Topicalisation in the Qur’ān: A study of ’Ištiġāl

Dror, Yehudit (2012) Topicalisation in the Qur’ān: A study of ’Ištiġāl. Acta Orientalia, 65 (1). pp. 55-70. ISSN 0001-6446

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Abstract

This paper examines one structure of topicalisation, the structure of ’ištiġāl, in which the noun is taken from its typical place in the sentence and posed at its head [“preposed”] and later on in the sentence this noun is referred to by a pronoun. The paper examines the pragmatic and stylistic uses of this structure in the Qur’ān. The explanations of the pragmatic uses of this structure are adapted from linguistic studies of topicalisation in Biblical Hebrew. The theory applied and presented in this paper is that put forward by Adina Moshavi, according to which there is a logical relation [e.g., cause and effect] between the extraposed noun and the sentence or sentences preceding it. The present paper also contains references to rhetorical and stylistic characteristics of the Qur’ān text and their connection to the studied structure.

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