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

References

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The Journal Of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies
Volume 15, Issue 35
May 2024
Pages 277-310

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