CONCEPTUAL COGNITION IN PASHTO POETRY: A COGNITIVE STYLISTIC MAPPING OF CONSTRUAL IN THE POEMS OF SAHIB SHAH SABIR

Abstract

Poetry has always been considered as an aesthetic activity, however; cognitive linguistics and stylistics show that it is a highly organized thinking process. This paper explores the poetry of Sahib Shah Sabir as a system of conceptual cognition in the context of cognitive stylistics, based on the main theories in cognitive linguistics through the construction of meaning by the five main dimensions of construal: Perspective, Negation, Metacognition, Prominence, and Force Dynamics. The study combines mixed methods, allowing to employ qualitative close reading, visual modeling, and quantitative analysis of twenty selected poems. The findings show that the poetry of Sahib Shah Sabir is a dynamic cognitive system that creates experience, resistance, epistemic power, and revolution. This piece of work aims in contributing to the field of cognitive stylistics by extending its practice to Pashto poetry, making Sabir a conceptual poet and broadening the domain of cognitive poetics beyond Western literary discourse.