Parole Calque for Revelation: Izutsu’s Appropriation of Saussurean Dichotomy

Authors : Merve Kurt Palanci

Pages : 825-844

Doi:10.14395/hid.1757030

View : 233 | Download : 245

Publication Date : 2025-12-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study critically examines Toshihiko Izutsu’s (d.1993) application of Ferdinand de Saussure’s (d. 1913) langue-parole dichotomy to Qur’ānic kalām and waḥy vocables, scrutinizing the theoretical and methodological implications arising his calque of parole oriented for the vocable waḥy in particular. Saussure’s structural linguistics is fundamentally built upon binary oppositions, one of which is the langue-parole dichotomy. For Saussure, langue is the abstract, social and institutional system of language, encompassing language as a complete system. In contrast, parole is a speech act - the individual realization of language - which differs from langue in that the latter is institutional and structurally organized, making it suitable for linguistic analysis. Parole represents language as actually spoken by individuals and thus occupies a subordinate position in the linguistic hierarchy. By virtue of being something that can be articulated verbally, parole possesses linguistic characters and pronunciation. So, its primary defining feature is verbality. Known for his substantial contributions to the semantics of the Qur’ān, Izutsu embraced semantics as an analytic study of the key terms in the Qur’ān’s Arabic register with the pursue of revealing Weltanschauung – world view- of the Qur’ān. In his magnum opus God and Man in the Koran, Izutsu mainly employs synchronic analysis in a structuralist manner to procure the supposedly inherent Gestalt of the Qur’ān , referring to the Qur’ān’s integrated semantic universe – a web of interrelated concepts forming a coherent Weltanschauung. For the vocable waḥy, on the other hand, he seeks an etymological referent for the waḥy in a dichronical way inter alia the textual evidences from the overall corpus of the Qur’ān . Excerpts from the pre-Islamic poetry hosting w-ḥ-y root constitute a ground for his diachronic analysis and he attaches a referent of “inscription” and “character” molded with lingual characters for vocable waḥy. He further tallies up the vocable waḥy with Saussurean parole, repeatedly alleging that Qur’ānic revelation, waḥy, denotes a linguistic communication that makes it a good fit for parole calque in his view. He acknowledges that Qur’ān’s self-references to its own nature as qawl and kalimah makes waḥy, albeit being a transcendent and esoteric phenomenon in its essence that resists direct comparison and eludes conventional analysis, eligible for an analytical engagement. Main arguments of the paper are twofold. Firstly, I enounce that the parole is designated for individual speech acts, bearing lingual units per se that constrains the Qur’ānic vocable waḥy from being an equivalent term with parole as it is in Saussurean structuralism. Inferring from the same poetic line, but through a critical engagement with the salient literature penned on the subject, I argue that Izutsu’s appropriation of Sausserean theory, parole calque for waḥy, introduces a conceptual discord given the etymological signifier of waḥy. For as much as the referent “inscription” for waḥy does not denominate conventional writing in the ordinary sense. Instead, it seems to designate a communication type occurred through non-verbal signs. The after-mentioned etymological fallacy has led me to the second argument of this paper: etymology of Qur’ānic waḥy renders it eligible for getting comprehended in a sounder way under the wider scope of semiotics, instead of structuralist semantics. I argue that non-verbal nature of waḥy, which furnishes it with main characteristics of a symbol, renders a potentiality for semiotics. To ground its central propositions, this study utilizes a qualitative methodological framework combining critical text analysis with conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte). The extant scholarly-engagements on Izutsu have predominantly focused his way of application to semantics overall and the domain of Izutsu’s semantics over exegetical works so far. This study, however, aims to analyze the basic presuppositions of Izutsu’s parole calque oriented for waḥy. To this end, subsequent to a critical analysis on the salient scholarly-literature on Izutsu’s methodology, I revisit the main principles of Saussure’s linguistics centering on his language-parole division. Then I peruse Izutsu’s- remarks on the nature of divine speech and handle his treatment of waḥy vis-à-vis the Saussurean parole. In conclusion, it seems safe to argue that Izutsu’s reappropriation of Saussurean parole for divine speech portrays a rough and haphazard calque. I deduce that the Qur’ānic concept of revelation can be analyzed through the concept of semiotic sign as a symbol. This framework is likely to resolve the analytic tensions of Izutsu by positioning revelation as both transcendent sign and historically engaged interpretation process.
Keywords : Tefsir, Dilbilim, Semantik, Izutsu, Saussure, Yapısalcılık, Söz (Parole), Vahiy

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