Meaning in the Qur’an: A Linguistic Analysis of the Sura Livestock (Al-An’am) Within the Framework of Grice`s Theory of Implicature

The Holy Qur’an is the holy book of the Moslems and the most understandable aspect of it is its eloquence. One of the most interesting aspects found in different languages is the use of implicaturesor implied meaning. How and why such implicatures are generated are discussed in pragmatics. In this study, a list of conversations (direct and indirect) from Sura Livestock (Al-An’am), 6th chapter of the Holy Quran, and the implicatures implied in the conversations are analyzed through a pragmatic theory: cooperative principle (CP). Grice, the founder of CP, believes that the nonobservance of thefour maxims of quality, quantity, relevance, and manner would lead to the generation of implicatures. The present study shows that in most cases the nonobservance of Grice’s maxims is found in the maxim of quantity and the least in Manner. Grice’s CP and its contributory maxims have not beenobserved in Sura Livestock in this study. All maxims of Grice have been flouted in this sura and thereis no difference among Gricean maxims as far as flouting in the sura is concerned