Literary Arts (Jun 2022)
Phonological Norm-Deviation in Nizami's Works: Makhzan-al-Asrar, Khosrow o Shirin, Leyli o Majnun, and Haft Paykar
Abstract
Among norm-deviationist poets, Nizami Ganjavi can be considered as a poet, who has used the method offoregroundingin hisspeech.In Nizami's works, metaphorical language compared to other literary techniqueshas been mostly utilized. Yet, we cannot overlook the other literary techniques in his works.Different norm deviations, such as melodic, grammatical, and lexical deviations are apparent in all Nizami's works.He has soartistically deviated from the standard language and attracted the reader to his poems using varieddefamiliarizations.He has not only used deviations as a means of stimulating the reader’s mind in his poems, but also as a way of controlling the Metresinthem.When examining norm-deviation in old works, it is necessary to consider the standard language of the poet at the time of writing his worksinceconsidering the contemporary language by the researcher results in errors. This important principle is regardedwhen investigating norm-deviation in Nizami's works. Introduction The study of norm-deviation was first articulated by formalists like Roman Jakobson and Jan Mukařovský. The school of formalism emerged from the collective activities of people like Jakobson. We can hardly name a Persian poet like Nizami that has versified his poems with the help of norm-deviation as the primary means.In this article, we defined extra regularity after defining defamiliarization and foregrounding. Examples weregiven from the four works of Nizami, i.e., Makhzan-al-Asrâr, Leyli o Majnun, Haft Peykar, and Khosrow o Shirin. Then, we thoroughly discussed norm-deviation and its kinds, and eachkindof the eight norm-deviationswas reviewed. Finally, phonological norm-deviation was examined and some examples weregiven for every sub-kind. DefamiliarizationDefamiliarization in literature comes from norm-deviation; in fact, norm-deviation creates artistic works, which poets and authors create with the help of languagebecause of the relationship between language and literature. The creations are used by language and contribute to its growth. Foregrounding is the usage of the elements of language in a way that both considers the tone and is unconventional.Geoffrey Leech believes that foregrounding is created from norm-deviation and extra regularity;in norm-deviation, a deviation is made in the rules governing language and in extra regularity, new rules are added to the language.No deviation from the norms of language is made in extra regularity. Rather, new rules, which differ from norm-deviationin origin,are added to it because norm-deviation is a device of poem and results in a poem, but the result of extra regularity is tone and melody. Geoffrey Leech divides norm-deviation into eight variations:lexical, grammatical, writing, semantic, dialectal, stylistic, historical, and phonological.Lexical norm-deviation:Amethod that the poet uses for foregrounding by creating new words is called lexical norm-deviation.Semantic norm-deviation:Every semantic figure of speech, such as simile, metaphor, and metonymy, is considered a semantic norm-deviation. Grammatical norm-deviation:Regular conventional grammatical rules in different languages create a kind of habituation to those rules. Changing these rules is called grammatical norm-deviation. Dialectal norm-deviation:Sometimes, the poet or author brings in words to the standard language used in speech in his dialect. In case he brings words that do not already exist in the standard language, his norm-deviation is called dialectal norm-deviation.Stylistic norm-deviation:The poet can diverge from the standard language and use colloquialism.For example, when the word کژ (kazh) is followed by the meaningless word مژ (mazh), it removes the word کژ (kazh) from the written language and brings it into a colloquial language.Historical norm-deviation:In historical norm-deviation, familiar words from anold language are often used or the ancient form of the words are used; for example, using نبشت (nebesht) instead of نوشت (nevesht). Phonological norm-deviation: phonological norm deviation is any kind of disobeying the standard language by phonological rules that results in the creation of new phonological norms.Although in Nizami's works, especially Makhzan-al-Asrar, semantic norm-deviations, particularly metonymy and metaphorwereused more than other norm deviations, his works werefull of foregrounding. ConclusionAlthough among Nizami's works, especially in Makhzan-al-Asrâr, semantic norm-deviations and specifically metonymical and metaphorical oneswereappliedmore than lexical norm-deviation, many instances of lexical foregrounding werefound in his poems. Nizami made a leverage of foregrounding so masterfully that he not only boosted the inner rhythms of his poems, but also constantly influencedhis reader’smind with words that had lost their emotional effects in the standard language due to the familiarity of the reader’s mind with them.
Keywords
