LINGUISTIC RESEARCH IN THE HOLY QURAN
Year:2021 | Volume:10 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Studying communication functions in the chapters of the Qur'an could be a good way to achieve the esoteric meanings of this eternal miracle. The more researchers try to study the structure of Qur’anic verses, the more they understand its basic concepts and main purposes. One of the tools for studying the Qur’anic discourse is to find communication functions based on Jacobson's theory. The present study intends to study this chapter from different angles by adapting Jacobson's theory of communication theory and combining it with the ironic technique. Using a descriptive-analytical method, in this study, an attempt is made to explore the communication structure of the sura with the addressee or the recipient to find what communication method could be more effective and what kinds of meanings are emphasized by it. What is certain is that the main orientation in the communication model of the verses of this sura is more towards the subject of worshiping God. However, the persuasive role of the verses in Sura Zumr cannot be ignored because the sender of the message (God) has provided the dimensions of the referential and persuasive role by using literary, metalanguage, and empathy tools.

Semantically, one of the words related to the writing in the Quran is Suhuf. This word has been repeated 8 times in the Quran and has carried special meanings in Quranic culture based on syntagmatic relations, and ultimately it has turned into one of the keywords of the Quran and becomes associated with revelation concepts. It is one of the words that has been subjected to superficial interpretation and adaptation and in Islamic narrative texts, interpretations, dictionaries, etc., it is usually interpreted as the books of Ibrahim and Moses (pbuh). In the present article using structural semantics by analysis of companions, context, texture and circumstances of the revelation and related compounds, the approximate and applied meanings of "Suhuf" have been reviewed and some of the interpreters' views have been challenged based on their applications. The findings of the research indicate that the semantics of Suhuf in the Quran expresses a special and wide worldview of this important Quranic keyword so that it shows the connection of all religions with divine system, and revelation. Relatively speaking, this word refers to the holy writings, revelation scriptures before the Quran, revelation books of Abraham and Moses as common programs of all religions before the Quran, Muslim Masahifs after the compilation of the Quran, the book of human deeds, all revelation books from the time of Adam to the last prophet and the Quran itself.

In the legacy of the tradition of interpreting the Holy Qur’an, various semantic methods of the words of the Holy Qur’an have been presented by commentators. In contemporary linguistics, various views and theories about lexical semantics have been presented. The purpose of this article is to explain the lexical semantics of the Holy Qur’an based on systems theory and to achieve a systematic method for the analysis of terminology of the Holy Quran. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this article, descriptive, analytical systematic semantic method and Qur’an-to-Quran interpretation methods are used. While emphasizing the benefits of traditional interpretive methods and contemporary semantics, the author has tried to improve the lexical semantic analysis of the Holy Qur’an by using systems theory. According to this method, understanding the meaning of each word of the Holy Qur’an depends on understanding the meaning of all the words of the Holy Qur’an, and it is important to know the main words and the focal word to understand systematic connections between words. The author concludes that the focal word of the Holy Qur’an is the word "submission" which is the cornerstone of the main words of the Holy Qur’an.

Investigating the meaning of words based on context is important because one of the common methods of understanding lexical semantics in a text is the contextual approach. Actually, we can understand real meaning by studying the semantic layers of words and achieve meaning based on two axes of syntagmatic and paradigmatic. The present study using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on the two axes of syntagmatic and paradigmatic has tried to structurally study the similar verses to the story of the temptation of the devil and his expulsion from heaven. Some research results showed that in the axis of Paradigmatic, the words" “Tempted, Slipped”, “Go out, Descend "and “Adorning, Sitting” have been selected according to the textual context and the atmosphere of the story. And this factor has been effective in the coherence and completion of the semantic chain between the substitute words so that to induce the concept and meaning intended by the speaker, the substitute words serve the context of the text and give a new semantic load according to the context and verses back and forth to the story space, and somehow lead to the semantic expansion of the text.

The theory of mental spaces is one of the significant achievements of cognitive linguistics and one of its important auxiliary concepts is that it helps to analyze several semantic phenomena. With the help of mental spaces in analyzing a phrase, we study the concepts hidden in them and by considering spaces for them, we analyze the way of communication between spaces. These spaces are present in our cognitive context and sometimes a network of mental spaces is reproduced from within a phrase - all of which originate in the information that the speakers of the language have about Different concepts. One of the texts that have multiple conceptual layers and the theory of mental spaces is the most effective tool for its analysis is the Holy Quran. There are many and varied mental spaces in the Holy Qur'an, each of which depicts abstract concepts, and now, with the help of mental spaces, we can understand better and more deeply the abstract concepts depicted in the Holy Quran. Therefore, the present study, relying on a descriptive-analytical method, tries to analyze and examine the role of two groups of elements-space-makers, i.e. verb phrases and conditional structures, in creating the mental spaces of Quran chapters. The results show that verb and conditional phrases by drawing spaces beyond space and time and hypothetical spaces create a situation in which the audience places himself in that space and he can achieve deep meanings of the verses. And most of the mental spaces of the verb phrases are of the time type and the mental space of the conditional group is of the hypothetical type. Also, these phrases have created an atmosphere in the realms of resurrection on the Day of Judgment, claiming adoption for God and the conflict of God's creation with adopting a wife and having a child, returning to the life of the world, and asking for strange miracles.

Based on cognitive studies, human beings understand abstract concepts based on experiential concepts. The Holy Qur'an, as a linguistic text, has conceptualized abstract concepts, using ideas and modes of reasoning grounds in the sensory-motor system. Using cognitive linguistics, this study seeks to examine the pattern of conceptualization of Satan in the Qur'an based on the balance schema as a schema that plays an important role in integrating various aspects of human understanding and is seen in the conceptualization of Satan in the Qur'an. There are two models of conceptualization in the Qur'an based on the balance scheme: 1- Satan introduces himself as the agent of creating balance and complementing the balance that God has created for human beings and in this way man is led to follow him. 2- By attributing concepts such as "Fitna", "Rijz", "Rijs", "Nazgh", "Murid", "Khabt", and "Istifzaz", God introduces Satan as a disturbing factor of balance in various aspects of individual and social life, including human relations with God and the relationship between family members and members of society. Thus, by taking advantage of man's unfavorable experience of the imbalance he has experienced through sensory powers, God depicts the concept of Satan and following him in a very tangible way in human mind.

Today's meanings of al-Nifaq, including concealment and hypocrisy, contradict the descriptions of al-Munafiqun in the Holy Qur’an. In particular, al-Nifaq is used in the Qur'an as an act in the public sector and it is not limited to the religious and moral domain. This study seeks to clarify the relationship between concepts al-Nifaq, hypocrisy, and concealment by relying on historical semantics, and interpretive traditions. The study reached several results and finally came to separate the meaning of al-Nifaq from hypocrisy, concealment, and spending (Infaq). The results were as follows: There is no consensus among European scholars on the etymology and semantics of al-Munafiqun; this fact that al-Munafiqun were well-known people contradicts the idea that says concealment is the main concept of al-Nifaq; Most Arabic lexicographers have considered this root to mean loss or spend, but they have taken the wrong path to understand the historical meaning of the al-Nifaq; the two words al-Nifaq and al-Infaq had no common roots in Arabic. The high frequency of derivatives of this root in the Abyssinian language, meaning tear off, rend, divide in two, separate, and split, was consistent with all Qur'anic descriptions of al-Munafiqun. The topic "Conflict in the organization", which is discussed in the science of management, can explain the historical concept of al-Nifaq to a large extent. It should be noted that Hypocrisy as an equivalent of the word al-Nifaq was taken from the ancient Greek language and despite its imprecision, it has become the dominant equivalent in contemporary translations of the Qur’an into English.

Cognitive linguistics is an approach that studies language based on individuals' experiences of the world, how it is understood, and how it is conceptualized, and conceptual metaphors are some of its important topics; from Lakoff and Johnson's point of view, these metaphors influence not only language but also thought and action in everyday life. The language of the Qur'an as a literary and religious text has various mechanisms by which abstract concepts can be explained. Resurrection is one of the important doctrinal issues that has been mentioned in the Holy Quran in various forms. The purpose of this article is to analyze the conceptual metaphors of the realm of resurrection in Surah An-Nāzi‘āt and understand the hidden concepts related to it and answer the questions of this article: What is the function of the conceptual metaphors of the realm of resurrection in Surah An-Nāzi‘āt? And which of the conceptual metaphors of the realm of resurrection has the most frequency in Surah An-Nāzi‘āt? The present article, based on a descriptive-analytical method and using library sources, came to the conclusion that embodying abstract concepts and making them more tangible is one of the most prominent functions of the conceptual metaphors of the Day of Resurrection in Surah An-Nāzi‘āt. Also, the highest frequency of conceptual metaphors in this surah is ontological metaphors.

Pictorial schema is one of the strategies for recognizing abstract concepts in linguistic field that are based on conceptual metaphor; therefore, each metaphor has a wide visual structure on its own. The holy Quran is full of abstract concepts which the study of them has a significant impact on understanding its purpose. Therefore, this study was accomplished to explore the pictorial schema in Surah Naml. To explain its hidden meanings and latent beauty, by using linguistic approach, and descriptive-analytical method, has presented the image of abstract concepts in an objective format. The achievements of this research indicate that three types of volumetric, motion and power schemas have been applied in fictional context of this Surah. An image of abstract concepts such as "revelation, speed, disregard, humiliation" is drawn by motion schema, which is perfectly consistent with human experiences. Other abstract concepts such as "oppression, torment, mercy, unpleasant deeds, doubt, nostalgic, and goodness" have been developed by the volumetric schema, and concepts like "idolatry and oppression" have been portrayed as an obstacle in motion. These images are similar to everyday life and human experiences; therefore, the conditions for a better understanding of these complex abstract concepts are provided for researchers.

One of the important issues of the school of formalism is eminence, which itself has two manifestations of Abnormality and Normativeization. Abnormality is a deviation from the norm and standard language and Normativeization is the application of additional rules to the rules of the normal language. In the Meccan surahs of the Qur'an, due to the shortness of the verses, their form has special prominences that motivate the reader to pause and reflect on these outward beauties. One of the Surahs in which the subject of eminence has been abundantly and purposefully revealed is the surah Al-Mu'minun. The present article relying on a descriptive-analytical method, explores the dimensions of eminence in this surah and deals with two areas of abnormality and normativeization In this surah, each meaning is so embedded in the form of the word that it has no other form, and this harmony of word and meaning has a great impact on understanding the message contained in the context of the verses. Abnormalities and Normativeization in this surah have caused the words and phrases to deviate from their origins, and this departure from the origin has not only damaged the meaning of the verses but has also caused more beauty and has a great impact on understanding the meaning of the verses.

Narratology began with the formalists' view of the nature of narration, and influenced by this literary movement, Vladimir Prop analyzed the genre of fairy tales and tried to show the process of changes in fairy tales and present the recurring artistic preparation in their plot. With the advent of the genre of structuralism, structuralists such as Algrdas Grimas turned their attention to all genres of narrative and sought to find the basic structure or Deep Structure of narrative. To this end, Grimas examined and analyzed the role and functional elements of the narrative and explained the narrative ruptures that cause changes in the narrative. The present study has tried to analyze the narration of Elijah and Ilyās (PBUH) in Old Testament and the Holy Quran by applying the structuralist approach of Grimas and explain the plot and Actantial model of narration of two stories, to systematically study these two religious texts and examine the intertextual relations in two texts with one Fabula and genre and achieve a better understanding of Qur'anic narration. For this purpose, by analyzing the data based on a descriptive-analytical method, it has explained the plot and Actantial model of two narratives and at the end, it has shown their deep structure relationship.

Presupposition is a linguistic tool used in pragmatics or applied semantics to express and deduce indirect concepts from a text or speech. Pragmatics has been widely used in recent decades to interpret and explain linguistic and non-linguistic signs and to explain the ultimate purpose of the sign producer. Since in the interpretation of the Holy Quran, the commentator deals with the "text" and one of his purposes is to explain the ultimate intention of God, this knowledge and its components can be very effective and efficient in Quranic exegesis. In this article, after briefly introducing the knowledge of pragmatics and explaining the presupposition that demonstrates the real intention of the speaker in the form of the third textural layer, the role of this component in interpreting the selected verses is shown. Based on the findings of this study, Presupposition in the interpretation of the Qur'an leads to the discovery of indirect meanings and deeper layers of Qur'anic verses. Although the commentators of the Qur'an have traditionally paid attention to this issue, the use of segmentation, breadth of discussion, and systematization in pragmatics can lead to the discovery of new concepts.