Contextual and Textual-Poetic Antonymy in Works Based on the Motifs of The Book of Dede Korkut: The Artistic Function of Semantic Contrasts
Aynur Mammadova 
Abstract. The article examines contextual and textual-poetic antonymy in The Book of Dede Korkut and in modern literary works created on the basis of its motifs. The main purpose of the study is to determine how words, concepts, and situations that are not lexical antonyms acquire opposite semantic values within a particular poetic context and to reveal the artistic and aesthetic functions of such contrasts. The research material consists of selected examples from The Book of Dede Korkut, Anar’s Dede Korkut, and Sahand’s The Word of My Saz. Contextual, semantic, comparative, and stylistic methods of analysis are applied. The analysis demonstrates that antonymic relations in works based on the Dede Korkut tradition are not limited to conventional lexical antonyms. In such oppositions as two–one, individual–army, and home–grave, semantic contrast emerges from the specific textual situation rather than from the dictionary meanings of the words. The opposition “physically alive–spiritually dead / physically dead–spiritually alive” associated with Beyrek further shows that textual-poetic antonymy may extend beyond individual words and operate at the level of entire situations and semantic fields. Transitions from one semantic pole to another also intensify emotional and expressive impact. Thus, contextual and textual-poetic antonymy functions as an important stylistic device contributing to imagery, psychological tension, and poetic expressiveness.
Keywords: The Book of Dede Korkut, antonymy, contextual antonym, textual-poetic antonymy, semantic contrast, antithesis, literary style