Deep Structures of Selected Qur’anic Constructions: Fillmore’s and Al-Khuli’s Semantic Roles

Abstract

The present study aims to describe Arabic Qur’anic constructions in terms of deep structure using Fillmore’s (1966) base rules and Al-Khuli’s (2000) semantic roles. However, the study seeks to determine whether Arabic Qur’anic constructions can be analysed using the theory of semantic roles to determine their deep structures. What if the Qur’anic constructions were analysed in terms of the theory of semantic roles and deep structures? Likewise, the study hypothesises that Qur’anic constructions can be analysed using the theory of semantic roles to determine their deep structures, though this is not an easy task; hence, Al-Khuli modified Fillmore’s base rules to make them compatible with Arabic. The data selected for semantic representations in the present study are 40 Qur’anic constructions collected in a table at the end of the study. Some samples are analysed in detail to highlight the analysis method. However, deciding the deep structures requires discussing the constructions’ selectional restrictions, co-occurrence restrictions, lexical items, and transformations. However, the present study concludes that Fillmore’s and Al-Khlui’s semantic roles can be adopted to represent Qur’anic constructions, thereby providing the best way to determine their deep structures, as well as those of other Arabic constructions. In addition, the concepts of semantic roles, selectional and co-occurrence restrictions, lexical items, and transformations can be identified by considering their equivalents in the Arabic linguistic tradition. After all, Arab scholars have noted the necessity of combining semantics with syntax as generativists do.