Markedness And Linguistic Markedness

Markedness, or ‘non-ordinariness’of language use,occurs when language users opt for a less common linguistic variant instead of the more commonplace, widely used ‘standard’ one. This is choosing a form or meaning that is less ‘normal’ than a comparable form or meaning potentially available in a comparable context. While this is a conscious choice made by language users for different reasons, the aim of heightening the effect of the utterance is animportant outcome. Non-standard use will make a certain instance of language usage stand out, thus serving the rhetorical purpose of the user more befittingly. According to Hume (2011), this is ascribable to the very nature of markedness as it carries the characteristics found in table 1 below:

In general, marked use of

(2004, 229)

The manner in which things are said has its own undeniable impact on meaning and must be accounted for during translation. The question which presents itself is whether a given instance of linguistic markedness is evaluative (i.e. contextually motivated and functional) or is it merely a systemic matter opted for almost by default, and therefore unworthy of the text receiver’s attention?

Bearing this in mind, this paper deals with the issue of markednessas used in the translation of the Qur’an.Since this is a potentially very wide area of research, only one linguistic aspect will be dealt with in detail: when sound and meaning are inseparably combined to form a joint whole. This is termed here “sound-meaning conflation.” Eventhis phenomenon will mainly be studied at the word level, with a few examples of larger structures. Recently, Ahmad Eliman (2013) studied marked word order in the Qur’an and how it istreated in translation. It remains to be said that the ground is ripe for further research.

2. Markedness in the Qur’an