Exploring the Portrayal of Female Voice in ‘Heer Ranjha’: A Gender-Based Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47067/real.v4i1.120Keywords:
Love, Metaphors, Lexical Choices, Feministic Discourse, FolktalesAbstract
The present study aims at explicating the theme of love in the folk tale Heer Ranjha through the discourse stylistics perspective. To do this, Fairclough (2015) model is employed with a focus on lexical choices. The metaphors used in the dialogues portraying the theme of love have been carefully selected, and further the linguistic pattern employed has been significantly discussed to highlight the embedded theme of love as a dominant human emotion in folk tales. The study also aims at providing a richer, more complex and enlightened canvas of feminist theory highlighting the role of women and power relations between the two sexes. The data comprises on twenty passages from the translation of ‘Heer Ranjha’ by Usborne (1973) where the translator claims to have translated the epilogue at full length while the rest of the poem has been condensed without omitting anything significantly important to the theme. The study throws light on the language of the folk tale, which reflects socio-cultural features such as the patriarchic family structure of the time through the language choices. The flute, a bamboo musical instrument, is a metaphor of love in a dream-like romantic sound. Finally, this paper helps to develop a better understanding of folktales in a particular socio-cultural background.
References
Bachtarzi, A. (2010). Men’s Relationships in D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers.[Master’s thesis] Mentouri University Constantine
Butler, J. (2007). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
Cherland, M. (2008) Harry's Girls: Harry Potter and the Discourse of Gender. Journal of Adolescent & Literacy 52(4):273-282. DOI: 10.1598/JAAL.52.4.1
Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and Power (3rd edn.). London: Rutledge.
Foghel, B. (2013). Patterns and Representations of Shakespearean Love: Hubris, Infatuation, Agape in Hamlet. Gender Studies Vol. 11 (1).
Lakoff, G., Johnson M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Lazar, M. M. (2007). Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis: Articulating a Feminist Discourse Praxis1. Critical Discourse Studies 4 (2):141-164.
Mahboob, A. (2015). Identity Management, Language Variation and English Language Textbooks: Focus on Pakistan. In Dwi Noverini Djenar, Ahmar Mahboob, Ken Cruickshank (Eds.) Language and Identity Across Modes of Communication. Boston: Walter de Gruyter.
Mehmood,A.,Amber,R., Ameer, S. & Faiz, R. (2014). Transitivity analysis: representation of love in Wilde’s The Nightingale and the Rose. European Journal of Research in Social Sciences Vol. 2 (4)
Mills, S. (1995). Feminist stylistics. London: Routledge.
Musolff, A. (2012). The study of metaphor as part of critical discourse analysis, Critical Discourse Studies, 9:3, 301-310, DOI: 10.1080/17405904.2012.688300.
Searle, J R. (1980). Speech Act Theory and Pragmatics. USA: Kluwer Boston Inc.
Tannen, D. (1994). Gender and discourse. New York: Oxford University Press.
Usborne, C.F. (1973). The Adventures of Heer Ranjha. A British Commonwealth (edn.) London: Owen. 203S. UNESCO.
White, P. (1997). Death, disruption and the moral order: the narrative impulse in mass-media 'hard news' reporting. In F. Christie, & J. R. Martin (Eds.), Genre and institutions social Processes in the workplace and school (pp. 101-133). New York: Continuum.