BREVTY: Brevity

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    إيجاز القِصَر
    BREVTY: Brevity
    CategorySentence Construction & Syntactical Stylistics
    (ʿilm al-maʿānī)
    SubcategoryTextual Additions & Omissions
    Built upon11 sources
      
    Annotation Unit
    ARDT CodeBREVTY
    Level1 (Rhetorical device)
       ↳ Has 0 subtypes
      
    Included in Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.1
    v0.1.0
      
    External Identifiers
    BALAGHAScoreBREVTY
    BalaghaBaseQ264
    OpenAlexW4415329817
      
    Applications
    BalaghaCorpusSee examples
     
    Cite this page
    🔗 Live DOI10.64393/balagha.Q264
     
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    Definition

    Brevity (ījāz al-qiṣar) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which comparatively little overt wording conveys extensive meaning without deletion of linguistic material.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

    Background Information

    The word qiṣar in ījāz al-qiṣar denotes shortness or brevity, reflecting the shortness of the overt expression relative to the extensive meaning it conveys.[1][3][2] It should not be confused with qaṣr, restriction, which denotes a different rhetorical operation represented in the Encyclopedia by Rhetorical Restriction. Ṭabāna makes the distinction particularly visible by giving separate adjacent entries for al-qaṣr (restriction) and al-qiṣar (brevity).[2]

    Linguistic Operations

    Brevity operates by concentrating extensive meaning into comparatively little overt wording without deletion of linguistic material.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

    Al-Qazwīnī characterises ījāz al-qiṣar as brevity in which there is no deletion, and Ṭabāna similarly defines it as wording that is short and slight while its meaning is extensive, without deletion.[1][2] Al-Jāḥiẓ's definition, as reported by ʿAkkāwī (1996), describes speech in which few words indicate multiple adequate meanings and which cannot be replaced by a shorter expression.[4] Hatim (2010) similarly describes the operation in terms of semantically rich wording through which extensive meaning is conveyed with a minimal use of linguistic forms.[7]

    The resulting economy therefore arises from the semantic capacity of the wording that is present, rather than from the recovery of linguistic material that has been left unexpressed.

    Recognition

    Brevity may be present when:

    • A comparatively short expression conveys extensive or multiple meanings through the wording that is overtly present.[1][2][4][5][6][7]
    • The semantic content of the expression would require substantially more wording to unpack or explain explicitly.[4][7]
    • The economy does not depend upon deletion of linguistic material.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

    Al-Qazwīnī's detailed analysis of وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ suggests one way in which the semantic concentration characteristic of Brevity may arise. He identifies several rhetorical and semantic features operating within the same short expression, including the magnifying effect of the indefiniteness of حَيَاةٌ, semantic contrast, avoidance of repetition, and other respects in which the formulation conveys more through less wording.[1] This suggests that Brevity may sometimes emerge from the concentration of multiple meaning-bearing rhetorical operations within a small span: several operations contribute meaning simultaneously, and their convergence allows comparatively little overt wording to carry an extensive semantic load. The presence of multiple rhetorical operations may therefore provide evidence for Brevity, but is not a necessary condition for identifying it.

    Communicative Enhancements

    Brevity may contribute to:

    • Economy of expression — extensive meaning is conveyed through comparatively little wording.[4][5][6][7]

    Applying the Recognition Framework

    The information on this page can be used to evaluate whether this device is present in a candidate lexical item using the Specific Device Recognition part of the Universal Framework for Identifying Arabic Rhetorical Devices:

    • Use the Definition, Mechanism, and Recognition sections of this page in Step 1.
    • Apply the substitution test in Step 2.
    • Consider contextual indicators in Step 3.
    • Use the Diagnostic Communicative Enhancements section of this page in Step 4.

    Examples of Brevity

    وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ

    In retribution there is life for you. (Q2:179)

    Explanation
    The expression conveys an extensive relationship between retribution, deterrence, and the preservation of life through very little overt wording. Al-Qazwīnī gives a detailed analysis of the respects in which the expression achieves this economy, including its compactness, its explicit expression of life, the magnifying effect of the indefiniteness of حَيَاةٌ, its avoidance of repetition, and the semantic contrast between retribution and life.[1] The sources cite the expression as an example of ījāz al-qiṣar or the corresponding operation of intensive or compressed brevity.[5][6][8][9][7][10]

    أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمُ الْأَمْنُ

    Those shall have security. (Q6:82)

    Explanation
    The compact expression encompasses multiple meanings in its overt wording: security in this life, in the next life, and from every fear are contained under the single word security (al-amn). No linguistic material needs to be restored to account for this economy; the extensive meaning is concentrated in the wording that is present.[4][6]

    أَلَا لَهُ الْخَلْقُ وَالْأَمْرُ

    Is it not His the creation and the command? (Q7:54)

    Explanation
    The compact terms creation (al-khalq) and command (al-amr) encompass extensive meanings within the overt expression: all that is created and all that governs it are gathered into the brief clause.[10]

    Different From

    • ELLIPS: Ellipsis (al-ḥadhf) — traditional accounts distinguish ījāz al-qiṣar, in which no linguistic material is deleted, from ījāz al-ḥadhf, in which linguistic material is omitted.[1][2][3][4][5][6][9][7][11] In the Encyclopedia's operation-first taxonomy, the former is represented by Brevity and the latter by Ellipsis.
    • VERBOS: Rhetorical Verbosity (al-iṭnāb) — the broader traditional category al-ījāz contrasts with al-iṭnāb in the relationship between the amount of wording and the meaning conveyed.[8][5][6] The present BREVTY device represents specifically the non-deletion operation ījāz al-qiṣr rather than the whole traditional category al-ījāz.

    Notes

    Technical

    • The broader term al-ījāz encompasses more than the Linguistic Operation represented by BREVTY. The sources distinguish ījāz al-qiṣar, in which extensive meaning is concentrated in little overt wording without deletion, from ījāz al-ḥadhf, in which linguistic material is omitted.[1][2][3][12][5][6][9][7][11]

    In the Encyclopedia's operation-first taxonomy, BREVTY represents ījāz al-qiṣar rather than generic al-ījāz. Ījāz al-ḥadhf is treated under Ellipsis, since its defining Linguistic Operation is deletion.

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Qazwīnī, known as al-Khaṭīb al-Qazwīnī, al-Īḍāḥ fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ, ed. and comm. Ibrāhīm Shams al-Dīn (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2003), 143-145, ISBN 9782745139078.
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Badawī Ṭabāna, Muʿjam al-Balāgha al-ʿArabiyya, 3rd rev. and expanded ed. (Jeddah: Dār al-Manāra; Riyadh: Dār al-Rifāʿī, 1988), 544-545.
    3. ↑ a b c d e f Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī, al-Muṭawwal: Sharḥ Talkhīṣ Miftāḥ al-ʿUlūm, ed. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Hindāwī, Shurūḥ al-Talkhīṣ 3, 3rd ed. (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2013), 481-483, ISBN 9782745131768.
    4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 246-247.
    5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 223–240, ISBN 9781527316386.
    6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Ayman Amin Abd Al-Ghani, Al-Kāfī fī al-Balāgha: Al-Bayān, wa al-Badiʿ wa al-Maʿānī (Cairo: Dār al-Tawfīqiyya lil-Turāth, 2011), 381-397.
    7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Basil Hatim, Arabic Rhetoric: The Pragmatics of Deviation from Linguistic Norms, LINCOM Studies in Communication 04 (Munich: Lincom Europa, 2010), 198-231, ISBN 9783929075731.
    8. ↑ a b G.J.H. van Gelder, ‘Ījāz’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 390, ISBN 0415068088.
    9. ↑ a b c ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Atīq, ʿIlm al-Maʿānī (Cairo: Dār al-Āfāq al-ʿArabiyya, 2006), 133-157, ISBN 9773440764.
    10. ↑ a b Faḍl Ḥasan ʿAbbās, Al-Balāgha: Funūnuhā wa-Afnānuhā - ʿIlm al-Maʿānī (Irbid: Dār al-Furqān lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 1997), 453-509.
    11. ↑ a b Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer: A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), pp. 52-53; §81, ISBN 9783447040327.
    12. ↑ Inʿam Fawwal ʿAkkawi, al-Muʿjam al-Mufassal fi ʿUlum al-Balagha: al-Badiʿ wa-l-Bayan wa-l-Maʿani (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 242-244.



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