CHNGTOP: Rhetorical Change of Topic
| CHNGTOP: Rhetorical Change of Topic | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (ʿilm al-badīʿ) |
| Subcategory | Paragraph Structure & Flow |
| Built upon | 4 sources |
| Annotation Unit | |
| ARDT Code | CHNGTOP |
| Level | 1 (Rhetorical device) |
| ↳ Has 2 subtypes | |
| Included in Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.1 v0.1.0 |
| External Identifiers | |
| BALAGHAScore | CF-5 |
| BalaghaBase | Q95 |
| OpenAlex | W4415373592 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 Live DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q95 |
| Use this page | |
| Download | PDF JSON  |
Definition
Rhetorical Change of Topic (ḥusn al-takhalluṣ) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which the communicator uses a rhetorically effective transition from one purpose to another, or from the opening of a speech to its intended main subject. The transition may be achieved by smoothly connecting the two purposes, so that the listener does not perceive a discontinuity, or by a rhetorically motivated abrupt shift (iqtiḍāb).[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The device is named barāʿat al-takhalluṣ by al-Qazwīnī and his commentators.[2] It also appears in the sources under the names ḥusn al-takhalluṣ and ḥusn al-khurūj; Thaʿlab uses the latter in his Qawāʿid al-Shiʿr.[2][3]
Linguistic Operations
- The speaker or poet moves from one rhetorical purpose to another, particularly from an opening passage — such as a nasīb (amatory prelude), tashbīb, or other introductory matter — to the intended subject (maqṣūd), such as praise (madḥ), boasting (fakhr), description (waṣf), or another purpose.[3][5][4][6]
- The transition may be connected: a meaning in the preceding material is used as a bridge (sabab) into the new purpose, so that the discourse proceeds without appearing to be cut off and restarted.[3]
- Alternatively, the transition may be abrupt (iqtiḍāb): the preceding discourse is cut off and the new purpose begun without a connecting relationship between them. ʿAkkāwī records this operation as the opposite of takhalluṣ and cites al-Tanūkhī's description of a transition in which one part of the discourse is not attached to the other.[1] Ḥātim specifies that such a sudden shift is effective when rhetorically motivated.[5]
- The device applies to both poetry and prose.[3]
The Linguistic Operation consists in making the transition between distinct rhetorical purposes itself rhetorically significant: either by connecting the two purposes through a semantic bridge, or by deliberately leaving the transition abrupt.
Recognition
Rhetorical Change of Topic may be present when:
- A text moves from one rhetorical purpose to another, particularly from an opening passage (nasīb, tashbīb, or other prelude) to a distinct main subject (madḥ, fakhr, waṣf, etc.).[3][1][5]
- In a connected transition, a meaning in the preceding section provides a bridge (sabab) into the new rhetorical purpose, so that the discourse proceeds without an apparent break.[3]
- Such a connected transition should be fitting and appropriate: a formally ingenious connection that produces an unbecoming or tasteless implication may constitute a defective rather than felicitous transition.[6]
- In an abrupt transition (iqtiḍāb), the new rhetorical purpose begins without a connecting relationship to the preceding one; the discourse is cut off and another is begun independently.[1]
- An abrupt transition is rhetorically significant rather than merely accidental; Ḥātim describes iqtiḍāb as effective when the sudden shift is rhetorically motivated.[5]
The following diagnostic tests aid identification:
- Identify whether the text moves between distinct rhetorical purposes or discourse sections.
- If a meaning in the preceding section provides a semantic bridge into the new purpose, identify a connected transition.
- If the new purpose begins without such a bridge, determine whether the abrupt shift is rhetorically motivated rather than merely an ordinary change of subject.
Communicative Enhancements
- In a connected transition, the linkage between successive rhetorical purposes gives the discourse unity and continuity rather than making its parts appear severed. Ibn al-Athīr compares a well-connected composition to a body whose limbs remain joined together.[3]
- A well-executed connected transition can stimulate the listener's attention and encourage attention to what follows.[3]
- An abrupt transition (iqtiḍāb) can instead derive its rhetorical effectiveness from a motivated sudden shift between purposes. Ḥātim specifies that such a transition is effective when rhetorically motivated.[5]
The two forms therefore exploit the boundary between rhetorical purposes differently. A connected transition enhances continuity by integrating the new purpose with what precedes it, whereas an abrupt transition can make the change itself salient by deliberately withholding such a connection.
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:
Subtypes of Rhetorical Change of Topic
The sources discuss two related forms within the broader rhetoric of transition, though they are not uniformly treated as subtypes of Rhetorical Change of Topic:
CHNGTOP-GRC: Graceful Transition (ḥusn al-intiqāl)
| Annotation Unit | |
|---|---|
| ARDT | CHNGTOP-GRC |
| Level | 2 (Subtype) |
| BalaghaBase | Q390 |
| Official Arabic name | ḥusn al-intiqāl[7] |
A form of Rhetorical Change of Topic in which there is a smooth and fitting transition from what the speech was opened with to the intended subject, with attention to the appropriateness (murāʿāt al-munāsaba) between the two parts, so that the discourse proceeds without an apparent break.[5][8]
دَعَتِ النَّوى بِفِرَاقِهِم فَتَشَتَّتُوا
وَقَضَى الزَّمَانُ بِبَيْنِهِم فَتَبَدَّدُوا
دَهْرٌ ذَمِيمُ الحَالَتَيْنِ فَمَا بِهِ
شَيْءٌ سِوَى جُودِ ابْنِ أَرْتَقَ يُحْمَدُSeparation called them apart and they were scattered; / Time decreed their dispersal and they were dispersed. / An age blameworthy in both its states — there is nothing in it / Worthy of praise save the generosity of Ibn Artuq.
- Explanation
- The opening lines lament separation and the blameworthy age, then the final line pivots to praising Ibn Artuq's generosity.[5]
﴿نَحْنُ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ أَحْسَنَ الْقَصَصِ﴾
"We relate to you the most excellent of stories." (Qur'an 12:3)
- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī cites this verse as an example of the device in the Qur'an: God signals the story through allusion (ramz) and subtlety (laṭāfa) before entering the narrative proper.[3]
أَجِـدَّكِ هَـلْ تَـدْرِيـنَ أَنَّ رُبَّ لَيْلَةٍ
كَـأَنَّ دُجَـاهَـا مِنْ قُـرُونِـكِ تَنْثَـرُ
نَـصَبْـتُ لَهَـا حَـتَّى تَـجَلَّتْ بِغُـرَّةٍ
كَغُـرَّةٍ يَحْيَى حِيـنَ يُـذْكَـرُ جَعفَـرُIn earnest — do you know how many a night / Whose darkness was as if scattered from your tresses, / I kept vigil for it until it broke with a white dawn / Like the bright face of Yaḥyā when Jaʿfar is mentioned?
- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī cites this verse by Muslim ibn al-Walīd as a poetic example of barāʿat al-takhalluṣ: the image of dawn serves as the bridge between the nasīb and the madḥ.[3]
نُوَدِّعُهُمْ وَالْبَيْنُ فِينَا كَأَنَّهُ
قَنَا ابْنِ أَبِي الْهَيْجَاءِ فِي قَلْبِ فَيْلَقِWe bid them farewell, while our separation among us is as though it were the spears of Ibn Abī al-Hayjāʾ in the heart of an army.
- Explanation
- Nābulsī cites al-Mutanabbī's verse in praise of Sayf al-Dawla as an example of ḥusn al-takhalluṣ. The poet moves from the theme of parting to praise through the comparison of the pain of separation with the patron's spears penetrating an army, so that the image itself carries the poem into its new subject.[6]
طَالَ السَّهَرُ وَأَرَّقَتْنِي ذِكْرَاكِ،
وَالنَّجْمُ يَسْبَحُ فِي سَمَاءٍ مُعْتِمَة،
حَتَّى تَنَفَّسَ الفَجْرُ بِضِيَاءٍ كَضِيَاءِ وَجْهِ العَدَالَةِ
يَوْمَ أَنْصَفَ القَاضِي المَظْلُومِينَ.Long was the sleepless night, and your memory kept me wakeful, / as the stars drifted through a darkened sky, / until dawn breathed its light — bright as the face of justice / on the day the judge vindicated the wronged.
- Explanation
- The opening lines evoke a sleepless night of longing, a conventional nasīb-style prelude; the image of dawn breaking then serves as the bridge (sabab) into praise of a judge's rectitude. The transition is concealed within a single continuous image — the light of morning and the light of justice — so that the two sections feel unbroken.
CHNGTOP-ABR: Abrupt Transition (iqtiḍāb)
| Annotation Unit | |
|---|---|
| ARDT | CHNGTOP-ABR |
| Level | 2 (Subtype) |
| BalaghaBase | Q391 |
| Official Arabic name | iqtiḍāb[1] |
A form of Rhetorical Change of Topic in which the speaker breaks off one topic and begins another without establishing a connecting relationship between them. It contrasts with takhalluṣ, in which one part of the discourse is connected to the next.[1][5]
ʿAkkāwī records Ibn al-Athīr's description of iqtiḍāb as the opposite of takhalluṣ (khilāf al-takhalluṣ). He also cites al-Tanūkhī's definition of it as moving from one discourse to another with no noteworthy correspondence between them, beginning the second independently without connecting one part of the discourse to the other.[1]
فَانْصِبْ لِي كَأْسًا عَلَى عَذَلِي
كَرِهْتُ مَسْمُوعَهُ أُذُنِي
مِنْ كُمَيْتِ اللَّوْنِ صَافِيَةٍ
خَمْرُهَا شَامِلَةٌ بَدَنِيPour me a cup, despite my reproacher—
my ear has grown weary of hearing him—
of wine, deep-red in colour and clear,
whose intoxication pervades my body.- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī cites these lines from Abū Nuwās as an example of iqtiḍāb. The transition occurs by breaking from one discourse and beginning another rather than establishing a connecting relationship between them.[1]
لَعَمْرُكَ مَا الدُّنْيَا بِنَا قَصَّةَ الْجِدِّ
إِذَا بَقِيَ الْفَتْحُ بْنُ خَاقَانَ وَالْقَطْرُBy your life, the world is no matter of grave concern to us,
so long as al-Fatḥ ibn Khāqān and the rain remain.- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī cites this verse in his discussion of iqtiḍāb. He explains that the poet moves from ghazal to praise without a connecting cause (min ghayr sabab mā), so that the new rhetorical purpose is begun without being linked to the preceding one.[1]
طَالَ لَيْلِي وَمَا لِقَلْبِي سُلُوٌّ
وَالدُّجَى حَوْلَ نَاظِرَيَّ مُقِيمُ
مَلِكُنَا عَادِلٌ يَصُونُ الرَّعِيَّةَ
وَبِهِ فِي الشَّدَائِدِ نَسْتَجِيرُLong is my night, and my heart finds no consolation; / Darkness remains around my eyes. / Our king is just and protects his people; / In times of hardship, we seek refuge in him.
- Explanation
- The first two lines concern sleeplessness and sorrow, while the third abruptly begins praise of the ruler. No meaning in the opening is used as a bridge into the praise; the second topic is simply begun independently. This illustrates iqtiḍāb as a transition without a connecting relationship between the two parts.
The winter had been long, and every morning the fields lay beneath a sheet of frost. I could scarcely remember the warmth of summer. The governor has reduced the city's taxes and ordered the repair of its roads.
- Explanation
- The passage abruptly leaves the description of winter and begins a statement about the governor. The first topic supplies no semantic bridge or connecting element leading to the second; the new topic is simply commenced. This illustrates the discontinuous transition characteristic of iqtiḍāb.
Notes
- Nāṣif et al. and ʿAkkāwī treat al-takhalluṣ, barāʿat al-takhalluṣ, and ḥusn al-takhalluṣ as synonymous or closely equivalent designations.[2][8]
- The term takhalluṣ literally means "disentangling" or "freeing oneself from" something, hence its rhetorical use for departing from one subject to another.[3]
- The name ḥusn al-khurūj is recorded by ʿAkkāwī as an alternative historical designation.[3]
- Hatim (2010) translates barāʿat al-takhalluṣ as "Skilful Transition".[5]
- Cachia translates ḥusn al-takhalluṣ as “Felicitous Transition”. Nābulsī observes that the technique is particularly characteristic of later poets and warns against sacrificing propriety or sound taste merely to achieve an ingenious transition.[6]
- The device is counted among the merits of both poetry and prose.[3]
- It is described by some scholars as one of the aspects of Qur'anic inimitability (iʿjāz).[3]
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 200-201.
- ↑ a b c d Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 128, ISBN 9786144162798.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 263-264.
- ↑ a b Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 536.
- ↑ 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), 180, ISBN 9783929075731.
- ↑ a b c d e 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), p. 9; §3, ISBN 9783447040327.
- ↑ Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 263.
- ↑ a b Inʿām Fawwāl ʿAkkāwī, Al-Muʿjam al-Mufaṣṣal fī ʿUlūm al-Balāgha: Al-Badīʿ wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Maʿānī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1996), 295.
Page History
- 2026-10-07 - Linguistic Operation-Based Names: Renamed from CHNGTOP: Change of Topic to CHNGTOP: Rhetorical Change of Topic.
- 2026-02-10 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CF-7: Change of Topic to CHNGTOP: Change of Topic.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2024-04-22 - Page created: Change of Topic.
