Recounting or reading a story, a tale, or an anecdote in ceremonies has a long history in Iranian culture. A type of this tradition has been widespread in Ferdowsi’s era which emerged in the form of public reading of Shahnameh. Ferdowsi has acted masterfully in choosing words of special speech sounds being aware of his subject and audiences and thus has made listening to Shahnameh being read a delightful experience for the listeners. This research is both analytic and descriptive in method and shows that Ferdowsi has selected his diction with a special regard for its sound effect. These words either had the very widespread semantic scope or Ferdowsi himself expanded their semantic scope and thus attracted the attention of the listeners and made them attentive to finding the source of the sounds’ production. The researcher admits that the method of choosing diction which has been discussed in this article is not the only method which results in waiting and listening to the reading of Shahnameh has many other artistic methods to encourage anticipation in this huge work. This article studies Ferdowsi’s skill and innovation in making his language pleasant and effective and the reading of Shahnameh such an exciting and hilarious experience for both readers and listeners.
Vejdani F. Ferdowsi’s Choice of Diction and Its Role in Encouraging Anticipation and Listening to the Public Reading of Shahnameh. Persian Language and Literature 2014; 22 (77) :275-287 URL: http://jpll.khu.ac.ir/article-1-2091-en.html