Kinds of Meaning in Classical Arabic from More Recent Denotational Theory Perspectives
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e-Journal of Linguistics
Available online at https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/eol/index
Vol. 15, No. 1, January 2021, pages: 126-154
Print ISSN: 2541-5514 Online ISSN: 2442-7586
https://doi.org/10.24843/e-jl.2021.v15.i01.p15
Kinds of Meaning in Classical Arabic from More Recent Denotational Theory Perspectives
SAMEE AL HEEH
Department of Applied English, Palestine Ahliya University, Bethlehem E-mail: [email protected]
Article info
Received Date: 4 December 2020
Accepted Date: 4 December 2020
Published Date:31 January 2021
Keywords:*
Semantics, Kinds of Meaning, Recent Denotational Theories, Morphemes vs. Lexemes, Lexical and Syntactic Meaning, Classical Arabic.
Abstract*
This paper explores the extent to which meaning is conveyed in Classical Arabic. It aims to quantify as well as qualify the various kinds of meaning and the techniques used to advance them on the linguistic various levels. From a semantic perspective, it first categorizes kinds of meaning according to denotation and connotations satisfied by paraphrasing and definition and to 'sense' perceived by ostensive, i.e. sensory, definition. Second, it examines the syntactic meaning achieved by composition, addition, and (inclusively but exceptionally by) Arabic sentence-pattern switching and phoneme clipping on the structural level. Then, it advances lexical meaning expressed by synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, meronyms, polysemous words, and family resemblances. Finally, it presents the categorematic word that can carry full meaning and the syncategorematic one which can only modify meaning. In both types, morphemes are isolated and allomorphs are exemplified. The paper quotes from the Holy Script of Islam, the Noble Quran, for its linguistic preciseness and conciseness.
In modern denotational theories, linguists cannot agree on a specific definition for the term meaning. They argue that 'meaning' is a misleading term. Meaning as well as 'sense' is nonlinguistic. It resides somewhere in our heads. According to 'the speech-act theory' (SAT), saying something entails three processes: 'Locution, illocution, and per-locution' (Hurford, 232-267). Locution refers to the process of saying words. It is a pure linguistic process, and it depends mainly on the speaker. Illocution denotes the meaning intended or loaded by the speaker and perceived by the listener or listeners. Per-locution stands for the procedure to be taken by the listener. For example, the preformulated pair "Good morning!" "Good morning!" clearly mirrors both processes of locution and per-locution, but does not mirror the meaning loaded by the speaker who means to express his greetings to another colleague. This helps explain why the whole process of both loading and interpreting meaning is referred to as an illocution, i.e. no-linguistic, process
Both terms of 'meaning' and 'sense' are rather confusing as they are used interchangeably by people. The term 'meaning' refers to what is 'intended' to be, or is actually, expressed or indicated Palmer 1-15). The term 'sense' also refers to the meaning of a word or phrase in a specific context or as a word isolated in a dictionary or glossary.
It is the semantic element in a word or group of words. For example, the expression "It makes sense" means that the hearer grasps a full understanding of what he or she is listening to. However, the term 'means' in "Red means stop!" for instance, does not refer to the semantic element of the words 'red' and 'stop'. It must stand for what the whole expression is intended for a 'driver', for example, to mean. The selection of the colour red possibly creates the 'sense of danger' if the driver does not stop at a traffic light which indicates that colour. An EFL teacher should also ask his students what the Arabic for 'cat', for instance, is. He should not ask what cat 'means' in Arabic.
From a semantic perspective, sense and meaning are related to meaning aboutness or nearness. This means that the synonyms which have quite identical or symmetrical meaning are rare in natural language. For example, the terms 'bathroom', 'toilet', and 'lavatory' refer to the same room, though each is perceived differently by people. Besides, words are usually defined by other words that help convey meaning. For example, the words 'dove' and 'pigeon' are defined as a 'bird'. This definition helps us assign a certain meaning for birds as relatively small, peaceful animals with feathers and wings that can fly. This stereotypical image, however, changes radically once we talk about other birds such as 'eagles', 'turkeys' or 'penguins'. This example shows that the definitions that good dictionaries' usually give for words are related to 'meaning aboutness'. It is also characterized by 'circulation' that helps create some general understanding about the target words (Hurford, 177-186). Indeed, 'the semantic value' of any word (SVal) means that word itself (Hurford, 187-197). Therefore, the [SVal (pigeon)=pigeon] interpreted as the semantic value of PIGEON equals pigeon'.
Linguists identified 'six kinds of meaning' (Kearns:1-24). They include namely denotation and sense, syntactic and lexical meaning, and categorematic and syncategorematic expressions. Each dichotomy uses certain techniques to achieve meaning. Denotation applies both paraphrasing and definition. Sense exploits our senses to convey meaning. Linguistically, meaning is best realized by images, real and educational objects, tables, graphs, and models. Syntactic meaning is attained by both addition and composition. Lexical meaning is negotiated by synonyms, antonyms, meronyms, hyponyms, metonyms, polysemous words, and family resembling words. Needless to say that, anonyms can be complementary, such as 'open' and 'closed' and non-complementary or gradable, as 'hot' and 'cold'. Categorematic words, i.e. words that carry meaning, promotes full meaning. Finally, syncategorematic words can only cause some modification on meaning.
Locally, educational policymakers as well as instructors of Arabic language are likely to focus on certain kinds of meaning. Among these, lexical meaning, namely synonyms and antonyms, is presented repeatedly in official schooling textbooks from earlier stages to very advanced ones. Other kinds of lexical meaning, such as meronyms and hyponyms, are presented less. Denotation is officially presented as an opposite where the syntactic properties of both the noun phrase (NP) and its opposite are highly covered. However, paraphrasing and definition are probably not referred to as some techniques that facilitate meaning. Sense, i.e. meaning that aims at not telling but
showing, is processed (to some extent) in a literary context as a potential figure of speech. Categorematic and syncategorematic meanings are unlikely in Arabic syllabi.
As semantics is a universal branch of science, this small-scale study analytically investigates kinds of meaning in Arabic. It explores the extent to which Arabic language manipulates the various kinds of meaning. It also aims to identify the techniques used to further each kind. As it attempts to quantify as well as qualify kinds of meaning, the paper sometimes exploits certain disciplines in semantics, such as meaning relations, truth values, meaning postulates and first order logic. Unconventionally, this paper examines kinds of meaning from a pure semantic point of view as well as from other more integrative perspectives on the morphological, structural and functional levels. The paper will subcategorize the kinds and their techniques into six main parts. It also aims to unearth any Arabic exclusive techniques. For its precision and concision, this paper quotes from the Holy Script of Islam (available at www.quran.com).Transliterations will also be provided for the nonnative speakers of Arabic. Consequently, the study addresses the following questions:
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1. What kinds of meaning does Classical Arabic tend to select and use in various contexts?
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2. How does Classical Arabic convey certain meanings by using certain types of meaning?
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3. How can meaning relations and postulates, truth values and first order logic affect the selection of one particular kind of meaning in classical Arabic?
Al-Qtaibi and Khan (2017) minded sentiment analysis challenges of informal Arabic in social media. They claimed that there was a large number of social network users to share various kinds of resources, express their opinions, thoughts, and messages synchronously. Such Arab users had already increased the amount of electronic content. The researchers also added that sentiment analysis became a very interesting topic in research community. They also warned that more attention to Arabic sentiment analysis had to be given by researchers. Therefore, they discussed the challenges and obstacles when analyze the sentiment analysis of informal Arabic in the social media programmes. They found that most of recent research sentiment analysis was conducted for and in English text. However, when the research work related to Arabic sentiment analysis, researchers often concentrated on formal Arabic, though most of social media networks used the informal Arabic, i.e. colloquial vernaculars. The scholars investigated these problems and the challenges to identify sentiment and meaning in informal Arabic language which was mostly used when users expressed their opinions and feelings in context of twitter and YouTube Arabic content.
Hasan et. al (2011) argued that most works in cognitive semantics had been focusing on the manner, in which an individual was behaving –as if it were the mind, brain, or even computers processing the various kinds of information. They claimed that social life might be richly cultured. Cultural and social acts were made possible by cognitive studies, as they could provide specific inputs to cognitive processes. In their study, the researchers focused on the use of colors as a term in both the Arabic and
English culture. They assumed that one color may imply different meanings at the same place, and this could make one ponder on how colors were realized in cross cultural diversity. In relevance, they found that three different meanings could be identified -basic meaning, extended meaning and additional meaning. ‘Basic meaning’ often referred to the original meaning of the colour term. The ‘extended meaning’ referred to the meaning extended from the original meaning throughout human experience. However, the ‘additional meaning’ always referred to the meaning which had been further abstracted from the extended meaning.
Gutzmann and Stei (2011) studied quotation marks and kinds of meaning. The researchers conducted a systematic investigation into the question of what specific kind of meaning quotation marks contributed to the overall meaning of one specific utterance. In regard to the various kind of meaning, they considered literal meaning, presupposition, conversational implicatures, and conventional implicatures. They claimed that the notion of conversational implicatures looked to be the most promising alternative, so they displayed arguments in favour of a pragmatic analysis of quotation marks. As any approach based totally on conversational implicatures might encounter some problems when taking direct and pure quotations into account, namely effects on grammaticality and on truth values conditions, the researchers suggested acceptable solutions to these criticisms. The scholars considered finally examined how a radical pragmatic account of quotation could be integrated into a Neo-Gricean architecture of the semantics/pragmatics-interface.
Hall and Waxman (1993) conducted two experiments in which three‐year‐old children interpreted a novel count noun (e.g., “This is a murvil”) applied to an unfamiliar stuffed animal as referring to a basic‐level kind, rather than to a kind that individuates its members by type of situation, i.e. context or life‐phase. Kids made their interpretations akin to ‘person’, i.e. a basic‐level kind rather than ‘passenger’, i.e. a context‐restricted kind, and DOG or a basic‐level kind rather than ‘puppy’ or a life‐phase‐restricted kind. Both experiments also record the role of object familiarity, i.e. the prior knowledge of a basic‐level count noun for the animal, and explicit information related to the animal's situation in the learning of count nouns for situation‐restricted kinds. The researchers observed that children readily learned the meanings of basic‐level count nouns through ostensive definitions (e.g., “This is an X”), although ostensive definitions did not make a distinct between basic‐level kinds and situation‐restricted kinds. As a result, they suggested that children made an implicit assumption that a count noun applied to an unfamiliar solid object referred to a basic‐level kind of object, and not to a kind that individuates its members by type of situation. They illustrated the importance of this assumption by showing how it bore directly on individuation, and therefore, on quantification (e.g., counting).
Methodologically, the study benefits from both corpus linguistics (CL) and discourse analysis (DA). To benefit from corpora (plural of corpus) i.e. large bodies of texts, the paper first concordances the Holy Script of Islam for 'key words in context' (KWIC) (Beatty, 57-61). These will include certain quotes collected as data for more analyses. Then the paper makes use of DA to reveal the linguistic features of the texts
under investigation. As the paper underlies pure linguistics as an approach, 'systemic functional linguistics' (SFL) is expected to leak a lot about the grammatical functions of the structures under study (Schmitt, 92-111). As the paper aims at quantifying kinds of meaning, it applies an integrative approach to qualify kinds, values and relations of meaning. The syntactic properties are also supposed to be calculated and acknowledged.
The paper highlights to a great extent pure linguistics as an approach to study linguistic phenomena, though it stresses the importance of the 'social factors'. From a sociolinguistic as well as a pragmalinguistic perspective, language has to be examined within a 'social context' (Holmes, 1-13). The 'participants', i.e. the speaker and the listener or listeners, their age, their roles, status, and relation will certainly affect people's use of language. They also affect the style used. Language styles vary a lot; they can be casual, formal, intimate or even frozen. The 'message content', that is how beneficial the message to both the speaker and the hearer, has a big impact on language selection. The 'communicative activity', a job interview or a complaint, for instance, has a considerable impact on the language choice, as it develops certain norms, such as the right to talk and ask questions, to structure discourse, and to determine the mood of the talk (Schmitt, 74-91).
In this section, two kinds of meaning are referred to and discussed: Denotation and sense. In the former, satisfying meaning by both paraphrasing and defining is listed and discussed. In the latter, conveying meaning by ostensive definition is finally explained.
Denotation is a semantic term that refers to 'the meaning of a word or a phrase' (www.meriam.com). The word often has one literal denotation but has several different connotations. Connotation refers to the quality or idea that a word makes you think about in addition to its meaning. A word can have either negative or positive connotations. For many people, the word 'fat', for instance, has negative connotations. The word 'childlike' also has positive connotations of 'innocence'. Word connotations may be the same in every culture. For example, the word 'pigeon' has the positive connotations of 'peacefulness'. Some words have different connotations among people. For example, the word 'pig' has the negative connotations of 'obstinate' or 'stubbornness' for a native speaker of English whereas the same word has those of 'dirtiness' or 'filthiness' for a native speaker of Arabic.
Denotation is usually carried out by paraphrasing or definition. A paraphrase is a restatement, i.e. a statement that says something that someone or someone else has said or written in another way. Paraphrasing subsumes saying something in other words that help clarify meaning. In quote A1 below, the phrase [as-sira:ta almustaqi:ma] meaning (the straight path) is paraphrased by [sira:ta alathi:na an'amTa 'alayyhim] meaning (the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor), by [ghayiri
Quoted [ihdiNa as-sira:ta al-mustaq:ma® sira:ta alathi:na an'amTa alayim ghayiri alιnag-hdu:bi alyhim wa-la: ad-da:lli:na®] Al-Fatihah 1:6-7
[Guide us to the Streiight path® - The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray®.]
almaghdu:bi 'alyhim] meaning (not those who have evoked Your anger), and by [wa-la: ad-da:lli:na] meaning (or those who got astray).
As the word 'path' denotes, i.e. means, one specific thing, it is qualified by [al-mustaqi:ma] meaning (the straight) to create the connotations of 'straightness'. The phrases that restate the head word (HW), PATH, also use either positive words such as 'bestowed favor' or negative phrases such as 'provoked anger' or 'astray'. Not only is the denotation of 'the path' paraphrased, but the negative and positive connotations of this HW are also satisfied properly. From a semantic perspective, a world can be possible, real, virtual, perfect and potentially virtual. In any possible world (there are many), a 'way' can be either straight or not straight. Whatever the 'path' is, people in general tend to prefer straight paths. In the real word -reality resides in our heads, a straight 'path' or 'line' is characterized by 'brevity' in both time and space. In a perfect world -where obedience is highly recommended, guidance is necessarily required. Controversially, lack of guidance in an imperfect world leads people to get astray. This may help explain why the directive quote begins with 'Guide' proceeds to 'the straight path' and ends in 'astray' (see quote A1).
Denotations may also take place at the topic level. In the relatively modern European paragraph, the topic sentence must be controlled, i.e. paraphrased by some ideas. Similarly, the essay, which is developed by Francis Bacon in the 19th century, has to be introduced by a thesis statement in the introductory paragraph. The thesis statement should also be controlled by some aspects ranging from three to four ones. This criterion is identified to meet linearity and to avoid parallelizing, i.e. repeating, ideas twice or more when writing. In this sense, the HW word that denotes meaning is best referred to as a topical word. The other words that paraphrase the HW should be referred to as thesis or content words. The topical word has a carrier content to show whereas its restating words have a real content to reflect. Indeed, lexemes, i.e. words in context give a lot to as well as benefit from the context. Once de-contextualized, words whether head or paraphrasing ones are almost dead. This helps explain why the internal paraphrasing or the external interpretation of words from one natural language to another is a tough mission.
In quote A2, the HW ['azwajan] meaning (kinds or groups) is used on the thesis level. It follows a few verses that introduce the topic of a Quranic episode describing 'The Day of Resurrection'. The HW is identified by 'three' groups of people. Then, it is paraphrased by the companions of the 'right', the companions of the 'left', and 'the forerunners'. These paraphrasing words 'companions' (repeated twice) and 'runners' convey the number assigned by the HW. The other words namely 'right', 'left' and 'fore' create the positive, negative, and very positive connotations. Historically, the native speaker of Arabic dwelling in Arabia has a positive feeling of what comes from or lies to the right. In turn, the same speaker relatively has a less positive (up to a very negative) feeling of what comes from the 'left'. The word 'fore' creates a very positive feeling, as it converts the whole process of competition from just 'running' into 'winning'. The following verses discuss those groups. Surprisingly, the descriptive Quranic episode headed by the thesis presented in quote A2 is very linear. It meets the general criteria identified for constructing a modern essay. The episode is characterized by unity of
topic. It also has a clear format where an introduction, three body paragraphs and a brief summative conclusion are all used.
Quoted [wa kuntum 'azwa:jan thalathata® fa- as-ha:bu al-maymanti ma: as-habu al-maymanti® wa as-habi al-mash'amati ma: as-habi al-mashamti® wa-asa:biqu:na al-sa:biqu:na®] Al-waqi'ah 56:7-10
[And you become [of] three kinds:® Then the companions of the right - what are the companions of the right?® And the companions of the left - what are the compamons of the left?® And the forerunners, the forerunners -®]
Denotation can also be accomplished by definition. Definition refers to the process of explaining the meaning of a word or a phrase. It is a statement that defines or describes a certain word or expression. Description is the quality that makes it possible to see the shape, outline, and detail of something clearly. Definition is pivotal for some technical terms that can be seen differently by people. For example, the term 'beauty' can be defined as 'Anything that raises the spirits' or as the Shakespearean's 'In the eye of the beholder'. Both definitions describe what beauty is. The former makes us shape 'beauty' whereas the later helps us outline it. The later lets the door open widely for more personal details to be added or other possible meanings to be negotiated. Like paraphrasing, definition attempts to say a word in other words. Unlike paraphrasing, definition struggles for new words or a confusing one to qualify.
In quote A3, the HW [tasni:m] is a proper name. It is defined as a 'spring' of water. At the beginning of Islam, an Arab was not familiar with this new but divine word. Therefore, the Holy Script tends to define it for the hearers. It also tends to quantify it with 'whereof drink those nearest to Allah'. The word 'spring' aims to denote or tell what [tasni:m] is. The other words are meant to create a positive feeling about that spring. A native speaker of Arabic would perceive [Tasni:m] as a positive, feminine word. This also helps explain why the same word is picked as a desirable proper name for females in the Arab and possibly in the Islamic worlds. Needless to say that, most words in Arabic reflect for gender. The Arabic counterpart for 'spring' is feminine.
Quotel-v3I [wa-miza:juhu min tasni:m® 'aynan yashrabu biha: al-muqarrabu:na®] Al-Muttafifrna 83:28-29
[It (that wine) will be mixed with Tasnim ® A spring whereof drink those nearest to Allah]
Quote A4 also presents a clear definition. The word [khunnas] is technically used to refer to a certain type of stars. The Arabic equivalent for 'stars' is [an-nuju:umu]. This word has been used many times throughout the Holy Script of Islam. In Arabia, people were very familiar with the term 'stars'. However, the new technical term is derived from [khanasa] roughly glossed as (he was silent) in modern English. This word is used to refer to a specific type of silent (as the Arabic root suggests) stars. Novelty and specificity subsume more clarifications to grasp a full meaning. The words used to
define 'the silent stars' under presentation to a native speaker for the first time come as [jawa:ri:] and [kunnas] respectively. The former is derived from the tri-literal root [jara:] meaning (he ran away); the later comes from [kanasa] meaning (he swept or mobbed something). Regardless of the English interpretation given below, the HW suggests that the stars under fresh presentation are characterized by the semantic features of total muteness, full locomotion and excessive elimination.
Quoted [fa'la: uksimu bil-khunnas® al-jawa:ri: il-kunnas] At-Takwir 81: 15-16 [So I swear by the retreating stars-® Those that run [their courses] and disappear-®]
To proceed, sense can also refer to the meaning conveyed or intended. It is 'one of a set of meanings a word or a phrase may bear in mind or in a dictionary'. As a kind of meaning, it refers to the process of perceiving something by senses, becoming aware of, grasping the meaning of, or understanding that thing. If the colour 'red' is defined as 'as any of various colors resembling the colour of blood', then the phrase 'resembling the colour of blood' helps us grasp the meaning of 'red'. Similarly, when the word 'sour' is defined as 'having an acid taste, resembling that of vinegar, lemon juice, etc', the 'taste of lemon juice' makes us understand the sense of 'sour' (www.dictionary.com).
In quote B1, the predicate [BE the LIGHT of HEAVENS and the EARTH] tells big news about the argument, Allah. The semantic feature of the word 'light' is that of concreteness. The denotations of the words 'heavens' and 'earth' are also very wide. A good speaker of Arabic may find it difficult to grasp a full understanding of the verse because the words do not show. They simply tell a lot. The words that follow attempt to materialize 'light' into 'a lamp' as well as to narrow the meaning of 'the heavens' and 'the earth' into a niche. This change on meaning enables the reader to perceive what is said about Allah by his own sight. The Semitic word [mathalu] meaning (like or as) is very frequent in the Holy Script of Islam. It is used to introduce some similes that help understand abstract words and ideas.
Quotel181I [Allahu nu:ru as-sama:wati wa-alardi mathalu nuriHi kamishka:tin fi:ha: misba:hun..] An-Nur 24:35.
[Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; a likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp..]
Quote B2 also introduces the notions of spending money to be seen by other people and disbelieving in Allah and the Last Day. Unlike a concept which suggests a full understanding of an idea, the notion refers to the way of understanding that thing. For example, one may say 'That is your notion of friendship. Not mine'. He or she means that 'this is the way you understand friendship'. Similarly, the quote comments on the way some people perceive alms and faith. Their way is not different from 'a smooth stone upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare'. The words used in the conceit, i.e. long metaphor, are tangible. They help us become aware of the uselessness of spending money only for the sake of ourselves.
QuoteI82I [..ka-alathi: yunfiqu ma:lahu ri'a:' an-na:si wa-la: yu'minu bi-Allalu wa-alyumi al-'akhrι fa-mathaluhu ka-mathli safwanin lalayhi tura:bun fa-asa:bahu wa:bilun fa-tarakahu saldan..] Al-Bakarah 2:264
[..as does one who spends his wealth [only] to be seen by the people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day. His example is like that of a [large] smooth stone upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare..]
Meaning can also be achieved on the syntactic, i.e. structural, level. A sentence is identified as a unit of language that carries full meaning. Blocks of comprehensible meaning can be added to one another either by composition or by addition. Composition refers to a piece of writing in which certain elements or parts are put together or rearranged to build a longer or more complex piece. For example, a native speaker may say "The cat that chased the dog killed the mouse". Another may say "The dog that chased the cat killed the mouse". A furious son may also say "That was the nurse who did not allow me to open the door that I was opening so quietly to see my father who was having an operation to remove a big stone that stood still in his bladder."
Composition allows ideas to stream naturally. Quote C1 presents a full image where the word [misba:hu] meaning (lamp) triggers [zuja:jah] meaning (glass) which resembles the [kawkabun duriyyun] meaning (a glowing star) lit by some [zayyut] meaning (oil) taken from [zayytu:nah] meanig (olive tree) coming from neither the east nor the west. For a modern comprehender of Arabic, the technique used here sounds sweet because of the positive connotations of the words used. Indeed, for an illiterate speaker of Arabic, this technique is very responsive as it facilitates prediction of what comes next. At the early stages of Islam, the vast majority of people -including Muhammad, the Prophet- were illiterate. They used to memorize the Quranic verses by heart.
QuoteIciI [..al-misba:hu fi: zuja:jatin az-zuja:jatu ka'annaha: kawkabun duriyyun yu:qadu min shajaratin muba:rakatin zawtu:natm la: sharqiyyatin wa-la: gharbιyyatιn yaka:du zayytuha: yudi:'u wa-law lam tamsashu narun..] An-Xur 24:35
[..the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire.]
In modern languages, composition usually takes place by using relative pronouns. Relative clauses can be either defining or non-defining. Only is the defining relative clause pivotal to meaning. For example, the English sentence "The workers who went on the strike were dismissed" subsumes that 'only the workers who participated in the strike were fired'. The same sentence can be written as "The workers, who went on the strike, were dismissed". The reader would assume that the isolated relative clause is not
essential, so he will contend that 'all the workers were given the sack because they all went on the strike'. On the syntactic level, the relative pronoun, such as 'who' or 'that' for instance, can also be deleted if it does not have any grammatical or functional content. Stylistically, the native speaker of English may remark that "The food (that) we had at the Chinese restaurant and that we paid a fortune for was too hot to be edible". Note that the bracketed 'that' is an optional element in the first mention, but it is an obligatory one for the second.
Pragmatics is concerned with 'the study of meaning that linguistic expressions receive' (Schmitt, 74-91). One task of pragmatics is to explain how participants in a dialogue move from decontextualized meanings of the words and phrases to a full grasp of their meanings in context. Pragmatics involves four processes including the assignment of reference in texts or speeches, the assignment of sense, i.e. meaning, in the context, the interpretation of the illocutionary force, i.e. the purpose of the talk or the argument, and finally the interpretation of the implicated meaning. Absent any process, people usually misunderstand each other.
Quotelc2I ['a'antum ashaddu khalqan ami as-sa:ma'u bana:ha:® rafa'a samkha: fa-sawwaha:® wa-'aghtasha Iaylaha: wa-akhraja duhaha:®] An-Nazi'at 79:27-29
[Are you more difficult to create, or is the heaven that He constructed?® He reused its height, and He has equally ordered it,® And He darkened its night and extracted its brightness.®]
Quote C2 exemplifies for a pragmatic composition carried out by an interrogative and some relative clauses. Unlike English, the relative pronoun ['alati:] roughly glossed as (that) or (which) in English is an optional element in all the clauses. As the relative pronoun reflects for number and gender, the Arabic ['alathi:] and ['alati:] can be both characterized as singular but masculine and feminine ones, respectively. In the quote, the relative pronoun ['alati] is deleted as the personal pronoun [ha:] meaning (it) is assigned in all the clauses as a reference to the noun phrase [as-sama:u] meaning (the sky). The meaning is also assigned for both 'the creation of mankind' and 'the construction of the sky'. The purpose of the verses sounds persuasive. It aims at convincing people that one of the arguments is much more difficult than the other. The meaning implicated can be interpreted as the 'construction of the sky' is rather tougher than 'the creation of man'.
Besides composition, syntactic meaning can also be advanced by addition. In standardized Arabic, pure coordination is often carried out by [wa-], [la:kinna] and [aw] meaning (and), (but) and (or), respectively. Because of its frequent use for random addition, the bound morpheme [wa-] can also be assigned as a template for both [thumma] and [fa-] which are both roughly glossed as (and next) and (then immediately next), respectively. The less frequent and atrophic [bal] meaning (rather) or (nay) can also be used as a disjunction. It is used either to correct a previous idea or to argue for an opposite one.
Quote C3 clearly shows the process of creating mankind. This creation or rather composition is displayed in some stages where each stage is linked to the other by [thumma]. Unlike their counterparts [wa-] and [fa-] which both maintain random and immediate addition, respectively, the Arabic free morpheme [thumma] always confirms a few events or stages in a sequence of events each of which takes some time before stepping to the next. Therefore, the stages are sequentially successive. The first stage refers to creating man from dust. This initial stage was so quick and immediate due to the use of [-fa]. The later stage including those of the sperm, clinging clot, formed and unformed lump of flesh, child and adult are subsequent. The initial stage looks very
QuoteIc3I [..fa-inna: khalaqna:kum min tura:bin thumma min nutfatin thumma min 'alaqatin thumma min mudghatin mukhallaqatin wa-ghaιyri mukhalaqatin.. thumma nukhrijukum tiflan thumma Iitablughu: ashuddakum ..] Al-Haj 22:5
[We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed., then We bring you out as a child, and then (We develop you) that you may reach your (time of) maturity...]
materialistic as it comes from dust; the later sounds temporal as the following stage is conditioned in time (and probably in space) by the stage that comes before. The verb phrases (VPs) used in quote C3 also vary. The VP [khalaqa] meaning (He created) entails processing. The VPs [akhraja] meaning (He brought out) and [balagha] meaning (he reached) are, however, locomotion. They both postulate development.
Quote C4 also exemplifies for the syntactic meaning accomplished by addition. It is similar to a situation where certain events are likely. It lists the cases in which a prayer can use clean earth if water is not available. The urgent situation, i.e. using soil, is conditioned by lack or rather absence of water. Therefore the situation is exclusive as it is conditioned to lack of water. This helps explain the use of [wa-inn] glossed as (and if or only if) at the beginning of the proposition quote. The cases are rather inclusive. This means that only if one (inclusively) or more (but not necessarily) of the events is present, then using dust is very likely soon. This helps explain why [aw] meaning (or) is used to mirror the inclusive excuses of 'being ill', 'being on journey', 'coming from the toilet', or 'having sex' to use dust sooner if water is not available. Immediateness is highlighted by [fa-] meaning (then soon).
Quotelc4J [..wa-inn kuntum marda: aw 'la: safarin aw ja a ahadun minkum min al-gha:'iti aw la:mastumu an-nisa'a wa-lam tajidu: ma: an fa-tayamamu: sa i:dan tayyban.] An-Nisa:' 4:43
[..And if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth..]
Quote C5 also models for constructing meaning by addition on the structural level. The verse consists of two sentences. The former is a narrative. It begins with the reporting verb [wa-ka:lu:] meaning 'and they said'. The latter is a directive. It also starts with [qul bal] meaning [Say,"Nay or Rather"]. The narrative statement uses [aw] meaning (or).
This linking word highlights an exclusive meaning that can be interpreted as "Be either Jews or Christians" to be guided. As the propositional reporting sentence excludes other potential groups of people, such as Muhammad's companions, the consequent, i.e. the directive statement, accelerates [bal] meaning (rather) for more correction of what comes before or [bal] meaning (nay) for a full refusal of what has been said before. As it suggests that Muhammad should follow the religion of Abraham, i.e. the source of the other divine religions, the linking word does not entail a full refusal of what has been said. It is best referred to as a correction marker similar to 'rather' in modern English.
QuoteIc5I [wa-qalu: ku:nu: Hu:dan aw Nasa:ra: tahtadu: qul bal milata Ibra:hi:ma hani:fan..] Al-Baqarah 2:135
[They say, "Be Jews or Christians [so] you will be guided." Say, "Rather, [we follow] the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth,..]
Besides composition and addition, syntactic meaning might also be approached by sentence pattern switching. Grammatically, Arabic allows for certain patterns including VSO, VOS and OVS to be used. In quote C6, the whole pattern is shifted from an OVS to a VSO pattern. The VP [taqtulu:n) meaning (you kill) negotiates the argument (fari:q) meaning (a party or a group of enemy). Linguistic selectional distributions in Arabic enable us to place the object even if it is a collective noun phrase such as 'party' before the VP 'kill'. This makes sense as the 'enemy' was already 'a party' before they were 'killed' in a fight. However, such distribution does not logically make sense when a VP such as [ta'siru:n] meaning (you arrest) is used. This means that they are a 'party of prisoners' only after you 'arrested' them'. The difference in meaning relations, whether a before or an after one, between the main verb and its object argument has accelerated such a shift from one pattern to another in order to meet the semantic burdens of logic. Pattern switching is very likely to be exclusive to Arabic syntax.
Quoted [_.fari:qan taqtulu:na wa-ta'siru:na fari:qan] Al-Ahzab 33:26 [a parts' you killed, arid you took captive a party.]
In a very unique post lexical, but syntactic process, meaning is also satisfied by clipping. In Arabic, the VP [istata:'a] meaning (he was able to) is used to express ability. Such a VPcan be used to express both cognitive and physical ability. As abilities vary from one person to another, the VP should model and mirror such a variance. For example, the VP 'be able' and 'can' can be both used to express ability in English. The former negotiates some tough abilities resulted from good training or long practice as in "I was able to drive my father's truck". The later models the abilities that do not require paying big effort or that just occur naturally as in "I can drive" and "I can smell the food burning", respectively. Quote C7, the VP [ma: 'istata:'u:] roughly glossed as 'they were not able to' is used twice to model ability. In the first reference, the VP negotiates the argument of 'Climbing the Wall'. In the second, it negotiates for 'piercing that Wall'. As the later sounds tougher, the word-formation rules respond to meet such a variance the
semantic factor urges. As any linguistic change should appear finally on the phonological level, the phoneme /t/ is clipped from the VP that models 'climbing'. Clipping is a pragmatic idea that highlights the logical rule that reads: The more morphemes are used, the more meanings are given; the less, the less. A morpheme is defined as the smallest unit of language that carries meaning (see the annotated <-> phoneme in quote C7).
QuoteIc7I [fa-ma: ista<->'u: 'an yathharuhu: wa-ma: ista<ta>:'u: Iahu naqban] Al-Kahf 18:97
[So Gog and Magog were unable to pass over it, nor were they able [to effect] in it anv penetration].
On the discourse level, lexical meaning can be achieved by providing certain lexemes, i.e. contextualized words that carry similar meaning. Words carrying similar meaning are usually referred to as synonyms. The words that carry exact meaning are very rare in natural language. Indeed, the semantic factors constrain or rather block the morphological rules that allow for deriving two morphemes that carry one full meaning. For example, the morpheme 'stealer' is totally blocked in English due to the availability of another morpheme carrying the same meaning, namely 'thief'. However, the semantic factors are a bit flexible if there is a need for deriving another morpheme if a minor difference in meaning is registered. In English, the term 'guest' has already constrained the term 'comer', for instance. The word 'guest' has positive connotations. Everyone welcomes his guests. However, if someone knocks your door at midnight, then he is certainly not a welcomed one. He is just 'a midnight comer'.
In Classical (also known as Standardized) Arabic, words that have identical meaning are also rare. However, the phono-morphological rules are responsive if a slice difference in meaning is spotted. For example, the word [khalaf] meaning (successors) has a positive meaning. Once the connotations of the word are rather negative, the phonological rules allow for [khalf] glossed as (poor successors). The two terms are perceived as "who comes next" and "who or what is left behind". Palestinian local farmers refer to the 'dried, small olives' as [khilf]. As such 'olives; are useless, they are left behind on trees. Sometimes, the morphological rules are also responsive for some cultural reasons. In Arabia, people used to welcome their guests for some time. Hosts would 'go out to prepare banquets'. They had to trench for some good excuses to go out. This polite cultural act urged the derivation of [ra:gha] meaning (he went out stealthily) from [ra:ha] meaning (he just went out). Morphologically, the prosodic, melodic tier identified musically as [aaa] for the past tense root also changes when there is some change in meaning on the state of mind or in the mood. For example, the melodic tier for ['akala] meaning (he ate) reads as [aaa] whereas it modifies itself to [aia] for [shabi'a] meaning (he had enough food) or [ghadiba] meaning (he got angry).
In quote D1, meaning is achieved by providing two synonyms. They are namely [nasab] meaning (fatigue) and [lughu:b] meaning (weariness). The former probably refers to 'the state of being very tired or extreme weariness' due to hard work. The later denotes 'lacking strength, energy, or freshness because of a need for rest or sleep'. It also
implicates being 'bored or annoyed' by something because you have seen it, heard it and done it many times or for a long time' (www.merriam.com). Content words, such adjectives and nouns, can be base or strong. The base word usually carries a general but gradable sense whereas the strong word carries an extreme meaning. In general, both terms express a state or an extreme state of [ta'ab] meaning (tiredness). As the verse negotiates two probable states of exhaustion, it sustains the perceptive predicate [yamass] meaning (it touches).
QuotetoiI [.. Ia yamassuna: fi:ha nasabun wa-la: yamassuna: fi:ha Iughurbun] Fatir 35:35
[There touches us not in it any fatigue, and there touches us not in it weariness [of mind].
Though taken from two different episodes, quotes D2 and D3 describe one occasion on which the messengers of God had already visited Abraham. In both verses Abraham welcomes his guest by bringing them a calf. In quote D2, the term [sami:n] meaning 'fat' is used to describe the calf he served for his guests. The term [hani:th] also roughly glossed as 'fat' is, however, used in quote D3. From a sociolinguistic perspective, the selection of words is determined by three factors including 'the participants, the linguistic activity, the context, i.e. the purpose of the talk' (Schmitt, 83-84). Checking the context, it has been found that the term [sami:n] is used to describe the calf served for the participants, i.e. God's messengers sooner after their arrival, on one hand. On the other, the term [hani:th] is used to welcome the guests a bit later after bringing Abraham some good news of having a kid though he is very old. As there is a shift in the context, the linguistic activity should response to meet the emerging state of mind of the participants. The morpheme [an] which is traditionally referred to as an 'extra' one is probably used in quote D3 to show that Abraham took some time to pick up the best calf. If so, then that calf was 'meaty', 'sturdy' and 'very fat'. Logically, beef is served cooked, so the sense 'roasted' is unlikely.
Quotef°2l [..fa-ja:'a bi’jlin sami:nin] Ad-Dhariyat 51:26
[..Then he went to his family and came with a fat [roasted] calf]
Quoted [..fa-ma: Iabitha an j a:a bi’jlin haniithin] Hud 11:69 [..and did not delay in bringing [them] a roasted calf.]
More frequently, lexical meaning is conveyed by providing an opposite. Linguistically, the word that carries an opposite meaning is referred to as an antonym. Logically, antonyms can be either complementary or non-complementary. Complementary antonyms can also be sub-classified into binary and temporal ones. Complementaries, whether binary or temporal, usually entail some contradiction on the logical level. For example, the words 'inside' and 'outside' are binary, i.e. they come as a pair. If A is 'inside' B, then B is 'outside' A. This also entails that A is not 'outside' B. Contradiction is a logical term that entails the proposition and not the proposition
[p& ≈p]. The temporal complementary antonym is similar except for the time factor. If X is 'dead', then X was once 'alive'. And if the door is 'open', then it is not 'closed'. The door cannot be 'open' and 'close' at the same time. This entails that if the door is 'open', then it was once 'open'. This helps explain why we laugh when someone says that 'The door is neither open nor closed', as the statement mirrors a contradiction on the logical level.
In traditional Arabic, binary complementary antonyms may include [qabl] and [ba'ad] meaning (before) and (after), [yami:n] and [shima:l] meaning (right) and (left) and [mashriq] and [maghrib] meaning (east) and (west), respectively. Quotes D4 to D6 exemplify for lexical meaning carried out by binary complementary opposites. In quotes D4 and D5, the binary complementaries [qabl] and [ba'ad] are used to parallel ideas and construct meaning. On the syntactic level, these adverbial antonyms are marked with the nominative [-u] if they are not added to any other noun phrases as in quote D5. Elsewhere, they are marked with [-i] or [-a] to reflect the additive or the accusative case, respectively. In quote D6, note also how the synonyms ['ata:] and [ja:'a] are used interchangeably to show a state of 'coming' that entails 'arriving at' and 'returning from' somewhere, respectively. Quote D6 also models for binary complementary antonyms that show directions.
QuotetiuI [..Lillahi al-'amru min qablu wa min ba'adu..] Ar-Ruun 30:4
[..To Allah belongs the command before and after]
QuotetcjI [qa:lu: 'u:thi:na min qabli an ta'tiyana: wa min ba'adi ma: ji'tana:.] Al-Arad 7:129 [They said, "We have been harmed before you came to us and after you have come to us..]
Quotetc6I [.. jannata:n 'an yami:nin wa 'an shima:lin..] Saba' 34:15
[..two [fields of] gardens on the right and on the left..]
Lexical meaning can also be advanced by temporal complementary antonyms. Like their counterparts, the binary opposites, the temporal antonyms are complementary. However, the temporal complementaries are restricted by time factor. Quote D7 exemplifies for two pairs of temporal antonyms. They include namely [an-naha:ru] meaning (day) and [al-laylu], meaning (night), and [al-hayy] meaning (the living) and [al-mayyit] meaning (the dead). The turtle, for example, has the semantic features of animates, i.e. the living. To figure out how 'living' and 'dead', for example, work from a logical perspective, one has to exemplify from the possible world of turtles which have the general characteristics of animates. If a biologist from National Geographic, for instance, sees at a lunar night- a turtle lay some eggs on the beach, then he is simply watching 'the dead' coming from a 'living' element. The egg has the semantic features of the inanimate, i.e. the dead. When the same person some time later watches the eggs hatching into some turtles and crawling helplessly but steadily to the sea, then he is seeing 'the living' are coming from 'the dead'. Each pair of these antonyms is unlikely unless the other occurs and is due on time and in place. (See the direct impact of the time factor on the antonyms referred to in quote D7).
Quoted [tu:liju al-lavla fι: an-naha:ri wa-tuliju an-naha:ra fι: al-alyħ wa-tukhriju al-hayya mina al-mayyiti wa-tukhriju al-mayyiti mina al-hayyi..] AJ-Imran 3:27
[You cause the night to enter the day, and You cause the day to enter the night; and You bring the living out of the dead, and You bring the dead out of the living..]
Unlike the binary and temporal complementary opposites, the non-complementary antonyms are rather gradable. They do not entail any contradiction when used together in a comparative or one instead the other for description. For example, the adjectives 'big' and 'small' can be used to show the size. One thing such as a 'room', for instance, can be described by an American, for instance, as 'vey big', 'big', 'small' 'very small', 'so small' and 'too small'. However, the same room can be referred to by a Japanese, for example, as 'Neither big nor small'. This reference means that the 'size of that room' is fine and suitable. Non-complementary words are gradable, agreeable and consistent. Generally speaking, they are subcategorized into equipollent, overlapping, and polar ones.
QuotelusJ [..wa-ja'ala Iakum sara:bi:la taqi:kumu al-harra..] An-XaM 16:81 [..and has made for you garments which protect you from the heat..]
QuoteI09I [..fa-minhum shaqiyyun wa-sa i:dun] Hu:d 11:105
[.. And among them will be the wretched and the prosperous.]
Quotel010I [wa-Hwa ,althi: maraja al-bahrayni ha:tha: 'athbun fura:tun wa-ha:tha: milhun 'ujajun..] Al-Furqan 25:53
[And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter,..]
Equipollent, i.e. equal, opposites are compatible. They include a group of words that form pairs, such as 'hot' vs. 'cold', 'nice' vs. 'nasty', and 'happy' vs. 'sad'. These words do not have one word in common. Besides grading, each of which has its own semantic features, so they are coded as distinct properties. They do not have one neutral term that describes both of them. This entails that each word in the pair constitutes one entity by itself. Any comparison, description or argument carried out on the positive pole of 'hot' or the negative pole of 'cold' will be a real one. This helps explain why the positive word [al-harr] meaning (the heat) is used in quote D8. As garments can protect us from both heat and cold, any opposite word is likely (see table 1 for the potential 'cold'). In quote D9, both [shaqiyy] and [sa'i:d] glossed as a (very sad) and (very happy) person, respectively, are parallelized to describe two groups of people in the Next Life. This description may also denote ranking from 'total sadness' to 'full happiness'. Similarly, quote D10 argues for sea-water which can be 'very salty' or 'freshly sweet'. Though sees meet, their waters -surprisingly, never mix.
Real propositions and potential consequents of 'heat' and 'cold' p q p & q Comments
|
1. Garments can protect us from heat and cold |
T |
T |
T |
Both |
|
2. Garments can protect us from heat but not cold. |
T |
F |
T |
Heat |
|
3. Garments cannot protect from heat but can from cold. |
F |
T |
T |
Cold |
|
4. Garments cannot protect us from heat and cold. |
F |
F |
T |
None but in War |
|
Table (1) Equipollent Non-complementary Antonyms in Qur’anic Discourse | ||||
Non-complementary antonyms may also overlap. They do so because each pair does not have one neutral term that covers the property of both words. This type includes any pair that can be evaluated as 'good' and 'bad'. It covers evaluative words, such as 'love' vs. 'hatred', 'politeness' vs. 'rudeness', 'prettiness' vs. 'ugliness', and 'kindness' vs. 'meanness'. As they rely so heavily on our evaluation, any argument carried out by the negative term is always true from a logical perspective. In turn, any argument done by the negative word always manifests itself logically as a pseudo, i.e. not real, one. In quote D11, the Holy script attempts to or rather DOES persuade people that [jiahad] meaning (fighting for Alla's sake) is 'good' for people. Initially, it uses the negative word [kurh] meaning (hatred) because everyone thinks that 'war' is always 'bad'. Then, it confirms what people 'hate' may turn to be 'good' and what they 'love' may turn to be 'bad' for them. Note how the beginning of the quote addresses a real word -reality always resides in our heads. The final parts of the quote negotiate two possible worlds. In the first, 'fight', is undesirable though good; in the second, desirable though bad. To be a real one, the whole Quranic argument basically builds on the negative poles of the antonyms used. Otherwise, the argument will be blocked right in the begging of the quote as it looks unreal. Only then, a native speaker of Arabic would immediately wonder how 'war' be 'good' and 'desirable'. Surprisingly, the evaluative terms 'good' and 'bad' the verse uses clearly show that 'fight' is actually hateful, though it is necessarily not bad sometimes (see table 2 for the unlikely 'lovable').
QuoteI011I [kutiba alaykum al-qita:lu wa-hwa kurhun lakum wa-'asa: 'an takrahu: shay'an wa-hwa khayirun lakum wa-'asa: 'an tuhibu: shayan wa-hwa sharrun lakum..] Al-Baqarah 2:216.
|
[Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you..] | ||||
|
Real propositions and potential consequents of 'hate' and 'love' |
p |
q |
p & q |
Comments |
|
1. Fight is both hateful and not hateful. |
T |
T |
F |
Contradiction |
|
2. Fight is hateful and not lovable. (only hateful) |
T |
F |
T |
Real |
|
3. Fight is not hateful but lovable. (only lovable) |
F |
T |
F |
Pseudo |
|
4. Fight is neither hateful nor lovable, (but it is good sometimes). |
F |
F |
(T) |
Logical |
|
Table (2) Overlapping Non-complementary Antonyms in the Qur’anic Discourse | ||||
Quote D12 also models overlapping antonyms. It clearly concludes by using the negative poles twice. In each verse, the predicator [mm'a al-'usri] roughly glossed as BE WITH HARDSHIP argues for [yusr] meaning (easiness). A predicate is what is said about the subject (or business like). As it is held on the negative pole, the argument sounds real. Otherwise, it is not real and may contradict itself. From a logical perspective, real arguments (also referred to as factual statements), such as "Parallel
lines never meet" are necessarily true in our heads, in any possible world and in any perfect one. In modern languages, coordination by recursive words is always pseudo. For example a native speaker of English may say "There are doctors and doctors" to express some relief. He definitely means that there are 'good' and 'poor' doctors. The same speaker may also express his anger by saying "It rained and rained and rained". He certainly means that "It rained too much". In quote D12, the two identical verses are
Propositions and Consequents p q p & q
|
1. People spent a small or big amount, and they were rewarded. |
T |
T |
T |
|
2. People spent a small or big amount, but they were not rewarded. |
T |
F |
F |
|
3. People did not spend a big or small amount, but they were rewarded. |
F |
T |
T |
|
4. People did not spend a big or small amount, and they were not rewarded. |
F |
F |
T |
Table (4) Polar Non-complementary Antonyms in the Qur’anic Discourse already certified by ['inna] meaning (indeed). It is probable that the verse recursion aims at quantifying such an endorsed real value of meaning twice.
Meaning can also be achieved by polar antonyms. Unlike the equipollent and the overlapping opposites, the polar non-complementaries may compromise any two opposite but gradable words that have both one neural term. They include many words, such as 'heavy' vs. 'light', 'fast' vs. 'slow', 'long' vs. 'short' and 'high' vs. 'low' showing the general properties of 'weight', 'speed', 'length' and 'height', respectively. Any linguistic description carried out by such pairs of antonyms whether on the positive pole or on the negative one is always unreal. Quote D13 presents [qari:bun] meaning (near) and (ba'i:dun) meaning (far). These synonyms are polar because they both negotiate one neutral term related to 'length of time'. However, truthfulness is guarantied by the contradiction, i.e. negation, marker ['in] perceived as (not) and the disjunct ['a] and ['am] meaning (either..or). Contradiction and disjunction help further statements that have true values on the logical level (see table 3).
Quoted013] [..wa-'in 'adri: 'a qri:bun 'am ba'idun ma: tuwa'du:na..] Al-Anbiya:' 21:109 [..And I know not whether near or far is that which you are promised..]
Propositions and Consequents p q p or q Comments
|
1. What you are promised might be near, or it might be far |
T |
T |
T |
Near or Far |
|
2. What you are promised might be near, but it might not be far. |
T |
F |
T |
Near |
|
3. What you are promised might not be near, but it might be far |
F |
T |
T |
Far |
|
4. What you are promised might not be near, or it might not be far. |
F |
F |
T |
Far or Near |
Table (3) Polar Non-complementary Antonyms in the Qur’anic Discourse
Similarly, quote D14 presents a pair of polar antonyms, namely [saghi:r] and [kabi:r] meaning 'small' and 'big', respectively. Both are used to describe 'the amount of money' that should be spent to be rewarded by Allah. Meaning is advanced by [la:] meaning 'nor' and [illa:] roughly glossed as 'but' in modern English. This exceptional, linguistic technique aims at excluding 'spending expenditure' for Alla's sake. The verse advances 'the amount' of that expenditure (see quote D14). This amount can be inclusively 'small' or 'big'. Though 'the amount' is inclusive, the whole verse is a conjunction which expresses different values. The meaning value is only false if the sequence 'rewarding' is absent (see L2 in table 4). Line 3 is true as it opens the door for other options such as 'crossing a valley to fight' (see also quote D14).
Quote^14I [wa-la: Vtuifiqurna nafaqatan Saghiriatan wa-la: kabirratan wa-la: yaqta'urna wadiyyan ilia: kutiba Iahuni..] At-Tawbah 9:121
[Nor do they spend an expenditure, small or large, or cross a valley but that it is registered for them that Allali may reward them..]
Lexically, meaning can also be represented by 'meronyms' (Kearns, 1-10). They include any word that a have a part-of-whole meaning relation. For example, words, such as 'head', 'hand', 'leg', and 'trunk' are all meronyms, i.e. parts, of the human 'body'. One word, as 'head' can have other parts, such as 'face', 'mouth', 'ears' and 'chin'. And one sub-categorized word as 'mouth' may have other parts, such as 'teeth', 'tongue' and 'palate'. Once a meronym is used metaphorically, it turns to be a metonymy. For example, the word 'mouth,' as in "He has a filthy mouth" can be figured as 'he uses vey offensive words'. In the Arabic speaking countries, people use [lisa:n] meaning 'tongue' to refer to their mother tongue, Arabic.
Quote D15 lists the organs Muslims have to wash before going to say their prayers. They include, namely [wuju:h], [ayidi: 'i:la: al-mara:fiq], [ru'u:s] and [arjul 'ila: al-ka'bayn] meaning (faces), (hands to elbows), (heads) and (feet to ankles), respectively. The directive verse is carried out by the VP ('ighsul) meaning (wash) and ['imsah] meaning (wipe out). The VP WASH is assigned by addition for all the argument words except 'the head' which is assigned by 'wipe out'. Both 'hand' and 'feet' are specified by the locative phrases (Loc-Ps) up to the 'the elbows' and 'ankles', respectively. The word 'face' includes both 'the nose' and 'the mouth'. The word 'head' also includes both 'ears' and 'the nick'. This may help understand why people also 'gargle', 'inhale water', 'wipe out their ears and nicks' when doing the washing before going to their prayers. As they are divided into categories and subcategories, they can be used to represent (to a greater degree) meaning. Therefore, people can either wide or narrow their meanings. For example, an angry math teacher may insist that her lazy students keep the rule in their 'head' or in their 'brain'.
QuoteI15I [ya ayyuha: al-athi:na 'amanu: 'itha: qumtum 'ila: as-sala:ti fa-'ighsulu: Wujuhakum wa-aydιvakum 'ila: al-maratιq wa-,imsahu: bi-ru'u:sikum wa-aιjulakum 'ila: al-ka'bayni..] Al-Ma,ιdah 5:6
[O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles..]
Dissimilarly, hyponyms include a group of words that refer to the kind. Like meronyms, hyponyms can be categorized and subcategorized according to some relevant semantic values, like the taste, colour, shape and size. For example, words like 'raspberries', 'blackberries' and 'strawberries' have the general features of the 'berries' which, in turn, have the general characteristics of 'fruits' that constitutes one kind of 'plantations'. In quote D16, both words of [annakhlu] meaning 'palm trees' and [azzar'u] meaning 'crops' are used to exemplify for the 'covered' and 'uncovered' gardens, respectively. This exemplification explicates that both refer to one kind, though different in shape and taste. It also implicates (through picking such examples) that they are both have different sizes. Still both taste differently. The other words namely ['azzaytu:nu] and [arruma:nu] meaning 'olives' and 'pomegranates' look similar and dissimilar. They have the same shape and possibly the same size. Still they have different tastes. As their characteristic features considerably vary, hyponyms can be given as examples to clarify meaning.
QuoteI016I [wa-Hwa al-athi: ,ansh'a janna:tin ma'ru:shatin wa-ghayira maru:sha:tin wa-annakhla wa-azzar,a mukhtalifan 'ukluhu wa-azzaytu:na wa-arruma:n mutashaibilian wa-ghayira mutasha:bihin..] Al-'An'a:m 6:141
[And He it is who causes gardens to grow, [both] trellised and untrellιsed, and palm trees and crops of different [kinds of] food and olives and pomegranates, similar and dissimilar..]
A polysemous word refers to any morpheme that carries many different meanings. Though different in meaning, these lexemes have the same form as if they were descending from the same root. For example, the word 'fork' has the U-shape which can be given to anything sounds symmetric, such as a 'forked tongue', 'forked branch' and 'forked road'. What counts here is the format or the shape. In Arabic, certain words, such as [qarnun], [qari:nun], [al-qarnu], [qarnayin], and [muqarran] meaning a 'nation', 'companion', 'the century', 'two horns', and 'be bound to', respectively, tend to be polysemous words. A 'horn' is defined as one of the 'bony, permanent, hollow paired growths, often curved and pointed, that project from the upper part of the head of certain cattle' such as sheep and goats' (www.dictionary.com). It is probable that such values have been exploited to form such words. The word [qari:n] meaning 'companion' matches the value of being a duo or a fixed pair. The atrophic [qarn] meaning a 'nation' mates the negative values of a curved, but empty growth. Like human being, a nation develops and collapses. It has a starting and ending point and a duration. Throughout the Holy script, the connotation of [qarn] is negative whereas that of [ummah] also
glossed as 'nation' is (stylistically) very positive. In quote D17, the adverbial phrase [muqarrani:na] is used to describe the doers of very bad deeds. It means that they will be bound together in chains- with which their feet and hands are tied to their chins and necks. Unfortunately, their postures are not different from that of horns'.
QuoteI017I [wa-tara: al-mujrimi:na yawm-'ithin muqarreini:na fi: al-asfa:di] IbrahLm 14:49 [And you will see the criminals that Day bound together in fetters]
As the phrase suggests, family resemblances refer to a group of words that form one atomic or extended family. To speak metaphorically, the family, whether big or small, has some members with different ambitions and abilities. However, those members should have one vision and some targets to accomplish. Logically, many words such as 'football', 'handball', 'chess', 'javelin', 'cards' are classified as 'games' or 'sports'. They all constitute a family resemblance, though they are completely different. Some of them are very physical; others are almost mental; time accounts in many; still it does not account in many others. As they aim to recreation, training or competition, they tend to have one common goal to satisfy. In Arabic, each of ['inna] glossed as 'indeed' and [ka:na] roughly glossed as 'be', for instance, makes a family because they have some members with clear targets. The former aims at endorsing the nominal style whereas the later intends to verbalize the same style by inflecting the past tense. Although they deal with one nominal style, these family resemblances behave differently on the syntactic level.
QuoteIoisI ['inna al-athina A:manu: wa-alathi:na Ha:du: wa-Anasa:ra wa-as-Sa:bi'i:na man a:mana bi-AUahi wa-al-yawmi al-aklurι..] Al-Baqarah 2:62
[Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Alleih and the Last Day..]
QuoteI019I [,inna al-athina A:manu: wa-alathi:na Ha:du: wa-as-Sa:bi'u:na wa-Anasa:ra man a:mana bi-Allahi wa-al-yawmi al-akluπ..] Al-Ma ideih 5:69
[Indeed, those who have believed and those [before Him] who were Jews or Sabeeins or Christians - those [among them] who believed in Alleih and the Last Day..]
Quotes D18 and 19 exemplify for a family of believers, namely Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Sabeans. In the first verse, all the family arguments, i.e. members, are assigned for the predicate BELIEVE IN ALLAH & THE OTHER DAY and already endorsed (inclusively) by ['inna] meaning 'indeed' (see quote D18). The word 'Saba'a' technically refers to a group of Arabs who rejected polytheism and believed in the teachings of Jesus, the Christ before Muhammad's era. In the second verse, only believers in Muhammad (and possibly Moses) are endorsed by ['inna]. Both the Sabeans and Christians are exclusively assigned for the predicate BELIEVE (see quote D19). This exclusion is carried out by word-order where the argument 'Sabeans' comes before the argument 'Christians' and receives the nominative marker [u:n]. Exclusion may also include Jews as the whole verse uses [wa-] which is used for random addition. This syntactic modification allows for a new, uncertified nominal sentence to begin and
receive a predicate. The predicate is what is said about one argument or more. The changes done on the syntactic level, probably present the members of this family resemblance as unequal partners, i.e. believers. As people behave differently, the syntactic rule also behaves differently to meet the potential, emerging burdens of meaning.
So far we have already exemplified as well as discussed meaning from a pure semantic, syntactic, and a prolonged morphological perspective. Meaning can also be discussed from a lexico-grammatical perspective. This discussion integrates both grammar and word-formation to check meaning. Unlike syntax which minds studying sentence structure, grammar concerns sentence functions. Morphology bothers word study. As semantics is interested in studying meaning, it checks both the content as well as the function of a lexeme, i.e. a word in context. Such investigations have resulted in spotting two types of words. They are referred to as 'categorematic and syncategorematic' expressions (Kearns, 5-6).
A categorematic expression is identified as any contextualized word that carries full meaning. Words that are pivotal to meaning are -according to Chomsky, governed by 'the right-hand / the left-hand-head rule' (Katamba, 5-10). This rule principally makes people of the Romance languages, such as the Spanish and the French to place them to the left. This principle also allows for their counterparts, the Anglo-Saxons to place them to the right. The same principle allows for other parameters to function so that other words less pivotal to meaning can further. The Britons tend to start with the less pivotal words whereas the French incline to end with. In English, the combined phrases 'red apple' and 'apple red' contain two words each. As the content word always seats on the right, the first phrase is perceived as 'fruit' whereas the other is felt as a 'colour'. In general, native speakers of Arabic are governed by the right-hand-head rule. They tend to place the pivotal word to the right. This helps explain why the VSO pattern is very frequent in Arabic. The VP (also referred to as predicate) is the part of speech that carries full meaning in a sentence. In relevance to the less pivotal words, an Arab tends to be flexible. Like their English and French counterparts, Arabs also incline to either start or end with the less pivotal to meaning words. This also helps explain why the OVS and the SV(O) patterns are used but less frequently. In Arabic, content words are either fixed to the right or circum-fixed, i.e. centralized.
A syncategorematic word is identified as any contextualized morpheme that does not carry meaning by itself but attempts to modify meaning. This category refers to any word used for a grammatical purpose. The grammatical word includes the morphemes that inflect for the number, gender, tense, voice, aspect, phase and case. It also includes the determiners, such as definite article, the quantifiers, such as indefinite articles, prepositions, linking words and the deficient modals. For example, the long structure [fa-sa-ya-kfi:-ka-humu Allah-u] meaning "Allah will suffice you them", mirrors both categories very well. The centralized, consonantal tier [kafa:] also glided as [kafaya], functions as a predicate for the structure. This VP is pivotal to meaning, so it can be assigned as a categorematic word because it can stand alone as in [kafa:!] meaning "Enough!". The other arguments, namely (Allah) functioning as subject and (k-a) and
(humu) functioning as indirect and direct objects are content words. They are all less pivotal to meaning, so they are placed to the left. The other words are depicted for a grammatical purpose. The linking word [fa-] meaning 'and then' modifies addition from a random, general one into an immediate one. The bound morpheme modal [sa-] modifies the present tense into a future one. The tense marker [ya-] modifies the past tense into a present one. The syntactic morpheme [-a] in [-ka-] marks the accusative case. And the syntactic morpheme [u] suffixed in Allah marks the nominative case. As they behave grammatically, these morphemes are best referred to as syncategorematic words. In Classic Arabic, pronouns can be personal, demonstrative, relative and reflexive. The personal pronouns can be first, second and third. These pronouns are grammatical as they are used as references for other content nouns. They are referred to as deictic personal pronouns. On the syntactic level, such deictic pronouns can, however, move cataphorically, i.e. forward, or anaphorically, i.e. backward. Quotes E1 and E2 exemplifies for both anaphoric and cataphoric deictic personal pronouns. In quote E1, the personal, but feminine plural pronoun [-ha:] in [butu:niha] meaning 'their bellies' refers backward to ['al-an'a:m] meaning 'livestock'. In quote E2, the personal, but singular and masculine pronoun [-hi] in [butu:nihi] meaning also 'their bellies' moves forward. This time, the pronoun refers to 'blood' and 'excretion'. The word 'batan' meaning 'belly' is a polysemous word in Arabic. It can be used to refer to anything that 'hides' inside or 'covers' something else. That is why 'ba:tin' means 'covert' and 'bita:nah' refers to any bad companions that hides over faults. Whether cataphoric or anaphoric, these deictic pronouns are best classified as syncategorematic words. They are rather grammatical; they can only refer to the content words that carry full meaning.
Quoted [wa-'inna Iakum fi: al-an'a:mi la-'brahtan nusqi:kum memma: fi: butu:niha:..] Al-An'a:m 23:21
[And indeed, for you in livestock is a lesson. We give you drink from that which is in their beUies,..]
Quoted [wa-'inna Iakum fi: al-ana:mi la-'brahtan nusqi:kum memma: fi: butu:nihi min bayini farthin wa damin Iabanan khalisan ...] An-Xahl 16:66
[And indeed, for you in grazing livestock is a lesson. We give you drink from what is in their bellies - between excretion and blood - pure milk..]
Like the deictic, i.e. reference, personal word, the demonstrative pronoun, is often classified as a syncategorematic word. It can only demonstrate proximal place and property. In modern English, the demonstrative pronoun 'this' as in "This is my book", for instance, reflects both nearness in distance and possession. The pronoun 'that' used in "that is your book", for instance, does not necessarily show distance. Here, the speaker might be carrying that book, but he is just distancing himself from being the owner of that book. Similarly, the Semitic demonstrative noun phrase [ha:tha:] meaning 'this' shows distance. As words in Arabic inflects for gender and number, other forms such as [ha:thih], [hatha:n], [hata:n], [ha'wla:'i] meaning (this girl), (both of these boys),
(both of these girls), and (these boys or girls), respectively. These forms are used for a near distance. Arabic also used other forms derived from these base forms to show some mid and distant places. This would result in a long category, such as [ha:tha:], [tha:ka], and [tha:lika]. These forms are used to show a near, mid, long distance, respectively when indicating for something or someone having the general linguistic features of males. In Arabic, the demonstrative noun phrases also have to inflect for the speech. For example, the Arabic pronoun [tha:-li-ku-mu] consists of four morphemes. The first is [tha:-]. It entails demonstration. The second is [-li-]; it modifies the distance into a remote one. The third is [-ku-]; it modifies speech into a direct one. The last is [-mu]; it inflects for a plural number.
Isolating the syncategorematic morphemes that inflect for both the speech and number, one list the allomorphs [ha:tha:<>hathih], [tha:<>tin], and [tha:l<>til] as categorematic morphemes that can demonstrate. Among these, only [tha:-] is pivotal to meaning, as it can stand alone. Needles to say that, this free morpheme also belongs to a word family that inflects by [u:], [a:], and [i:] for a nominative, accusative, and additive case, respectively on the syntactic level. Because of its saliency to meaning as well as its frequency in many demonstrative forms, the morpheme [tha:-] can be assigned as a template, i.e. a basic form, for demonstration in Arabic. Like its English counterparts, 'this' and 'that', the demonstration template [tha:-] must also mirror or describe what belongs to others. Surprisingly, it does so in [tha: an-Nu:ni] meaning 'that man of the fish' in reference to Jonah. And it also does so in [tha: al-Qarnaiyni] meaning 'this man of the two horns' in reference possibly to Alexander, the Macedonian. In both Quranic phrases, the template [tha:] points at what belongs to those men. It is also possible that the template [tha:] has other allophones, namely [ha:-] and [ta-] that inflect for demonstration and a genitive case. The Quranic verse [ha:'u:mu iqra'u: kitabiya] glossed as "Here, read my book" furthers the interjection [ha:-'u:-mu] that has three morphemes showing demonstration, direction and plural speech. Where this true, [ha:] demonstrates what belongs to someone. The Quranic phrase [ta-Allahi] glossed as 'I swear by Allah' is frequent. It also advances [ta-] which may show neutral demonstrative case where Allah does not belong to anyone, but to everyone. Needless to say that pure pledging is carried out by [wa-] in Arabic.
In modern languages, the demonstrative pronoun is classified as an endophoric or exophoric reference. An endophoric reference can move either backward or forward to a certain linguistic element in the text. An exophoric reference can also move backward or forward but to a full idea in the content. In this sense, the endophoric word has a linguistic reference whereas the exphoric word has a semantic, i.e. a meaning, reference. Meaning has an illocutionary, i.e. non-linguistic force, as it can only reside not on our tongues but in our heads. Quotes E3 and E4 exemplifies for both types of references. In quote E3, the reference word [tilka] meaning 'that' sounds endophoric. It moves forward to the noun phrase 'staff' that Moses used to carry in his hand. In quote E4, the reference [tilka] looks exophoric. It moves backward to the resounding idea of distributing males and females among ancient Arabs, expressed by the condemning interrogative. This distribution turns to be badly unjust. This sort of representing meaning on both the syntactic and logical level can be probably referred to as semantic chiasmus or mirror image.
Quoted [wa-ma: tilka bi-yamknika ya Mu:sa@ qa:la hiya 'asa:ya ..®] Taha 20:17-18 [And what is that in your right hand, O Moses? He said, "It is my staff;.."]
Quotelf4I ['alakumu ath-thakru walaHu al-'untha:® tilka 'ithan qιsmatun di:za:®] An-Najm 53:21-22
[Is the male for you and for Him the female? That, then, is an unjust division.]
To conclude as well as to imply for pedagogy and research, meaning is a problematic term. It has an illocutionary force. This means that this level of language is non-linguistic, and meaning can only reside in our heads. There is no possible means rather than our logic to investigate meaning. Conveying meaning relies so heavily on language interlocutors. If there is a misunderstanding in sending or receiving the meaning loaded, then our words fail to mean what they are intended for them to mean. Explicating as well as implicating meaning is governed by the general principles of 'politeness and cooperation' Kearns, 254-280). Politeness encourages the sense of 'modesty' and 'agreement' with others. The cooperation principle highlights providing true, sufficient, relevant and direct meanings when speaking (Schmitt, 78-79). Researchers need to check what general principle Arabic advances first -politeness or language cooperation. Certain words, such as [yahza'u], [rafath], [tafath], [taghasha:ha] meaning (to tease, defame), (having a sexual discourse), (satisfy a biological, sexual need) and (intended to have sex), respectively, may shed some light on the general principle that Arabic flavours. Researchers can also examine the parameters of the cooperation principle that governs quantifying words to be understood and qualifying words to tell the truth. A deep study may unearth the parameters violated and the parameters sustained.
Meaning can be achieved on one or more levels of language. From a pure semantic perspective, a word can help denote, connote, and perceive meaning. Denotation exploits both paraphrasing and defining words to further meaning. Connotation explores the positive or negative mental state one word represents itself in mind. Denotation is cognitive, as it provides some knowledge about meaning. Connotation is meta-cognitive because it caters for some knowledge that helps us grasp meaning. However, sense is receptive. This kind of meaning relies naturally on senses to access meaning. This kind streams meaning through sight, hearing, smell, and taste. For example, the Quranic prepositional phrases [ fi 'Illiyyi:na] and [fi ad-Daraki al-'asfali] glossed as (in the highest or best part of Eden) and (in the furthest point of the Hell) advance two proper names. The former ['Illiyyi:n] is seen as a place for the elite, as it comes from [illi:yyat al-qawm). The latter [ad-Dark] is felt as a place for the wrongdoers, as it comes from [ad-darku] meaning 'a stair that steps down). Needless to say, both phrases are left undefined in the Holy Script of Islam. For a full understanding of meaning, teachers of Arabic language should introduce their learners to these kinds as well as the techniques of meaning.
On the syntactic level, meaning can be mainly achieved by composition and addition. These techniques are very frequent in the Quranic episodes. Both tend be universal, though they are probably neglected in first language acquisition (FLA). This may help explain why Arab learners encounter some difficulties when reading to comprehend and write to compose texts. Educational policy-makers need to include these techniques when designing L1 textbooks. Exceptionally, Arabic syntax advances sentence-pattern shifting and consonant clipping to convey meaning. Sentence-pattern switching is carried out to meet the emerging burdens of first order logic. Clipping inclines to model meaning. Researchers interested in FLA -if any, ought to investigate the case of morpheme insertion and deletion. There are some evidence that Arabic also tends to model the meaning and inflect for the phase and aspect. These studies may include the deficient words, such as [kana] glossed as 'the past forms of be' and the words that identified traditionally as 'extra morphemes' such as ['in] and ['an] glossed as 'empty morphemes' in Arabic. Researchers should bear in mind that Arabic syntax is created for arduous work.
On the morphological level, meaning can be achieved by providing synonyms and antonyms. These lexical techniques are exceptionally (to some extent) among the interest of Arabic language curricula policy-makers. Language course-books compilers and designers need to introduce the various types of antonyms to learners. A fresh presentation may include classifying them into complementary and non-complementary antonyms as well as sub-classifying these categories into relevant categories, such as binary, temporal, polar, overlapping and equipollent. The learner's exposure to these antonyms should be gradual. In relevance to synonyms, Arabic language teachers need to inform their learners that identical synonyms are very rare. They may exemplify [zawaj] and ['imra'ah] glossed as (partner or wife) and (female), respectively, for asymmetrical synonyms. Stylistically, the Noble Quran presents the former positively and with a capability to be a good wife and to reproduce. It mirrors the later negatively, without such ability to mate but with ability to make troubles. Lexical meaning can also be furthered by hyponyms, meronyms, multi-functional words and family resemblances. Both meronyms and hyponyms represent the whole and kind, respectively. They also show the general semantic features of what they stand for. Multifunctional words, i.e. polysemous words, only maintain the shape for all. Family resemblances sustain a mission for all. In FLA, teacher can clarify these categories to their learners.
On the lexico-grammatical level (an area that integrates both [al-ma'na:], i.e. the study of meaning, and [al-mabna:], i.e. the study of word, in Arabic), meaning can be satisfied by loading and modification. The word that loads meaning is usually referred to as a categorematic morpheme. The word that can help inflect or modify meaning is often called a syncategorematic word. Generally speaking, parts of speech functioning as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are classified as categorematic words because they all can package meaning. The other parts, such as pronouns, articles and propositions, are listed as syncategorematic words. They do not carry meaning by themselves; they only inflect for the state, the case, the voice, the speech, the number and the gender for some logical or a grammatical purposes. For example the Arabic word [kullu] meaning (every) as in [kullu shaiy'in] glossed as 'everything' is a universal
quantifier. It modifies the meaning of 'thing' to include any 'thing', though it does not exist. Unlikely, [ba'ad] meaning 'some' modifies the number as 'ba'adu' al-alwaladi' meaning 'some boys'.
A morpheme is defined as the smallest unit of a word that carries meaning. One morpheme may have other allomorphs. Allomorphs are the various forms that carry one meaning but manifest themselves differently on the graphemic and phonemic levels. For example, the English morpheme 'un-' meaning 'not' has other allomorphs, such as 'in-' assimilated into 'im', 'il-' and 'ir-' due to some phonological restrictions. In Arabic, the noun phrase [huna:] meaning 'here', for example, demonstrates a near place. This morpheme has other forms that inflect for a mid and a further location, namely [huna:ka] and [huna:lika], respectively. Isolating the speech marker [-ka] would result in [huna:] and [huna:li]. By isolating the distance markers [-(n)a:-] and [-li:-], one may get [hu(n)] as a morpheme that shows place. The bracketed phoneme /n/ is also possible on the consonantal tier.
The question may rise here is whether such a morpheme identified as [hu(n)] has other allomorphs that signal for a relatively neutral or a very distance place. Arab linguists list [thamma] glossed as 'here, there and everywhere' as a neutral place morpheme. This morpheme is derived (by blending or compounding) from [tha(m)] meaning 'everywhere' and from [-ma] meaning either [ma-ka:n] meaning 'place' or the relative noun phrase [-ma] meaning 'where'. The phoneme /m/ is bracketed to sustain either geminating, i.e. duplication, or suppletion. Arabic allows both. The atrophic phrase [hay-hata hay-hata!] glossed as "It's far way! It's far away] is identified as a verbally-nominal phrase. It is called so, as it has the general characteristics of both categories of speech. This verb-noun phrase consists of three morphemes, namely [hay-], [-h-] and [-ata]. It is probable that the first [hay-] signals for a remote place; the second [h(a)] metaphorically presents a problem. It is the sound an Arab makes when he smiles. Culturally, a smile means there is a problem. As I have tried to show in a previous section, the last [-ta] inflects for a neutral possession. Morphologically, recursion, i.e. repetition, of words is not real, and it only shows an extreme degree. If such an interpretation is likely, then the whole phrase indicates 'a very remote place that belongs to no one'. Only can solid research isolate morphemes, check their allomorphs -if any, and investigate their senses.
Finally, a more integrative approach allows us to categorized morphemes as textual, content and contextual elements. A textual element, such as a personal pronoun, has a clear linguistic reference. The textual element can spread either backward or forward. A content element, such as a demonstrative pronoun, has a carrier or a real content to advance. The carrier content has to be characterized by 'conceptuality, novelty, value, and interest'. In turn, the real content needs to be 'significant, relevant (to objectives), clear, exploitable and accessible' (Dudley-Evans, 95-118). See how the content word [tilka] meaning (those) for example, meets such criteria clearly in [Alf-Lam-Ra tilka 'a:yatu alkita:bi al-haki:mi] interpreted as (Alif, Lam, Ra. These are the verses of the wise Book) Yunus 10:1. The alphabetical runes are supposed to carry some content, so the NP reference [tilka] sounds exophoric. The NP ['a:ya:t] meaning (verses) is expected to reflect a real content, the reference [tilka] therefore, looks endophoric. A
contextual element occurs at the topical level. Only can proper nouns (PNs) and common noun phrases (CNPs) mirror a context. This helps understand why such a category of speech is often used as a title for the Quranic episodes. Only NPs can package meaning.
References:
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[1] The Noble Quran. Available at www.quran.com [Accessed in July 2015].
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Biography of Author
Dr. sami al-heeh obtained his Master’s degree in TESOL, University of Brighton, UK in 2007, and a PhD degree in Applied Linguistics, Mansoura University, Egypt in 2020. He works as full-time, lecturer and assistant professor at the Department of Applied English, Faculty of Arts, Palestine Ahliya University. Dr. Sami has been teaching as well as researching linguistics, semantics, morphology, applied linguistics, pragmatics, stylistics, discourse analysis, and corpus linguistics since 2008.
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