Arabic classical prose generates meaning through chains of sound-resemblance

Evidence

But there is much more than this. The force of the phrase gathers not simply from the various references of the separate words, but from the reverberation of senses set up between the parts of the phrase by their differing sounds. The initial sound j–m–l indicating sum, totality, is echoed at the other end of the phrase in the sound j–m– indicating a union, gathering, assemblage. An almost identical sound, m–n, fills the middle of the phrase, min an-naas. These sounds in turn recall other potential sounds, such as j–mm, to gather, be numerous, j–m–d, to congeal, j–mh–r, multitude mass, j–l–s/m–jl–s, to sit together/assembly, perhaps m–l–, to be full, crowd, assembly, and so on. All these further sounds are implicated in the meaning, the force, of the phrase. Each combination of sounds connects with and evokes a further sound, so that from one combination to the next a potentially endless chain of meaning can be made to reverberate, however distantly, in the movement of a single phrase. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 451 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A sound conception causes quotations and objects to summon one another — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 101; Creole proverbs induce memory through concise, opaque, rhythmic structure. — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 62; Arabic writing generates meaning through sonic reverberation across related root sounds. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 451

Broader Connections

• Arabic writing generates meaning through sonic reverberation across related root sounds. #expands (0.95) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 451