REFSHFT: Referential Shift

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    الاستخدام
    REFSHFT: Referential Shift
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments
    (ʿilm al-badīʿ)
    SubcategoryIndirectness & Ambiguity
    Built upon7 sources
      
    Annotation Unit
    ARDT CodeREFSHFT
    Level1 (Rhetorical device)
       ↳ Has 2 subtypes
      
    Included in Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.1
    v0.1.0
      
    External Identifiers
    BALAGHAScoreCA-12
    BalaghaBaseQ80
    OpenAlexW4415372090
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 Live DOI10.64393/balagha.Q80
     
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    Definition

    Referential Shift (al-istikhdām) is an Arabic rhetorical device in which the communicator uses a word that is shared between two meanings (lafẓ mushtarak) with one of its meanings intended, after which a pronoun referring back to it carries the other meaning; or alternatively, two pronouns referring back to it are used, the second carrying a different meaning from the first.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

    Background Information

    The Arabic name al-istikhdām (“employment” or “use”) is descriptively apt to the operation: the same lexical form is put to use across its different meanings, either through a pronoun referring back to it or through two such pronouns.

    Linguistic Operations

    • A word shared between two meanings (lafẓ mushtarak) is introduced with one of its meanings intended.[4][5][6][1][2]
    • A pronoun (ḍamīr) subsequently refers back to that word while carrying its other meaning — not the meaning originally intended.[4][5][6][1][2]
    • Alternatively, two pronouns refer back to the word: the first carrying one meaning, the second carrying the other meaning.[4][5][6][1][2]
    • The two meanings may both be literal, both figurative, or one literal and the other figurative.[6]
    • Heinrichs (1998) describes this as "employing (both meanings of a homonym)", either by using the word in one meaning and referring back to the other meaning with a pronoun, or by using the word with both meanings such that it must be repeated in translation.[7]. Heinrichs (1998) notes that this second sense is not found in al-Qazwīnī.[7]

    Recognition

    The following diagnostic tests aid identification:

    • Test 1: Identify the antecedent word and its intended meaning at first use. Then locate any pronoun referring back to it and ask: does the pronoun carry the same meaning, or a different one? If different, al-istikhdām may be present.
    • Test 2: Where two pronouns refer to the same antecedent, check whether they carry the same or different meanings. If the second pronoun carries a meaning distinct from the first, this is the second subtype.

    Communicative Enhancements

    • Retrospective semantic reactivation: The shared lexical form is initially anchored in one meaning, but the later pronoun reactivates an alternative meaning latent within it. This causes the audience to revise their understanding retrospectively, producing a layered semantic effect within a single utterance.
    • Concealed semantic transition: The anaphoric function of pronouns creates an expectation of referential continuity, and it is this expectation that the device exploits. The shift in meaning is absorbed seamlessly rather than signalled explicitly, giving the utterance a sense of smoothness and concealed craftsmanship.
    • Semantic economy: The device allows two meanings or referential frames to be carried by a single lexical form without repeating the word itself. This creates expressive density and permits semantic expansion without lexical expansion.
    • Sustained semantic tension: In the second subtype, where two pronouns activate different meanings of the same antecedent, both meanings are held in interpretive tension across a single utterance. This creates a sustained interplay between the referential possibilities of the original word.
    • Audience participation through lexical recognition: The effect depends on the audience recognising the semantic range of the shared lexical form and tracking the shift in reference. Successful recognition produces a sense of interpretive participation and rhetorical reward.

    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 Referential Shift

    Al-Qazwīnī distinguishes two configurations of al-istikhdām: one in which the lexical form carries one meaning and a pronoun referring back to it carries the other, and another in which two pronouns referring back to the lexical form carry its two different meanings.[4] Al-Taftāzānī explicates the same two configurations, and the distinction is also given by Ṭabāna, Nāṣif et al. (2012), al-Hāshimī (2019), and ʿAkkāwī (1996).[5][6][1][2][3]

    REFSHFT-SPR: Single-Pronoun Referential Shift (iʿādat ḍamīrin ʿalayhi bi-maʿnan ākhar)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTREFSHFT-SPR
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ322
    Official Arabic nameiʿādat ḍamīrin ʿalayhi bi-maʿnan ākhar[8]

    A form of Referential Shift in which the shared lexical form is used with one meaning, and a single pronoun referring back to it carries the other meaning.[4][5][6][1][2][3]

    فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ

    Quran 2:185 — So whoever is present this month, let them fast it.

    Explanation
    al-shahr (the month) is first used to mean the crescent moon (al-hilāl). The pronoun hu (it) then refers back to al-shahr, but carries a different meaning: Nāṣif et al. (2012) gloss this as "the known time/period" (al-zamān al-maʿlūm),[1] while al-Hāshimī (2019) glosses it as "the days of Ramadan".[2]

    إِذَا نَزَلَ السَّمَاءُ بِأَرْضِ قَوْمٍ رَعَيْنَاهُ وَإِنْ كَانُوا غِضَابَا

    Muʿāwiya ibn Mālik — When the sky descends upon the land of a people, we graze it even if they are angered.

    Explanation
    al-samāʾ is used first to mean rain. The pronoun in raʿaynāhu (we graze it) refers back to al-samāʾ with the meaning of vegetation.[2]

    زُرْتُ العَيْنَ القَرِيبَةَ مِنَ القَرْيَةِ وَشَرِبْتُ مِنْهَا

    I visited the spring near the village and drank from it.

    Explanation
    al-ʿayn is first used to mean the eye (its primary sense in the construction al-ʿayn al-qarība evoking a watchful or familiar presence). The pronoun in min-hā (from it) refers back to al-ʿayn with the meaning of a water spring.

    The bank approved our loan; by sunset, we were sitting on it watching the river.

    Explanation
    Bank is first used with the meaning of a financial institution. The pronoun it subsequently refers back to the same lexical form while requiring its other meaning, the land beside a river. The example therefore approximates in English the single-pronoun configuration of al-istikhdām, in which a word is intended in one meaning and a pronoun referring back to it carries another.

    REFSHFT-TPS: Two-Pronoun Referential Shift (iʿādat ḍamīrayni turīdu bi-thānihimā ghayra mā aradta bi-awwalihimā)

    Annotation Unit
    ARDTREFSHFT-TPS
    Level2 (Subtype)
    BalaghaBaseQ323
    Official Arabic nameiʿādat ḍamīrayni turīdu bi-thānihimā ghayra mā aradta bi-awwalihimā[8]

    A form of Referential Shift in which two pronouns refer back to the same shared lexical form; the first carries one of its meanings and the second carries the other.[4][5][6][1][2][3]

    فَسَقَى الغَضَا وَالسَّاكِنِيهِ وَإِنْ هُمُ شَبُّوهُ بَيْنَ جَوَانِحِي وَضُلُوعِي

    al-Buḥturī — May [the rain] drench the euphorbia grove and its inhabitants, even though they kindle it [i.e. the fire of euphorbia wood] between my front and rear ribs.

    Explanation
    al-ghaḍā is a tree of the desert. The first pronoun in sākini-hi (its inhabitants) refers back to al-ghaḍā with the meaning of place (i.e. the grove as a location). The second pronoun in shabbū-hu (they kindle it) refers back to al-ghaḍā with the meaning of the fire produced from euphorbia wood.[4][5][6][1][2]

    أَحْبَبْتُ اللِّسَانَ العَرَبِيَّ وَأَتْقَنْتُ قَوَاعِدَهُ حَتَّى صَارَ هُ سِلَاحِي فِي كُلِّ خِطَابٍ

    I loved the Arabic tongue and mastered its rules, until it became my weapon in every address.

    Explanation
    al-lisān bears two meanings: the tongue (the organ) and language/speech. The first pronoun in qawāʿidi-hi (its rules) refers back to al-lisān with the meaning of language. The second pronoun in ṣāra-hu (it became) refers back to al-lisān with the meaning of the physical tongue as an instrument.

    I admired the press: its reporters exposed the scandal, and the printer repaired it before the morning edition.

    Explanation
    Press bears both the meaning of the news media and that of a printing machine. The first pronoun, its, refers back to press with the meaning of the news media, whose reporters exposed the scandal. The second pronoun, it, refers back to the same lexical form with the meaning of the printing machine that was repaired. The two pronouns therefore activate different meanings of the same antecedent lexical form.

    Notes

    • The gloss of the pronoun referent in the Quranic example (Quran 2:185) differs between sources: Nāṣif et al. (2012) use "الزمان المعلوم" (the known time/period); al-Hāshimī (2019) use "أيام رمضان" (the days of Ramadan).
    • The assignment of the al-Buḥturī verse differs between sources: Heinrichs (1998) classifies it under his first kind, whereas Nāṣif et al. (2012) and al-Hāshimī (2019) classify it under the second subtype.
    • Source history: The scope of al-istikhdām varies across the rhetorical tradition. ʿAkkāwī (1996) reports al-Miṣrī's earlier definition, according to which a word possessing two meanings is positioned between two expressions, each exploiting one of those meanings.[3] Al-Qazwīnī defines the device through two configurations: one meaning of a word is intended and a pronoun referring back to it carries the other meaning; or two pronouns referring back to the word carry its two different meanings.[4] Al-Taftāzānī explicates the same two configurations,[5] and they are also distinguished by Ṭabāna, Nāṣif et al. (2012), al-Hāshimī (2019), and ʿAkkāwī (1996).[6][1][2][3] This two-configuration analysis forms the basis of the two annotation units used on this page. ʿAkkāwī also records Ibn Ḥijja al-Ḥamawī's formulation of al-tawriya wa-l-istikhdām (al-tawriya wa-l-istikhdām) as "the employment of the two meanings through a single pronoun" (istiʿmāl al-maʿnayayni bi-ḍamīrin wāḥid).[3]
    • The term lafẓ mushtarak is translated here as "shared lexical form" to reflect the Arabic grammatical concept of a single phonological form bearing multiple distinct meanings.
    • Heinrichs (1998) gives an additional example from Abū Tammām (وسواس), illustrating his broader second sense of the device in which the word operates with both meanings such that it must be repeated in translation.[7] Heinrichs notes that this broader sense is not found in al-Qazwīnī.[7]

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 108-109, ISBN 9786144162798.
    2. ↑ 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), 364, ISBN 9781527316386.
    3. ↑ a b c d e f g 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), 79-81.
    4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i 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), 268, ISBN 9782745139078.
    5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i 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), 653-654, ISBN 9782745131768.
    6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Badawī Ṭabāna, Muʿjam al-Balāgha al-ʿArabiyya, 3rd rev. and expanded ed. (Jeddah: Dār al-Manāra; Riyadh: Dār al-Rifāʿī, 1988), 193.
    7. ↑ a b c d W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 657, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
    8. ↑ a b Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 108, ISBN 9786144162798.



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