Constructing Emotional Worlds through Cognitive Grammar: A Stylistic Analysis of Farzana Aqib’s My Nameless Pleads

Abstract

This research explores how poetic language reflects deep emotional experiences using Ronald W. Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar framework. The study applies five key concepts including construal, profiling, image schemas, subjectivity/objectivity, and scanning to the poem My Nameless Pleads by Pakistani poet Farzana Aqib (2023). Through a qualitative textual analysis, the poem was read and examined multiple times, with careful attention to emotional expressions, grammatical patterns, and metaphorical language. Furthermore, the poem was selected using purposive sampling because of its rich emotional and symbolic depth. Each word, phrase, and structure was closely studied to understand how grammar expresses inner thoughts and emotions. The analysis portrays that the poet’s use of grammar does not just convey meaning but it also constructs a mental world of pain, strength, and healing. This study shows that Cognitive Grammar is a powerful tool for understanding how poets express complex emotions through simple language. It also offers a new way to analyze South Asian poetry by focusing on how language shapes thought and experience. Lastly, It is recommended that future researchers examine this poem and similar texts using other frameworks such as Text World Theory, Foregrounding Theory, and literary approaches like Psychoanalysis, Jungian Psychology, and Lacanian Analysis to uncover further psychological, symbolic, and cognitive dimensions.

Keywords: Cognitive Grammar, Conceptual Stylistics, Farzana Aqib, Pakistani Poetry, Poetic Language, Construal, Image Schemas, Profiling, Cognitive Linguistics, Emotional Expression in Poetry