Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Vali-e-Asr University, Rafsanjan, Iran
2 Ph.D. in Arabic Language and Literature, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
In the field of semantics, signs interact or oppose each other and appear as a set of sign meanings in the context of discourse. Based on this, it can be said that the purpose of semiotics is more to study denotative relations than to examine communication. Therefore, semiotics is formed in the context of discourse and does not only pay attention to signs separated from the context. Since Sermon 221 has received less attention from researchers and has not been analyzed and investigated from the point of view of discourse semiotics, it is one of the most important reasons for choosing it for the upcoming research. Among the questions that the current research seeks to answer are: 1- How do semantic contrasts lead to the process of matching meaning in the 221st sermon of Nahj al-Balagha? 2- In the semantic system of sermon 221 of Nahj al-Balagha, tense signs based on what functions lead to the passage of meaning from the state of interaction to the state of adaptation? The first part of sermon 221 of Nahj al-Balaghah begins with the first and second verses of Surah Takathor. From the point of view of semiotics, the most obvious characteristic of the operation of discursive break is the use of "other, there, and another time", and they imply the process of discursive break so that the audience's attention is directed to the world outside of discourse, a world whose most important implication is the mortality of humans. In fact, by referring to the Qur'anic verse, Imam (a.s.) is trying to create a visual space to inform the audience at the beginning of the sermon. Accordingly, in this sermon, the sudden and one-time break takes the subject out of the monotonous and boring course and brings him into an emotional-tense atmosphere. In the following, Imam (a.s.) reprimands the heedless people with a speech of surprise. In this tense atmosphere, the emotional pressure is intensified with the anti-discourse of exclamation and makes the speaker reflect and think, and the emotional function of the words is determined. In the continuation of the sermon, Imam (a.s.) strongly criticizes people who are proud of things that are of no benefit to them. In fact, the Imam (a.s.) warns them of the illusory and absurd pride of the heedless to serve as a lesson. From the point of view of semiotics, the operation that governs the discourse is still the operation of discursive break. Since the focus of Imam's speech in the mentioned sermon is about death, this choice of words in the sermon is consistent with the duality of man in his desire to go to this world and to go to another world and his inner contradictions in dealing with these issues. Therefore, by using the mentioned words, Imam (a.s.) increases the emotional range to intensify the pressure of reprimand and blame, which is the result of the ignorance of the heedless. In the following, the imam portrays his presence in the discourse, which is the discourse attachment, when the actor returns to the discourse field. But the biography of the dead is presented in the context of a discursive break; the use of absent pronouns in speech operations is proof of this claim. In fact, the sign and meaning of death and its biography interact with each other in this part of the discourse. In the final parts of sermon 221 of Nahj al-Balaghe, we encounter a new situation in human life. A situation that makes the subject (man) another, and the signs and meanings are trying to adapt themselves to this otherness. Therefore, at the beginning of this sermon, the Imam (a.s.) refers to the subject's discourse attachment and personal self in the world, then he mentions the other under the title of death and separation from the world and the states that affect the subject. According to the theory of semiotics, this is where the meaning comes out of the constraints of habit and repetition (worldly daily routines) and a sudden break puts them in opposition to each other. From the point of view of semiotics, when the interaction of signs proceeds in such a way that it gives way to a break during continuous discourse, in this situation, the presence of another becomes objectified.
Literature Review
Hamidreza Shayiri, in an article entitled "Passing from a Predetermined Relationship of Signifier and Signified to a Processional Discursive Meaning" (2009), explained the approach of discourse semiotics, especially in literary texts.
Algirdas Julien Greimas, in the book Lack of Meaning, has discussed the fluid nature of meaning and its fluctuating nature based on the signs of sensory-perceptual semantics. This book was translated and described by Hamidreza Shayiri and was published by Alam Publishing House in (2010).
Paktachi, Shairi and Rahnama (2015) in the article "Analysis of Discourse Processes in Surah Qara'a based on Tense Semiotics". They have investigated and analyzed the semantic-semantics of tension in Surah "Al-Qara'a". In this research, the emotional pressure and cognitive range in Surah "Qara'a" have been examined with regard to the discourse process, and the ascending and descending schemata have been described.
Methodology
This research aims to investigate the formation components of confrontational, interactive and adaptive semantic processes of discourse in the words of Imam Ali (a.s.) from the perspective of discourse systems using the descriptive-analytical method. The aim of the current research is to receive meaning at different levels of discourse and to investigate the course of transmission of semantic signs.
Conclusion
By examining the semiotics of sermon 221 of Nahj al-Balaghah, we realize that signs cannot be considered to have a purely predefined function. Rather, the flow of meaning-making is a dynamic and fluid flow because the process of human life fluctuates from imperfection to perfection. The semiotic-semantic analysis of the discourse of sermon 221 shows that the tension schema theory is effective for adapting this linguistic phenomenon. Semantic confrontations in the space of discursive connection and discontinuity provide the conditions of transition and entry into interactive and compatible meanings. In the context of semantic interactions, we witness the interaction between cognitive scope and emotional pressure, which sometimes shape the semiotic-semantic space of the said sermon in the way of increase, decrease, ascent and descent of sign-meanings. Therefore, receiving meaning in this context is a function of confrontation, interaction, and adaptation between subjects.
Keywords
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