THE EVALUATION OF THE SEMANTICS STUDIES IN TURKEY (AN ANALYTICAL RESEARCH)

Abstract

The word semantic has come from the root of “semantic-semantikos” in the Greek language. The root of the word has meanings of “significant, meaningful, revealing, knowing, the word which has secret meaning and important nature”. The semantics has investigated the meaning levels of the word, its layers, and the meanings it gains or loses over time, and it is an analytical study on the key terms of that language as a science. It is so important to search the historical process and the degree of change in the words of the Qur’an like other departments’ terms. It has been used to analyze the concepts of the Qur’an in Turkey in the modern period too. In our study, we have aimed to determine contemporary studies about science and the method of the semantics. We have used some online programs, libraries, encyclopedias, catalogues, databases, books, theses, articles, and other academic studies as means to investigate related works with the semantics while searching the words of “semantic, semantics, semantic meaning, the method of semantic analysis, semantic analysis, semantic determination, the roots and the words related to the roots, relative analysis, concept analysis, concept detection, concept determination.” We have reached that the method of semantic analysis has been preferred to examine the concepts’ meanings and their usage according to the purpose and the necessity of that field in many departments such as Turkish Language and Literature, the commentary of the Qur’an, and other related sciences with the Qur’an, Arabic Language, and Literature, Law, Islamic Jurisprudence, Tafsir, Hadith, Kalam, History of Sects, Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy, Logic, Religious Education. We have studied description, the historical process of the semantics, applying it to the Qur’anic studies and we have tried to determine and to list some Qur’anic concepts, words, and roots that had been used in contemporary academic works especially the works in Tafsir field using this method because major works have taken a place in this department.