Linguistic Operation-Based English Names for Arabic Rhetorical Devices
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| Date | 7 October 2026 |
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Background
The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric uses English names for Arabic rhetorical devices in order to make the taxonomy accessible to English-speaking readers and operationally usable for annotation, computational analysis, and related applications. These names are governed by the English Naming Policy for Arabic Rhetorical Devices, which aims to balance intelligibility, fidelity to the Arabic rhetorical tradition, and accurate identification of each device's Linguistic Operation.
Historical development
During the development of the taxonomy, some Arabic rhetorical devices were assigned English names that were identical or similar to the names of ordinary grammatical, linguistic, communicative, or discourse phenomena. Examples included The Interrogative, Verbosity, Digression, Conjunction, and Definiteness.
Although these names were intelligible translations or descriptions, they created a potential ambiguity for annotation: the English name could suggest that the underlying grammatical or discourse phenomenon was itself sufficient for annotation, rather than distinguishing the phenomenon from its rhetorically operative use.
Development of the Model for Rhetorical Action
The Encyclopedia developed and adopted the Model for Rhetorical Action as the epistemological and theoretical foundation for the Encyclopedia's approach to the identification and analysis of Arabic rhetorical devices. The Model states that a linguistic rhetorical action is a four-step process through which (1) a communicator typically acts with a communicative intention and (2) employs a rhetorical device as the instrument of an identifiable linguistic action, (3) which is capable of establishing or activating a cognitive relationship between the communicator and the addressee, (4) which may produce an enhancement of the communicative effect of the communicator's message in the addressee.
Step 2 of the Model is known as the Linguistic Operation step. It highlights the difference between a linguistic action - such as a repetition, a repositioning of words, an intentional concordance of sounds - and a Linguistic Operation, which is a linguistic action undertaken in the context of linguistic rhetorical action. For example, a linguistic action such as the use of an interrogative construction does not by itself create an instance of the Linguistic Operation traditionally discussed under the Arabic term al-istifhām (The Interrogative). Similarly, ordinary verbosity, an everyday change of topic, a grammatical conjunction, or the normal use of definite particles does not instantiate the corresponding rhetorical device.
The revised name Rhetorical Interrogative explicitly indicates that the annotation unit concerns the rhetorically operative use defined by the device's recognition criteria.
It became apparent that some of the historical rhetorical device names allude to the linguistic action rather than the Linguistic Operation. This is particularly important for annotation. A rhetorical device name such as The Interrogative can appear to identify a grammatical category and may encourage annotation on the basis of grammatical form alone, rather than rhetorical function. This can be confusing for users of the Encyclopedia.
Re-naming
An audit in October 2026 of the English names of all 79 existing Level 1 rhetorical device annotation units identified:
- 62 names were retained unchanged.
- 17 names were selected for revision as per the mapping table below:
| Previous identifier | Previous English name | Revised identifier | Revised English name |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFFIRM | Affirmation | unchanged | Rhetorical Affirmation |
| CHNGTOP | Change of Topic | unchanged | Rhetorical Change of Topic |
| CONJUN | Conjunction | unchanged | Rhetorical Conjunction |
| DEFINT | Definiteness | unchanged | Rhetorical Definiteness |
| DIGRESS | Digression | unchanged | Rhetorical Digression |
| DISJUN | Disjunction | unchanged | Rhetorical Disjunction |
| IMPERAT | The Imperative | unchanged | Rhetorical Imperative |
| INDEF | Indefiniteness | unchanged | Rhetorical Indefiniteness |
| INTEROG | The Interrogative | unchanged | Rhetorical Interrogative |
| PROHIB | Prohibition | unchanged | Rhetorical Prohibition |
| RESTRCT | Restriction | unchanged | Rhetorical Restriction |
| RETRACT | Retraction | unchanged | Rhetorical Retraction |
| RHYMED | Rhymed Prose | unchanged | Rhetorical Rhymed Prose |
| SYNGRP | Syntactic Grouping | GROUP | Rhetorical Grouping |
| VERBOS | Verbosity | unchanged | Rhetorical Verbosity |
| VOCATIV | The Vocative | unchanged | Rhetorical Vocative |
| WISH | Wishing | unchanged | Rhetorical Wishing |
Page History
- 2026-10-07 - Page created following a review of the English names of all 79 Level 1 annotation units.
