Analysis of Gender Schemas of Khaqani Odes with the Approach of Cognitive Linguistics

Introduction
The topic of conceptual metaphors and conceptual schemas in the cognitive perspective is one of the central and challenging concepts of semanticists, which deals with the nature of the relationship between conceptual structure and sensory experience of the external world. In each metaphor, a cultural model is created in the mind, according to which the behavioral chain is planned. From a discursive perspective, the gender variable is a product of a society's culture and social movements, which is an important factor in shaping and distributing power among individuals. Charteris-Black is one of the cognitive theorists in the field of gender who attempts to represent the ideology and worldviews hidden in the background of the text through the lens of metaphor and rhetoric, and in terms of linguistic, pragmatic, and cognitive criteria. In this regard, she divides individual sources into three categories: thoughts, emotions, and bodily experiences, and social sources into ideological, historical, and cultural knowledge areas in order to reach a clear understanding of the text. Based on individuals' childhood gender schemas, John Stevens also believes that gender stereotypes have a network function and relate the constituent components of the concept, such as femininity and masculinity.In these cognitive approaches, the two factors of nature and environment are considered the most important agents of linguistic and symbolic stratification of gender roles. The veins of this thought can be observed in Khaqani's odes around the topic of Abai-Alavi and Ummahat-e-Arba'ah. This topic is one of the central concepts of the discursive system of Khaqani's odes, which, through the lens of linguistic research, is considered a channel for reproducing beliefs and intellectual-belief frameworks to the readers of the work.
Literature Review
In the last decade, several important studies have been written with a gender schema approach, including: Esmailian Azari et al (2023) seek to analyze the representation of gender ideology in the stylistic layers of personal elegies of Persian-speaking male and female poets. Shahrestani et al (1400) examined eight war-themed stories under four male and four female narratives, ultimately examining 3021 metaphors. Rouhani and Malek (2013) have concluded that due to the differences between women and men in terms of social status and biological characteristics, women prominently use similes and metaphors related to their gender, and this sexism is most visible in two pillars: simile and metaphor. Ghasemi (2015) examined the conceptual metaphors of women in the realm of purpose in Forough Farrokhzad's poems and found that the role of the lover is the most colorful role of women in the heart of the work. Daftrinejad and colleagues (2019) used content analysis to extract 317 conceptual metaphors from the works of Ahmad Mahmoud and 733 conceptual metaphors from the works of Simin Daneshvar in the source domain and concluded that these authors have made grief appear more normal than before by using vocabulary and cultural construction. In addition to these studies, articles were also found in the field of Khaghani's view of women in the poet's odes. For example, Behnamfar and Ahrari-Vafa (2010) state, based on psychological components, the geography of the word, and the social environment, that one of the reasons for accusing Khaghani of misogyny is a misunderstanding of Khaghani's poems.
 
Methodology
The present study, based on a descriptive-analytical method, intends to examine 132 great odes of Khaqani, corrected by Seyyed Ziauddin Sajjadi (Khaqani 2009). In this process, the authors extracted and analyzed all the odes that contain the semantic content of Ummah-e-Arba'ah and Abai-Alavi from the text, and finally, 162 words were extracted from 78 odes related to the research. The extracted words have a close relationship with the semantic dependencies of the domain of men and fathers (father, man, father, father) and the domain of mothers and women (woman, mother, mother, mother), in which the gender schemas (feminine/ masculine) of Khaghani's odes are depicted. During the analysis of the verses, each of the 162 words obtained was first classified under the metaphorical concepts of Abai-Alavi and Ummah-e-Arba'ah according to John Stevens' gender stereotypes (masculinity/femininity), and then these statements were categorized based on Kövecses' high-frequency domains of origin and destination. Finally, according to the Charteris-Black domain of personal and social resources, the reasons for Khaqani's tendency to use each of these schemas in various contexts were explained. However, in some cases, Khaqani's fragments were used in a limited manner in order to consolidate the research and clarify the discussion.
 
Discussion
In Khaghani's poems, we witness aspects of reciprocal discourses that are the result of the poet's dualistic view of the categories of women and men. This view is the result of the poet's insight into the gender beliefs and mythological motifs of the people of the four worlds and nine heavens, which is done in line with their interpretation and representation of the outside world. The result of this interpretation is the formation and expansion of the contrasting concept of "woman and man" with a frequency of 162 times in the areas of origin and destination of Khaghani's poetry. In most of the gender contrasts between women and men, the topic of Abai Alavi and Ummahat Arba'a, as one of the most frequently used examples of the discourse of qasayd, has a significant presence.
Abai Alavi's conceptual metaphors
In Khaghani's odes, out of a total frequency of 162 times, the poet has used the concept of "Abai-Alavi" 79 times and its semantic clusters such as (nine heavens, seven ploughmen, Bab, Aba, fathers, fathers, etc.) in high-frequency mappings of the source domain "human body, plants, animals, buildings and structures, movement and direction" under the semantic clusters "heavens, man, man, father of the poet, Jesus Christ and ode".This prevalent gender perspective is itself influenced by the social language, stories, and ideological discourses of Khaqani's childhood that he learned in the physical context of Shirvan through the process of socialization. As a result of this influence, "Abay-Alavi" is articulated in a masculine gendered form.
Conceptual metaphor of the four mothers
Khaghani activates the conceptual metaphor of four mothers and the semantic dependencies of "four pillars, lady, woman, mother, old woman, and four women" in the structure of his odes, sometimes independently and sometimes in contrast to the conceptual metaphor of Abai-Alavi, approximately 83 times. By highlighting the concept of "Ummah-e-Arba'ah", other concepts are facilitated in the discourse process with the central mappings of "being fertile and pregnant, being an element and akhshij, being a woman, being a mother" in the semantic clusters of "thought, luck, sky, universe, world, nature, vine, fate, justice and religion, tree branch, wives of the prophet, love, generosity, sunlight, and Khaqani's wife". These semantic domains often encompass the original domains of "human body and plants".
 
Conclusion
The study and analysis of the data indicate that the distinctive characteristic of Khaghani's life and thought system is his confrontational and dialectical view of the metaphorical concept of the Abai Alawi and the Ummah Arba'ah, which encompasses extensive semantic clusters at the lower levels of discourse. This dualism directly affects the development of identity and the formation of the dynamic role of women and mothers at different levels of Khaghani's odes. After reviewing and analyzing the data, it was observed that men, according to gender characteristics, are often extroverted and objectivist for reasons such as "being in society, traveling, and fighting," and that male actions are aligned and intertwined with the intellectual and belief ideologies prevalent in society. In contrast, women and mothers are often present at home, based on their maternal duties and socio-cultural constructions. These veiled women, with the power and influence of feminine speech and based on feelings and emotions, institutionalize key roles and fundamental beliefs in family and political structures.
 
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