چكيده لاتين :
This paper aims to study and analyze the issue of Zaum in popular literature because popular literature has been and is a suitable platform for the appearance of Zaum. It is basically one of the most frequent elements and motifs in Zaum popular literature. Examples of this research are selected from the popular literature of Torbat-e Jam region. Zaum refers to words that deviate from linguistic logic and have no meaning or are nonsensical, but by creating music in poetry and also in proverbs and songs, they cause emotional motivation and sweetness. In literary research, the term comes from the Russian school of futurism. It was first introduced into Persian literary studies by Shafi’ï Kadkani. According to researchers, Zaum is divided into three categories: semiotic, morphological, and phonetic. This division is based on word-of-mouth Zaum and it is based on Zaum at lexical level. The findings of this study show that Zaum also occurs at the level of hemistich or line (sentence). Nonsense poetry and injection have sentence Zaum. Though meaningless, Zaum produces and increases music. As a result, this music compensates for the meaning charge. In some folk poems, where the poet does not have a high level of poetic mastery, he creates Zaum. In children poetry, Zaum is more prevalent, because music is more important than meaning.
Introduction
In popular literature, in the structure of invented and meaningless words or in absurd poems, such as ‘Tazriq’ or nonsense verses (Shafi’ïoon, 2011, pp. 168-186), and nursery rhymes (Torabi, 2017, pp. 163-194), musical function and effect are superior to meaning.
The present research aims to investigate and analyze Zaum in popular literature focusing on the folk literature in Torbat-e Jám, so as both to help us display specimens of the definitions and creativity in employing Zaum and its musical function in folk literature, and clarify the characteristics of Zaum and its relation with folk literature. The written samples are gathered and analyzed by means of library research and the oral samples extracted from the field studies.
Research background
Shafi’ï Kadkani (2017) has attempted to explain Zaum, and Heidari and Rahimi (2014) have dealt with the employment of Zaum in the Sonnets of Rumi’s Divan-e Shams. The third chapter of Janecek (1996) is about Zaum, Khlebnikov, and his manuscripts, and Mikics (2007) has investigated, under Futurism, the history of Zaum and the Futurist avant-gardes. However, Zaum and its relation with folk literature have not been studied.
Types of Zaum in the Folk Literature of Torbat-e Jám
Researchers have divided Zaum at the lexical level into three kinds. The present writers hold that Zaum occurs at sentence (line) level too.
A) Zaum at Word Level
1) Semiotic Zaum
“It uses regular and common words but combines them in an obscure or irrational way.” (Shafi’ï Kadkani, 2017, p 140)
“Nakhod, nakhod|hark e bera|khane-ye khod” [chickpea, chickpea|everybody to their home] (Saberi Mahmoodabai, 2017, p. 129).
The word “chickpea” has meaning but its use is obscure in this context.
2) Morphological Zaum
“It uses known roots and affixes but combines them in a strange way” (Shafi’ï Kadkani, 2017, p. 140).
“Jing-jingesh eqazar, abdolmojigesh eqazar” [Their jing-jing so much, their abd-ol-mojing this much!] (Saberi Mahmoodabadi, 2017, p. 135).
“Jing-jing” and “abd-ol-mojing” are invented words to denote needle and string. “Abd-ol-mojing is made up of the Arabic “abd” (servant) and “al” (definite article ‘the’ here pronounced as “ol”) but meaningless on the whole.
3) Phonological Zaum
“It is formed by means of combining letters and sounds with hardly familiar words distinguishable among them” (Shafi’ï Kadkani, 2016, p. 140).
“Seezde bé dar|charde bé too|haketooketoo” [Outdoors on the thirteenth day| indoors on the fourteenth|haketooketoo] (Saberi Mahmoodabadi, 2017, p. 130)
“Haketooketoo” is a meaningless word which is merely used for its music.
B) Zaum at Sentence (Line) Level
A line (hemistich) which is generally a sentence does not cohere in meaning with the preceding and succeeding lines (hemistichs). Only the musicality (rhythm) has placed these sentences on the vertical axis of the poem.
Nursery rhymes are the conspicuous instances of this kind of Zaum.
“My handkerchief was lost beneath the cherry tree
Can you read and write? Nope, nope!
Are you illiterate? Nope, nope!
So, you go and be the wolf of the neighborhood.” (Nazari, Amir Ali, 12 years old, Torbat-e Jám, 2020)
There is no semantic interrelationship among the sentences (lines) of this poem.
Conclusion
As the samples show, there have been words in Persian folk literature before the appearance of Zaum, and still there are, which can be considered instances of the Futurists’ Zaum; however, the futurists tried to introduce a new, defamiliarizing style and design through foregrounding and excessive employment of Zaums. Words in folk literature which are instances of Zaum have been created in an improvised and instantaneous way. They have challenged the linguistic rules. They are beyond sense and do not adhere to meaning. They are obscure and sometimes use incongruous letters and sounds. Their musical distinction indicates the importance of music in folk poetry and nursery rhymes. With its music, Zaum conveys the meaning which is indeed arousing emotions and it is of a paradoxical nature in that it lacks conventional meaning and cannot admit a linguistically referential function, yet transmitting a meaning through its poetic function. Although it has been divided into different kinds at lexical level, it can occur at sentence level too, which we have called sentential Zaum. The ‘Tazriqs’ of the Safavid era as well as the nursery rhymes are instances of sentential Zaum which appear as lines of poetry devoid of longitudinal and latitudinal coherence. The rhythm in the nursery rhymes is natural and free from rhythmical norms. In them, music is precedent over meaning and subject. They are created automatically.
Their prevalent context is to exult and mobilize, not to convey a meaning. Since, with these features, the nursery rhymes are instances of Zaum and their anonymous creators are children and general public, they should not be criticized for their lack of coherence. Thus, poets writing for children should lay twofold emphasis on the element of music. Sometimes, the instantaneous production of Zaum is the need the common people feel but they are not skilled in vocabulary as professional poets are. The ultimate purpose of Zaum is to arouse an emotion and mostly to entertain and enlighten.
