الإعراب من منظور سيميائي- تفاعلات المكان والمكانة

There is a general consensus that classical Arabic grammarians employ phonetics and quantity to account for iʿrāb. However, this approach failed to explain the semiotic relationship between iʿrāb's vowels and the three grammatical cases of iʿrāb (the nominative, accusative and genitive). By contrast, spatial position may provide an alternative to both. Spatial position is used here to refer to the location of the lower jaw when pronouncing vowels and can serve as a semiotic mechanism connecting structure and meaning in iʿrāb. From a semiotic point of view, explaining the interrelation between structure and semantic function in a lingual unit is implemented to semiotize the formal and structural approach in Arabic grammar. To do so, iʿrāb is approached as a major semiotic system (semiosis) composed of a signifier and a signified. This article examines how iʿrāb contributes to clarifying grammatical functions and expressing meanings in a single linguistic unit. This “how” requires an in-depth discussion of the mechanisms that make iʿrāb functional and semantic. This question, which associates mechanisms with functions, makes it possible to extend the argument beyond formal and structural characterization to generative functional considerations that can be applied using the tools of semiotics.