Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 (Corresponding Author). PHD in Linguistics, Assistant Professor, Department of foreign languages, Binaloud University, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Ph.D. in Persian Literature, Lecturer, Farhangian University, Mashhad, Iran,

Abstract

In cognitive linguistics, the meaning of linguistic units is determined by the context of use and meaning interpretation is a dynamic process referred to as conceptualization. The conceptualizers are actively involved in this process through developing some on-line mental representations called mental spaces (Fauconnier,1997). Thus these mental spaces and blended spaces derived from them contribute to making sense of complex ideas people perceive through language.

Focusing on conceptualizers as the major sources of meaning, cognitive linguistics has proved to be a practical and efficient framework to analyze literary texts. The aim of the present article is to show how the people interpret literary narratives through generating mental spaces. The study tries to give a descriptive-analytic account of two narratives namely the restatement of one part of Kave-e-Ahangar story in Shahnameh and a fable in resale-e-delgosha, two works representing tragic and comic narration respectively.

This research used space builders as clues to specify the micro and macro level mental spaces of two narratives. The analysis also revealed that two main conceptual blends would merge in a narrative: emotive and non-emotive that one of them might be dominant in a specific literary genre.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Ameri, H. Kheirabadi, R. Kheirabadi M. (2015). An Analysis of Mental Spaces in News Stories of Iranian Newspapers. Language Science. Volume 3. Number 4 pp 155-178. [In Persian]
 
Barkat, B. Rowshan, B. MohamadEbrahimi, Z. Ardabili, L. (2012). Cognitive Narratology: Applying The Conceptual Blending Theory To Persian Folk Tales. Adab pazhuhi. Volume 6, number 21, pp 9-31 [In Persian]
 
Behnam, M. (2020).  Survey Of  Rumi's Sonnet Structures In Image Processing Based On The Mental Space Approach, Literary Interdisciplinary Research. Vol 2, No 3, pp 40-72 [In Persian]
 
Burke, M. (2003). Literature as Parable. In: Gavins, J. and Steen, G. eds. Cognitive Poetics in Practice. London. Routledge. pp 115-128.
 
Dancygier, B. (2008). The text and the story: Levels of blending in fictional narratives. In: Oakley, T. and Hougaard, A. eds. Mental Spaces in Discourse and Interaction. Amsterdam / Philadelphia. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp 51-78.
 
Dancygier, B. (2012). The Language of Stories. A Cognitive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Print.
 
Dehghan, M. and Vahabian B. (2018). Metaphoric Reading Of The Poetry "Russian Nightmare" By Hossein Panahi Based On Conceptual Blending Theory, Journal of linguistic and Rhetorical Studies, Volume 9, Number 7. pp 141-166. [In Persian]
 
Fauconnier, G. (1997.) Mappings in Thought and Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 
Fauconnier, G. (2007) Mental Spaces. In: Geeraerts, D. and Cuyckens, H. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford University Press. pp 351-376.
 
Fauconnier, G. and Turner, M. (2002). The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books.
Fludernik, M. (1996). Towards a ‘natural’ narratology. London: Routledge.
Fludernik, M. (2003). Natural narratology and cognitive parameters. In D. Herman Ed. Narrative theory and the cognitive sciences. Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information. pp 243-267.
 
Kazzazi, M. J. (2000). Nāme y-e Bāstān, Vol 1, Tehran, Samt. [In Persian]
 
Krieken Kobie, V. & Snders, J. (2018). Smoothly moving through Mental Spaces: Linguistic patterns of viewpoint transfer in news narratives. Cognitive Linguistics 2019; 30(3): 499–529. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2018-0063
 
Najafi, A. Pahlavan Nejad, M. Sharifi Sh. (2016). “A New Approach in Cognitive Narratology based on Mental Narrative Spaces and NMSB Model”, Literary studies, 49 (1), pp 21-46. DOI: 10.22067/jls.v49i1.57518 [In Persian]
 
Obayd Zākāni, (2004). Resāla-ye Delgošā, be enżemām-e Resāla-ye Taʿrifāt, Resāla-ye Ṣad pand, va Resāla-ye Navāder al-Amṯāl, ed. ʿA. ʿA. Ḥalabi, Tehran. [In Persian]
 
O’Neill, D. & Rebecca Sh. (2007). "The Emergence of the Ability to Track a Character’s Mental Perspective in Narrative". Developmental Psychology. 43: 1032–1037.
 
Pirlet, C. and Wirag A. (2017). Towards a ‘Natural’ Bond of Cognitive and Affective Narratology. In: Burke, M. and Troscianko, E. T. eds. Cognitive Literary Science: Dialogues between Literature and Cognition. Oxford University Press. pp 35-54.
 
Pordel, M. Rezai H. Rafiei A. (2017). “Constructiono Of Emergent Meaning In Blank Verse Poetry On The Basis Of The Conceptual Blending Theory”. Language Related Research (Comparative Language and Literature Research). Volume 8 , Number 3 (38), pp 43 - 66. [In Persian]
 
Porto, M. D. & Manuela Romano. (2010). "Conceptual Integration in Natural Oral Narratives". Narratology. 12: 15-31.
Rasekh Mahand, M. (2014). An Introduction To cognitive Linguistics: Theories and Concepts, 2nd Edition, Tehran, Samt. [In Persian]
 
Resta, D. (2009). "Cognitive Science and Literature. A Cognitive Analysis of The Metaphoric Processes in Short Stories”. Cognitive Philology. NO. 2.
 
Sadeghi, S. Alipour Gaskari, B. Rovshan, B. Payamani, B (2022). “Analysis of Two Poems by Shafiee Kadkani with a Cognitive Poetic Approach”. Literary Interdisciplinary Research. Vol 4, No 7, pp 224-256 DOI: 10.30465/LIR.2022.36077.1292 [In Persian]
 
Semino, E. (2003) Possible worlds and mental spaces in Hemingway’s ‘A very short story’ In: Gavins, J. and Steen, G. eds. Cognitive Poetics in Practice. London. Routledge. pp 83-08.
 
Semino, E. (2006). "Blending and characters’ mental functioning in Virginia Woolf’s Lappin and Lapinova". Language and Literature. 15(1): 55-72.
Tuĉan, G. (2013). "Cognitive Poetics: Blending Narrative Mental Spaces. Self-Construal and Identity in Short Literary Fiction" Enthymema, VIII: 38-55.