Legendary discourse of the folk conception of the Universe: Nowruz’s legendary discourse in Oman’s heritage as a case study

Ayesha Aldarmaki ‭(‬Oman‭)‬

Every language has tools and ways of describing the world and naming things and phenomena. When a person thinks, he unconsciously does so using his mother tongue and its concept of the world.

In all languages, words do not simply describe things as they are; words also reproduce and create, so we find that many things and phenomena can be described brilliantly in words although they do not exist in the physical world.   

As a semiotic system, language includes a series of linguistic and non-linguistic signs with which man can discuss and describe physical and imaginary phenomena. We can say that man is composed of his thoughts, that he is a collection of thoughts represented by signs, which makes language the very essence of human existence.

Nowruz is one semantic sign that people have created and communicated throughout history and it consists of several concepts within different contexts.

The legend of Nowruz has acquired new meanings in different eras, and it is possible that some meanings have been lost over time. This study aims to deconstruct both the linguistic and non-linguistic indicative signs of the legend of Nowruz in order to analyse and arrive at a better understanding of the legend.