A morphological and Semantic Study of the Arabic Metrical Unit “fa’aala” in the Holy Quran

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the Quranic words which are formed using the metrical unit “fa’aala”. It is well-known that understanding semantics in Quran is based upon understanding the connotation of its lexical items in addition to the structures used in it. The current study also enriches the Quranic and linguistic studies.The significance of this study lies in the fact that it locates the words which are formed using the metrical unit “fa’aala” then reveals the semantic and morphological meanings of this group of words. It also sheds light on some linguistic phenomena that are usually related to such kind of studies. The study throws light on the role of context in determining the semantic meaning, regarding attentively both synonymy and polysemy and referring to some examples of collocation.Furthermore; the study clarifies the role of the Quranic Qira’at (methods of recitation) in widening the Quranic connotative meaning by studying some of the Qira’at of these words.