Mister Underhill, so I did speak a little hastily. But I don't think the error with Pippin has anything to do with the Palantir. With this whole mess Sauron has assumed several things wrong:
Pippin's a captive in Orthanc
Saruman had the Stone in Orthanc
Pippin is someone that would be important to Sauron. And not just for information.
I think the gloss you put on your last quote is a little out of context, let's look at the bigger picture:
Quote:
'I was just wondering about the black shadow. I heard you shout "messenger of Mordor". What was it? What could it do at Isengard?'
'It was a Black Rider on wigs, a Nazgul,' said Gandalf. 'It could have taken you away to the Dark Tower.'
'But it was not coming for me, was it?' faltered Pippin. 'I mean it didn't know that I had...'
'Of course not,' said Gandalf. 'It is two hundred leagues or more in straight flight from Barad-dūr to Orthanc, and even a Nazgūl would take a few hours to fly between them. But Saruman certainly looked in the Stone since the orc-raid, and more of his secret thought, I do not doubt, has been read than he intended. A messenger has been sent to find out what he is doing. And after what has happened tonight another will come, I think, and swiftly. So Saruman will come to the last pinch of the vice that he has put his hand in. He has no captive to send. He has no Stone to see with, and cannot answer the summons. Sauron will only believe that he is withholding the captive and refusing to use the Stone. It will not help Saruman to tell the truth to the messenger. For Isengard may be ruined, yet he is still safe in Orthanc. So whether he will or no, he will appear a rebel. '
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I get the impression there are two Nazgul heading to Isengard. The first one was sent before Pippin looked into the palantir, because Sauron wanted to find out what Saruman has been doing all this time and why he hadn't been using the stone.
But after the events of tonight [Pippin looking into the stone] Gandalf thinks another will be sent to Isengard, and be sent
swiftly. This would be the Black Rider Pippin would have to be fear, because this would be the one after the captive (him). The other one Gandalf guesses was sent to Isengard to figure out what Saruman was up to all this time, not the one sent after Pippin used the Palantir.
I think as
phantom says there are many errors Sauron had made here. One was assuming Saruman still had the palantir, and I think as he says this can be easily rectified, especially with the quote above. However, there were other errors Sauron made and it would take him longer to figure it out...this might be assuming Pippin was the Hobbit with the Ring.
As I did speak hastily there was an error that Sauron thought Saruman had the palantir, however there was another error Sauron made and it dealt with Pippin, this is stated with the sentence talking about Sauron's mind being filled with Pippin's image and voice. Why would Sauron be so concerned about what Pippin looks like and how he talks if he wanted Pippin for sport? No, he's concerned about how Pippin looks and how he speaks because he has something Sauron wants...the most important thing Sauron wants (and not just information).
While it is true that hobbit can be dehumanized, as you have shown
Mr. Underhill, I don't think that happens in this case, because structurally it doesn't make sense. Sauron says '
We shall meet again.' We is kind of like an in-group in sociology, there is a sense of equalization. Although Sauron and Pippin may not be equal in many areas, they are both people, and even Sauron recognizes this with 'We' (meaning You and I). So, now that Sauron has already set them up as equals on a certain level, why would he suddenly change to 'it?' There is a subject change between this encounter. It goes from 'We' to 'it' a person to a thing. It is just a confusing structure to make the argument that Sauron was making Pippin feel like he wasn't a person, because he had done that very thing.
In the examples you give, the word 'it' is used consistantly to refer to people, as in making them appear like they are less than human.
(At the rist of repeating myself through out this post, everything above is Gandalf's speculation).