SYNGRP: Syntactic Grouping

    From The Encyclopedia of Arabic Rhetoric

    الجمع
    SYNGRP: Syntactic Grouping
    CategoryLinguistic Embellishments
    (‘ilm al-badī‘)
    SubcategoryGrouping & Distinguishing
      
    Balagha-Corpus.com
    Corpus dataSee examples
      
    Balaghascore.com
    CodeCB-2
      
    BalaghaBase.org
    CodeQ82
      
    OpenAlex.org
    IDW4415388510
      
    Cite this page
    🔗 DOI10.64393/balagha.Q82
     Download PDF
      
    Taxonomy
    ARDTv0.1.0, v0.1.1

    Definition

    Syntactic Grouping (al-jamʿ) is an Arabic rhetorical device where the communicator brings together multiple things under a single predicate or judgment.[1][2][3][4][5]

    Mechanism

    • The device requires a minimum of two subjects (shayʾān) and may extend to more (fasāʿidan).[4][5]
    • All subjects are brought together under a single predicate or judgment (ḥukm wāḥid).[1][3][4][5]

    Recognition

    The following diagnostic tests aid identification, derived from the mechanism observable across source examples:

    • There are multiple subjects or nouns present in the sentence.
    • A single predicate or judgment applies collectively to all of those subjects.

    Diagnostic Rhetorical Effects

    • Equipoise under judgment: By placing multiple — sometimes heterogeneous — subjects beneath a single predicate, al-jamʿ places them on the same rhetorical footing with respect to that judgment. This can be especially striking when the grouped items differ in nature, since the shared predication levels them into one evaluative frame.
    • Argumentative compression: What would otherwise require multiple separate propositions is conveyed in a single utterance, lending the judgment a compact and unified force. The shared predicate can make the statement feel more immediate and concentrated than if each subject were treated independently.
    • Association and transfer of quality: Grouping subjects under one predicate places them in mutual rhetorical association. Subjects elevated by a positive predicate may reinforce one another’s dignity, while subjects condemned by a negative predicate may intensify one another’s blame. The device can therefore function as implicit elevation or condemnation by association.
    • Sense of breadth and comprehensiveness: When several subjects are grouped together under one judgment, the accumulation can create an impression of breadth, suggesting that the judgment extends across a wider field rather than applying to an isolated case.

    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 Rhetorical Effects section of this page in Step 4.

    Types of Syntactic Grouping

    Nāṣif et al. (2012) illustrate two common numerical patterns of al-jamʿ:[1]

    Type 1: Grouping of two (fī ithnayn)

    Source Example

    ٱلْمَالُ وَٱلْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا

    Wealth and children are the adornment of the worldly life.

    Qurʾān 18:46

    Explanation
    Wealth and children are gathered under one predicate: being the adornment of worldly life.[1][3][4][5]
    Constructed Example

    الْعِلْمُ وَالْعَمَلُ أَسَاسُ النَّجَاحِ

    Knowledge and action are the foundation of success.

    Explanation
    Knowledge and action are gathered under one predicate: being the foundation of success.

    Type 2: Grouping of more than two (fī akthar)

    Source Example

    إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنْصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ

    Wine, gambling, altars, and divining arrows are filth from the work of Satan.

    Qurʾān 5:90

    Explanation
    Four things are brought together under one judgment: impurity.[1]
    Source Example

    مَنْ أَصْبَحَ آمِناً فِي سِرْبِهِ، مُعَافًى فِي بَدَنِهِ، عِنْدَهُ قُوتُ يَوْمِهِ، فَكَأَنَّمَا حِيزَتْ لَهُ الدُّنْيَا بِحَذَافِيرِهَا

    Whoever wakes safe in his dwelling, healthy in his body, with his day’s sustenance — it is as though the world in its entirety has been gathered for him.

    Attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ

    Explanation
    Security (al-amn), bodily health (al-ʿāfiyah), and daily sustenance (qūt al-yawm) are gathered under one judgment: the equivalent of possessing the whole world.[5]
    Constructed Example

    الصِّدْقُ وَالْأَمَانَةُ وَالتَّوَاضُعُ دَعَائِمُ الشَّخْصِيَّةِ الْكَرِيمَةِ

    Truthfulness, trustworthiness, and humility are the pillars of noble character.

    Explanation
    Three qualities — truthfulness, trustworthiness, and humility — are gathered under one judgment: constituting the pillars of noble character.

    Different From

    • CE-3: Semantic Grouping where the lexical items are connected by a semantic rather than syntactic relationship. In Syntactic Grouping, the unity arises from shared grammatical predication.

    See Also

    Notes

    • Nāṣif et al. (2012), al-Hāshimī (2019), ʿAkkāwī (1996), and ʿAtīq (2002) all define al-jamʿ through the shared formulation of bringing multiple things together under one judgment, while Heinrichs (1998) renders it as the “combination of several subjects for one predication.”[1][2][3][4][5]
    • ʿAkkāwī (1996) notes that ḥusn al-jamʿ (the excellence/elegance of grouping) is the same device as al-jamʿ and that its discussion is subsumed under it.[6]

    References

    1. ↑ a b c d e f Ḥafnī Nāṣif, Muḥammad Diyāb, Sultan Muḥammad and Muṣṭafā Ṭammām, Durūs al-Balāgha (Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 2012), 110, ISBN 9786144162798.
    2. ↑ a b W. P. Heinrichs, ‘Rhetorical Figures’, in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, ed. Julie Scott Meisami and Paul Starkey (London: Routledge, 1998), 658, ISBN 0415068088. DOI: 10.4324/9780203020425
    3. ↑ a b c d Aḥmad al-Hāshimī, Jawāhir al-Balāgha fī al-Maʿānī wa-al-Bayān wa-al-Badīʿ (Windsor: Hindāwī Foundation, 2019), 373-374, ISBN 9781527316386.
    4. ↑ a b c d e 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), 460.
    5. ↑ a b c d e f ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Atīq, ʿIlm al-Badīʿ (Beirut: Dār al-Nahḍa al-ʿArabiyya lil-Ṭibāʿa wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʿ, 2002), 155-156.
    6. ↑ 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), 538.



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