The function of religious and ritual counter-discourses (supportive behaviors) in advancing the narrative; A Case Study of Short Iranian Folk Tales

Counter-discourses are supportive discourses with a structure influenced by motifs such as: cultural, religious, ritual, mythological, which support the core of the discourse system in the narrative in various ways by creating semantic auras. Among them, counter-discourses with religious and ritual motifs are among the most frequent types of counter-discourses in Iranian folk language and culture. Due to the direct influence of language and culture on the narrative structure of Iranian folk tales, As well as how these supportive behaviors work in folk tales, it can shed light on new dimensions of the nature of counter-discourses and their role in advancing the narrative. In this research, which is an analytical and applied method with a sign-semantic approach to discourse, an attempt has been made to study and analyze the appearance and function of religious and ritual counter-discourses in 35 short folk tales from the book "Gol to Sanobar" by Seyyed Abolghasem Anju Shirazi. The results of this study indicate that 11 types of religious and ritual counter-discourses common in popular language and culture are also reflected in these narrations that the principle of action; As the core of the discourse system in these narratives with inductive (2 cases), positive (6 cases) and inductive-positive (3 cases) functions; They have also given semantic support. This study also shows that the counter-discourses of "sacred numbers" and the counter-discourses of "repentance" and "vowing" are the most frequent and least frequent types of religious and ritual counter-discourse in these narrations, respectively.