LessonsDefining Literal Usage: Linguistic Assignment and Speech ConventionQuiz

تعيين اللفظ للدلالة على معنى بنفسه
Assigning an expression to signify a meaning in its own right.

Waḍʿ establishes a conventional relation between an expression and a meaning. The expression serves as a sign, its meaning is the signified, and assignment links the two within shared usage. This is not a private impression of resemblance.

The qualification “in its own right” will generate a more technical objection: the import of particles often cannot be fully understood without a complement. Does this mean that particles lack linguistic assignment? The following discussion tests that question.

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The technical concept of linguistic assignment

Defining Literal Usage: Linguistic Assignment and Speech Convention

تعيين اللفظ للدلالة على معنى بنفسه
Assigning an expression to signify a meaning in its own right.

Waḍʿ establishes a conventional relation between an expression and a meaning. The expression serves as a sign, its meaning is the signified, and assignment links the two within shared usage. This is not a private impression of resemblance.

The qualification “in its own right” will generate a more technical objection: the import of particles often cannot be fully understood without a complement. Does this mean that particles lack linguistic assignment? The following discussion tests that question.