FOLDING: Folding and Unfolding
| FOLDING: Folding and Unfolding | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Grouping & Distinguishing |
| Balaghascore.com Entry | |
| Code | CB-5 |
| BalaghaBase.org Entry | |
| Code | Q88 |
| OpenAlex.org | |
| ID | W4415372665 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q88 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Folding and Unfolding (al-laff wa-al-nashr) is an Arabic rhetorical device where the communicator mentions multiple items — this is the "Folding Up" (al-laff) — and then mentions what belongs to each of those items without specifying which piece of information corresponds to which item, with the correspondence left to the addressee to discern the correct pairing and attribute each piece of information to its appropriate referent.[1][2][3][4] This second part — the corresponding information — is the "Unfolding" (al-nashr).[1][3]
The unfolding can be:
- In a parallel sequence (al-nashr al-murattab), where the unfolding follows the same order as the folding up;[2][3]
- In a reversed sequence (al-nashr ʿalā ghayri tartīb al-laff), where the unfolding does not follow the order of the folding up;[2][3]
- In a confused sequence (al-nashr al-mushawwash), where the correspondence between items and their descriptions cannot be determined.[3]
Mechanism
- The communicator first presents multiple items together — the folding up.[1][3]
- The communicator then presents corresponding descriptions — the unfolding — without explicit assignment.[1][3][2]
- The addressee is expected to discern and attribute each piece of information to its appropriate referent.[1][2][3]
- The folding up may be by detailed listing (tafṣīl) or summary (ijmāl).[1][3]
In this encyclopedia, the mechanism may be understood as operating in two stages:
- Stage 1 — The Folding Up.
- Stage 2 — The Unfolding.
Recognition
Folding and Unfolding may be present when:
- Multiple entities are introduced together.
- A corresponding set of predicates follows.
- The addressee must reconstruct the pairings.
Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects
- The beauty of the device consists in combining ease of expression with inventive meanings.[3]
- The communicator avoids repetitive attribution by leaving the correlation to the addressee.[1][2]
Atīq (2002) notes that excessive accumulation of pairings can weaken stylistic elegance and turn the device into affectation.[3]
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:
Types of Folding and Unfolding
There are three types of Folding and Unfolding.[3][4]
Type 1: Parallel/Ordered Unfolding (al-nashr al-murattab)
The unfolding follows the same sequence as the folding up.[2][3]
- Source Example
وَمِن رَّحْمَتِهِ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ لِتَسْكُنُوا فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا مِن فَضْلِهِ
Qurʾān 28:73And out of His mercy He made for you the night and the day, that you may rest therein and that you may seek from His bounty.
- Explanation
- Night corresponds to rest; day corresponds to seeking bounty.[2][3]
- Constructed Example
الكتاب والفيلم متاحان الآن: يمكنك قراءته من المكتبة، أو مشاهدته على الإنترنت.
The book and the film are both available now: you can read it at the library, or watch it online.
- Explanation
- The book is mentioned first and corresponds to reading, while the film is mentioned second and corresponds to watching. The order is preserved.
Type 2: Non-Parallel/Reversed Unfolding (al-nashr ʿalā ghayri tartīb al-laff)
The unfolding reverses the order of the folding up.[2][3]
- Source Example
فَمَحَوْنَا آيَةَ اللَّيْلِ وَجَعَلْنَا آيَةَ النَّهَارِ مُبْصِرَةً لِتَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ
Qurʾān 17:12And We erased the sign of the night and made the sign of the day visible, that you may seek bounty from your Lord and that you may know the number of years and the reckoning.
- Explanation
- Night and day are mentioned in that order (the folding up). Seeking bounty corresponds to the day, while knowing the number of years and the reckoning corresponds to the night; the order is therefore reversed.[2]
- Constructed Example
القمر والشمس ظاهرتان مختلفتان: إحداهما تشرق نهارًا، والأخرى تظهر ليلاً.
The moon and sun differ: one appears by day, the other by night.
- Explanation
- The moon is mentioned first and the sun second, but the first description belongs to the sun and the second belongs to the moon. The unfolding therefore reverses the order of the folding up.
Type 3: Confused Unfolding (al-nashr al-mushawwash)
The unfolding is arranged in such a way that the correspondence cannot be determined: the addressee cannot attribute each item of the unfolding to its corresponding item in the folding up.[3]
- Constructed Example
الغِنى والفَقرُ والعِلمُ والجَهلُ بها تحيا الشُّعوبُ وبها تموت
Wealth and poverty, knowledge and ignorance — by them peoples live and die.
- Explanation
- Four items are introduced (wealth, poverty, knowledge, ignorance). Two descriptions follow (living and dying). The addressee cannot determine which of the four items corresponds to living and which to dying, as no ordering principle is recoverable.
See Also
Notes
- The device is also referred to as al-ṭayy wa-al-nashr in Hāshimī.[2]
- ʿAkkāwī derives the terminology from laffa al-thawb and nashr al-thiyāb, referring to folding up and spreading out garments.[4]
- Heinrichs (1998) renders it literally as “folding up and unfolding.”[5]
- Abdul-Raof (2006) uses the term “Epanodos” for a structurally comparable phenomenon.[6]
- A condition reported by Germanos Farḥāt, as cited in ʿAkkāwī (1996), holds that the words of the folding up should not be antonyms (mutaḍādda).[4]
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 111-112, ISBN 9786144162798.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 373, ISBN 9781527316386.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Atīq, ʿIlm al-Badīʿ (Beirut: Dār al-Nahḍa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Ṭibāʿa wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2002), 175-179.
- ↑ a b c d 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), 633-634.
- ↑ W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 658, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
- ↑ Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 248-250, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
Page history
- 2026-02-10 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CE-8: Folding and Unfolding to FOLDING: Folding and Unfolding.
- 2025-04-14 - Page created: Folding and Unfolding.
