The Mechanisms of the Representation of Ecology in Folk Poems of Mamasani Variety of Lori: A Discursive - Cognitive Approach

One of the most important problems facing humans today is ecological crisis. Ecolinguistics is a relatively new branch of linguistics aiming at studying the relationship between language and environment. Together with other branches of science, ecolinguistics tries to have a role in solving the crisis.    Ecolinguistics, or Language Ecology was introduced in 1972 by Einar Haugen as "the study of interactions between any given language and its environment" (Haugen, 2001, p.57). A different type of link between language and ecology was established in 1990 when Michael Halliday, stressed the connection between language on one hand and growthism, classism and speciesism on the other, admonishing applied linguistics not to ignore the role of their object of study in the growth of environmental problems (Fill, 2001:43).   The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms of the representation of ecology in folk poems of Mamasani variety of Lori within a discursive- cognitive approach based on Stibbe's (2015) model. Stibbe proposes eight forms of stories, namely: ideologies, framings, metaphors, evaluations, identities, convictions, erasure and salience. The collected data were analyzed through Stibbe's ecolinguistic framework and within the limitations and objectives of critical discourse studies.      This research intends to answer the following questions using ecolinguistics: (1) which mechanisms are used to represent the ecology in folk poems of Mamasani variety of Lori? (2) How much are the positive or negative (constructive or distructive) impacts on minds and functions of informants about environment?