Past-Tense Verbs of Futurity in the Holy Quran: A New Text-World Theory Approach

Zakaria Abdelaziz,Zakaria Mahmoud

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.7p.110

Abstract

Since the publication of Paul Werth’s (1999) seminal work Text Worlds: Representing Conceptual Space in Discourse, Text World Theory has undergone various modifications and development. In this paper, I attempt to apply the text-world model to two neglected areas of research which are the Arabic language and the Holy Quran. I particularly examine the text-worlds constructed by Arabic past-tense verbs or perfect verbs which express futurity in the Holy Quran. Drawing on my analysis of a number of such Arabic verbs, I argue that the text-world model proposed by Werth and Gavins is not particularly valid for the proposed study of Arabic past-tense verbs or perfect verbs which express futurity in the Holy Quran. Rather, I argue that introducing a new type of world which is a confirmed-unrealized text-world to the text-world framework is more effective for the study of the Holy Quran as a sacred and heavenly text. This paper argues further that Gavins’ notion of split discourse-world which is used for written communications is not particularly valid for the Holy Quran as a Godly transcript. Instead, the Holy Quran should be dealt with as a type of spoken discourse.

Highlights

Since the publication of Paul Werth’s manuscript Text Worlds: Representing Conceptual Space in Discourse in 1999 and his claim that he introduced a framework that can be applicable to all kinds of discourse, the text-world model has been used for analyzing all types of literary and non-literary discourses
I argue that introducing a new type of world which is a confirmedunrealized text-world to the text-world framework is more effective for the study of the Holy Quran as a sacred and heavenly text
The reader has to construct a confirmed-unrealized mental representation for each one of them in order to understand the verse in its Quranic context. This papers aims at opening new insights when approaching some Arabic verses of the Holy Quran from a text-world perspective

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Since the publication of Paul Werth’s manuscript Text Worlds: Representing Conceptual Space in Discourse in 1999 and his claim that he introduced a framework that can be applicable to all kinds of discourse, the text-world model has been used for analyzing all types of literary and non-literary discourses. Lugea (2016: 9) argues that in spite of Werth’s (1999) claim that “the framework is applicable to all text types – spoken and written – his development and description of it is mostly based on literary prose”. In her application of the text-world framework to the analysis of Spanish and English spoken narratives, Lugea explains that Werth presents Text World Theory as a holistic approach to all kinds of discourse, “he makes no mention of how it can be used to analyze a language other than English. The Holy Quran should be dealt with as a type of spoken discourse

Text World Theory

Arabic Tenses

Data Collection

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION