Prepositions as Uncoverers of New Semantic Potentials in Arabic

Abstract

Prepositions in Arabic belong to the group of meaning particles or the words which, at least according to traditional Arabic grammarian schools, do not have their own lexical potential but are expressed in a given linguistic context. Out of 23 particle groups, prepositions represent the most active group and as such belong to the most active particles, i.e. particles with reaction which influence the word they precede. Such a position of an preposition in front of a name is reflected with genitive form of the name which can be manifested explicitly and implicitly, or can be presupposed based on its position in a sentence.

Although according to the opinion of a significant number of language experts prepositions are not denied certain lexical potential in contextualized situations, still their meaning is completed only after theyestablish link with names and verbs. They allow for multiple possibilities of shades of meaning in the semantics of verbs they accompany, but also leave a possibility of semantic transition of those same verbs. The role of prepositions in Qur’anic poetics is astonishing.

General observations related to lexical meanings of prepositions in Arabic are as follows: Arabic prepositions have multiple meanings; different prepositions share common meaning which allows for them to be mutually changeable in a certain context; every preposition is recognizable for its one (primary) meaning, but can have numerous other secondary meanings; the meaning of verb accompanied by preposition in Arabic is mostly compatible with the meaning of preposition; change in the meaning of the basic verb results in preposition change or the change of its basic meaning. There are eight most frequent original prepositions which establish a strong link to verbs and which occur in the Qur’an and these were the prepositions which we focused on: ل ,ب ,في ,على ,عن ,إلى ,من and .حتّ

Although morphological, syntactical and lexical marks of prepositions found in numerous grammars that were the subject of our research indicate that prepositions are secondary or second class parts of a sentence, their essential role seems to be opposing this since prepositions represent a living part of the language and they actively influence the language potential and its richness. The fact that prepositions have a significant part in production of new meanings confirms the fact that prepositions are not fully devoid of their semantic potential.