Verbal clues and their effect in directing the grammatical significance according to Al-Tahir bin Ashour (d. 1393 AH) in his interpretation of Tahrir wal-Tanweer (the linking clue as an example)

Abstract

Since the pursuit of benefit is a reason for linguistic communication, scholars have stipulated that the Arabic sentence, whether nominal or verbal, should be useful; therefore, there must be links that connect the speech to each other, which gives it the characteristic of formal coherence and clarity in meaning and its statement, especially if the speech is long and its parts are separated, which leads to its disintegration and ambiguity if those links are absent.

To achieve textual harmony and coherence and connection between the elements that make up the context, it was necessary to resort to the linking clue as a structural phenomenon that links a group of words with verbal or semantic links, and these links may combine with other verbal clues to perform the intended meaning of the structure. The purpose of this clue is to understand the intended meaning and the coherence of sentences in the grammatical structure to achieve the basic goal of the language, which is communication. The Arabic language has adopted many means to achieve coherence between words and sentences, including: linking with the pronoun, using the demonstrative pronoun, linking by repeating the word itself or repeating its meaning. This is what Ibn Ashour mentioned in his interpretation, and he indicated the permissibility of repeating the word regardless of its grammatical position, whether the word is a subject, predicate, or other. As for linking with letters, Ibn Ashour indicated the permissibility of linking with the definite (the) whether the covenant is masculine, present, or mental, and linking with the causal (So) that links the condition and its consequence, and its presence in the sentence is evidence of the connection between the beginning of the speech and its end in many places, and the same is the case in using the (so) the conjunction to link between sentences. Linking with letters includes linking with (that) and (until), linking with (for) and (If), linking with (what) the extra after (that), linking with (and) between the state and its owner, and linking with the tool of exception (unless). Due to the large number of literal connections and their branches, we preferred to limit ourselves to the connection with (so) and the connection with (that).