Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
SAKARYA UNIVERSITESI ILAHIYAT FAKULTESI DERGISI-JOURNAL OF SAKARYA UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF THEOLOGY, cilt.25, sa.48, ss.427-458, 2023 (ESCI)
Deixis is the thing referred to by linguistic units outside the text or the discourse. The act of demonstrating or indicating the elements of a state through gestures or linguistic units is called deixis. Deictic is the name given to linguistic elements such as pronouns, demonstrative nouns and adverbs, which refer to the personal, spatial or temporal aspects of a speech act and which are, therefore, all directly related to the context surrounding its act of communication. Since the references of the deicitc expressions can only be identified within the context of actual communication, the subject is considered as a part of the pragmatics. This study aims to analyse the demonstrative nouns used in the Qur'anic verses within the context of deixis and types of deixis, which are research areas of pragmatics, and to identify the types of deixis used in the Qur'an. This study also aims to provide insight into how to present the references of demonstrative nouns, especially in Qur'anic translations, to be understood correctly by the readers. This is because the translations of the Qur'an are presented in written form, and the references of the deictic units are not expressed clearly in some of them. In this case, it is assumed that the reader might have difficulty understanding the meanings of the deictic such as "this, to this, these". This study, firstly by studying deixis and its types from the modern linguistics and pragmatics resources, aims to form a conceptual framework. After the first chapter, upon which the main problem of the study will be built, is completed, the demonstrative nouns are analysed in terms of their structural and referential aspects within balagha and tafsir sources, classical Arabic language nahw sources being in the first place. After the obtained data is analysed, their references are determined by associating the demonstrative nouns in Qur'anic verses with types of deixis, anaphora and cataphora. In this direction, firstly, the demonstrative nouns in the Qur'an will be identified, and the type of deixis will be explained by providing one example for each one of the demonstrative nouns in terms of their referential variety. For this purpose, this study highlights the demonstrative nouns which cannot be directly understood but only can be identified by checking the context. That is, the demonstrative nouns that take adjectives or are adjectives themselves will not be included in the scope. The references to these nouns existing in the verses will be specifically analysed within the classical tafsir works. This study is significant as it reveals the references of demonstrative nouns by analysing the types of deixis in order to understand the Qur'an more accurately. Though there are various studies regarding demonstrative nouns, there are no studies found analysing the references of these nouns according to their types of deixis. With this study, it is understood that classical tafsirs mention the deixis, types of deixis, and the references anaphora and cataphora for demonstrative nouns. As the demonstrative nouns, which are deictic elements, are used to point to all types of living and non-living creatures, they are considered indefinite things. It is understood that for the other interpreters, the vagueness can only be eliminated by considering pragmatic factors such as the speaker, listener and the context of communication. Twenty types of demonstrative nouns were used for a total of 1047 times in 89 different surahs. These demonstrative nouns are as following: "(sic)". The fact that demonstrative nouns are used so often in the Qur'an prove that these nouns are quite important in understanding the Qur'an. This study addresses the verses with demonstrative nouns in terms of types of deixis as part of pragmatics by referring to classical tafsir and linguistic sources. It has been determined that demonstrative nouns in the Qur'an make personal, spatial or temporal references, discourse deixis, anaphora and cataphora, however, they do not perform as social deixis. It has been concluded that identifying the references of demonstrative nouns is quite important in understanding and interpreting the Qur'an correctly. It is also understood that the methods to determine the references of demonstrative nouns by the sources used in the study have pragmatic characteristics. It is observed that the references of the demonstrative nouns are not presented in certain Qur'an translations. In this context, it has been concluded that stating the references of these nouns in written form for the translation of the Qur'an into different languages is vital for these references to be understood correctly. It has also been concluded that it is a requirement in terms of pragmatics to consider the references of the deictic elements mentioned, especially in the primary source.