PRONCON: Concordance of Pronunciations
| PRONCON: Concordance of Pronunciations | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Wordplay & Phonetic Styling |
| Built upon | 3 sources |
| Annotation Unit | |
| ARDT Code | PRONCON |
| Level | 1 |
| Has 2 Level2 subunits | |
| Included in Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.1 v0.1.0 |
| External Identifiers | |
| BALAGHAScore | CD-4 |
| BalaghaBase | Q127 |
| OpenAlex | W4415412878 |
| Applications | |
| BalaghaCorpus | See examples |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 Live DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q127 |
| Use this page | |
| Download | PDF JSON  |
Definition
Concordance of Pronunciations iʾtilāf al-lafẓ maʿa al-lafẓ is an Arabic rhetorical device in which the words of an utterance are selected so as to be fitting and harmonious with one another.[1][2][3] This may involve choosing, from several expressions capable of completing an intended meaning, the wording most fitting to the surrounding expression,[1][2][3] or matching words by degree of rarity or familiarity, so that rare words are paired with rare words and commonly-used words with commonly-used words.[4][1]
Linguistic Operations
- When several expressions could appropriately complete the intended meaning, the speaker selects the wording that is most fitting to what comes before or after it.[1][2][3]
- The words must suit one another (tulāʾumu) and preserve appropriateness (munāsaba).[1]
- Rare words are paired with rare words, and common words with common words, so that the lexical register remains internally consistent.[4][1]
- The resulting expression is well-established in its wording and avoids lexical repulsion or discord.[1]
Diagnostic Communicative Enhancements
- The speech becomes firmly woven and internally harmonious (muḥkam al-sudā), with the words reinforcing one another in composition.[1]
- Lexical consistency preserves harmony and prevents discord between adjacent expressions.[4][1]
- Al-ʿAlawī notes that grand meanings call for grand wording and delicate meanings for delicate wording; this matching is among the finest forms of rhetorical composition.[1]
Recognition
Concordance of Pronunciations may be present when:
- Several alternative expressions could convey the required meaning, but the selected expression is especially well suited to the lexical or associative field established elsewhere in the utterance.[1][2][3]
- The wording appears mutually harmonious and fitting, with no single word seeming alien to its surroundings.[1]
- The words of a passage are of a similar degree of rarity or familiarity.[4][1]
- Replacing the selected expression with one from a different semantic or associative field would weaken the harmony of the utterance.[1][2][3]
- Replacing one word with another of a different lexical register would disturb the balance of the utterance.[4][1]
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 Concordance of Pronunciations
PRONCON-SF: Semantic Field Coherence
The first formulation concerns choosing, from among several expressions capable of completing the intended meaning, the word or expression whose wording is most fitting to the lexical or associative field already established in the discourse.[1][2][3]
كَالقِسِيِّ المُقَطَّفَاتِ بَلِ الأَسْهُمِ مُبَرَّيَةً بَلِ الأَوْتَارِ
"Like clipped bows — rather arrows sharpened — rather bowstrings."
- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī (p. 10) explains that the poet's likening of camels to a bow could have been expressed through comparisons to tents, family, ropes, and tent-pegs. But having chosen the bow as his image, he selected arrows (al-ashum) and bowstrings (al-awtār) — words that belong to the same semantic field as bow — for the sake of lexical harmony (al-ittilāf al-lafẓī) and appropriateness. The device operates here through coherence of semantic field rather than register-matching.[1]
أُحِبُّكَ يَا شَمْسَ النَّهَارِ وَبَعْدَهُ / وَإِنْ لَامَنِي فِيكَ السُّهَى وَالفَرْقَدُ
Al-Mutanabbī (al-Ṭawīl): "I love you, O sun of the day and after it, even if al-Suhā and al-Farqad blame me for you."
- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī (p. 10) explains that al-Mutanabbī achieved iʾtilāf al-lafẓ between al-shams (sun) and al-nahār (day) — both belonging to the domain of daytime luminaries — and between al-badr (full moon), al-suhā (a dim star), and al-farqad (a pole star) — all belonging to the domain of night-sky phenomena. The selection of each word is governed by the semantic and associative field established by the others.[1]
أَصَحُّ وَأَقْوَى مَا رَوَيْنَاهُ فِي النَّدَى / مِنَ الخَبَرِ المَأثُورِ مُنْذُ قَدِيمِ
أَحَادِيثُ تَرْوِيهَا السُّيُولُ عَنِ الحَيَا / عَنِ البَحْرِ عَنْ جُودِ الأَمِيرِ تَمِيمِIbn Rashīq al-Qayrawānī (al-Ṭawīl): "The soundest and strongest account we have narrated of generosity, from the transmitted report since ancient times — tales narrated by the floods, from the rain, from the sea, of the generosity of Amīr Tamīm."
- Explanation
- ʿAkkāwī (p. 11) explains that there is mulāʾama between al-ṣiḥḥa wa al-quwwa (soundness and strength) and al-riwāya wa al-khabar (narration and report); the aḥādīth (accounts) follow the akhbār (reports); al-suyūl (floods) follow al-ḥayā (rain); then al-baḥr (sea) follows; then the generosity of the Amīr. All these things are semantically proximate, so the speech became muʾtilaf al-alfāẓ and its composition became firmly structured (muḥkam al-sudā).[1]
وَقَفَ الطَّبِيبُ يُشَخِّصُ الدَّاءَ وَيَصِفُ الدَّوَاءَ وَيُحَدِّدُ الجُرْعَةَ
"The doctor stood diagnosing the illness, prescribing the medicine, and determining the dosage."
- Explanation
- The three verbal phrases are selected from the same semantic field — medical practice — so that tashshkīṣ (diagnosis), waṣf (prescription), and jurʿa (dosage) are mutually harmonious and none appears alien to its surroundings. Had a word from a different domain been introduced — such as ijtihād (legal reasoning) or ḥukm (judgement) — the lexical harmony would be disturbed. The device operates here through coherence of semantic field rather than register-matching.
PRONCON-RC: Register Consistency
The second formulation concerns matching words by degree of familiarity or rarity, so that unusual wording is paired with unusual wording and common wording with common wording.[1]
وَتَاللَّهِ تَفْتَأُ تَذْكُرُ يُوسُفَ
"By Allah, you will not cease remembering Joseph." (Qurʾan 12:85)
- Explanation
- The oath particle tāʾ (tāʾ al-qasam) is the rarest of the oath letters (aghrab ḥurūf al-qasam), and taftaʾu is the rarest of the verbs of continuation (aghrab afʿāl al-istimrār); because one rare element was selected, the other was selected to match it in register.[4][1]
وَأَقْسَمُوا بِاللَّهِ جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ
"And they swore by Allah their strongest oaths." (Qurʾan 24:53)
- Explanation
- The wording is composed entirely of commonly circulating expressions, with no strangeness in any of them, and they are therefore equal in placement and suitable in composition — exemplifying the matching of common wording with common wording according to al-Suyūṭī's formulation as cited by Ibn Ḥijja.[1]
لَا يَزَالُ الفَكْرُ يَجُوبُ الآفَاقَ وَيَرْتَادُ المَجَاهِيلَ وَيَسْبَحُ فِي اللُّجَجِ
"Thought continues to roam the horizons, explore the unknowns, and swim in the deep waters."
- Explanation
- Each element is drawn from a register of elevated, uncommon diction: yajūbu (to traverse, roam) is rarer than the prosaic yantaqilu; yartādu (to scout, venture into) is rarer than yaktashifu; and al-lujaj (the deep waters, abysses) is rarer than al-biḥār. Because an elevated and uncommon verb of continuation was selected at the outset, the subsequent vocabulary was matched to it in register, exemplifying the pairing of rare wording with rare wording.
Notes
- Terminology: Nāṣif uses gharāba and taʾahhul, while ʿAkkāwī uses gharīb and mutadāwal; both refer to the contrast between rare and familiar lexical usage.
- Subtype structure: The division into "first" and "second" formulations reflects Ibn Abī al-Iṣbaʿ's presentation (awwalan / thāniyan) as reported by ʿAkkāwī; the labels here preserve that order without introducing new subtype terminology.
- Muḥkam al-sudā: This phrase, used by ʿAkkāwī (p. 11) in the analysis of Ibn Rashīq's verses, is a weaving metaphor: sudā refers to the warp threads of a fabric. The phrase conveys that the composition is as firmly interlocked as a well-woven textile.
- No explicit contrastive device: The provided sources do not explicitly distinguish this device from another named rhetorical device, so no "Different from" section is included.
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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), 9-11.
- ↑ a b c d e f Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer: A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998); §156, ISBN 9783447040327.
- ↑ a b c d e f Pierre Cachia, The Arch Rhetorician: Or The Schemer’s Skimmer: A Handbook of Late Arabic Badīʻ Drawn from ʻAbd al-Ghanī an-Nābulsī’s Nafaḥāt al-Azhār ʻala Nasamāt al-Asḥār, Studies in Arabic Language and Literature 3 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), p. 114-115, ISBN 9783447040327.
- ↑ a b c d e f Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 121, ISBN 9786144162798.
Page History
- 2026-02-11 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CI-3: Concordance of Pronunciations to PRONCON: Concordance of Pronunciations.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2024-04-22 - Page created: Concordance of Pronunciations.
