Morphological Markedness in the Holy Quran

This paper aims to examine the Quranic morphological markedness in 112 selected expressions as an important linguistic phenomenon. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method to investigate the corpus of the study, we collected 112 Quranic expressions. We analyzed them by classifying these expressions into morphologically unmarked and marked forms and examining their translations. The study revealed that Quranic morphological markedness enhances the expression of the verses' inimitability and eloquence. It emphasizes the role of marked forms—such as affixes—in imparting additional layers of meaning and highlighting Quranic depth and clarity of the Quranic messages. These morphological affixes allow for a specific interpretation of verses by permeating them with nuanced meaning. The paper also underlines the challenges faced by translators, who often render both unmarked and marked forms, similarly, potentially resulting in a loss of meaning or misinterpretation.