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Вестник СПбГУ. Востоковедение и африканистика. 2023. Т. 15. Вып. 4
Sentiment Analysis of the Image of the Franks (ifranj) in the Arabic Folk Epic Sirat D at al-Himma*
O. A. Sokolov
St. Petersburg State University,
7-9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
For citation: Sokolov O. A. Sentiment Analysis of the Image of the Franks (ifranj) in the Arabic Folk Epic Sirat Dat al-Himma. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, pp. 741-749. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.409
The method of sentiment analysis opens up great prospects for historical and anthropological research, primarily for studying the problems of the construct of the image of the Other. To test this method on the material of the Arabic language, I chose the Arabic folk epics as they are a conflux of the cultural memory of Arab population of Levant and Egypt, insufficiently investigated from the point of view of historical anthropology. The narratives of the Arabic folk epics combine an ancient Arabian tribal folklore, as well as fabulous and legendary stories of ancient Semitic and Persian origin, in addition to the chronicles from different periods of the history of Islam. The epic Sirat Dat al-Himma ("The Life of Dat al-Himma") was taken as an example to analyze the contexts about the Franks in this type of sources, and to conceptualize the patterns of creating the emotive image of the Frank-Crusader. The main patterns of creating the image of the Other in the epic are the opposition of the followers of the true and heretical faiths, the attribution of deviant and bestial behavior to the Franks, and the depiction of them as carriers of demonic superpowers. The tropes and stylistic devices of metaphor, epithet and hyperbole, used in these cases, are joined to evoke laughter, fear and hatred of the Franks at the same time in the listener of the folk epics, making comic relief one of the most recurrently used techniques as it usually involves all abovementioned emotions.
Keywords: sentiment analysis, Arabic folk epic, image of the Other, Arab history, Crusades. Introduction
The ambitious method of sentiment analysis, which have been used primarily for the investigation of media texts since the initial period of its development, is reckoned as one of the most promising approaches for modern humanities and social sciences [1, pp. 762772]. Although the formation of the sentiment analysis method was initially based on the material of the English language, currently one can witness an active development of its tools for other languages, including Arabic [2, pp. 2479-2490]. Approbation of this approach on the various types of texts draws many interdisciplinary researchers. The main challenges that they face when dealing with the arabic sentiment analysis are the complexity of the Arabic word structure, based on the morphological richness of the Semitic languages, and the variety of dialects and forms of literary language [3, pp. 408-430].
* The research was supported by Russian Science Foundation (project no. 22-28-01046, https://rscf. ru/en/project/22-28-01046/). I am also grateful to dr. Natalia Kizhaeva for processing the source text using the CAMeL Tools (Python) algorithm.
© St. Petersburg State University, 2023
The practical application of the method of sentiment analysis opens up great prospects for anthropologists and historians. One of the main areas of research in this case is the study of the emotional contours of historical texts in order to deconstruct the methods of creating a reader's view of certain communities, i. e. the study of the image of the Other [4, pp. 10-11]. In this article by the term "sentiment analysis" I designate a type of content analysis method designed to identify emotionally colored vocabulary and syntactic constructions in texts as well as the emotional evaluation of authors (opinions) in relation to the objects referred to in the text.
Since the last third of the 19th century, one of the most important discourses about the Other in Arab public thought, politics and culture has become anti-crusading rhetoric, in which the image of the Crusader embodied different Others: "European", "Christian", "Zionist", "colonialist", etc. [5, pp. 335-351]. As the crusading and anti-crusading narratives remain relevant in 21st century [6], it seems essential to trace the very roots of this imagological pattern in Arabic sources.
This article is dedicated to an attempt to solve this scientific problem by applying the method of sentiment analysis onto the Arabic folk epics as they feature the large Arabic narratives created after the Crusades and before the beginning of the Arab Revival in the second third of the 19th century, where the episodes about Europeans occupy a significant part of the story. The narratives of the Arabic folk epics combine an ancient Arabian tribal folklore, as well as fabulous and legendary stories of ancient Semitic and Persian origin, in addition to the chronicles from different periods of the history of Islam. For the most part, the so-called folk epics developed during the era of the Crusades, as well as during the Mamluk period in Egypt and the Levant [7, pp. 125-150].
A high research potential of the study of the Crusades' memory in the Arabic folk epics was marked by Malcolm Lyons in his article on the Crusader stratum in this type of sources [8, pp. 147-161]. Arabic folk epics are not considered as sources in studies by Carol Hillenbrand [9] and Jonathan Phillips [10], who only mention a substantial relevance and importance of the search for the memory of the Crusades in the Arab folk culture.
Researchers studying the Arabic folk epics from the point of view of history and ethnography also do not analyze in detail the memory of the Crusades in this type of sources. In Bridget Connolly's monograph Arab Folk Epic and Identity, only the question of the influence of the epic Sirat Bani Hilal on the identity of the Egyptians is considered, and the references to the Crusades in the Epic are mentioned only in passing [11]. A. R. Vidal-Luengo in her article mentions only the symbolic importance of Bay-bars' alliance with the Ismailis against the Crusaders in Sirat al-Zahir Baybars [12, pp. 465-484]. Literary studies of the Arabic folk epics, such as Peter Heath's The Thirsty Sword: Sirat Antar and the Arabic Popular Epic on the epic Sirat Antara Ibn Saddad, also make short references to the Crusades, without relating them to the broader context of this era's memory [13]. This characteristic is also true for the works of Shawqi 'Abd al-Hakim, dedicated to the epics Qissat al-Zir Salim [14], Sirat Bani Hilal [15] and Sirat Dat al-Himma [16].
Thus, the purpose of this article is to identify emotive means of creating the image of a European (frank — ar. ijranji1) in the Arabic folk epics. To do this, I will try to deconstruct the emotional contour of the passages about the Franks.
1 The modern Arabic word urubi, denoting Europeans, came into wide use only in 20th century.
Methodologically, I relied on contextual analysis to find out by what lexical and grammatical means and techniques the emotional image is created in the narrative. The contexts were also considered from the point of view of the theory of dehumanization in order to identify techniques that evoke emotions in the recipient of the narrative.
Solving this research problem will help answering the question of how the Franks are depicted in one of the most important types of works of Arabic folk literature. The outcome of this work might later serve for the study of the evolvement of the Europeans' image in Arab culture in a historical perspective.
Sirat Dat al-Himma
As an object of study, I chose one of the most popular Arabic folk epics2 Sirat Dat al-Himma ("The Life of Dat al-Himma"), which is named after its main character, the Arab woman-warrior Fatima, nicknamed Dat al-Himma ("the one who possesses energy"). The plot of the work is based on a long history of the Arab-Byzantine wars in the time of the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphs before the reign of the Caliph al-Watiq billah (812847), however, due to the fact that, as in the case of most other folk epics, the text of Sirat Dat al-Himma was emerging in the period from the 12th to the 14th century, it reflects a much greater extent of the historical realities of this period, primarily the Crusades. An important structural element of the narrative is also the rivalry between the Arab tribes Banu Kilab, to which the main characters belong, and Banu Sulaym.
It is important to emphasize that although in Sirat Dat al-Himma, same as in the other Arabic folk epics, the images of the Crusaders could be clearly seen not only in the Frank characters, but also in other Christians (Byzantines and Ethiopians), in this article we will limit ourselves to considering the contexts in which the characters are denoted by lexemes with the root f-r-n-j. In this case study, I consider only the first volume of 1980-1981 Beirut edition of this vast folk epic [17].
To deconstruct the emotive factors in the formation of the image of the frank, an analysis of the emotive score of the contexts with the root f-r-n-j was carried out. The examples were processed using the Arabic natural language processing suit CAMeL Tools (Python) [18, pp. 7022-7032]. It should also be noted that the ifranj lexical unit itself has a negative connotation with an emotive score of 0.7. The table below (Table 1) shows statistics on the verb sentences, where the subjects are individual Frank characters or groups of Franks.
Table 1. Emotive score of verbal sentences with ifranj as subjects
Type of score Score range Percentage
Negative 0.513-0.988 35 %
Neutral 0.667-0.969 65 %
2 Arabic folk epics still enjoy popularity in the Arab countries. These works are still being published and filmed. al-Jazeera channel in 2020 devoted to a series of documentaries to the Arabic folk epics, in which the emphasis was placed on Jihad and the participation of Arab epic heroes in it.
Although the algorithm evaluates only the sums of valences of lexemes, which may eventually give inaccurate estimates of contexts, and the real number of negative contexts is the prevailing majority, it is important to emphasize that the algorithm evaluated the fragments about franks exclusively as negative and neutral.
Next, we will conduct a semantic and grammatical analysis of contexts in order to identify the emotive factors in creating the image of the Franks.
Creating the emotive image of the Franks
The first emotive factor in creating the image of Franks as enemies is the depiction of them in the epic as infidels seeking to destroy Islam and convert Muslims to Christianity. This image is formed primarily through the use of particular lexical units indicating the opposition of the Franks to the will of Allah and their hope in the will of Jesus Christ3. King of the Franks in Sirat Dat al-Himma is called aduww allah (Enemy of Allah). In one of the episodes, the hero of the epic 'Amir strikes the king of the Franks with a spear: Wa armahu biha wa qala hudha ya 'aduww allah wa 'aduww al-rasUl fa lam yasur 'aduww allah malik al-ifranj illa wa qad waqa'at fi labbatihi ahraqat qafahu wa harajat min nuqrati-hi ('He threw it [spear] at him, shouting, "Take this, enemy of Allah and enemy of His Messenger!" And the king of the Franks, the enemy of Allah, felt only how it [the spear] hit his upper chest, pierced his nape and came out of it's rear4') [17, p. 855]. The epic's main antagonist 'Uqba is also in some cases referred to as an "Enemy of Allah".
The text of the narrative also contains numerous contrasting descriptions of the opposing sides, as, for example, in the episode of the siege of the city held by the Franks: Wa irtafa'at al-aswat wa zadat al-dajjat wa kafarat al-ifranj bi rabb al-ard wa al-samawat wa sahat al-kuffar min fawq al-aswar wa ramU bi al-ahjar wa al-mu'minUn yaqUlUna ya ummat muhammad al-muhtar jahidU fi al-kuffar al-fujjar ('The voices grew louder and the noise increased, and the Franks blasphemed the Lord of Earth and Heaven. The infidels shouted from behind the walls, and they threw stones at the righteous, and the believers exclaimed: "O people of Muhammad the Chosen, fight against the impious infidels"') [17, p. 395]. The narrative also emphasizes the contradiction between the Christian concept of the divine and the basic tenets of Islam: Wa qad halaqU al-liha' wa nasarU al-nusUr wa kafarU bi al-malik al-gafUr ('[The Franks] shaved off their beards and spread faith in the Resurrection [of Jesus Christ], and they did not trust in the Forgiving King5') [17, p. 803]. Thus, the epic emphasizes the deep sacred importance of the fighting against the Franks.
The motive that the Franks are forcibly converting the inhabitants of the Middle East to Christianity is also of significant importance. 'Uqba, for example, promises that "bells will ring in all the lands of Islam" [19, pp. 108-109], while the Frankish ambassador introduces his King the Giant (ar. 'imlaq, the nickname of the king of the Franks), who went on a campaign against the Muslims, as the vicar of Jesus Christ over all Christians [17, pp. 396]. 'Uqba says that "it is necessary to convert as many Muslims as possible to Christianity", and "Christians are obliged to wage a holy war against Muslims" [19, p. 112].
3 In Islam, Jesus ('Isa) is one of the most respected prophets, but the assertion by Christians of his divine nature is interpreted by Muslims as sirk (a violation of the principle of monotheism).
4 Nuqrat al-qafa denotes a small pit in the nape.
5 Al-malik al-gafUr — one of the epithets of Allah.
Such passages are essential for Arabic folk epics in general, and can be reduced to one idea — attributing the doctrine of holy war to Christianity. At the same time, symbols and stereotypical images of Christianity and Christians that existed in medieval Arab-Muslim culture were used to create an emotional image of the enemy. Among the most widely used myths one can find an exaggerated number of representatives of the higher Christian clergy in the ranks of the Franks, extensive cross symbolism, as well as the vast introduction of pigs into the profane and sacred practices of Christians.
The second emotive factor consists in creating the image of Franks as enemies through their humiliation.
One of the most effective ways to dehumanize an enemy in many cultures has been to attribute cannibalistic practices to them. The implementations of this approach in the Epic under consideration are in abundance, as, for example, in the following episode: Wa haraja nasir malik al-ifranj wa qala ana ahud bi ta'r waladi wa hasasat kabdi wa la budda an akul min kabd hada al-muslim qita ('The herald of the king of the Franks stepped forward and said: "I will avenge my son, who was dearest to me. I must eat a piece of this Muslim's liver"') [17, pp. 854-855]. The plot about eating the liver of a defeated enemy reproduces the archetypal idea, dating back to the ancient myths of the Middle East, that this organ holds the concentration of human strength and wisdom.
Another common type of dehumanization is the motive of the ritual use of excrements. This plot vividly illustrated by the episode of the meeting between the king of the Franks, the Giant, and the highest Christian patrician, cited in the epic: Tarajjala lahum wa sajada li al-batrak wa ahada min al-buhur al-mahlut bi raji'ihi wa tasawwaka hatta salat al-dima' min famihi wa lataha bi dalika al-raji' sawaribhu wa lihyathu fa qala lahu al-batrak i'lam anna al-sayyid al-masih qaddamaka 'ala jami' al-nasraniyya ('And when [the Giant] dismounted in front of them, he bowed to the patrician, took some incense mixed with his excrements, and brushed his teeth with it until blood flowed from his mouth. And he smeared his mustache and beard with these excrements, and after that the patrician said to him: "Know that the Lord Jesus Christ has assigned you over all Christians"') [17, p. 396]. The contrasting description of the pretentious ceremony with the participation of the patrician, in which excrements are used, is also intended to create a comic effect.
Finally, another way of dehumanizing the Franks in the epic involves likening them to animals. This aspect works in two scenarios. The Franks in the narrative are correlated with animals with epithets, as, for example, in the episode: Wa lamyazalu bi al-mawkib ila an wasalu ila al-kalb 'imlaq ('And [the Franks] continued to walk until they came to [their king] dog Giant') [17, p. 396], while in the other episodes, it is argued that they literally reproduce the behavior of the beasts: Wa inna al-malik manuwil jalasa min laylatihi wa a'ta mamlakat al-ifranj li rajul kana min akabirihim yuqalu lahu al-qims al-kabir wa kana kafir sarir wa lahu zamjara wa hadir wa huwa ka annahu al-hinzir wa huwa kafir bi al-latif al-habir ('And King Manuel awoke from the sleep and gave power over the kingdom of the Franks to a man who was one of their great men. His name was the Great Hegumen6 and he was an evil infidel who growled and roared. He was like a pig and did not believe in the Gentle [and] the Well-Acquainted [Lord]') [17, p. 855]. I. Filshtinsky also notes the use of the symbolic image of the ritual impurity of a pig in the epic in order to dehuman-
6 The term qims is translated as "hegumen", because it is usually used to denote representatives of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches, though it equals to abbot (ar. ab or ra'is al-dayr).
ize Christians. He cites as an example from the episode where the main antagonist of the story — 'Uqba — pours pig fat on the wounds of Dat al-Himma [20, p. 641].
The studies of the offensiveness of the animal metaphors show that there are two main routes through which offensiveness is generated. Some metaphors are adjudged to be highly offensive because they liken persons to disgusting or taboo animals, whereas others acquire their offensiveness because the comparison itself is seen as dehumanizing, even if the animal itself was not detested [21, pp. 311-325]. In the case of the image of the Franks, we see the implementation of both of these approaches.
The third factor is the creation of the image of the Franks as numerous, strong and dangerous opponents. For this purpose, various tropes and figures of speech are used. The most frequent means of this are derogatory epithets, as in the following example: Fa wataba min bayna al-jami' batriq jabbar yuqalu lahu qiriyaqis bin iflatUn bin midas al-ifranji wa kanayuaddu bi alf faris fi al-maydan wa kana tahtayadihi talatumi'at alf faris wa kana waladuhu qiriyaqis aktar minhu sarr wa la'na ('And the mighty patrician Frank Qiriyaqis stepped forward from their ranks. He was the son of Iflatun bin Midas, who was worth a thousand knights in the battlefield, and he had under his command three hundred thousand knights, and his son Qiriyaqis was even more evil and cursed than him') [17, p. 901].
The example presented above also demonstrates the implementation of hyperbole, the second most common trope in the epic. This practice in the narrative is used primarily in relation to the number of the Frankish invaders. In Sirat Dat al-Himma it is often emphasized that all the Franks, without exception, set off on campaigns against the Muslims: Wa lamma 'alima 'imlaq al-ijabafa ma tarakafi bilad ifranja gayr al-niswan wa sara fi al-barr bi mi'at alf faris half sittumi'at qitafi al-bahr mal'ana bi al-rijal wa amara qubtan al-marakib an yahjum 'ala marakib al-islam ('And when the Giant received the answer, he left only women in the country of the Franks, and set out by land with a hundred thousand horsemen, accompanied by six hundred ships at sea full of soldiers, and he ordered the captains to attack the ships of Muslims') [17, p. 395]. In another episode, numerous "patricians and kings of the Franks" gather around the bedside of the sick Byzantine emperor [17, p. 906].
To create an image of the strength and multiplicity of the Franks, a metaphor is also often used in the narrative, as in the following examples: Fa sarU ka annahum sadd min hadid ('And [the Franks] stood up like an iron wall') [17, p. 855] or Wa darU bihim al-ifranj wa inhattU 'alayhim ka annahum al-gamam ('The Franks surrounded them and descended on them like storm clouds') [17, p. 894]. The narrative also uses the metaphor of nature, which is "frightened" at the approach of a huge Frankish army: Wa ida al-dunya igtammat wa azlamat janbat wa nafarat al-tuyUr min awkarha wa al-wuhUs min falawat wa azlama al-jaww min gubarha wa azlamat al-ard min aqtarha wa aqbala al-jays mitla al-sayl al-mutahadir wa al-matar al-mutawatir ('And when the world became gloomy and the sides darkened, and fled the birds from their nests and the beasts from their wilds, and the atmosphere became darker with its dust, and the earth became darker in its regions, and the army came like a rolling torrent and a frequent rain') [17, p. 803]. The depiction of the Franks as very strong and numerous enemies should also be considered a form of demonization. According to T. Brudholm, superhumanization often occurs if the respective Other is perceived as dangerous, and it can be theorized as perceiving the Other as a monster [22, pp. 94-96].
Malcolm Lyons also notes that the Franks in the Arabic folk epics are described as strong and dangerous warriors [8, pp. 147-161]. In Sirat Dat al-Himma their large physique is specifically emphasized: Wa kana muqaddamat al-jays mi'at alf min al-ifranj kibar al-ajsad ka annahum min baqaya qawm ad bi al-qintariyat al-midad wa al-suyuf al-hidad ('And hundred thousand Franks were in the vanguard, and their bodies were so massive, as if they were the remnants of the people of 'ad, with long spears and sharp swords') [17, p. 767]. 'Adites are mentioned in the Qur'an as a people who disobeyed the prophet Hud and were destroyed by Allah for this. "Have you not seen what your Lord did with the 'Adites, the people of Iram of the Columns the likes of which had never been created in the land?" (89: 6-8). According to the Islamic tradition, the 'Adites were distinguished by their tall stature and great physical strength. Thus, the correlation with the people who disobeyed the will of Allah gives the image of the Franks an additional negative emotional characteristic.
It is also important to note that although Christians — Byzantines, Ethiopians and Franks — are generally the enemies of the Arabs/Muslims in the Arabic folk epic, the Franks are always depicted as the most feared and powerful of them, and they are also feared by their allies in the Christian camp. Fa baraza ilayhi min al-ifranj faris yuqalu lahu quqyas ibn malik ifranja wa kana min al-abtal al-ma'rufin wa al-aqyal al-mawsufin tahabuhu muluk al-rum jamian li annahu kanayaqtanisu al-asad min al-gabat waya'hud al-qawafil min al-falawat ('And a Frankish knight named Quqyas, the son of the king of the Franks, rushed to him. He was a renowned daredevil and a famous leader. All the kings of the Romans feared him, because he hunted lions in the forests and robbed caravans in the wilds') [17, p. 853].
Conclusion
In summary, it should be noted that according to the conducted analysis, the passages about the Franks have mostly a negative emotional connotation. There are three main emotional patterns to create the image of the Franks-Others. The first way consists in emphasizing the threat that they carry out to Islam and the Muslim lands, for which the descriptions of the righteousness of Muslims and the heretical beliefs of the Franks are actively used. This technique is amplified by the two types of dehumanization: humiliation, exhibited in correlation with animals and attribution of deviant behavior such as cannibalism, as well as depiction of the enormous strength and demonic power of the Franks. It is important to emphasize the mutually exclusive nature of the last two factors: the attribution of the low instincts and animal habits to the Franks is adjacent to the passages that create the image of them as superhumans. The tropes and stylistic devices of metaphor, epithet and hyperbole, used in these cases, are combined to evoke in the reader, or rather the listener of the folk epics, laughter, fear and hatred of the Franks at the same time, making comic relief one of the most actively used techniques as it often involves all these emotions. Thus, the method of sentiment analysis makes it possible to identify key features of the image of the Other and patterns of dehumanization in historical narrative.
The way in which, thanks to the Crusades, ifranj were imprinted for many centuries in the most popular works of the Arab folk culture, is important for the formation of the image of the Europeans in the Arab imagery of the Middle Ages and for the evolvement of the concept of the Other in the formation of the identities of the Arabic-speaking communities of the Middle East.
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Received: May 9, 2023 Accepted: October 13, 2023
Author's information:
Oleg A. Sokolov — PhD in History; o.a.sokolov@spbu.ru
Сентимент-анализ образа франков (ifranj) в арабском народном романе Sïrat Dat al-Himma*
О. А. Соколов
Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет,
Российская Федерация, 199034, Санкт-Петербург, Университетская наб., 7-9
Для цитирования: Sokolov O. A. Sentiment Analysis of the Image of the Franks (ifranj) in the Arabic Folk Epic Sirat Dat al-Himma // Вестник Санкт-Петербургского университета. Востоковедение и африканистика. 2023. Т. 15. Вып. 4. С. 741-749. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.409
Метод сентимент-анализа открывает большие перспективы для исторических и антропологических исследований, в первую очередь для изучения проблематики конструкта образа другого. Для апробации этого метода на материале арабского языка я выбрал арабские народные романы, поскольку они представляют собой сосредоточение культурной памяти арабского населения Леванта и Египта, недостаточно исследованное с точки зрения исторической антропологии. Нарративы арабских народных романов сочетают в себе древний арабский племенной фольклор, сказочные и легендарные сюжеты древнесемитского и персидского происхождения, а также сведения из исторических хроник, относящихся к разным периодам истории ислама. На примере романа Sïrat D at al-Himma («Жизнь Зат ал-Химмы») были проанализированы контексты о франках в этом типе источников, при этом были выявлены паттерны создания эмо-тивного образа франка-крестоносца. Основными паттернами создания образа другого в романе являются противопоставление правоверных и неверных, для чего активно используются описания праведности мусульман и еретических верований франков, атрибуция франкам девиантного и звероподобного поведения, в первую очередь каннибализма, а также представление франков как носителей демонической сверхсилы. Используемые в этих случаях тропы и стилистические приемы метафоры, эпитета и гиперболы вызывают одновременно смех, страх и ненависть к франкам у слушателя народных романов, что делает разрядку смехом одним из наиболее часто используемых приемов в произведении. Таким образом, изучение эмотивности текста источника позволяет выявить ключевые особенности образа другого и закономерности дегуманизации в историческом нарративе.
Ключевые слова: сентимент-анализ, арабский народный роман, образ другого, арабская история, Крестовые походы.
Статья поступила в редакцию 9 мая 2023 г., рекомендована к печати 13 октября 2023 г.
Контактная информация:
Соколов Олег Александрович — канд. ист. наук; o.a.sokolov@spbu.ru
* Исследование выполнено при поддержке Российского научного фонда (проект № 22-2801046, https://www.rscf.ru/project/22-28-01046/). Автор благодарит канд. физ.-мат. наук Н. А. Кижаеву за проведение обработки текста источника с использованием алгоритма CAMeL Tools (Python).
