PERSONF: Personification
| PERSONF: Personification | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Persuasive Tricks |
| Balagha-Corpus.com | |
| Corpus data | See examples |
| Balaghascore.com | |
| Code | CE-14 |
| BalaghaBase.org | |
| Code | Q120 |
| OpenAlex | |
| ID | W4415405259 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q120 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Personification (al-tashkhīṣ / al-tajsīd) is an Arabic rhetorical device where the characteristics of a human entity are transferred to a non-human, inanimate, or abstract entity.[1]
Mechanism
- Human actions, expressed through verbs, are attributed to non-human, inanimate, or abstract subjects.[1]
In this encyclopedia, the mechanism is described as follows:
- A human action is assigned to a non-human, inanimate, or abstract entity through the use of a verb, producing personification.
Recognition
Personification may be present when:
- A non-human, inanimate, or abstract entity appears as the subject of a verb denoting a human action.[1]
The following diagnostic tests aid identification:
- Identify the subject of the main verb. Is it non-human, inanimate, or abstract?
- Does the verb denote a human action?
- If both conditions hold, personification is likely present.
Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects
- Emotional intensification: By assigning human feelings or actions to non-human entities, the speaker can heighten the emotional force of a scene, making it more immediate and vivid.
- Moral universalisation: In evaluative contexts, assigning human moral responses to non-human entities can present a judgment as universal or self-evident, as though even the natural world recognises it.
- Concrete representation: Abstract ideas or impersonal realities become easier to imagine when presented as acting like human agents, making the meaning more immediate to the audience.
- Hyperbolic emphasis: When inanimate entities are depicted performing human acts, the expression may imply that the matter is so extreme or significant that even non-human things respond to it — an effect that may converge with amplification (mubālagha).
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:
Examples
- Source Example
إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا
Indeed, We offered the trust to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and feared it. But man undertook to bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant. (Q33:72)
- Explanation
- The non-human entities al-samāwāt wa-l-arḍ (the heavens and the earth) are made the subjects of the human actions of declining (abayna) and fearing (ashfaqna), thereby transferring human characteristics to inanimate entities.[1]
- Source Example
وَتَبَسَّمَ الثَّعلَبُ مُحَاوِلاً كَسْبَ ثِقَةَ الدَّجَاجَةِ الَّتِي أَخبَرَتهُ بِمَا جَرَى لِأُمِّهَا
The fox smiled trying to win the chicken's trust but the chicken informed him of what has already happened to her mother.
- Explanation
- The animals al-thaʿlab (the fox) and al-dajāja (the chicken) are assigned human actions: smiling (tabassama), attempting to win trust (ḥāwala kasb al-thiqa), and informing (akhbarat).[1]
- Source Example
حَتَّى الحَجَرُ يَستَنكِرُ هَذِه الجَرَائِمَ البَشِعَة
Even stones denounce these horrible crimes.
- Explanation
- The inanimate noun al-ḥajar (the stone) is made the subject of yastankiru (to denounce), which the source presents as a human action attributed to a non-human entity.[1]
- Constructed Example
تَبْكِي الْمَدِينَةُ كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ عَلَى أَبْنَائِهَا الَّذِينَ هَجَرُوهَا
The city weeps every night for its children who abandoned it.
- Explanation
- The inanimate noun al-madīna (the city) is made the subject of tabkī (to weep), a verb denoting a human emotional action, thereby transferring human characteristics to an inanimate entity.
Different From
- NONHUMN: Addressing the Non-Human where an inanimate object is addressed directly.
Notes
- Abdul-Raof (2006) specifies three categories of entity to which human characteristics may be transferred: non-human, inanimate, and abstract. These are treated as co-ordinate, not hierarchical, in the source.
References
- ↑ a b c d e f Hussein Abdul-Raof, Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis (Oxford: Routledge, 2006), 255-256, ISBN 9780415386098. DOI: 10.4324/9780203965399
Page history
- 2026-02-11 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CH-11: Personification to PERSONF: Personification.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2024-04-22 - Page created: Personification.
