Morphological Markedness in the Holy Quran

Authors

  • Omar Abdullah Al-Haj Eid

    Linguistics-Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts, UNRWA University, Amman 1118, Jordan
  • Ashraf Waleed Mansour

    French and English Department, Al-Zaytooneh University of Jordan, Amman 1118, Jordan
  • Adnan Mahmoud Abumahfouz

    English Department, Translation-Al-Balqa Applied University, Salt 19117, Jordan
  • Amal AlNatour

    English Department, Literature-Yarmouk University, Irbid 21110, Jordan
  • Ala Shdouh

    Arabic-General Education and Foundation Program, Rabdan Academy, Abu Dhabi 27272, UAE
  • Ahmad Abu Jarrar

    Arabic-Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts, UNRWA University, Amman 1118, Jordan
  • Ali Al Kassab

    Education-Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts, UNRWA University, Amman 1118, Jordan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i9.9736
Received: 28 April 2025 | Revised: 25 May 2025 | Accepted: 30 May 2025 | Published Online: 5 September 2025

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the Quranic morphological markedness in 112 selected expressions as an important linguistic phenomenon. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method to investigate the corpus of the study, we collected 112 Quranic expressions. We analyzed them by classifying these expressions into morphologically unmarked and marked forms and examining their translations. The study revealed that Quranic morphological markedness enhances the expression of the verses' inimitability and eloquence. It emphasizes the role of marked forms—such as affixes—in imparting additional layers of meaning and highlighting Quranic depth and clarity of the Quranic messages. These morphological affixes allow for a specific interpretation of verses by permeating them with nuanced meaning. The paper also underlines the challenges faced by translators, who often render both unmarked and marked forms, similarly, potentially resulting in a loss of meaning or misinterpretation.

Keywords:

the Holy Quran; Verses; Morphological Markedness; Marked; Unmarked

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How to Cite

Al-Haj Eid, O. A., Mansour, A. W., Abumahfouz, A. M., AlNatour, A., Shdouh, A., Abu Jarrar, A., & Al Kassab, A. (2025). Morphological Markedness in the Holy Quran. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(9), 384–401. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i9.9736

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 9 (September 2025): In progress

Article Type

Review

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Copyright © 2025 Omar Abdullah Al-Haj Eid, Ashraf Waleed Mansour, Adnan Mahmoud Abumahfouz, Amal Al Natour, Ala Shdouh, Ahmad Abu Jarrar, Ali Al Kassab

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.