Representing Power and Dominance through Linguistic Strategies in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Power in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh is predominantly represented through heroism, martial prowess, and military victory. Nevertheless, many narrative episodes demonstrate that power relations are not constructed solely through physical confrontation; rather, language plays a decisive role in establishing, maintaining, and transforming these relations. Despite extensive scholarship on power and heroism in the Shahnameh, relatively little attention has been devoted to the linguistic strategies employed where discourse functions as a substitute for or complement to military action from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Drawing upon Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model, this study investigates how linguistic strategies contribute to the representation and negotiation of power in the Shahnameh. Using a descriptive-analytical approach, it examines a purposively selected corpus of dialogues in which language assumes a central role in power relations, including episodes of captivity, negotiation encounters in enemy territory, battlefield postponement, and court debates. The findings reveal that the declarative mood is the most frequent grammatical resource for persuasion and managing power relations. Characters predominantly rely on argumentation, analogy, appeals to tradition and shared cultural beliefs, euphemism, and strategic humility to establish credibility, reduce conflict, conceal identity, persuade their interlocutors, and reshape power relations. The use of these strategies varies according to the communicative context, participants' discursive positions, and interactional objectives, and often proves more effective than direct military confrontation. Analysis across Fairclough's three dimensions—text, discursive practice, and social practice—demonstrates that power in the Shahnameh is reproduced through the interaction of language, ideology, and socially legitimized discourses, with linguistic competence emerging as a significant source of power alongside physical strength.

کلیدواژه ها:

Shahnameh ، Critical discourse analysis ، Norman Fairclough ، Power ، Linguistic Strategies