A Semiotic Perspective on the Denotation and Connotation of Colours in the Quran

This study investigates the significance and representation of colours in the Quran from the perspective of meaning and connotation according to the semiotic models of sign interpretation; namely, Saussure’s dyadic approach and Peirce’s triadic model. Such approaches are used to analyze colours from the perspective of cultural semiotics. The study presents both the semantic and cultural semiotics aspects of colour signs in the Quran to demonstrate the various semiotic meanings and interpretations of the six basic colours (white, black, red, green, yellow, and blue). The study reveals that Arabic colour system agrees with colour universals, especially in terms of their categorization and connotations, and that semiotic analysis makes an efficient device for analyzing and interpreting the denotations and connotations of colour signs in the Quran.