Classification of the Independent Personal Pronoun in the Qur’ān

The independent personal pronoun or, in Arabic, aḍ-ḍamīr al-munfaṣil, appears in verbal sentences and in nominal sentences, where it functions as the grammatical subject of the sentence or as pronominal copula. This paper presents the pragmatic function of the independent personal pronoun in the Qur‘ān. It reexamines and clarifies some pragmatic functions that have been widely discussed in the research literature, as (for example) the most prominent function – which is emphasis. The research literature gives some examples for this function; however, this paper presents all cases in which the independent personal pronoun has this function by referring to the context of the sentence and to its syntactical structure. Additionally, it provides new functions of the pronoun, such as expressing contrast or identifying an interruption of sequence.