Journal of Literary Criticism

Journal of Literary Criticism

Semiotics of Traditional Tombstones in Semnan Region

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
‌Soheila Ghanian 1
javad Neyestani 2
isa Mottaghizadeh 3
1 PhD Candidate in Islamic Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
3 Professor, Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jlc.2024.462080.1649
Abstract
Discourse semiotics explores meanings by identifying narrative processes in verbal and visual texts. In this research, the visual texts are traditional tombstones from a region encompassing diverse climates. Climatic variation is the primary factor influencing differences in tombstone materials. Different materials determine the possibility or impossibility of inscriptions on tombstones, since creating inscriptions requires a flat surface: cobblestones do not provide such a surface, bricks offer a small area, and rubble stone provides a relatively larger surface. The research problem is to identify the mechanism of meaning creation in different tombstone types of the region, considering their physical and content structures, as well as environmental conditions and context. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the diverse and multiple semantic functions of tombstones during the research period, namely the Qajar and Pahlavi eras. The results of investigations and analyses revealed that tombstones, according to their structure, transform from phenomenon to noumenon, and through either a performative or a thymique process, confront the audience with different meanings. The performative process of tombstones, with relatively regular physical structure and specific content structure, informs about the loss and death of an individual, while the thymique narrative process, through the entanglement of materials, departure from regular physical structure and specific content structure, and through the use of narrative prostheses, immerses the audience in phenomenological space and time, making them not only aware of the loss and absence of an individual, but also causing them to feel that loss in an abstract space and time. The achievement of this study is the identification of the semiotic-meanings and diverse dimensions that they bring to the discourse of tombstones
Keywords
Tombstone
Discourse-Semiotics
Performative Narrative
Thymique Narrative
Semnan
Subjects
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Journal of Literary Criticism
Volume 10, Issue 19
April 2026
Pages 378-334

  • Receive Date 10 June 2024
  • Revise Date 09 September 2024
  • Accept Date 15 September 2024