ABSTRACT
Since the inception of Arabic rhetorical studies, the two notions of eloquence and rhetoric have preoccupied Arab rhetoricians. In this chapter, we shall provide an in-depth investigation of these two notions and their respective aspects. The main grammatical, phonetic, and stylistic criteria of eloquence are explained together with the linguistic and phonetic factors whose absence leads to non-eloquence and stylistic unacceptability. The present account will also investigate the distinction between eloquence and rhetoric and the different views held by different scholars concerning these two notions. The discussion of various theoretical linguistic notions will be provided with examples.
