A Semiotic Analysis of Communication in the Poetry Collection Kān ʿĀliyan wa-Yabqā by Nader Qasem Mohammad Qawasmeh Based on Peirce’s Theory

Abstract

This study aims to examine the semiotics of communication in the poetry of Nader Qasem Mohammad Qawasmeh (1961), a contemporary Palestinian poet, based on the theory of Charles Sanders Peirce (1890), and seeks to elucidate how symbolic, iconic, and indexical signs interact within the textual context of Qawasmeh’s poetry. The necessity of this study arises from the lack of a systematic and scholarly analysis of these poems from the perspective of communicative semiotics. The central problem concerns the application of Peirce’s triadic framework to a text produced within the distinctive historical and geographical context of Palestine. Given the linguistic richness of Qawasmeh’s poetry, its profound connection with Palestinian history and geography, and its extensive use of myth and cultural symbols, the following question arises: How does the sign system in Qawasmeh’s poetry, when examined through Peirce’s theory, generate meaning and establish communication with the audience? How does the semiotic system of communication operate in the poems of his collection according to Peirce’s theory, and what concepts does it convey? To answer the research question, a descriptive-analytical method is employed. The findings indicate that Qawasmeh’s poetry collection, through the foregrounding of symbolic signs such as light, flame, darkness, night, and prison; indexical signs such as sound repetition, metonymy, and allusion; and iconic signs such as simile and metaphor, within an interpretively open framework, not only represents Palestinian suffering and identity but also becomes a dynamic communicative process of semantic coordination, in which these signs frequently operate through their juxtaposition and mutual reinforcement.