اصول ساده‌سازی متن‌هایِ کهنِ ادبی: مطالعۀ موردی کلیله و دمنه

متن‌های کلاسیک ادبی دارای اهمیت فرهنگی خاصی هستند، با وجودی که گویشوران فارسی‌زبان هنوز می‌توانند این متن‌های کهن را پس از صدها سال بخوانند و بفهمند (و این ویژگی خاص زبان فارسی است)، ولی این امر، به‌دلیل تغییرات واژگانی و تا حدی نحوی، برای نسل جوان و نوآموزان به‌سختی امکان‌پذیر است. از این رو، بسیاری از این متن‌ها برای کودکان و گاه بزرگ‌سالان ساده‌سازی شده‌ است. در این پژوهش، کوشش شده است با بررسی داستانِ »موش آهن‌خور « از کلیله و دمنه با نمونه‌های ساده‌شدۀ آن مقایسه شود تا ضمن بررسی چگونگی تغییرات متن ادبی در روند ساده‌سازی‌ها، روش‌های ساده‌سازی استخراج شود و در‌نهایت، الگویی کلی برای روند ساده‌سازی متن‌های کهن و کلاسیک ارائه شود. در‌نتیجه، چگونگی ساده‌سازی و شناسایی ابزارهای واژگانی دستوری مسئله‌ای این پژوهش بوده است. دلیل انتخاب کلیله و دمنه از یک سو این است که از نثرهای فنی و مصنوع فارسی به‌شمار می‌آید و از سوی دیگر، بارها ساده‌نویسی شده است. در این بررسی، تغییرها در چهار سطح صرفی، نحوی، واژگانی و متنی طبقه‌بندی شده است. با توجه به بررسیِ انجام‌گرفته، سه نوع رویکرد به سازوکار ساده‌سازی متن‌های ادبی کهن فارسی مشاهده می‌شود: 1. گرایش به وفاداری هم به محتوا و هم در صورت متن اصلی، 2. گرایش به وفاداری به محتوا و دست‌کاری در صورت متن اصلی و 3. گرایش به دست‌کاری هم در محتوا و هم در صورت متن اصلی. بنابراین، صورت همیشه دستکاری شده است. همچنین، دستکاری‌ها را می‌‌توان در چهار سطح واژگانی، صرفی، نحوی و متنی دسته‌بندی کرد.

Criteria of Simplification of Old Literary Texts: A Case Study of Kelile and Demne

Classic literary texts are of special cultural importance. Although Persian speakers still can read and understand these old texts after hundreds of years, for the younger generation and recent Persian learner is hardly possible due to lexical and slightly syntactic changes. Therefore, many of these texts have been simplified for children and even adults. This research tries to compare some stories of Kelile and Demne with their simplified versions to examine the changes of the literary text through the process of simplification, and at the same time, to extract patterns of simplification. The reason for picking up Kelile and Demne is that on the one hand, it is one of the technical and ornate literary texts in Persian, and on the other hand, it is recurrently simplified. In this research, changes have been classified in four levels of morphology, syntax, lexicon and text. As result, three different approaches to the mechanism of simplification of old literary texts of Persian were observed: The tendency to keep both the content and the form of the original text The tendency to keep the content unchanged, but manipulate the form of the original text The tendency to manipulate both the content and the form of the original textThus, the form has been always under change. The maipulations can be grouped into four levels of lexical, morphological, syntactic and textual changes. 1. IntroductionClassic literary texts are of special cultural importance. Many Persian speakers still can read and understand old texts after almost a millennium; this is due to a peculiar feature of Persian language used to be the official or cultural lingua franca in a vast area from India to the eastern borders of nowadays Europe throughout those days. However, the younger generation has a hard task to decipher some old texts largely due to lexical and slightly due to syntactic changes. Therefore, a considerable number of old texts are increasingly being simplified for children and even adults.Simplification is inevitable; but literary texts need to be conserved as well. This study helps us uncover almost unconscious mechanisms used to simplify prominent texts, while reserving at least parts of its outstanding aesthetic peculiarities. Having this in mind, this study tries to find and categorize mechanisms used by simplifiers of Persian Kelile and Demne as a prominent literary text of 13th century in modern times. Literature ReviewThere are regulations introduced by authorities such as Kānoone Parvareshe Fekrie Koodakān va Nojavānān (Center for the Intellectual Development of Child and Adolescent) and some private publishers. But they are based on individual experiences rather than researches. One important source dealing with the process of simplification in Persian is Payvar (2009). The inspirational source to this study, however, was Crossley, Allen McNamara (2011).Bahar (1951) divides Persian prose into four stylistic eras:a) Early modern Persian texts from 11th to 12th centuries;b) Ornate literary style with plenty of Arabic loanwords from 13th to 15th centuries starting with Kelile and Demne;c) The era of decline from 13th to 18th centuries; andd) Recursion style from 19th centuries onward.As it might be expected, the ornate texts of the second era are the most problematic texts to understand, including Kelile and Demne. MethodologyDue to this fact, this research tries to compare some stories of Kelile and Demne with their simplified versions to examine how literary texts changes through the process of simplification. Consequently, it tries to extract patterns of simplification. The reason for picking up Kelile and Demne is that on the one hand, it is one of the most technical and ornate literary texts in Persian, and on the other hand, it is recurrently simplified. It is also translated into many different languages.Three different approaches to the mechanism of simplification of Kelile and Demne were spotted:The tendency to keep both the content and the form of the original text;The tendency to keep the content unchanged, but manipulate the form of the original text;The tendency to manipulate both the content and the form of the original text. Results and DiscussionAs it is obvious in all approaches, the form always changes. The most important manipulations found in the simplified versions are summed up under four different levels of lexical, morphological, syntactic and textual changes, as follows:Lexical manipulation:1.1. Persianization1.2. Modernization1.3. Omission of the preverbal particle bar Morphological manipulation:2.1. Addition of the prefix be in subjunctive mood2.2. Change of be rdquo; to mi in verbs in present tense2.3. Omission of the initial prefix of be the final suffix of i from verbs of present tense2.4. Change of the passive verbs with āmad (literally s/he came) into the modern passive verbs with shodan (literally s/he became)2.5. Change of nonfinite verbs into finite ones2.6. Omission of the socalled decorative prefix be from verbs of past tense2.7. Change of derivational suffixesSyntactic manipulation:3.1. Harmony of verbal tenses3.2. Change of the word order of adjective + noun into noun + adjective3.3. Change of simple sentences into complex ones3.4. Maintaining word order in sentence level3.5. Omission of conditional constructionsTextual manipulation:4.1. Change of fictional macrostructure of story within story 4.2. Change of fictional elements4.3. Textual shortening4.4. Textual lengthening4.5. Substitution of idioms4.6. Change of the story beginning4.7. Omission of many figures of speech such as rhyming, symmetry, and rhythm4.8. Repetition of verbs instead of ellipsis4.9. Omission of synonyms4.10. Modernization of orthography.