Semantics of Qur'aan

Linguistic Semantics is the study of meanings as inherent at the levels of words, phrases, sentences and larger units of discourse-text. It is used for understanding human expression through language. The discourse-text of Grand Qur'aan is in Arabic: a perspicuous, eloquent, distinctive and precisely expressive language; the language of the sons of soil of Arabian Peninsula.

Experts suggest that it is useful to view the vocabulary of a language/text as a set of words referring to a series of conceptual fields. In linguistics, these divisions are called Semantic fields. A semantic field or semantic domain is a set of words grouped by meaning referring to a specific subject; languages will have fields of distance, location, size, shape, time, emotion, beliefs, economics, academic subjects, natural phenomena, etc. Each field can have many sub-divisions or lexical sets: actual words and expressions. Semantic fields are arranged hierarchically, going from the more general to the more specific. Linguists generally refer the general word by umbrella term "superordinate" and the specific word as "hyponym". The propositional meaning carried by a general word or superordinate is part of the meaning of each of its hyponyms but not vice versa.

1. The source of guidance is but unitary, be it for a single cell or for human being with hundred trillion cells in his body. There is only one star in the Sky that comes to the rescue of a man in bewilderment of clueless location to show him the direction [refer 16:16]. The guidance: information code for aright course for sustaining life of a cell is encoded in the DNA. DNA contains the instructions for growth and development in humans and all living creatures. Our DNA is packaged into chromosomes that contain all of our genes. The guidance for humanity is encoded in the Grand Qur'aan: the constitution for aright conduct and the guarantor of sustained life. It is the "DNA" for growth and development to an exaltation that will render him eligible to be piloted beyond the ascensions of earthly universe to his original abode to live the truly living life of the Hereafter.

Genetics is quite a delicate and complicated discipline. Being a person of ordinary prudence, I have but to restrict to non-technical and elementary approach. I, however, understand that the Source-Originator of information is since Unitary, therefore, the transmission and decoding of guidance in the DNA and the Book of Allah the Exalted: Grand Qur'aan must have similarities, resemblances and are governed by similar rules. Genetic scientists tell us that the genetic code is a set of rules that defines how the four-letter code of DNA is translated into 20-letter code of amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.

Likewise, the linguists and grammarians have the set of rules for translating a source-language text into target-language text. Deviations from the rules will produce a defective protein and a defective translation.

Guidance for humanity is:

the Parlance—verbal Message of Allah the Exalted. Like Messenger RNA, it was in timeline transferred—transcribed to the elevated human Messenger of Allah the Exalted for onward communication-delivery verbatim to public:

They were a galaxy of men of personal choice of Allah the Exalted described by Adjective resembling participle:

signifying the person who is the Chosen, elevated and given Distinction and exaltation over all others in timeline since their birth. However, they were assigned the responsibility of the Messenger only upon having attained strengthen maturity to convey the Message of Allah to the people of their time and nation in their respective language. The same is the case in human genome that the mature Messenger RNA does the same job.

The last in the galaxy of men of personal choice of Allah the Exalted, described by Adjective resembling participle:

is the final universal Messenger who is unique by virtue of having been appointed for the humanity for the entire time-span. The Universal Messenger Muhammad Sal'lallaa'hoalaih'wa'salam is perpetually the sole Warner and survivalist for all those whom Grand Qur'aan reaches in time and space:

2. "Semantics" of DNA is decoding—to transform an encoded message into an understandable form—the 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes in the human genome. And perhaps there are a similar number of sentences in the text of Grand Qur'aan. A gene comprises of a sequence of Codons. A codon is a set of three consecutive nucleotides in Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule that codes for one amino acid. Thus each gene encodes the sequence of amino acids that will produce a specific protein. Proteins are polymers of amino acids. Each protein has a unique sequence of amino acids. The sequence of amino acids specifies protein shape and function.

In verbal language, a gene corresponds to a sentence of a text that conveys a complete thought/proposition-concept. And a codon corresponds to a word or phrase—grammatical unit in a sentence imparting only one meaning. And their sequence in a sentence signifies the type of sentence by structure and function—meanings-message-communication.

After the First Segment: Chapter, there are 29 untranslatable binding-sites in the Qur'aan where only letters of alphabet and diacritical mark appear. Interestingly, the alphabet of Arabic also comprises of 29 segments, one letter and 28 consonants. [So called Mystery of Initial Letter/Consonants]. Thus the Grand Qur'aan has thirty translatable segments.

4. The ribosome is a complex molecular machine found within all living cells, that serves as the site of biological protein synthesis- translation. Ribosome link amino acids together in the order specified by messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules. Ribosome consist of two major components: the small ribosomal subunit, which reads the RNA, and the large subunit, which joins amino acids to form a polypeptide chain.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule is a single strand. Similarly Arabic text is a single continuous strand depicting first word to its last word as a chain. In both, there is no capital letter to indicate the start of a sentence and end markers like full stop, exclamation and question mark. The ribosome binds to the single strand of Messenger RNA. As the ribosome binds, we are also directed to consciously bind ourselves with the "strand of Allah the Exalted":

5. Human Genome Project has highlighted that the structure of the genetic language is very simple and that the rules for reading the genetic code are simple. The "Author" of Genetic code and Grand Qur'aan is Allah the Exalted. He the Exalted has proclaimed:

6. For accurate decoding-translation of a codon-basic unit of genetic code there is an anticodon which is a trinucleotide sequence complementary to that of codon in a messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence. An anticodon is found at one end of a transfer RNA (tRNA) molecule. During protein synthesis, each time an amino acid is added to the growing protein, a tRNA forms base-pairs with its complementary sequence on the mRNA molecule, ensuring that the appropriate amino acid is inserted into the protein.

Like the triplet code of codon and corresponding anticodon for translation of a gene for producing a protein, for accurate translation of a sentence (gene) in the text of Grand Qur'aan, there is a "triplet anticodon": Root + Morphology + syntax for every word - element (codon) of the sentence. Without applying this "anticodon", any attempted translation will be but faulty, inaccurate, erroneous, incomplete or vague.

The language of Grand Qur'aan is Arabic: language of the exalted universal Messenger-Spokesperson of Allah the Supreme Sovereign, and of sons of soil of Arabian peninsula.

Arabic words, nouns and verbs, stem from Roots. Root is a cluster of three, in some cases four or rare five, consonants of Alphabet placed in a peculiar sequence. Out of 29 letters of Arabic alphabet, Aleph is not a consonant since it has no sound, hence it is never the part of a Root. All 28 consonants may function as root radicals. However, there are no roots with identical consonants in the first and second position while at the second and third position radicals of a root can be the same consonant. Such roots are termed geminate roots.

Though a combination of three unique consonants can constitute six Roots, for example consonants: ح , ب and ر make these Roots: ب ح ر - ب ر ح - ح ب ر - ح ر ب - ر ب ح - ر ح ب ; the Roots are determined and fixed. No new Root can be structured.

Roots are comparable to proper names as both are with unique semantic reference. However, there is a profound difference between proper names and roots. The former designate identifiable entities with real existence, whereas root is is pure abstraction. The root is the common element shared by its derivatives.

The Root has specific, defined, distinct, conspicuous and apparent concept, phenomenon, perception and signification folded in it. It is the source, the reservoir of knowledge. Roots can be termed as "repertory of frames" of Arabic language if we follow frames approach to semantic analysis.

The amazing fact about the Roots of Arabic is that the perception infolded in them is reflective of physical—scientific realities pertaining both to matter and life. They seem as if they are the baseline for scientific study and investigation.

For semantics, Root is like the first of trinucleotide sequence of anticodon. It is well know that vocabulary is of vital importance in language study because it is the essence of a language. Linguist D. A. Wilkins (1972) has the famous line : "Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. (p.11)".

That book is conveniently understandable which uses minimum vocabulary of the language. The entire vocabulary of Grand Qur'aan, nouns and verbs, stems from just 1646 Roots. Therefore, at preliminary stage, we should feel pleased that learning the skill for real-time translation of Qur'aan is rendered facilitative by the use of a small part of otherwise large vocabulary of Arabic in its discourse. If we merely run through the basic perception infolded in these Roots, we will gain a fairly good understanding of meanings of the words of Grand Qur'aan, even before learning the meanings added by other features of the language; morphology and syntax.

Morphology deals with word structures. Arabic morphology is highly systematic. It involves the study of patterns and forms of words found in the language with regard to their origin, derivation, construction and meanings. Words originate from the Roots on various well defined patterns-moulds-structuring frames. But they retain the original perception infolded in the Root, dominantly and conspicuously. Additional meanings and connotation, shades and colours get added to the perception-concept-meanings infolded in the Root by the peculiar pattern - placing of vowels—syllabification and addition of consonants. Moreover, relational aspect of the semantic field will also influence and add connotations to the word with reference to its collocates. Hence; the meanings, perception and connotation of an Arabic word is the composite whole of the perception infolded in its Root, coupled with meanings associated with its pattern, and its relation to the semantic field where it is used—collocates.

It signifies that the basic meanings of a Root and word do not exhaust when they are used in a different semantic field, relational area, while necessarily retaining the base meanings. This phenomenon is particular to the words which are other than those coined to denote and identify a specific tangible object, or person, i.e. substantive nouns. Actions and gestures, bodily actions or body language has various levels of intensity, depth, magnitude proportionally reflecting the feel and state of heart and mind.

For semantics, morphology is like the second of trinucleotide sequence of anticodon. All the words stemming from a particular root are enumerated in the root page and their morphological features are mentioned therein. Moreover, all words are segregated by their types.

Syntax- (Arabic: النحو العربي‎ or قواعد اللغة العربية)

It is the other branch of Arabic grammar that deals with the set of rules, principles, and process that govern the structure of sentences. It deals with how words or other elements of sentence structure are combined to form grammatical sentences-complete expressions. The subject of syntax [Nahw-] revolves around word itself and the speech. The benefit of grammar is protection against error in speech, and likewise in writing. Syntax is concerned with the expression-word as it exists within the context of a sentence. It is not particularly concerned with the expression-word itself which is the main subject of other branch of Arabic grammar, i.e. morphology-Tasreef.

Syntax is all about the concept called grammatical inflection-I‘rāb إﻋﺮﺍﺏ. It is considered the core of grammar and everything else revolves around it. Experts say understand this concept is understanding the Arabic language and failing to understand it is failing to understand the language.

Syntax of Grand Qur'aan is the simplest because we have only to observe the vowel on the last consonant of a noun. The last vowel reveals the role and function of a noun in the sentence. Nouns having vowel sign ـُُ, ,ـُـُ on their last consonant are termed "nominative- مَرْفُوْع"; those with vowel sign [ــًــ, ـَ] are termed "accusative-مَنْصُوْب", and third case-ending with vowel sign [ـِ .. -ٍ ] are termed "genitive-مَجْرُوْر".

There are 8 roles that nouns play in sentences when they have case ending ـُُ, ,ـُـُ —"nominative- مَرْفُوْع";

There are 12 roles that nouns play in sentences when they have case ending [ــًــ, ـَ]—"accusative-مَنْصُوْب"; and

There are 2 roles that nouns play in sentences when they have case ending [ـِ .. -ٍ ]—"genitive-مَجْرُوْر"

Thus there are only 22 positions for reflecting the role and function a noun performs in sentences and discourse. There are twenty amino acids and a start and a stop codon in protein-coded gene translation. In Arabic, there are twenty two declensions of a noun that signify its role in the sentence: two genitive, eight nominative, and twelve accusative.

Grammatical inflection is known in Arabic as اِعْرَاب. If a word experiences اعراب it is called مُعْرَب, and if it does not experience اعراب, or experiences it but does not show it (like a poker face), it is called مَبْنِيّ.

The types of words that cause grammatical states are known as عَامِل and those that do not are called غَيْر عَامِل. When a word is influenced indirectly (like when Zaid becomes happy after seeing Nick smile), it is called the تَابِع and the word it mimics is called the مَتْبُوْع.

Unlike human emotions, the grammatical states in Arabic are just four:

1. the state of رَفْع

2. the state of نَصْب

3. the state of جَرّ

4. the state of جَزْم

There are 8 roles a noun can play in a sentence that would make it مَرْفُوْع (in the state of رفع), there are 12 roles a noun can play in a sentence that would make it مَنْصُوْب (in the state of نصب), there are 2 roles a noun can play in a sentence that would make it مَجْرُوْر (in the state of جر). For example, one of the 8 roles a noun can play is to be the subject of a verb. Arabic grammar talks about each of these 22 roles and carries the discussion over to verbs as well.

When a word enters one of these four states, that state must be reflected somehow. Depending on the type of word we’re talking about, this reflection might be done differently. There are a total of 9 ways in which a state can be reflected and grammar talks about this.

4. There are twenty amino acids and a start and a stop codon in protein-coded gene translation. In Arabic, there are twenty two declensions of a noun that signify its role in the sentence: two genitive, eight nominative, and twelve accusative.

The words in the miscellany of Grand Qur'aan belong to only 1646 Roots. Therefore, at preliminary stage, we should feel pleased that learning the skill for real-time translation of Qur'aan is rendered facilitative by the use of a small part of otherwise large vocabulary of Arabic in its discourse. If we merely run through the basic perception infolded in these Roots, we will gain a fairly good understanding of meanings of the words of Grand Qur'aan, even before learning the meanings added by other features of the language; morphology and syntax.

Another encouraging fact is that almost half of the Roots used in Qur'aan have one to three words emanating from them.

Let us start with those Roots, about 447 in number, which have only one word in the Grand Qur'aan.

Each Root is specific to a semantic field referring to a specific subject.

Some roots have no verb derivatives from them

An anticodon is a trinucleotide sequence complementary to that of a codon in a messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence. An anticodon is found at one end of a transfer RNA (tRNA) molecule. During protein synthesis, each time an amino acid is added to the growing protein, a tRNA forms base-pairs with its complementary sequence on the mRNA molecule, ensuring that the appropriate amino acid is inserted into the protein.

Like the triplet code of codon and corresponding anticodon for translation of a gene for producing a protein, for accurate translation - perception of communication at recipient end of a sentence (gene) in the text of Grand Qur'aan, there is a "triplet anticodon": Root + Morphology + syntax for every word - element (codon) of the sentence. Without applying this "anticodon", any attempted translation will be but faulty, inaccurate, erroneous, incomplete or vague.

Semantics (from Ancient Greek: σημαντικός sēmantikós, "significant")^[1]^[2] is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotation. Linguistic semantics is the study of meaning that is used for understanding human expression through language. Other forms of semantics include the semantics of programming languages, formal logics, and semiotics. In international scientific vocabulary semantics is also called semasiology.

Semantics is the subfield that is devoted to the study of meaning, as inherent at the levels of words, phrases, sentences, and larger units of discourse (termed texts, or narratives). The study of semantics is also closely linked to the subjects of representation, reference and denotation. The basic study of semantics is oriented to the examination of the meaning of signs, and the study of relations between different linguistic units and compounds: homonymy, synonymy, antonymy, hypernymy, hyponymy, meronymy, metonymy, holonymy, paronyms.

Definition by Bell (1991:98-99)

Denotative meanings: It refers to meaning which is referential, objective and cognitive, and, hence, the shared property of the speech community which uses the language of which the word or sentence forms a part.

Connotative meaning: It in contrast, refers to meaning which is not referential but associational, subjective and affective. This kind of meaning, being personal, may or may not be shared by the community at large.

Two utterances my have the same denotative meaning but very different connotative meaning. Also, word's connation may vary while its denotation remains unchanged.

Some words with neutral connotation in the SL may have strong emotional overtones in the TL if translated literally.

CONCEPTUAL meaning (sometimes called 'denotative' or 'cognitive' meaning) is widely assumed to be the central factor in linguistic communication. It can be shown to be integral to the essential functioning of language in a way that other types of meanings are not. Reason for assigning priority to conceptual meaning is that it has a complex and sophisticated organization of a kind which may be compared with, and cross-related to, similar organization on the syntactic and phonological levels of language. In particular, I would like to point to two structural principles that seem to lie at the basis of all linguistic patterning: the principle of CONTRASTIVENESS and the principle of STRUCTURE.
Contrastive features underlie the classification of sounds in phonology, for example, in that any label we apply to a sound defines it positively, by what features it possesses, and also be implication negative; by what features it does not possess.-----

The conceptual meanings of a language can be studied in terms of contrastive features, so that, for example, the meaning of the word woman could be specified as + Human, _ Male, + Adult, as distinct from, say, boy, which could be 'defined' + Human, + Male, -Adult.

Most of what is conceptual meaning will appear when we constrast it with CONNOTATIVE MEANING. Connotative meaning is the communicative value an expression has by virtue of what it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual meaning. If the word woman is defined conceptually by three features (+human, -male, + adult) then the three properties "human", "adult", and "female" must provide a criterion of the correct use of that word. These contrastive features, translated into "real world" terms, become attributes of the referent (that which the word refers to). But there is a multitude of additional, non-critical properties that we have learnt to expect a referent of woman to possess. They include not only physical characteristics ("biped", "having a womb"), but also psycholotgical and social properties, and may extend to features which are merely typical rather than invariable concomitants of woman-hood. Still further, connotative meaning can embrace the "punitive properties" of the referent, due to the viewpoint adopted by an individual, or a group of people or a whole society.

It will be clear that in talking about connotation, I am in fact talking about the "real world" expereince one associates with an expression when one uses or hears it. Therefore the boundary between conceptual and connotative meaning is coincident with that nebulous but crucial distinction, discussed in chapter 1, between "language" and the "real world".

It consists of the associations a word acquires on account of meanings of words which tend to occur in its environments; but may be distinguished by the range of nouns with which they are likely to co-occur or (to use the linguist's term) collocate:

Sound Symbolism

Sound symbolism states that there is a certain association between the sound of an utterance and its meaning, Other definitions could be "a non-arbitrary connection between sound and meaning" or "words that sound like what they mean". For example:

The sound /i/ tends to be associated with small things. Most diminutives are formed with this sound in many languages. The reason for this, it seems, lies in the way, in which this sound is produced. To utter the phoneme /i/, we have to raise the tongue and leave a very small space in our mouth; the contrast between this sound and /o/ is evident. That is why sound /i/ tends to be associated with small things, and /o/ sound with big things.

Each field can have many sub-divisions or lexical sets: actual words and expressions. Semantic fields are arranged hierarchically, going from the more general to the more specific. Linguists generally refer the general word as "super-ordinate" and the specific word as "hyponym". The propositional meaning carried by a general word or super-ordinate is part of the meaning of each of its hyponyms but not vice versa. Each Root is specific to a semantic field referring to a specific subject.

It is well know that vocabulary is of vital importance in language study because it is the essence of a language. Linguist D. A. Wilkins (1972) has the famous line : "Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. (p.11)" Truly, without vocabulary, there will be no sentence, no text and no language. Vocabulary is central to language of crucial importance to the common language learner. The prominent role of vocabulary mastery in foreign language learning has been widely accepted and increasingly recognized. If we compare English to a giant architecture, then the bricks and concrete that made up the building will be English vocabulary. It is a common sense to us that the more concrete and bricks we use, the more stout and durable the architecture will be. Hence, if we have a great mastery of English vocabulary, we can surely win the first campaign of conquering English.

[Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics and semiotics that studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. In this respect, pragmatics explains how language users are able to overcome apparent ambiguity, since meaning relies on the manner, place, time etc. of an utterance. The ability to understand another speaker's intended meaning is called pragmatic competence.

Grammatical semantics: meanings conveyed by grammatical means, such as Bill saw Peter vs Peter saw Bill; or

Historical/diachronic semantics: which deals witgh the ways in which meanings change over time, may also be included [but less often]

Pragmatics: The central topics of linguistic pragmatics are those aspects of meanings which are dependent on context. Two are of particular importance. The first type go under the name of conversational implicature. This refers to meanings which a speaker intends to convey, but does not explicitly express.

The second type of context-dependent meaning concerns expression which designate different things, places, or times in the world, in different contexts: this table, over there, last night. The general term for identifying the things in the world that a bit of language is about is reference, and the mechanism whereby it is achieved, using the speaker as a reference point, is called deixis.

An important part of language in use, and therefore of pragmatics, is what people are actually doing with language when they speak; whether they are informing, criticizing, blaming, warning, congratulating, christening a baby, and so on. This is the topic of speech acts. Other topics covered by pragmatics are politeness as expressed linguistically and conversational analysis, which deals with the way conversations are structures.

The background frame is the same

: the piece of land. It is either:

or that which has experienced and attained a natural quality:

, either of permanent nature or temporary nature. The relation between words becomes available by virtue of their links to common background frame. The purpose is not to merely illustrate that two objects are the same or different but the point is to analyze how they compare or contrast and why their similarities or differences are important.

The effect about both is described by the same verb

denoting emergence-getting out of the subject from a place. With regard to:

the subject of the verb is:

the vegetation of that land. But the other type of land is itself the subject of this Verb. In this state too, it does pour out but something of little or no value: picayune.

1.3 The Lexical Ontologies WordNet is a lexical database for the English language. It collects English words into sets of synonyms called synsets, gives short definitions and usage examples, and records a number of relations among these synonym sets. These relations include: hypernym, hyponym, coordinate terms, meronym, holonym[7]. WordNet can be interpreted and used as a lexical ontology. It has been used for a number of different purposes in information systems, including word sense disambiguation, information retrieval, automatic text classification, automatic text summarization, machine translation and even automatic crossword puzzle generation[8]. The WordNet success of the English language stimulated similar projects that aim to develop WordNets for other languages, so, many WordNets has been carried out as an important resource for a wide range of natural language processing applications[9]. The global Wordnet (Global WordNet Organization), as non-profitable public organization, is established to support and encourage the development of dictionaries and WordNet for other languages based on the English WordNet, providing connectivity between the WordNet dictionaries from different languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, African, Albanian, Indian, etc.[10]. This research presents an Arabic WordNet (AWN) which is based on the design and contents of the universally accepted WordNet and mappable straightforwardly onto PWN 2.0 and EuroWordNet (EWN), enabling translation on the lexical level to English and dozens of other languages. The AWN was developed and linked with the Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (SUMO), where concepts are defined with machine interpretable semantics in first order logic [11]. This paper is arranged as it follows. Section 1 introduces the Arabic language, the Semantic Web

Ontology has many definitions one of them defined by Gruber as "an explicit specification of a conceptualization" [6].

Language is the principal means used by human beings to communicate with one another. It is the main tool of transmitting perceptions amongst human beings. Perception is a neurological process of observation and interpretation. It is a neurological process of acquiring and mentally interpreting information from the senses. Perception and word of a language are compulsorily complementary to each other.

Matter has dimensions and we can perceive and conceive it only if there is a language. Without there being a language neurological perception would have been non existent. Sensory feelings could have any meanings if there existed a language, since they could become meaningful data/information/knowledge capable of storage and retrieval from the memory if it were assigned some code/name using some language. Could some thing be created with a purpose and design if there was no language to name the product being created? From human beings point of view, there must exist a language before anything is created; language precedes creation or at least is developed simultaneously with the creation of things.

The Universal Messenger Muhammad Sal'lallaa'hoalaih'wa'salam has relayed and Grand Qur'aan has since reached us. It is like the Messenger RNA has reached to the cytoplasm, where the ribosome are located. It is the job of the individual and ribosome in cell to translate the message: