تحلیل گفتمانی سکوت در شعر اخوان ثالث: خوانشی سه سطحی (ساختاری، معنایی، کاربردشناختی) با رویکرد نقد ادبی

This study investigates silence as a discursive construct in the poetry of Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, examining its representational mechanisms and functional dynamics across three levels: structural, semantic, and pragmatic. The primary research objective is to elucidate the discursive functions of silence in meaning-making processes and the activation of intertextual perception. Employing a qualitative, descriptive-analytical methodology, the research integrates theoretical frameworks from discourse analysis, semiotics, and cognitive linguistics to analyze Akhavan-Sales' poetic works. The findings demonstrate that silence operates structurally through verbal ellipsis and syntactic stasis, semantically through metaphorical and metonymic representations that encode socio-political concepts within specific historical-cultural contexts, and pragmatically as a discursive device that actively engages readers in textual interpretation and intertextual comprehension. Furthermore, the study reveals how strategically employed silence - through meaningful pauses and deliberate omissions - fosters artistic concision, symbolic imagery, narrative suspension, and multi-layered spatiality in Akhavan-Sales' poetry, while simultaneously activating the reader's hermeneutic system. The analysis ultimately positions poetic silence not as mere absence of speech, but as a potent rhetorical strategy that demands active reader participation and facilitates the transmission of complex socio-political commentary.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
 This study reconceptualizes discursive silence as an active, strategic process of "non-expression" that generates meaning, moving beyond notions of absence. While examined in Persian fiction, silence in Mehdi Akhavan Sales' poetry remains understudied. This research addresses this gap by analyzing how silence is structured in his poetry, how its discursive functions shape meaning and reader reception, and how it activates intertextual perception. The theoretical framework integrates social semiotics, critical discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics, employing Hodge and Kress's (1988) three-level model examining silence at semantic-semiotic, discursive-power, and aesthetic-artistic levels. Silence is theorized as an active discursive formation operating through omission, refusal, and resistance within power-knowledge networks, performing key functions: creating aesthetic ambiguity, resisting dominant narratives, and enhancing semantic density. Using descriptive-analytical methodology, the study conducts critical close readings within a "discourse of silence" framework. Multi-level analysis reveals silence as a dynamic semantic strategy. Micro-level analysis shows deliberate omissions reconstruct linguistic frameworks, while macro-level analysis demonstrates how silence generates secondary connotative networks that reproduce power relations and facilitate resistance. Findings confirm silence's pivotal role in activating intertextual awareness and intensifying the impact of expressed elements. The study concludes that silence functions as a potent artistic, rhetorical, and ideological instrument in Akhavan Sales' poetry. This "discourse of silence" framework offers both a novel interpretation and a transferable model for analyzing silence in other literary texts.
 
Theoretical Framework and Methodology
This study employs an integrated theoretical-methodological approach to analyze the multifaceted phenomenon of silence in Akhavan Sales' poetry. Combining semiotics, discourse analysis, cognitive semantics, and narratology within a qualitative descriptive-analytical framework, the research examines silence as simultaneously encompassing linguistic omission, discursive power relations, conceptual metaphors, and meaning-generating aesthetic voids. The theoretical foundation conceptualizes silence as an active semiotic and discursive element. Semiotic perspectives (Eco, 1984; Barthes, 1977) frame silence as both an "empty sign" requiring interpretation and a polyphonic element reflecting repression while enabling resistance. Discourse analysis (Foucault, 1972; Huckin, 2002) reveals how silence embodies power relations and functions as meaningful social action. Cognitive semantics (Lakoff and Johnson) uncovers silence's metaphorical dimensions, while narratology (Toolan, 2001) examines its role in creating narrative suspense. Kurzon's (1997) model and Glenn's (2004) conceptualization further enrich this framework. Methodologically, the study analyzes 250 poetic samples through purposive sampling and critical close reading. The tripartite analysis examines structural, semantic, and functional dimensions, moving from intra-textual elements to extra-textual pragmatic implications. To ensure rigor, the study employs a tri-level technique examining form, meaning, and function while contextualizing findings within socio-historical frameworks. This integrated approach prevents reductionism while providing a comprehensive model for analyzing silence's multiple functions in contemporary Persian literary studies
 
Discussion
 This study identifies a four-level operational structure of silence in Akhavan Sales' poetry: phonological (enhancing rhythm), syntactic (using elliptical structures), semantic (generating implicit signification), and pragmatic (facilitating discursive interaction). This multi-level functionality confirms silence's role as both a literary device and a creative mechanism for meaning production and aesthetic enrichment. Analysis demonstrates the poet's strategic deployment of silence across these dimensions. Syntactically, strategic omissions of copulas and pronouns, combined with parallel structures, create stasis and meaning-generating pauses, as exemplified in "Winter," where nominal sentences mirror themes of frozen stagnation. Semantically, silence manifests through metaphor and metonymy, where images of winter or dusk cognitively map concepts like "death" or "absence," aligning with Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory. Pragmatically, the poet utilizes presuppositions and implicatures, drawing on the collective historical experience of post-1953 Iran. This aligns with Gricean implicature and Johnstone's view of silence as an interpretive space, guiding readers toward unstated meanings and intertextual readings, thus framing silence not as an absence but as a creative, guiding mechanism.
 
Conclusion
This study establishes that silence in Akhavan Sales' poetic discourse functions as a dynamic communicative act that actively engages readers in interpretive processes through meaning-generating pauses, narrative suspense, and deliberate omissions. This literary creativity serves dual purposes: providing protective communication under political constraints while establishing profound resonance with themes of social stagnation and historical suspension. Through targeted empty spaces and strategic omissions, Akhavan's poetry transforms into an open space for cultural and historical dialogue, where the unspoken carries equal weight to the spoken. This finding aligns with Kurzon's theoretical emphasis (1998) on the crucial role of socio-historical context and intertextual relations in meaning formation. Several limitations warrant acknowledgment. The study's focus on selected poems and specific theoretical frameworks limits generalizability across Akhavan's entire oeuvre. Furthermore, the qualitative methodology and absence of corpus-based quantitative analysis restrict statistical validation of findings - an area that merits attention in future research. Despite these limitations, this study provides a comprehensive analytical model for understanding silence as both an aesthetic device and a means of discursive resistance in contemporary Persian poetry, demonstrating how unexpressed elements can convey meanings more profound than explicitly stated ones.
 
References
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Eco, U. (1984). The role of the reader: Explorations in the semiotics of texts. Indiana University Press.
Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge and the discourse on language (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). Pantheon Books.
Glenn, C. (2004). Unspoken: A rhetoric of silence. Southern Illinois University Press.
Huckin, T. (2002). "Textual Silence and the Discourse of Homelessness". Discourse& Society, 13(3), 347-372.
Kurzon, D. (1997). Discourse of Silence. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
Toolan, M. (2001). Narrative: A critical linguistic introduction (2nd Ed.). London: Routledge