The Phenomenon of Iltifāt (Grammatical Shift) and Its Semantic Effect in the Poetry of al-Aʿmā al-Ṭuṭīlī

Abstract

This study examines iltifāt (grammatical shift), one of the most widely discussed rhetorical devices in classical and modern Arabic rhetoric, through an applied analysis of three poems from the dīwān of the Andalusian poet Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hurayrah, known as al-Aʿmā al-Ṭuṭīlī (the Blind Poet of Tudela), in the edition compiled, verified, and annotated by Muḥyī al-Dīn Dīb (2014). The central question is: which patterns of iltifāt occur in these poems, and what semantic and structural functions do they perform?

The study consists of an introduction and three sections. The first section defines iltifāt linguistically and technically, traces how the term emerged and was named, and sets out the conditions used to identify it: unity of referent, departure from the expected form, and a rhetorical purpose. The second section analyses three purposively selected poems: a panegyric for the Banū al-Ḥaḍramī, the elegiac-gnomic poem beginning "I was told that death respects the young man," and the love poem beginning "O heart, melt away in grief." It distinguishes iltifāt in the strict sense from related phenomena (tajrīd, self-address, and general stylistic variation) and classifies the instances into shifts among first, second, and third person; shifts between past and present verb forms; and shifts between declarative (khabar) and performative (inshāʾ) utterance. The third section examines the semantic and aesthetic effects of these shifts: their relation to the psychological rhythm of the text, their role in reinforcing meaning and varying the discourse, and their relation to the poetic purpose (panegyric, elegy, or love poetry).

The study follows a descriptive-analytical method, and its findings are limited to the selected sample; it does not claim to have surveyed the entire dīwān. It finds that iltifāt in these poems performs identifiable structural and semantic functions, marking shifts of purpose, addressee, and emotional tone. It suggests that iltifāt plausibly forms part of the poet's compositional technique, while extending this conclusion to the whole dīwān would require a fuller survey.