CONCEPT: Tapinosis

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    التحقير
    Concept Guide: Tapinosis
    Analytical gateway into the
    Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric
      
    Primary Arabic analysisMetaphor
    al-istiʿāra, especially al-istiʿāra al-makniyya
      
    OpenAlex
    IDW4415405310
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 DOI10.64393/balagha.Q118
     Download PDF
      
    Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.0, v0.1.1

    Overview

    Diminishing Expression provides an exemplar of how a rhetorical category from another rhetorical tradition may fail to correspond directly to an atomic device in Arabic rhetoric, and how an apparent rhetorical device may instead decompose into an existing linguistic operation and a separate pragmatic effect.

    Abdul-Raof presents Tapinosis as a semantic embellishment involving depreciation or belittlement. His examples include referring to a jabal (mountain) as a rabwa (hill), and referring to a nahr (river) as a jadwal (stream).[1]

    Although the resulting pragmatic effect may be described as al-taḥqīr (belittlement or depreciation), the linguistic operation in these examples is not itself a distinct operation of "diminishing". The communicator instead applies a lexical concept associated with a lesser but similar entity to the actual referent.

    Why this is a concept rather than a device

    At first sight, Tapinosis might appear to correspond to an Arabic rhetorical device called al-taḥqīr. However, analysis of Abdul-Raof's examples reveals that the identifiable linguistic operation is already accounted for elsewhere in the taxonomy.

    For example:

    في بلادي نهرٌ وعندكم جدول

    In my country, there is a river and you have got a stream.

    The referent is understood to be a river, but the communicator designates it as a stream. The expression therefore involves the transfer of a lexical concept to a referent to which it does not literally apply, on the basis of similarity. In the Encyclopedia's taxonomy, this is analysed through metaphorical transfer.

    What makes the expression depreciatory is not a separate linguistic operation, but the direction of the conceptual substitution: the selected analogue is smaller, weaker, or less impressive than the referent.

    The same analysis applies to Abdul-Raof's second example:

    زرتُ بلادكم الشهر الماضي وصعدتُ الربوةَ في الشمال

    I visited your country last month and climbed the hill in the north.

    Here, rabwa (hill) is used where jabal (mountain) would more accurately describe the referent.[1]

    Decomposition under the Model for Rhetorical Action

    The phenomenon can therefore be decomposed as follows:

    MRA Level Analysis
    Communicator Intent To depreciate, belittle, or diminish the perceived importance of the referent.
    Linguistic Operation Metaphorical transfer: a lexical concept is applied to a different but similar referent.
    Cognitive Relationship Similarity combined with a downward scalar relationship, such as mountain → hill or river → stream.
    Pragmatic Effect Belittlement or depreciation (taḥqīr).

    This distinction is important because taḥqīr is not restricted to metaphorical expressions. Arabic rhetorical sources also recognise belittlement as a possible rhetorical effect of other linguistic operations. For example, ʿAkkāwī records istifhām al-taḥqīr among the rhetorical uses of interrogation.[2]

    The fact that the same pragmatic effect may result from different linguistic operations is evidence against treating the effect itself as an atomic rhetorical device.

    Cross-tradition terminology

    This exemplar also illustrates a broader problem in comparing rhetorical traditions.

    A rhetorical term used in one tradition does not necessarily correspond one-to-one with a device recognised in another. A named figure may package together:

    • a linguistic operation;
    • a particular cognitive relationship; and
    • a characteristic pragmatic effect.

    Consequently, importing the name of a figure into the Arabic rhetorical taxonomy without first decomposing its mechanism may produce duplicate devices for linguistic operations that are already represented elsewhere.

    In this case, Abdul-Raof's Tapinosis identifies a recognisable rhetorical configuration, but the examples supplied do not require a new atomic device. They can instead be represented as a particular use of metaphor producing the pragmatic effect of taḥqīr.

    What this exemplar demonstrates

    This case illustrates three principles of the Encyclopedia's analytical framework:

    1. Rhetorical terminology is not necessarily transferable between traditions on a one-to-one basis. A named figure in another rhetorical tradition may not correspond to an independent device in Arabic rhetoric.
    2. Pragmatic effects are distinct from linguistic operations. Taḥqīr is a genuine rhetorical effect, but it may be produced through metaphor, interrogation, or other linguistic operations.
    3. Device identification begins with the linguistic operation. The relevant question is not merely "What is this figure called?" but "What has the communicator done to the language?"

    The original Diminishing Expression entry was therefore retired from the device taxonomy. Its examples are retained here because they provide a useful exemplar of rhetorical decomposition under the Model for Rhetorical Action.

    See also

    References

    1. ↑ a b Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 258-259, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
    2. ↑ 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), 128.



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