The social semiotic analysis of the play "Jafar Khan az Farang Amadeh”: Using Pierre Guiraud's theory

The play "Jafar Khan az Farang Amadeh" written by Hassan Moghadam is one of the most important and influential plays of its own historical period. The present paper intends to investigate the process of meaning-construction in this text through focusing on socio-cultural variables and by using socio- semiotic appraoch and the theory of Guiraud. Tho main questions that the research seeks to answer are: 1. what are the most obvious social signs that can be discovered and explained in this play? and 2. What are the semantic implications of these social signs? The results indicate that the most obvious signs related to identity are names, nicknames, clothes, objects, and animals. The author has shown Jafar Khan's confrontation with his family members who are influenced by the collectivism of traditional society while highlighting his individuality by using these signs. The most obvious signs of social etiquette are the tone of speech, the distance between people, and insults. The endless efforts of the family members to be close to Jafar Khan and his resistance to keeping a distance from them are evident in these three signs of social etiquette. It can be concluded that the social signs of this play significantly contribute to shaping the semantic framework of the work, depicting traditional and modern human attitudes and life.