Linguistic Abnormality With Emphasis on Threshold Theory, in Attar Manteq Al- Tayr

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22075/jlrs.2025.37722.2660

Abstract

The present study explores the role of linguistic deviation in evoking intuitive and epistemic experiences for readers of mystical texts, focusing specifically on The Conference of the Birds by Attar  of Nishapur. Anchored in the framework of Threshold Theory from cognitive linguistics, the research analyzes syntactic, semantic, and rhetorical anomalies as deliberate tools to transmit mystical experiences. Using a qualitative and interpretive methodology with a cognitive approach to language, the study examines selected verses containing linguistic irregularities. Drawing upon core concepts of Threshold Theory, conceptual metaphor, and cognitive blending, the analysis reveals that such deviations actively disrupt conventional meaning-making and propel the reader toward deeper interpretive engagement. These disruptions – marked by cognitive pauses, suspended meanings, and logical fractures – facilitate a transition from surface understanding to lived, intuitive insight. Rather than being mere violations of standard language, these deviations are foundational mechanisms that render truth experientially accessible. Threshold Theory thus provides a compelling framework for reinterpreting the language of mysticism, with broader implications for literary, linguistic, and rhetorical analysis.

Keywords


  • Lakoff, G. & Johnson M. (2003). Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Attar, Farid al-Din Mohammad ibn Ibrahim Neyshaburi (2013). Mantiq al-Tayr. Edited by Mohammad Reza Shafi'i Kadkani, Tehran: Sokhan.[In Persian]
  • Bahrami Rahnama, Khadijeh (2024). «The Stylistics of Attār's The Conference of the Birds based on Halliday's Functional Linguistics». journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical studies. Vol. 15. No. 35. pp. 277-310. [In Persian]
  • Cook, G. W. (1990). A theory of discourse deviation: the application of schema theory to the analysis of literary discourse (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds).
  • Corrigan, P. T. (2019). Threshold concepts in literary studies. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(1), 19–34.
  • Collier, Virginia (1989). How long? A synthesis of research on academic achievement in second language. TESOL Quarterly,Vol.23, No.3 , 509-531.
  • https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.1.3

    Dehghan, Ali, Seddihi Lighvan, Javad (2015). «From Attars Kalandar to Hafizs Rogue». journal of Islamic Mysticism. Vol. 12. No. 44. pp. 1-22.

  • Evans, V. (2007). A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • Feinauer, E., Hall-Kenyon, K., & Davison, K. C. (2016). Rethinking the linguistic threshold hypothesis: Modeling the linguistic threshold among young Spanish–English bilinguals using piecewise regression. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 264–276. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000089
  • Foruzanfar, Badi' al-Zaman (1974). Biography, criticism and analysis of Attar Neyshaburi's works. Tehran: Dehkhoda. [In Persian]
  • Ghasemi, Shahin (2013). "The Ideal Man in the Thought of Attar Neyshaburi with an Approach to Islamic Mysticism". Islamic Mysticism Quarterly. 11(44), 79–98. [In Persian]
  • Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Exercises Written with Reka Benzes. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Lee, D. (2001). Cognitive Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Mazzoni, C. (2007). Mystical and literary texts: meeting the other, and each other, at the borders of language. Annali d'Italianistica, 25, 105-122. [In Persian]
  • Mohammadi Kolahsar, Ali Reza (2014). "Formal Analysis of the Language of Mysticism; Types, Criticisms, Suggestions" Mystical Literature Research. 17(1), 50, 155–171. [In Persian]
  • Ricciardelli, L. A. (1992). Bilingualism and cognitive development in relation to threshold theory. Journal of psycholinguistic research, 21, 301-316.
  • Safavi, Kourosh (1996). From Linguistics to Literature. Vol. 2. Tehran: Sooremehr. [In Persian]
  • Sandoval-Cruz, M., & Solano-Campos, A. (2020). Threshold concepts in language teacher education: A review of empirical research. MEXTESOL Journal, 44(2), 1–15.
  • Schmid, H. J., & Ungerer, F. (2011). Cognitive linguistics. In The Routledge handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 611-624). Routledge.
  • Shahmohamadi, Alireza, et al. (2021). «The Relationship between the Language of Interpretation and Mystical Experience in the Thought of Ibn Arabi and D. Suzuki». journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical studies. Vol. 12. No. 23. pp. 281-308. [In Persian]
  • Talmy, L. (2000). Towards a cognitive semantics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Walker, G. (2013). A cognitive approach to threshold concepts. Higher Education, 65(2), 247-263.
  • Yaden, D. B., Eichstaedt, J. C., Schwartz, H. A., Kern, M. L., Le Nguyen, K. D., Wintering, N. A., ... & Newberg, A. B. (2016). The language of ineffability: Linguistic analysis of mystical experiences. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(3), 244-271
  • Yu, N. (1998). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. Amsterdam: John Benjamin.