Comparative Collation of Distributional Semantics and the Common Method of Semantics Known as Structuralist in Quranic Studies

Distributional semantics is a neostructuralist method in semantics that attempts to identify the meaning of words by examining their contexts of use. On the other hand, one of the topics of interest in Quranic studies in recent years is finding the meaning of Quranic words through their Quranic usage, which has been implemented in many Persian-language research under the title of structuralist semantics. Due to the similarity of the goals of the two mentioned methods, comparing them from different aspects can provide a basis for promoting Quranic studies. In this research, the common method in Quranic studies has been evaluated with the comparative-analytical method. The most important similarities between the two methods are the origin of the structuralist approach and the use of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships. The differences between the two methods have various aspects. For example, in distributional semantics, the similarity of words is graded; Attention is paid to the occurrence of words in different texts as well as the types of co-occurrents, and co-occurrences are weighted due to their value. On the contrary, in the common structuralist method in Qur'anic studies, similarities are not graded; To find paradigmatic relations, only complementary co-occurrences are emphasized, and co-occurrences are not weighted. Some criticisms of the common structuralist method are the mismatch of the title with the content, the failure to explain how to adapt the method with the well-known methods of semantics, the failure to provide valid reasons for determining the steps, and, therefore, the arbitrariness of the result.

کلیدواژه ها:

Distributional Semantics ، Neostructuralism ، Structuralism ، Quran ، Comparison