REFSHFT: Referential Shift
| REFSHFT: Referential Shift | |
|---|---|
| Category | Linguistic Embellishments (‘ilm al-badī‘) |
| Subcategory | Indirectness & Ambiguity |
| BALAGHAScore.com | |
| Code | CA-12 |
| BalaghaBase.org | |
| Code | Q80 |
| OpenAlex.org | |
| ID | W4415372090 |
| Cite this page | |
| 🔗 DOI | 10.64393/balagha.Q80 |
| Download PDF | |
| Taxonomy | |
| ARDT | v0.1.0, v0.1.1 |
Definition
Referential Shift (al-istikhdām) is an Arabic rhetorical device involving the use of a word 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]
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.[3]. Heinrichs (1998) notes that this second sense is not found in al-Qazwīnī.[3]
Mechanism
- A word shared between two meanings (lafẓ mushtarak) is introduced with one of its meanings intended.[1][2]
- A pronoun (ḍamīr) subsequently refers back to that word while carrying its other meaning — not the meaning originally intended.[1][2]
- Alternatively, two pronouns refer back to the word: the first carrying one meaning, the second carrying a different meaning from the first.[1][2]
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.
Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects
- 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:
Types of Referential Shift
Nāṣif et al. (2012) and al-Hāshimī (2019) identify two types:[1][2]
Type 1: Single pronoun carrying the alternative meaning
- The shared lexical form is used with one meaning, and a single pronoun referring back to it carries the other meaning.[1][2]
- Source Example
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]
- Source Example
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]
- Constructed Example
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.
Type 2: Two pronouns, the second carrying a different meaning from the first
- Two pronouns refer back to the same shared lexical form; the second pronoun carries a different meaning from that intended by the first.[1][2]
- Source Example
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.[1][2]
- Constructed Example
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.
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.
- Heinrichs (1998) explicitly states that the second sense of the device (using the word with both meanings) "is not in al-Qazwīnī." This source-critical remark is retained as a note rather than incorporated into the definition.
- 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.[3] This broader sense is not present in Nāṣif et al. (2012) or al-Hāshimī (2019).
References
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 108–109, ISBN 9786144162798. [1]
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 364, ISBN 9781527316386. [2]
- ↑ a b c 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
Page history
- 2026-02-10 - Migration to Semantic Device Identifiers: Renamed from CD-5: Referential Shift to REFSHFT: Referential Shift.
- 2025-11-20 - Page incorporated into the Arabic Rhetorical Device Taxonomy (v0.1.1).
- 2025-04-14 - Page created: Referential Shift.
