Verbos de dicción en el Corán: el caso de qāla

Yehudit  Dror

doi:10.3989/alqantara.2021.003

Authors

Yehudit Dror University of Haifa https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5459-077X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2021.003

Keywords:

The verb qāla, Speech act, Illocutionary force, Assertive, Directive, Direct Speech, Word-exchange

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to highlight the functions and meanings of the verb of saying qāla in the Qurʾānic text. To define the properties of this verb, four interrelated aspects are investigated: the context, the pragmatics, the semantics and the syntax of qāla. Theory, methodology and theoretical insights from the literature dealing with verbs corresponding to qāla in other languages which view these instances as speech acts are discussed and applied.

The article is divided into two sections. In section 1 the notion of “speech act” is defined according to Searle (1969, 1999) and Austin (1962). Section 2 is divided into three sub-sections according to the verb form of qāla (past and imperative), type of discourse (reported dialogues and non-dialogues) and the syntactic environment (qāla followed by an imperative or direct speech).

The most common contextual frame for qāla can be characterized as a conversation or a verbal exchange involving two participants (the addressor and addressee). This affects the function and meaning of the verb qāla since in an interaction between two or more participants the reference to the entity transmitting the message is marked by qāla. Furthermore, the content of the message which is introduced by qāla and is usually formulated as an asyndetic clause (i.e., one that lacks a conjunction) or as a verb in the imperative form, is stressed by qāla. Finally, in interactions people can ask, assert, contradict, argue or command. All these actions are embodied by the verb qāla, which performs two illocutionary (i.e., communicative effect) assertive and directive speech acts.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abdel Haleem, Muhammad A. S, The Qurʾān: A new Translation, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005.

Aijmer, Karin, English Discourse Particles, Amsterdam-Philadelphia, John Benjamins, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.10

Austin, John Langshaw, How to Do Things with Words, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962.

Azaiez, Mehdi, Le contre-discourse coranique, Berlin-Boston, De Gruyter, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110419108

Bal, Mieke, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Barthes, Roland, "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives", in Susana Onega and José Ángel García (eds.), Narratology, London- New York, Longman, 1996, pp. 45-60.

Bobzin, Hartmut, Der Koran: Neu übertragen von Hartmut Bobzin, München: C.H. Beck, 2010. https://doi.org/10.17104/9783406640483

Bortolussi, Marisa and Dixon Peter, Psychonarratology: Foundations for the Empirical Study of Literary Response, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511500107 PMCid:PMC128158

Cuciniello, Antonio, "Joseph in the Qur'ān, a prophetic narrative. Incidents and specific language", Folia Orientalia, 56 (2019), pp. 123-156.

Dror, Yehudit, Linguistic Features of the Qurʼānic Narratives, Wiener Offene Orientalistik, Band 12, Berlin, LIT Verlag, 2016.

Dror, Yehudit, "Grammatical Parallelism in the Qur'ān", Archív Orientální, 85, 2 (2017), pp. 165-189. https://doi.org/10.13173/medilangrevi.24.2017.0085

Gilliot, Claude, "Narratives", in Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān, Leiden: Brill, 2003, vol. 3, pp. 516-528.

Goossens, Louis, "Say: Focus on the Message", in Rene Dirven, Emma Vorlat, Yvan Putseys, and Louis Goossens (eds.), The Scene of Linguistic Action and Its Perspectivization by SPEAK, TALK, SAY and TELL, Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1982, pp. 85-131. https://doi.org/10.1075/pb.iii.6.04goo

Gwynne, Rosalind Ward, Logic, Rhetoric, and Legal Reasoning in the Qurʼān: God's Arguments, London, Routledge, 2014. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203343081

Horovitz, Josef, Koranische Untersuchungen, Berlin-Leipzig, De Gruyter, 1926. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111557366 PMid:17772673

Jacobson, Roman, "Closing Statement: Linguistic and Poetics", in Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.), Style in Language, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1960, pp. 350-377.

Johnstone, Barbara, "He Says…So I Said: Verb Tense Alternation and Narrative Depictions of Authority in American English", Linguistics, 25, 1 (1987), pp. 33-52. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.1987.25.1.33

Kuno, Susumu, "Subject, Theme, and the Speaker's Empathy: A Re-examination of Relativization Phenomena" in Charles N. Li (ed.), Subject and Topic, New York, Academic Press, Inc., 1976, pp. 417-444.

Miller, Cynthia L., The Representation of Speech in Biblical Hebrew Narrative, Atlanta, Georgia, Harvard Semitic Museum Publications, 1996.

Mir, Mustansir, "Dialogues", in Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Leiden, Brill. Vol. 1, 2001, pp. 531-533.

Mir, Mustansir, "Dialogue in the Qurʾān", in Colin Turner (ed.), The Koran: Critical Concepts in Islamic Studies, London-New York, Routledge, vol. 3, 2004, pp. 194-213.

Neuwirth, Angelika, "Form and Structure in the Qurʾān", in Jane Dammen McAuliffe, (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, Leiden, Brill. 2002, vol. 2, pp. 245-266.

Quirk, Randolf, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey and Svartvik, Jan, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London-New York, Longman, 1985.

Qurʾān, English Translation [on line], available on: <https://www.al-islam.org>.

Radscheit, Matthias, "Word of God of Prophetic Speech? Reflections on the Quranic qul-Statements", in Lutz Edzard and Christian Szyska (eds.), Encounters of Words and Texts: Intercultural Studies in Honor of Stefan Wild, Hildeshim, Zürich-New York, Georg Olms Verlag, 1997, pp. 33-43.

Rubin, Uri, ha-Qurʾān. Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv University Press, 2015.

Sakaedani, Haruko, "The Correlation between Definite Noun Phrases and Verb Forms in Qur'anic Narrative Texts", Journal of Qurʾānic Studies, 6 (2004), pp. 56-68. https://doi.org/10.3366/jqs.2004.0005

Salaeh, Rusda, "Translation of Lexicons qala and its Derivation in the Surah Taha by Mahmud Yunus", Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), 228 (2018), pp. 251-257. https://doi.org/10.2991/klua-18.2018.36 PMid:29346671

Searle, John R., Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge-New York, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Searle, John R., "How Performatives Work", in Daniel Vanderveken and Susumu Kuno (eds.), Essays in Speech Act Theory, Amsterdam-Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2001, pp. 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.77.05sea

Searle, John R., Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173438

Shemesh, Rivka, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis, PhD Dissertation, Bar-Ilan University, 1998.

Shemesh, Rivka, "Direct Discourse Markers in Mishnaic Hebrew", Journal of Semitic Studies, 51, 1 (2006), pp. 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1093/jss/fgi082

Taylor, Michael, "Saying", Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 12 (1980), pp. 27-46.

Vanderveken, Daniel and Kuno, Susumu (eds.), Essays in Speech Act Theory, Amsterdam-Philadelpia, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2001.

Vanderveken, Daniel, "Universal Grammar and Speech Act Theory", in Daniel Vanderveken and Susumu Kuno (eds.), Essays in Speech Act Theory, Amsterdam-Philadelphia, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2001, pp. 25-63. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.77.03van

Zebiri, Kate, "Polemic and Polemic Language", in Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Qurʾān, Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2004, vol. 4, pp. 114-124.