Definiteness and Indefiniteness in Recurring Qur'anic Vocabulary: A Semantic and Contextual Study

Abstract

This study examines the phenomenon of definiteness (al-taʿrīf) and indefiniteness (al-tankīr) as they manifest in recurring vocabulary across the Holy Qur'an, tracing the conceptual framework of each category, its formative mechanisms, and the semantic divergence between their respective contextual occurrences. A given expression may appear in an indefinite form in one Qur'anic location and in a definite form in another; in each instance examined, the choice between definiteness and indefiniteness proves to be precisely calibrated to its context. Considered as a linguistic and stylistic phenomenon, definiteness and indefiniteness afford the author a degree of compositional flexibility in engaging with the individual word within the sentence and in shaping its meaning for the reader.