” (Dâvudi Moqaddam, 1393: 180). Signs and meanings in a text lead to the formation of a discourse. “Whenever the sign-semantic process is realized and the language action which results from the text is manifested, we are confronted with discourse” (Ibid: 177). Now, the issue on which the body of the present research is based and the necessity of conducting research is, how and by what process is the process of production, expansion and proof of meaning in a text created? “The semantic field is a set of meanings to which a word is equipped and enriched in a text. In fact, the word adds these new meanings to its old meanings and the reader must discover those meanings with the help of analysis and syntax of the narration” (Abbâsi, 1393: 31). Therefore, after interacting with the text, the reader understands the meaning behind it. Emile Benveniste believes: “Language is a process that one is responsible for producing and therefore linguistic communication is the result of an interactive activity” (Ša’iri, 1383: 202.).

Nezâmi Ganjavi, one of the prominent poets of Persian literature, has used a coherent structure of meaning production in his book Maxzan al-Asrâr, so that he first forms a general discourse and then names each discourse under an chapter. Each chapter refers to a specific topic with a specific lexical frequency - recognizable by the name of that chapter - and forms a moral discourse, but this discourse is inverted triangle with its vertex at the bottom, because it starts with generalities and ends with a specific issue. The last two or three verses are in a way that is the beginning of the formation of a new narrative, and this issue has caused the poet to continue the discourse, an anecdote appropriate to those final verses and to expand the meaning of the text. Of course, it goes without saying that the themes of the new narrative are somehow floating throughout the previous discourse. The author has relied on Vincent Zhou's theory of semantic methodology to scientifize his claims and draw a semantic puzzle for the Maxzan al-Asrâr discourse. Vincent Zhou points to several stages in the process of producing, expanding, and proving meaning in a discourse, and shows how the process of producing meaning is made possible by describing signs. Therefore, with this view, he has analyzed the discourse of the Maxzanah al-Asrâr and has analyzed the process of producing meaning in the text of the narration with textual examples. The fundamental question that forms the body of the present study is that, what is the process of semantic expansion of discourse in the repository of military secrets?

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework of the present study focuses on narratology and semiotics-semantics of the text and examines the rhetoric of narration and the production of meaning in the text. Structural-semantic deals with the old text and reveals the relationship between classical texts and new literary critiques, because the author believes that explaining ancient texts with new theories not only reveals the structural-semantic capacities of these texts, but also reveals the connection between these works and new literary critics. “New approaches to literary criticism in Iran began in the twenties. With the beginning of the activities of the parties, literary magazines were published with a new approach and the first congress of Iranian writers was formed. Together, these factors provided a suitable platform for the growth of literary criticism” (Šâdui-maneš and Mahmudi, 1399: 129). One of the branches of modern literary criticism is the semantic sign approach. In sign-semantics, unlike classical semiotics, signs have the opportunity to be signified again and from ordinary signs that have a common and repetitive function to new signs with aesthetic and unexpected functions (Ša’iri and Vafâyi, 2009: 2-5).

Conclusion

In discourses such as the Nezâm­i’s Maxzan al-Asrâr, which have moral and educational overtones, the meaning hidden in multidimensional discourse is interpretive and depends on narrative utterances. Accordingly, the narrator, according to his mission sees himself in the position of conveying a moral message, in addition to creating a discourse based on moral generalities, brings an anecdote that confirms the meaning of the word, which stabilizes and expands the message and meaning of the narrator. The results obtained in this research are as follows: The first achievement of the present study is that in the discourse structure of the Maxzan al-Asrâr, we encounter a whole discourse puzzle that is detailed in an inverted triangle from generalities and The poet first begins to speak of philosophical, intellectual, doctrinal, and moral generalities, then the frequency of his subject becomes specific, and in order to continue the narration, he brings an anecdote with the middle part of the discourse which had a high frequency. The second achievement of the present study is that according to Vincent Zhou’s theory of semantic methodology, after providing general information in the first discourse (each chapter), the narrator brings an anecdote to continue his speech which has a special atmosphere with semantic signs and characters who play special roles. Another achievement of the present study is that by combining opposite and contradictory signs in each article and anecdote, we achieve the moral meaning of the text, which can be expressed in one sentence.

 

References

Anzâbi-nežâd, R., (1385). Gozideye Maxzan al-Asrâr, Tehran: Entešârât-e Payâm-e Nur

Haq-šenâs, A., (1383). Âzâdi va rahâyi dar zabân va adabiyyât” Motâle’ât va tahqiqât-e adabi, sâl 1, šomâreye 3, safahât-e 39-58

Zhou, V., (1394). Butiqâye roman, tarj. N. Hejâzi, Tehran: Entešârât-e Elmi Farhangi

Ša’iri, H., va T. Vafâyi, (1388). Râhi be nešâne-ma’nâšenâsi-e sayyâl bâ barrasiye moured-e Qoqnus-e Nimâ, Tehran: Tehran: Entešârât-e Elmi Farhangi

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Abbâsi, A., (1393). Ravâyat-šenâsiye kârbordi, Tehran: Entešârât-e Dânešgâh-e Šahid Behešti

Nezâmi, Yusof ibn Elyâs, (1373). Kolliyyât-e Nezâmi, Tehrân: Amir Kabir 

[1] Fazlollâh Xodâdâdi: Assistant Professor of Persian Literature; International University of Emâm Xomeini

Fazlollah1390@yahoo.com

Keywords

Main Subjects

Anzâbi-nežâd, R., (1385). Gozideye Maxzan al-Asrâr, Tehran: Entešârât-e Payâm-e Nur
Haq-šenâs, A., (1383). Âzâdi va rahâyi dar zabân va adabiyyât” Motâle’ât va tahqiqât-e adabi, sâl 1, šomâreye 3, safahât-e 39-58
Zhou, V., (1394). Butiqâye roman, tarj. N. Hejâzi, Tehran: Entešârât-e Elmi Farhangi
Ša’iri, H., va T. Vafâyi, (1388). Râhi be nešâne-ma’nâšenâsi-e sayyâl bâ barrasiye moured-e Qoqnus-e Nimâ, Tehran: Tehran: Entešârât-e Elmi Farhangi
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(1395). Nešâne ma’nâ-šenâsiye adabiyyât, Tehran: Dânešgâh-e Tarbiyat-e Modarres. Abbâsi, A., (1393). Ravâyat-šenâsiye kârbordi, Tehran: Entešârât-e Dânešgâh-e Šahid Behešti
Nezâmi, Yusof ibn Elyâs, (1373). Kolliyyât-e Nezâmi, Tehrân: Amir Kabir
[1] Fazlollâh Xodâdâdi: Assistant Professor of Persian Literature; International University of Emâm Xomeini