Abstract
The present study propounds a methodology for the translation of Qur'anic lexis in a way that synergizes semantic preference, discourse prosody, and para/intertextuality. Towards the validation of this methodology, the Qur'anic lexical item (ayah) is investigated at two levels: (a) the intertextual level of the semantic preferences emerging in the various co-texts of ayah inside the Qur'an and (b) the paratextual level of the overall discourse prosody underlying these semantic preferences in the exegetical contexts of ayah. The research finds firstly that there are four semantic preferences associated with ayah, viz. cosmological phenomena, miraculous tokens, conclusive evidence, and divine revelations/communications. Second, the discourse prosody underlying the Qur'anic usages of ayah is divine visibility, which motivates the word's generic English translation as "sign." Third, in rendering the lexical item (ayah) into English, the well-known Qur'an translators in the Qur'anic Arabic Corpus have opted either for "sign," to maintain the positive discourse prosody associated with the Qur'anic usages of the item, or "token," "portent," "miracle(s)," or "verse/revelations/communications," with a view to observing the semantic preferences associated with them.