FOREGR: Foregrounding and Backgrounding

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    التقديم والتأخير
    FOREGR: Foregrounding and Backgrounding
    CategorySentence Construction & Syntactical Stylistics
    (ʿilm al-maʿānī)
    SubcategorySentence-Type Switches
    Built upon9 sources
      
    Annotation Unit
    ARDT CodeFOREGR
    Level1 (Rhetorical device)
       ↳ Has 3 subtypes
      
    Included in Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.1
    v0.1.0
      
    External Identifiers
    BALAGHAScoreA-10
    BalaghaBaseQ53
    OpenAlexW4415329592
      
    Applications
    BalaghaCorpusSee examples
     
    About this page
    Created22 April 2024
    Modified2 November 2026
     
    Cite this page
    🔗 DOIhttps://doi.org/10.64393/balagha.Q53
     
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    Definition

    Foregrounding and Backgrounding (al-taqdīm wa-l-taʾkhīr) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which a constituent of an utterance is deliberately placed earlier or later than its default position in the sentence for a specific rhetorical purpose (dāʿin).[1][2][3][4] [5][6][7][8]

    Background Information

    The Arabic name al-taqdīm wa-l-taʾkhīr literally means "placing forward and placing backward". It consists of two complementary terms:

    • al-taqdīm (foregrounding or advancement) means placing something before another element. Akkawi (n.d.), citing al-Zarkashi's al-Burhān, explains it as min qaddama al-shayʾ ay waḍaʿahu amāma ghayrihi ("from placing a thing forward, that is, putting it in front of something else").[9]
    • al-taʾkhīr (backgrounding or postponement) denotes the opposite operation: placing something later in the sequence.[9]

    Together, the terms describe the relative ordering of constituents within an utterance. Foregrounding one constituent necessarily places another later in relation to it. In rhetoric, the name refers specifically to the deliberate arrangement of constituents for a communicative purpose, rather than merely to the unavoidable fact that words must occur in sequence.[1][2]

    Al-Zarkashi, as cited by Akkawi (n.d.), identifies this arrangement as one of the recognised styles (asālīb) of eloquence (balāgha), valued for the expressive possibilities created by changing the order of speech.[9]

    Linguistic Operations

    • Speech is necessarily sequential: its constituent words cannot be uttered simultaneously, so some must precede others. The ordering of these constituents may reflect the order of meanings (al-maʿānī) in the speaker's mind and varies according to the intended meaning and communicative context. Rhetorically significant precedence requires a motive (dāʿin).[1][2]
    • The device operates across three principal loci: the predicand (al-musnad ilayhi), the predicate (al-musnad), and the verb's dependents (mutaʿallaqāt al-fiʿl).[10]
    • A distinction is drawn between foregrounding undertaken with the intention of backgrounding another constituent (deliberate reordering) and precedence that merely reflects the ordinary grammatical arrangement.[10]
    • Foregrounding the verb's dependents—including objects, adverbials of time and place, prepositional phrases, and circumstantial qualifiers (al-ḥāl)—may involve placing them before the verb or changing their order relative to one another. The sources associate such ordering with specification or restriction (al-ikhtiṣāṣ) and the appropriate arrangement of the utterance (naẓm al-kalām al-ḥasan).[10][8]
    • Foregrounding and backgrounding are semantically oriented syntactic processes in which constituent order is adapted to the communicative context and the addressee's state. In nominal constructions, foregrounding the predicate may alter the usual sequence of known information (the predicand) followed by new information (the predicate).[11][12]

    In this encyclopedia, the linguistic operation is characterised by:

    • An expected constituent order for the relevant grammatical construction.
    • The deliberate placement of a constituent earlier (foregrounding) or later (backgrounding) than its expected position, without changing its underlying grammatical function.
    • A contextually identifiable rhetorical motive for the reordering, distinguishing it from grammatically obligatory or otherwise unmarked constituent order.

    Recognition

    Foregrounding and Backgrounding may be present when:

    • A constituent of the sentence -- the predicand, the predicate, or one of the verb's dependents (time, place, prepositional phrase, circumstantial qualifier, or object) -- occurs in a position other than its default grammatical slot.[10][11]
    • The predicate is placed before the predicand although the predicand is otherwise expected to occur first.[10][12]
    • The object, prepositional phrase, circumstantial qualifier, or adverbial of time/place occurs before the verb rather than after it.[10][13]
    • The reordered constituent could grammatically have occupied its ordinary position, but the chosen ordering contributes a contextually identifiable rhetorical purpose; ordering that is compulsory under the grammatical construction does not, by itself, establish this device.[3][6]
    • A negation particle or interrogative particle is followed immediately by a fronted constituent rather than by the verb in its normal order.[10]

    The following diagnostic tests aid identification:

    • Test 1: Identify the default/unmarked word order for the sentence type (verb-initial for verbal sentences). If the actual utterance departs from this order without a grammatical requirement (e.g. an obligatory fronting environment) forcing it, foregrounding/backgrounding may be present.
    • Test 2: Check whether reverting the constituent to its default position would still be grammatically well-formed. If so, and if a rhetorical motive (e.g. specification, suspense, reinforcement) can be identified for the departure, this supports identifying the device.

    Communicative Enhancements

    • Creating suspense or anticipation (al-tashwīq) toward the backgrounded element, particularly when the foregrounded element itself suggests something unusual or strange.[1][2][10]
    • Hastening the delivery of good news or bad news, or expressing optimism or pessimism about an outcome.[1][2]
    • Marking the foregrounded element as the locus of denial or astonishment.[1][2]
    • Observing a graduated (general-to-specific) progression, since mentioning the general after the specific would add nothing.[1]
    • Observing an order that mirrors the real-world/existential order of the things referred to.[1]
    • Signalling general negation (ʿumūm al-salb) versus negation of the general/totality (salb al-ʿumūm), depending on whether the universal quantifier or the negator is fronted.[1][2][10]
    • Reinforcing and affirming a statement (taqwiyat al-ḥukm), especially where the predicate is a verb, through the resulting repetition of reference (once as the fronted noun, once as the pronoun within the verb).[1][2]
    • Specification/restriction (al-takhṣīṣ), confining a predicate or action to the fronted element to the exclusion of others.[1][2][10]
    • Preserving metre or rhymed prose (al-sajʿ).[1]
    • Signalling that the fronted predicate is indeed a predicate and not a descriptive qualifier (naʿt), where the two could otherwise be confused.[10]
    • Expressing a good omen (al-tafāʾul) through the ordering chosen.[10]
    • Al-Zarkashi (via Funun) additionally attributes foregrounding to: precedence in time or existence; precedence by essence; cause and causation; rank; motive/prompting cause; glorification; nobility (of message, of freedom, of faith); predominance/majority; contextual requirement; observance of verbal derivation; and fronting out of concern that a matter might otherwise be neglected.[10]
    • Disbelieving or rebutting a claim made by an opponent.[14]
    • Expressing astonishment at something unbelievable or contrary to social norms.[14]
    • Instilling fear or discipline in the addressee.[14]
    • Praising someone by highlighting an unprecedented characteristic, so as to eliminate doubt.[14]
    • Reassuring the addressee.[14]
    • Affirming a negation stated earlier in the discourse.[14]
    • Dispelling doubt or suspicion in the addressee's mind.[14]
    • (Backgrounding the predicand) denoting specificity, announcing positive or negative unknown news, supplication, praise or dispraise, sympathy, glorification, building suspense through postponement of news, and restriction.[14]
    • Clarifying vagueness or uncertainty about someone's or something's state.[12]
    • Denoting boredom or a pessimistic mood on the part of the communicator.[12]
    • Clarifying a misunderstanding between communicator and addressee by fronting the object.[13]

    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.

    Subtypes of Foregrounding and Backgrounding

    FOREGR-PRD: Foregrounding of the Predicand (taqdīm al-musnad ilayhi)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTFOREGR-PRD
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ409
    Official Arabic nametaqdīm al-musnad ilayhi[15]

    A form of Foregrounding and Backgrounding in which the predicand is foregrounded to create suspense, to signal specification when it follows a negation particle and the predicate is a verb, to signal generalisation or negation-of-the-general depending on which element is fronted relative to the negator, or to signal restriction when paired with words such as mithl ("like") or ghayr ("other than").[1][2][10][3][6][8]

    وَالَّذي حارَتِ البَريَّةُ فيهِ ... حَيَوانٌ مُستَحدَثٌ مِن جَمادِ

    "He at whom creation marvels is a being newly arisen from inert matter." (Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī)

    Explanation
    The predicand (wa-lladhī ḥārat al-bariyyatu fīh) is foregrounded before the predicate (ḥayawānun mustaḥdathun min jamād), creating suspense: the addressee's mind is drawn to wonder at the referent before the predicate resolves the ambiguity.[2][10]

    مَا أَنَا قُلتُ هَذَا

    "It was not I who said this."

    Explanation
    The predicand (anā, "I") is foregrounded immediately after the negation particle mā, restricting the negated action to the speaker specifically and, by implication, affirming that someone else may have said it.[1]

    مَن يَظلِمِ النَّاسَ لَا يُفْلِحْ

    "Whoever wrongs people does not prosper."

    Explanation
    The universal expression (man yaẓlim al-nāsa, "whoever wrongs people") precedes the negation (lā, "not"), so the negation applies to every member of the class: no person who wrongs others prospers. Atiq classifies this as general negation (ʿumūm al-salb), distinguishing it from negation of generality (salb al-ʿumūm), in which the negation precedes the universal expression.[2]

    أَنَا مَا أَخطَأتُ فِي هَذَا القَرَارِ

    "It was not I who erred in this decision."

    Explanation
    Modelled on the mā anā qultu hādhā pattern, the predicand (anā) is foregrounded before the negated verb to restrict the denial of error to the speaker specifically, implying someone else may indeed have erred.

    "That quiet apprentice, she solved the problem that defeated the experts."

    Explanation
    The predicand ("that quiet apprentice") is foregrounded as a detached topic through left-dislocation, with the subject pronoun "she" resuming the same referent within the following clause. Compared with the unmarked wording ("That quiet apprentice solved the problem that defeated the experts"), this arrangement gives the apprentice separate initial prominence and reinforces the attribution of the unexpected achievement to her. This is an English analogue of foregrounding the musnad ilayhi, rather than an exact replication of the Arabic grammatical construction.

    FOREGR-PRC: Foregrounding of the Predicate (taqdīm al-musnad)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTFOREGR-PRC
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ410
    Official Arabic nametaqdīm al-musnad[16]

    A form of Foregrounding and Backgrounding in which the predicate is foregrounded before the predicand to achieve specification (restricting the predicate to the predicand alone), to signal that the fronted element is indeed a predicate rather than a descriptive qualifier, to create suspense toward the predicand, or for a good omen.[10][12][4][8]

    فَلِلَّهِ الحَمدُ رَبِّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَرَبِّ الأَرضِ

    "So to God belongs all praise, Lord of the heavens and Lord of the earth." (Q45:36)

    Explanation
    The predicate (li-llāhi, "to God") is foregrounded before the predicand (al-ḥamd, "the praise"), restricting praise to God alone to the exclusion of any other.[10]

    وَلَكُم فِي الأَرضِ مُستَقَرٌّ وَمَتَاعٌ إِلَى حِينٍ

    "And for you on earth is a dwelling place and provision for a time." (Q2:36)

    Explanation
    The predicate (wa-lakum, "and for you") is foregrounded so that it is understood as a predicate rather than mistakenly read as a descriptive qualifier (naʿt) of a preceding noun.[10]

    ثَلَاثَةٌ تُشرِقُ الدُّنيَا بِبَهجَتِهَا ... شَمسُ الضُّحَى وَأَبُو إِسحَاقَ وَالقَمَرُ

    "Three things brighten the world with their splendour: the forenoon sun, Abū Isḥāq, and the moon."

    Explanation
    The predicate (thalāthatun, "three [things]") is foregrounded before the predicand is disclosed, creating suspense toward the identity of the three things named at the end of the line.[2][10]

    لِلطَّالِبِ حَقُّ المُرَاجَعَةِ

    "To the student belongs the right of review."

    Explanation
    The predicate (li-l-ṭālib, "to the student") is foregrounded before the predicand (ḥaqqu al-murājaʿa, "the right of review"), restricting this right to the student to the exclusion of others, on the model of fa-li-llāhi al-ḥamd.

    "Great was their astonishment."

    Explanation
    The predicate ("great") is placed before the predicand ("their astonishment"), reversing the more usual English order ("Their astonishment was great"). This foregrounds the quality being asserted and gives it immediate prominence.

    FOREGR-VDP: Foregrounding of the Verb's Dependents (taqdīm mutaʿallaqāt al-fiʿl)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTFOREGR-VDP
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ411
    Official Arabic nametaqdīm mutaʿallaqāt al-fiʿl[17]

    A form of Foregrounding and Backgrounding in which a dependent of the verb—such as an object, adverbial of time or place, prepositional phrase, or circumstantial qualifier—is placed before the verb or before another dependent for a rhetorical purpose. Such ordering may serve exclusivity/restriction or the appropriate arrangement of the utterance. When combined with a negation or interrogative particle, foregrounding a dependent immediately after the particle may direct the negation or question specifically toward that element.[10][13][5][8]

    أَغَيرَ اللَّهِ تَدعُونَ إِن كُنتُم صَادِقِينَ

    "Is it other than God that you call upon, if you are truthful?" (Q6:40)

    Explanation
    The object (ghayra Allāhi, "other than God") is fronted immediately after the interrogative particle, so that the question targets the identity of what is called upon specifically, rather than the act of calling itself.[10]

    بِهَذَا أَمَرتُكَ

    "[It was] this [that] I commanded you [to do]."

    Explanation
    The prepositional phrase (bi-hādhā, "with this") is fronted before the verb, restricting the command to this matter specifically and excluding any other.[10]

    بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ / اقرَأ بِاسمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ

    "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" / "Read, in the name of your Lord who created" (Q96:1)

    Explanation
    In the basmala, the prepositional phrase is foregrounded before its implied verb, restricting the action to being undertaken in God's name alone. In Q96:1, by contrast, the verb (iqraʾ, "read") precedes the prepositional phrase, since the priority in that context was the command to read itself, this being the first verse revealed.[10]

    فِي المَكتَبَةِ قَرَأتُ الكِتَابَ

    "[It was] in the library [that] I read the book."

    Explanation
    The prepositional phrase (fī al-maktaba, "in the library") is fronted before the verb, restricting the location of the reading to the library specifically, on the model of bi-hādhā amartuka.

    سَالِماً زُرتُ لَا خَالِداً

    "[It was] Sālim [whom] I visited, not Khālid."

    Explanation
    The object (sāliman) is fronted before the verb to clarify, against a possible misunderstanding, exactly who was visited, following the pattern illustrated by Abdul-Raof (n.d.) for object-fronting as clarification.[13]

    "In this room, I first heard the news."

    Explanation
    The locative dependent ("in this room") is foregrounded before the verb ("heard"), rather than following it in the more usual order ("I first heard the news in this room"). The reordering draws particular attention to the location of the event.

    Different From

    • al-majāz: Some scholars classed foregrounding the object over the agent as an instance of majāz, on the reasoning that it transfers a constituent from its usual rank to another. Al-Zarkashī (cited in Akkawi, n.d.) rejects this, holding that majāz specifically involves transferring a word to a meaning for which it was not coined, whereas Foregrounding and Backgrounding only rearranges the sequence of an utterance without transferring any word to an unintended meaning.[9]
    • al-waṣl (Conjunction): Atiq (n.d.) situates the study of Foregrounding and Backgrounding within a wider set of topics concerning the single sentence, noting that other topics -- such as al-waṣl -- instead concern the relation between two sentences, distinguishing them from Foregrounding and Backgrounding by their differing scope of application.[2]

    Notes

    Historical

    • The sources agree that Foregrounding and Backgrounding is a recognised rhetorical category, but differ in how they classify and enumerate the motives and forms that fall within it. Funūn reports that some authors developed highly detailed classifications, while others regarded the field as resisting rigid systematisation.
    • Al-Jurjānī (via Dalāʾil al-Iʿjāz, cited in Funun, n.d.) is quoted describing this topic as "a chapter abundant in benefits, replete with merits, wide in application, far in scope, which never ceases to disclose to you some novel subtlety, nor to guide you to some delicate point... then you look and discover the reason your taste was refined and your appreciation heightened: that some word was put forward in the utterance and another moved from one place to another."[10]
    • Akkawi (n.d.) reports a disagreement among scholars of this rhetorical art (ʿilm al-balāgha): some counted foregrounding the object over the agent as an instance of majāz (trope), reasoning that foregrounding what has the rank of backgrounding (like the object) and backgrounding what has the rank of foregrounding (like the agent) constitutes a transfer; al-Zarkashi is cited disagreeing with this, holding the correct view (al-ṣaḥīḥ) to be that this is not majāz, since majāz is the transfer of a word to a meaning for which it was not coined, whereas this concerns only sentence order and does not transfer any word to what it was not made for.[9]
    • Ibn Ḥamza al-ʿAlawī, in al-Ṭirāz, is cited by Akkawi (n.d.) as setting out five distinct senses of taqdīm: foregrounding of a cause over what it causes (e.g. foregrounding "one" over "two"), foregrounding by rank (sharaf), foregrounding by place, foregrounding by time, and foregrounding of a thing with intent to background (i.e. structural foregrounding, as distinct from the other four which concern only sequencing of ideas).[9]
    • Funun (n.d.) records Ibn al-Athīr's view (in al-Mathal al-Sāʾir) that foregrounding the verb's dependents is undertaken for one of two purposes: exclusivity/restriction (al-ikhtiṣāṣ) or observance of the good order of the utterance (murāʿāt naẓm al-kalām al-ḥasan), and that al-Zamakhsharī and a number of rhetoricians before Ibn al-Athīr held that this type of foregrounding is always for exclusivity.[10]
    • Al-Zarkashī's classification (reported in Funun, n.d., via al-Burhān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān) sets out over twenty distinct causes of foregrounding and backgrounding, considerably more granular than the shorter lists given by Nasif and Atiq.[10]

    Technical

    • al-musnad ilayhi is rendered here as "the predicand" (that which is spoken about; broadly, the grammatical subject/topic), and al-musnad as "the predicate" (that which is predicated of the predicand; broadly, the comment/report). These terms are used by Nasif, Atiq, Funun, and Abdul-Raof.[1][2][10][14][12]
    • Abdul-Raof (n.d.) provides a modern linguistic/pragmatic treatment of this same phenomenon, using terms such as "communicator," "addressee," and "information structure," and organising the motives into discrete numbered pragmatic functions rather than the classical dāʿin-based lists.[11][14][12][13] His illustrative sentences (e.g. involving "Zaid," "Sālim," or "Yāsir") are modern constructed sentences rather than classical shawāhid, and are used in this entry only as supplementary illustration alongside the classical examples, not as evidence for classical claims.
    • Hatim (n.d.) treats "Word order" as a brief, general entry illustrated by a single Qur'anic example, without elaborating motives or subtypes.[18]
    • The taxonomies of motives given by Nasif, Atiq, Akkawi/al-ʿAlawī, and al-Zarkashī (via Funun) are not identical in scope or number; where they overlap, this entry treats the overlapping motive as one item supported by multiple sources; where a source gives a motive not found in the others, it is retained as a source-specific item.
    • Per the encyclopedia's structural convention, and because this device has established subtypes, illustrative examples are placed within each subtype under Subtypes of Foregrounding and Backgrounding above rather than in a separate Examples section.
    • Foregrounding does not invariably produce specification or restriction (al-takhṣīṣ or al-ikhtiṣāṣ). Al-Taftāzānī discusses how the interpretation of foregrounding depends on the grammatical construction, the constituent involved, and the communicative context. Restriction is therefore treated here as a possible pragmatic effect rather than a necessary condition for recognising the linguistic operation.[6][7]

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 45-47, ISBN 9786144162798.
    2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Atīq, ʿIlm al-Maʿānī (Cairo: Dār al-Āfāq al-ʿArabiyya, 2006), 107-114, ISBN 9773440764.
    3. ↑ a b c 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), 53-66, ISBN 9782745139078.
    4. ↑ a b 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), 87-88, ISBN 9782745139078.
    5. ↑ a b 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), 94-98, ISBN 9782745139078.
    6. ↑ a b c d 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), 252-256, ISBN 9782745131768.
    7. ↑ a b 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), 264-265, ISBN 9782745131768.
    8. ↑ a b c d e Badawī Ṭabāna, Muʿjam al-Balāgha al-ʿArabiyya, 3rd rev. and expanded ed. (Jeddah: Dār al-Manāra; Riyadh: Dār al-Rifāʿī, 1988), 528-533.
    9. ↑ a b c d e f 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), 411-412.
    10. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named funun1
    11. ↑ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named abdul-raof1
    12. ↑ a b c d e f g Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named abdul-raof3
    13. ↑ a b c d e Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 164-165, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
    14. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 146-152, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
    15. ↑ Faḍl Ḥasan ʿAbbās, Al-Balāgha: Funūnuhā wa-Afnānuhā - ʿIlm al-Maʿānī (Irbid: Dār al-Furqān lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 1997), 212.
    16. ↑ Faḍl Ḥasan ʿAbbās, Al-Balāgha: Funūnuhā wa-Afnānuhā - ʿIlm al-Maʿānī (Irbid: Dār al-Furqān lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 1997), 229.
    17. ↑ Faḍl Ḥasan ʿAbbās, Al-Balāgha: Funūnuhā wa-Afnānuhā - ʿIlm al-Maʿānī (Irbid: Dār al-Furqān lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 1997), 234.
    18. ↑ Basil Hatim, Arabic Rhetoric: The Pragmatics of Deviation from Linguistic Norms, LINCOM Studies in Communication 04 (Munich: Lincom Europa, 2010), 100, ISBN 9783929075731.

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