Revisiting what is termed as Anomalous Formulaic Expressions in the Qur'anic Discourse: A Cognitive Study from a Pragma-Stylistic Perspective

Abstract: This cognitive, small-scale study reviews the formulaic expressions used in the Quranic discourse. From a pragma-stylistic view, it examines the extent to which the Quranic expressions identified by Arab linguists as ‘odd’ words are used as discourse markers. Based on more recent denotational theories, the paper claims that these expressions are unlikely to be anomalous. It theorizes that these phrases are verbal clues that work on the discourse level. The study utilizes corpus linguistics for data collection. Theoretically, it builds on discourse analysis (DA) as a main approach to data categorization and analysis. Thus, it models on Fairclough (2013) and Van Dijk's (1998) analytical framework to describe, interpret and explain the senses of these expressions in the various processes of meaning production, consumption and realization. A systematic, linguistic analysis is carried out on the syntactic, semantic and schematic levels. It has been found that these expressions fit into some formulaic sequences in which the components refer either directly to the discourse or indirectly to the context in which the embolic term is used. The contexts in which the formulaic patterns are selected and used are mainly characterized by hypersensitivity to sex and abstractedness of comprehension. The linguistic features of the expressions suggest that the Quranic discourse uses them for language politeness to keep face, for more linguistic interactions to clarify meaning and for hedging to sustain other potential senses. Finally, the study implicates for research on pragmatic and translation studies.