CONCEPT: Addressing the Non-Human
| Concept Guide: Addressing the Non-Human | |
|---|---|
| Analytical gateway into the Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric | |
| Primary Arabic analysis | The Vocative al-nidāʾ |
| May co-occur with | Metaphor, Interrogative, Imperative, Prohibition |
| OpenAlex.org | |
| ID | W4415405315 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q119 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Addressing the Non-Human describes a rhetorical configuration in which speech is directed towards an animal, object, place, abstract entity, or other non-human addressee as though it were capable of receiving the utterance. Abdul-Raof discusses this phenomenon under the English term apostrophe, describing an unreal speech situation in which a non-human object is treated as though capable of hearing and responding.[1]
Addressing the Non-Human is not treated in this Encyclopedia as an independent Arabic rhetorical device. This page is a Concept Guide: it explains how expressions of this kind can be decomposed into established devices in the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy.
How Arabic Rhetoric Analyses Addressing the Non-Human
Under the Model for Rhetorical Action, the fact that the addressee is non-human describes the overall rhetorical configuration. The linguistic operations producing that configuration should be identified separately.
The Vocative
The central operation is usually the Vocative (al-nidāʾ).
- The communicator explicitly establishes an entity as the addressee of the utterance.
- This frequently occurs through the vocative particle yā.
- The addressee may be an animal, object, place, natural phenomenon, abstract concept, occasion, or other entity that would not ordinarily participate in the communicative exchange.
Abdul-Raof similarly identifies the use of yā with a non-human addressee as characteristic of the phenomenon he calls apostrophe.[1]
The sentence addressed to it
The speech directed towards the non-human entity may itself instantiate another rhetorical operation. For example:
- a question may instantiate the Interrogative;
- a command may instantiate the Imperative;
- a prohibition may instantiate Prohibition.
These operations remain analytically distinct from the fact that their addressee is non-human.
Figurative representation
In some cases, addressing a non-human entity also represents it as possessing capacities normally associated with human or rational beings — for example, hearing, understanding, feeling, deciding, or responding.
Where this depends upon an implicit similarity between the non-human entity and a human or rational being, Metaphor may also be present, particularly al-istiʿāra al-makniyya.
Thus, an expression traditionally described in English-language rhetoric as apostrophe may contain several simultaneously identifiable operations:
non-human addressee → Vocative
question addressed to it → Interrogative
command or prohibition addressed to it → Imperative / Prohibition
human or rational capacities attributed to it → potentially implicit metaphor
The concept therefore describes a configuration of rhetorical operations rather than an additional atomic rhetorical device.
Recognition
A reader may initially recognise Addressing the Non-Human when:
- speech is explicitly directed towards a non-human, inanimate, or abstract entity;[1]
- the entity is introduced through a vocative construction, frequently using yā;[1]
- the utterance treats the entity as though it could hear, understand, or respond.[1]
To determine the appropriate Arabic rhetorical analysis:
- Identify the addressee.
- If the expression explicitly calls or addresses it, identify the Vocative.
- Identify what kind of utterance is directed towards it: question, command, prohibition, statement, or another sentence type.
- Annotate any independently present rhetorical operation associated with that sentence type.
- Ask whether the non-human entity is also being figuratively represented as a human or rational agent.
- If that representation depends upon implicit similarity and a suppressed comparator, implicit metaphor (istiʿāra makniyya) may additionally be present.
Examples
- Source Example
عيدٌ بِأيِّ حالٍ عُدتَ يا عيدُ؟
O ʿĪd, in which state have you come back?
- Addressing the Non-Human
- Abdul-Raof presents the festival of ʿĪd as a non-human addressee which is treated as though capable of receiving and responding to speech.[1]
- Arabic rhetorical analysis
- The expression contains the Vocative in yā ʿīdu (“O ʿĪd”), establishing the festival itself as the addressee. It also contains an Interrogative in bi-ayyi ḥālin ʿudta (“in which state have you returned?”). The familiar category of apostrophe therefore corresponds here to the co-occurrence of at least these two identifiable operations.
- Source Example
يا حديدُ لا تنصهر ولا تتحوّل الى قنابل لتحرق الأبرياء
O iron, do not melt and change into bombs to burn the innocent.
- Addressing the Non-Human
- Abdul-Raof presents iron as though it were capable of receiving and acting upon a prohibition.[1]
- Arabic rhetorical analysis
- The expression contains the Vocative in yā ḥadīdu (“O iron”). The subsequent lā tanṣahir (“do not melt”) and lā tataḥawwal (“do not change”) instantiate Prohibition. The attribution of an ability to receive and comply with the prohibition may additionally support a figurative analysis in which the iron is represented as a volitional agent.
- Source Example
يا عنكبوتُ لا تتغطرس فبيتُكَ واهنٌ
O spider, do not be snobbish. Your house is flimsy.
- Addressing the Non-Human
- Abdul-Raof presents the spider as an addressee capable of receiving an admonition against arrogance.[1]
- Arabic rhetorical analysis
- The spider is established as addressee through the Vocative, yā ʿankabūtu (“O spider”). The clause lā tataghaṭras (“do not be arrogant”) additionally instantiates Prohibition. The attribution of arrogance to the spider may also involve figurative representation of the animal in human evaluative terms.
- Constructed Example
يا نهرُ، إلى أين تذهب بمياهك؟ أما تعلم أن القرى تموت عطشاً؟
O river, where are you taking your waters? Do you not know that the villages are dying of thirst?
- Addressing the Non-Human
- The river is treated as though it were capable of hearing the speaker, directing its own movement, possessing knowledge, and responding to questions.
- Arabic rhetorical analysis
- The expression contains the Vocative in yā nahru (“O river”) and two Interrogatives. The attribution of purposeful movement and knowledge to the river may additionally be analysed through implicit metaphor (istiʿāra makniyya), insofar as the river is implicitly represented as a rational agent.
Related Arabic Rhetorical Devices
- The Vocative (al-nidāʾ): ordinarily the central operation when a non-human entity is explicitly established as the addressee.
- The Interrogative (al-istifhām): may co-occur where the non-human addressee is questioned.
- The Imperative (al-amr): may co-occur where the non-human addressee is commanded.
- Prohibition (al-nahy): may co-occur where the non-human addressee is told not to perform an action.
- Metaphor (al-istiʿāra): may co-occur where the addressee is represented as possessing human or rational capacities through similarity-based transfer.
- Personification: a related Concept Guide concerning the attribution of human actions, qualities, emotions, or capacities to non-human entities.
Different From
- CONCEPT: Personification where the characteristics of a human entity are transferred to a non-human, inanimate, or abstract entity.
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 246-247, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
Page History
- 2026-08-17 - Reclassified from the rhetorical device NONHUMN: Addressing the Non-Human as a Concept Guide. The NONHUMN identifier was retired from the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy, and the page was rebuilt to show how the phenomenon can be decomposed into established Arabic rhetorical devices.
- 2026-02-11 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CH-10: Addressing the Non-Human to NONHUMN: Addressing the Non-Human.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2025-04-15 - Page created: Addressing the Non-Human.
