The Stylistics of Attār's The Conference of the Birds based on Halliday's Functional Linguistics

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Yadgar-e- Imam Khomeini(RAH) Shahr-e-rey Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

In Michael Halliday’s Systemic Functional linguistics, metafunction is a suitable tool for examining the worldview and the discourses in a text.  It is also one of the literary and rhetorical tools which can best help to explain the symbolic and allegorical language as well as the complex concepts of a poet-mystic such as Farid-Al- Din Attār Nishābūrī. Therefore, among metafunctions proposed by Hallidays’ in his systematic order, this study examined ideational and interpersonal metafunctions in Attār’s The Conference of the Birds (Manteq-Al-Tayr-e), using a descriptive-analytical method. A number of 2900 verses in The Conference of the Birds were selected and analyzed. The results of the research show that among the 6 ideational metafunctions, the material process has the highest frequency and the behavioral process has the lowest frequency in this work. Material processes play a significant role in concretizing the spiritual evolution illustrated in The Conference of the Birds. Among the material processes, the objective and involuntary processes respectively show the highest and the lowest frequency. In the interpersonal metafunction, the high frequency of the statements indicates the poet's adherence to the truth of the propositions. As the study demonstrates, most verses have a positive polarity. Qualitative terms that express an opinion, orientation, description and justification of a claim, have a high frequency. Hence, employing Halliday's metafunctions, it is possible to recognize how Attār stands out from the other poets.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

- Bloor, T & Bloor, M(1997) The Functional Analysis of English: A Halliday Approach, London: Edvard Arnold Publication.
-Halliday, M (1978) Language as Social Semiotics, London: Edward Arnold Publication.
-Halliday, M(1994) Introduction to Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold Publication.
 - Halliday,M.A.K & Matthiessen, C.I.M(2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold Publication.
- Leech, G. N(1988)˝Stylistics and Functionalism˝, in C. MacCabe, N. Fabb, D. Attridge, The Linguistics of Writing: Arguments Between Language and Literature, Routledge.
- Thompson, G(2004) Introducing Functional Grammar, New York: Arnold. 
 
-Agha Golzadeh, Ferdous& Others(2011) ̋ Story stylistics based on the verb, role-oriented approach̋, Stylistics of Persian poetry and prose, N1(11), PP 243- 254.
-Alaei,Maryam & Others(2010) ̋ Examining the exchange of meaning in humanities textbooks: in the framework of Halliday's role-oriented systematic order, from the perspective of interpersonal trans-role̋, Persian language and literature research, N 17,PP 211- 233.
-Amirkhanlow, Masoumeh(2014) ̋ The stylistics of Hafez's qazals is based on the verb, role-oriented approach̋, Persian literature, N2(16), PP 169- 186.
-Anvari, Hasan & Alli, Yousof(2012) Persian grammar 1, Tehran: Payam Noor university.
-Anvari, Hasan &Ahmadi Givi, Hasan(2000) Persian grammar 2, Tehran: Samt.
-Attar Neyshaburi, Farid-al-Din(2010) Manteq-Al- Tayr, Introduction by Mohammad Reza Shafieye Kadkani, Tehran: Sokhan.
- Bloor, T & Bloor, M(1997) The Functional Analysis of English: A Halliday Approach, London: Edvard Arnold Publication.
-Fotohi, Mahmoud (2011) Stylistics, theories, approaches and methods, Tehran: Sokhan.
-Ganbari Abdolmalaki, Reza & Firouziyan poor Esfahani, Aylin(2021) Discourse stylistics of the short story of Dehleez, from the perspective of intellectual and textual trans-role, according to the Systemic Functional Linguistics, Linguistic research, N 1, PP 172-192.
-Halliday, M (1978) Language as Social Semiotics, London: Edward Arnold Publication.
-Halliday, M(1994) Introduction to Functional Grammar, London: Edward Arnold Publication.
-Horri, Abolfazl(2010) ̋ Correlation of narrative levels and Halliday  meta-functions in the story of           Hasnak- e Vazir̋, Literary study,N12, PP 69-87.
-Khanlari, Parviz(2003) Historical grammar of the Persian language, Tehran: Tous.
-Laynz, John(2012) An introduction to the semantics of language, Tr, by Koroush, Safavi, Tehran: Elmi.
- Mojavezi, Mohammad(2022)"Analysis of the aesthetics of the verb in the Manteq- Al-Tayr Attar Neyshaburi", Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies, No. 30, pp. 263-294.
-Mohajer, Mehran & Nabvi, Mohammad(2014) Towards the Linguistics of Poetry, Tehran: Agah.
-Mohammadiyan, Amir & Others(2014)̋ Investigation and analysis of sentences expressing pain in Persian language using Halliday model̋, Linguistics and dialects of Khorasan, N10, pp 143- 164.
-Monshizadeh, Mojtaba & Elahiyan, Leyla(2015) ̋ Investigating the cognitive style of the verb in Golestan; Influenced by its educational field with a systematic role-oriented approach̋ , Linguistic essays, N6, pp 259- 279.
- Refahi, Samaneh(2022) "Comparison of elements of cohesion in two tazkarat Al- Oliya of Attar's (main and supplementary part), based on Halliday and Hasan's systematized order of role-oriented system", Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies, Vol. 28, pp. 132-109.
-Shaghaghi, Vida(2002)  ̋ Negation prefix in Persian language̋, Academy letter, N4(20), PP 85- 96.
-Toulan, Michel(2014) Narratology, a critical linguistic approach, Tr by Fatemeh Alavi & Fatemeh Nemati. Tehran: Samt.
-Zarrinkoub, Abdolhossein(1997) Sea in a jar, Tehran: Elmi
 
The Journal Of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies
Volume 15, Issue 35
May 2024
Pages 277-310

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics