The six kinds of signification

aqsām al-dalāla

أَقْسَامُ الدَّلَالَة

Signification (dalāla) is of six kinds: by reason, by nature or by convention, each either verbal or non-verbal.

Second readingFrom the commentariesDraft · awaiting review

In a picture

“Human” means “rational animal”. It signifies the whole by correspondence, a part (“animal” or “rational”) by inclusion, and what the mind cannot separate from it (“capable of knowledge”) by implication.

Explanation

By reason: smoke signifying fire, or a voice behind a wall signifying a speaker. By nature: a blush signifying shame, or a groan signifying pain.

By convention: signs and markers, or words. Logic is concerned with the last, verbal signification by convention, which divides into correspondence, inclusion and implication.

Also written as: six kinds of dalala, dalala aqliyya, dalala tabiyya, dalala wadiyya.

In the text

إِيسَاغُوجِي: اللَّفْظُ الدَّالُّ يَدُلُّ عَلَى مَا وُضِعَ لَهُ بِالْمُطَابَقَةِ، وَعَلَى جُزْئِهِ بِالتَّضَمُّنِ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ جُزْءٌ، وَعَلَى مَا يُلَازِمُهُ فِي الذِّهْنِ بِالِالْتِزَامِ،Īsāghūjī (Introduction): a signifying utterance signifies what it was coined for by correspondence, a part of that if it has a part by inclusion, and what accompanies it in the mind by implication,وَالدَّلَالَةُ فِعْلِيَّةٌ وَعَقْلِيَّةٌ وَطَبِيعِيَّةٌ وَوَضْعِيَّةٌ.Signification is by action, by reason, by nature, or by convention.

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