Peace in the Mirror of Persian Proverbs: A Systemic-Functional Analysis

Proverbs are one of the most fundamental parts of folk literature, which convey people’s thoughts and experiences in the form of short and clear sentences from one generation to another. There is hardly an issue in the experiences of human beings for which there is no proverb. One of these issues is peace for which there are various proverbs in Persian. In this research, we have examined 30 Persian proverbs of peace in three ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions within the framework of systemic-functional linguistics. The results show that proverbs of peace often have a relational process or become this process. The circumstantial elements of this process are either a measure that compares peace with war or a reason that gives a reason for the primacy of peace. In the interpersonal process, the time of all processes is the present tense, which evokes the floating of the concept of peace for all times. The textual function is also simple. In most of the proverbs concepts of peace are placed in the theme position, making the concept central for the audience. Another cohesive factor is the placement of peace as opposed to war or concepts related to them, which motivates the audience to avoid war whether they like it or not.