Volume 11, Issue 6 (2021)
LRR 2021, 11(6): 257-289 |
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Paidarnobakht F, Yousefian Kenary M. Verbal Irony and its Linguistic Usages in Meta Historiography Based on two Beizaie`s Plays: “Jangnameh Golaman” and “Fathnameh Kallat”. LRR 2021; 11 (6) :257-289
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-38263-en.html
URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-38263-en.html
1- Tarbiat Modares University
2- Tarbiat Modares University ,Yousefian@modares.ac.ir
2- Tarbiat Modares University ,
Abstract: (2782 Views)
This paper attampts to analyze the functions of the capacities of language from the perspective of verbal irony in the representation of historical events in the two plays "Jangnameh Golaman" and "Fathnameh Kallat" based on the idea of Meta historiography. Accordingly, we first attempt to provide a definition of Meta historiography and the importance of irony as an important component in Meta historiography, and then elaborate on the types of verbal irony and its function in the dramatic text and analyze the components in the study samples. Therefore, the framework of the discussion is a combination of the linguistic and stylistic studies of Deirdre Wilson and Hayden White. The method of this research is descriptive and analytical and it is possible to analyze the components with sample mining. The findings of this study show that in two plays by Bahram Beizaie, a verbal irony is a linguistic device for employ the potential capacities of language and a tool for historical implications. This linguistic capacity manifests itself sometimes in parodic and significant statements and sometimes in the interpretive and analytical context of the text, given that the mechanism of creating irony and sence in the play's text cannot be extrapolated without considering the meta text of history
1. Introduction
Dramatic literature is one of the most critical fields in dealing with historical and social themes. It has undergone extensive developments in line with new theories in other areas of science. One of the latest theories that have a linguistic approach is the idea of metahistory. This theory, described by the American philosopher and historian Hayden White, has received much attention from scholars and researchers in recent years. It has become the basis of literary studies from a linguistic perspective. This research, to explain the idea of metahistory from the standpoint of linguistic practices, tries to answer how verbal irony, as one of the main components in meta-history, leads to the representation and not the re-narration of history in Bahram Beyzai's plays. To this end, we first explain the idea of meta-history, verbal irony, and its types as basic features in meta-historiography. Within Wilson and Sperber's verbal ironic theory framework, we study the two plays Jangnameh Golaman and Fathnameh Kallat.
Hayden White's idea of metahistoriography was a literary strategy for recreating history. Based on Nietzsche, White believed that there was a gap between facts and perceptions of truth, which was the source of human bitterness and frustration. This gap is an ironic and painful situation from which humanity is to find a way out, and he needs to find that way in himself. Meta-history is a way of extending and talking about this unbearable situation. In general, it has an expressive and rhetorical meaning, which is characterized by relying on the configuration of deep imaginative structures and the function of verbal terms.
As a rhetorical figure, the irony is a conscious turn in this type of narrative history in such a way that no certainty can impose itself on history in the form of a definite interpretation. Hence, there are various reports and reflections about a weak narrative of an event. In this sense, the irony is a trick or rhetorical figure that can produce concepts and meanings in the deep layers of speech, and verbal irony, as the most common type of irony while using its imitative capacities and interpretive and analytical similarities, provides a basis for presenting various reports of past events; therefore history is freed from the shackles of imposing a particular narrative.
Wilson and Sperber consider the main feature of verbal irony to be its propositions, which are deliberately uttered by ironists, or they create semantic prominences as a linguistic technique. The first type is "parody," which is a paradox and is related to repetition in the form of language. In a way that there is often an element that has been exaggerated, and the second type is the echo of a word or action that the ironist interprets. Thus, there is always an intermediary between what is said or done and its representation.
In the metahistorical play, we are confronted with ironic expression, so the irony is expressed through two levels of verbal speech and linguistic style. In this sense, language has a vast capacity to deal with historical events. This research method is descriptive and analytical, and it has made it possible to analyze the components by sampling. In this research, based on two plays by Bahram Beyzai, a verbal irony has been studied from the two perspectives of speech and linguistic style. Findings in this study show that the meaning of the word is never limited to parts of speech, but along with body language, tone, and sounds, it forms a kind of expression that is related to the experiences of the audience and therefore, each audience will have their perception and interpretation of it.
In the Jangnameh Golaman, although the excerpts are uttered for the purpose of laughter, they are placed in a verbal structure and in relation to the meta-text of history, reflecting a hidden meaning that is deeply connected to the historical and cultural mechanisms of a nation. From an interpretive point of view, we are faced with a kind of linguistic style in which the text is open to interpretation. Thus, understanding this type of irony is in the light of the understanding of the text in the context in which the text is read (or watched). From a metahistorical point of view, this type of irony creates constant references between the present and the past and considers history as the hypertext in which the original text is formed. In this sense, in Fathnameh Kallat, concepts are constructed concerning the presuppositions and context of the text, but it is not conveyed only through verbal propositions, but it ironically depicts and expresses an agonizing situation.
It seems necessary to mention two points. First, the study of metahistory, as well as verbal irony theories, shows that whether we encounter irony as a verbal proposition or as a linguistic prominence, we are, inevitably, beyond transcendence of grammar and syntax, and practical analysis of ironic discourses; because the ironic sense is not only constructed through the form of language but also in the intermediate relationship between the experiences of the audience and the text. Hence, there is no entirely rational applied model for ironic analysis. The second point is related to the development of this debate in dramatic literature, which can open new perspectives on the study of playwriting, especially the study of dramatic literature in Iran, which is very limited.
1. Introduction
Dramatic literature is one of the most critical fields in dealing with historical and social themes. It has undergone extensive developments in line with new theories in other areas of science. One of the latest theories that have a linguistic approach is the idea of metahistory. This theory, described by the American philosopher and historian Hayden White, has received much attention from scholars and researchers in recent years. It has become the basis of literary studies from a linguistic perspective. This research, to explain the idea of metahistory from the standpoint of linguistic practices, tries to answer how verbal irony, as one of the main components in meta-history, leads to the representation and not the re-narration of history in Bahram Beyzai's plays. To this end, we first explain the idea of meta-history, verbal irony, and its types as basic features in meta-historiography. Within Wilson and Sperber's verbal ironic theory framework, we study the two plays Jangnameh Golaman and Fathnameh Kallat.
Hayden White's idea of metahistoriography was a literary strategy for recreating history. Based on Nietzsche, White believed that there was a gap between facts and perceptions of truth, which was the source of human bitterness and frustration. This gap is an ironic and painful situation from which humanity is to find a way out, and he needs to find that way in himself. Meta-history is a way of extending and talking about this unbearable situation. In general, it has an expressive and rhetorical meaning, which is characterized by relying on the configuration of deep imaginative structures and the function of verbal terms.
As a rhetorical figure, the irony is a conscious turn in this type of narrative history in such a way that no certainty can impose itself on history in the form of a definite interpretation. Hence, there are various reports and reflections about a weak narrative of an event. In this sense, the irony is a trick or rhetorical figure that can produce concepts and meanings in the deep layers of speech, and verbal irony, as the most common type of irony while using its imitative capacities and interpretive and analytical similarities, provides a basis for presenting various reports of past events; therefore history is freed from the shackles of imposing a particular narrative.
Wilson and Sperber consider the main feature of verbal irony to be its propositions, which are deliberately uttered by ironists, or they create semantic prominences as a linguistic technique. The first type is "parody," which is a paradox and is related to repetition in the form of language. In a way that there is often an element that has been exaggerated, and the second type is the echo of a word or action that the ironist interprets. Thus, there is always an intermediary between what is said or done and its representation.
In the metahistorical play, we are confronted with ironic expression, so the irony is expressed through two levels of verbal speech and linguistic style. In this sense, language has a vast capacity to deal with historical events. This research method is descriptive and analytical, and it has made it possible to analyze the components by sampling. In this research, based on two plays by Bahram Beyzai, a verbal irony has been studied from the two perspectives of speech and linguistic style. Findings in this study show that the meaning of the word is never limited to parts of speech, but along with body language, tone, and sounds, it forms a kind of expression that is related to the experiences of the audience and therefore, each audience will have their perception and interpretation of it.
In the Jangnameh Golaman, although the excerpts are uttered for the purpose of laughter, they are placed in a verbal structure and in relation to the meta-text of history, reflecting a hidden meaning that is deeply connected to the historical and cultural mechanisms of a nation. From an interpretive point of view, we are faced with a kind of linguistic style in which the text is open to interpretation. Thus, understanding this type of irony is in the light of the understanding of the text in the context in which the text is read (or watched). From a metahistorical point of view, this type of irony creates constant references between the present and the past and considers history as the hypertext in which the original text is formed. In this sense, in Fathnameh Kallat, concepts are constructed concerning the presuppositions and context of the text, but it is not conveyed only through verbal propositions, but it ironically depicts and expresses an agonizing situation.
It seems necessary to mention two points. First, the study of metahistory, as well as verbal irony theories, shows that whether we encounter irony as a verbal proposition or as a linguistic prominence, we are, inevitably, beyond transcendence of grammar and syntax, and practical analysis of ironic discourses; because the ironic sense is not only constructed through the form of language but also in the intermediate relationship between the experiences of the audience and the text. Hence, there is no entirely rational applied model for ironic analysis. The second point is related to the development of this debate in dramatic literature, which can open new perspectives on the study of playwriting, especially the study of dramatic literature in Iran, which is very limited.
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