Motion verbs in the Holy Quran from the perspective of cognitive linguistics: The case of “ata” (i.e. to come)

Abstract

Cognitive linguistics is a modern linguistic approach which emerged during 1970s. This linguistic approach is closely related to philosophy, psychology, and other cognitive sciences. A number of scholars including Lakoff, Langaker, Talmy and Fauconnier are among the leading figures in this field. Cognitive linguistics discusses the relationship between language and human mind and the way words are created in mind. To achieve this goal, it focuses on topics including categorization, polysemy and image schema. This article aims at studying motion verbs in the Holy Quran from a cognitive perspective with a focus on the verb ata (to come). The results show that motion verbs have an important role in providing the semantic structure of the Quran and can help to reveal some fascinating aspects of meaning construction in this holy book. The study also reveals that the semantic network around the verb ata goes beyond the primary lexical meaning of the verb. Accordingly, besides the primary meaning of ata, the semantic network of this verb includes such meanings as "to commit a sinful act" and "to swear".

Keywords

• key words: cognitive linguistics
• categories
• polysemy
• image schema
• motion verbs