a dissertation in arabic translation

8/21/2019 a dissertation in arabic translation

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Lord of the Flies

May, 2011


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:


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I certify that this thesis was prepared under my supervision at

University of Baghdad as a partial requirement for the degree of

Master of Arts in Translation.

Signature:

Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Munthir Manhal, Ph.D.

Date:

In view of the available recommendation, I forward this thesis for

debate by the examining committee.

Signature:

Name: Asst. Prof. May Stephan Rassam, Ph.D.

Head of the Department of English,

College of Languages, University of Baghdad

Date:


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We certify that we have read this thesis and as examining

committee examined the student in its content and that, in our

opinion, it is adequate with standing as a thesis for the degree of

Master of Arts in Translation.

Signature:

Name:

Date:

Chairman

Signature:

Name:

Date:

Member

Signature:

Name:

Date:Member

Signature:

Name:

Date:Member

Approved by the Council of the College of Languages

Signature:

Name: Prof. Talib A. Mohammed Al-kuraishi, Ph.D.Dean of the College of Languages,

University of Baghdad

Date:


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Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I would like to extend my thanks to my supervisor

Asst. Prof. Dr. Munthir Manhal who has helped this thesis along its ways.

His detailed comments and suggestions on the early drafts are highlyappreciated. He has assisted in sharpening and strengthening the focus the

best way possible and in pointing out errors and inaccuracies. He has helped

me to recognize my mistakes and learn from them. He has mixed his

invaluable comments with the spirit of confidence and challenge which

helped me to a great extent to face the difficulties in the course of thesis.

I would like to extend my thanks to Asst. Prof. Dr. May Stephan, Head of

the Department of English, for her help in eliminating any obstacle that

hinders the progress of the students in the postgraduate studies in the

department. My thanks go to the teaching staff whose dedication and

keenness to feed us with knowledge have led to the accomplishment of this

challenging task, to mention but few: Emeritus Prof. Dr. Abdulwahid

Muslat, Asst. Prof Dr. Riyadh Khalil, Asst. Prof Dr. Abdulhameed Nasir,

Prof. Dr. Amir Al-Hiti, Head of the Arabic Section in the College of

Languages and Prof. Dr. Alya Al-RubaiI from Al-Mustansiriyah

University. Also, my thanks go to Asst. Prof .Dr. Mahdi Falih Al-Ghazali,

Head of the Translation Department / Al-Mustansiriyah University, for his

invaluable advice. My thanks go to Asst. Prof. Dr. Abbas Lutfi, Head of the

English Department /College of Education, for his assistance. Special thanks

go to Mr. Hazim Malik for his assistance. My thanks and gratitude go to myfamily who supported me to complete this work. Finally, my thanks go to

every person who helped and supported me to achieve this thesis as best as

possible.


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Abstract

Translation quality assessment (henceforth TQA) is a sub-field of the

translation studies. It offers a practical approach to state-of-the-art

translation criticism and evaluation In this thesis three Arabic translations

of William Goldings novelLord of the Flies (1954) (henceforth LOTF) are

chosen among some available Arabic translations. These three translations

are by Samir Izzat Nassar (1988) , by Abdul-Hameed

Al-Jammal(1994/2000) and by Mahmoud Qasim(1991). This

thesis investigates the reasons behind the differences among the Arabic

translations and why some of them are rendered adequately while others fail

to achieve this level of adequacy. The current thesis puts forward the

following hypotheses:

1- Different translation methods could lead to different translated versions of

the same text.

2- Consistency in using the same key terms, while there is no justification to

change them, leads to a more eligible text and eliminate any inconsistency or

vagueness.

3- Cultural and stylistic differences between both languages seem to give

rise to mistranslations as far as the literary text under investigation is

concerned. In addition, these differences might press the translators to

manipulate some translated elements to fit the new cultural and religious

contexts.

In order to test these hypotheses selection has been made to several

excerpts from different places in the novel to cover the most significant

elements required to carry out the task of assessment. In order to make use

of the collected data which cover several levels namely, text type, semantic,stylistic and extra-linguistic levels; the model ofReiss (2000) of translation

criticism with some additions from other scholars such as Nord (1997) have

been adopted. This thesis investigates the different choices made by the

translators in rendering the same ST elements and analyzing the reasons

behind them whether they are due to stylistic choices, cultural problems,


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unavailability of the appropriate equivalent, and unfamiliarity with the

subject matter, the high symbolic nature of the ST or the particularity of the

author style. This thesis found out that adopting different translation

strategies by translators leads to different versions of the same ST. Some

basic principles of translation are violated variably by the three translations

which lead, as it has been shown in this thesis, to a kind of inconsistency in

the translated texts. This thesis found out how the Arab translators have

observed the conservative traditions and ethical standards of the Arab

societies. None of the three translators has rendered any ST obscene words

directly into Arabic. This gives an indicator of how culture and social

conventions affect the translated texts.


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SUBJECT p .No

Dedication v

Acknowledgements vi

Abstract viiTable of Contents ix

List of Tables xiv

List of Figures xv

Key to Abbreviations xvi

Chapter One1.1 The Problem 1

1.2 Hypotheses 2

1.3 Aims of this Study 3

1.4 Procedures 31.5 Plan of the Thesis

1.6 Limits of the Study 4

1.7 The Value of the study 5

Chapter TwoBasic Concepts and Approaches to Translation Studies

Introduction 6

2.1 Basic Concepts 7

2.1.1 What is Translation? 7

2.1.2 The Translator 8

2.1.3 Prose Translation 10

2.1.4 Meaning and Translation 11

2.1.5Collocation

13

2.1.6 Figurative language 15

2.1.6.1 Metaphor 16

2.1.6.1.1 Types of Metaphor 17

2.1.6.1.2 Newmarks classification of Metaphor 17

2.1.6.2 Simile 202.1.7 Text 20

2.1.7 .1 Cohesion and Text 21

2.1.7 .2. Ellipsis and Substitution 22

2.1.7 .2.1. Nominal Ellipsis 22

2.1.7.2.2. Verbal ellipsis 23

2.1.7 .2.3 Clausal ellipsis 23

2.1.7 .3. Substitution 24

Table of Contents


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2.1.7 .4 Allusion 24

2.1.8 Style 26

2.1.8.1 Types of Style 26

2.1.9 Loss in Translation 28

2.1.10 Context 302.2 Translation Studies 32

2.3 Approaches to Translation 34

2.3.1 Linguistic-Oriented Translation Theories 34

2.3.1.1 Equivalence and Equivalent Effect 35

2.3.1.2 The Translation Shift Approach 39

2.3.1.2.1Vinay and Darbelnet's Model

39

2.3.1.2.2 Catford and Translation Shifts 41

2.3.2 Functional Theories of Translation 422.3.2.1 Text Type 42

2.3.2.2 Skopos Theory 43

2.3.3 Discourse and Register Approaches to Translation Theory 45

2.3.3.1 The Hallidayan Model of Language and Discourse 46

2.3.3.2 House's Model of Translation Quality Assessment 48

2.3.3.3 Baker's Text and Pragmatic Analysis 51

2.3.4 Cultural Approaches 54

2.3.4.1 Some Culture-Related Problems to Translation 56

Chapter ThreeTranslation Quality Assessment

3 Introduction 59

3.1 Approaches to Translation Quality Assessment 60

3.1.1 Anecdotal and Subjective Approaches 61

3.1.2 Response-Oriented, Psycholinguistic Approaches 63

3.1.3 Text-Based Approaches 66

3.1.4 Functionalistic and Action and ReceptionTheoryRelated Approaches

67

3.1.5 Linguistically-Oriented Approaches 70

3.2 A Model Applied to Translation Assessment 73

3.2.1 A model for the Analysis of the Novel 74


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3.2.1.1 The Literary Category of Translation Criticism76

Text Type

76

3.2.1.2 Linguistic Elements as a Linguistic Category for

Translation Criticism

79

Semantic Elements 79

Textual Level

Cohesive Devices

80

Substitution and Ellipsis80

Allusion81

Stylistic Level: Formal vs. Informal Style81

3.2.1.3 Extra-Linguistic Determinants as the Pragmatic Category

of the Translation Criticism.

82

Subject Matter

82

Audience82

Time and Place Factors 82

3.2.1.4 The General Makeup of the ST and Its Translations 83

3.2.1.5 Application of the Adapted Model 83

Semantic Level 84

Textual Level 85

Stylistic Level 86

Extra- Linguistic Determinants (Pragmatic Level)87

General Makeup of the Translated Texts87


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Statement of Quality87

Chapter Four The Assessment of the TranslationsIntroduction 88

4.1 Summary of the NovelLord of the Flies and Text Type 884.2 The Semantic Level 92

4.2. 1 Equivalence at the Lexical Level 92

4.2.1.1 Analysis of the Lexical Items 93

4.2. 2 Collocations 110

4.2.2.1 The Translation of Collocations 110

4.2.2.2 Analysis of Collocation 112

4.2.3 Metaphor 120

4.2.3.1 Methods of Translating Metaphors 120

4.2.3.2 Metaphor Analysis 1214.2.4 Simile 129

4.2.4.1 Methods of Translating Simile 129

4.2.4.2 Analysis of Simile 130

4.3 Textual Level 138

4. 3. 1 Ellipsis and Substitution 138

4.3.1.1 Translation of Ellipsis and Substitution 139

4. 3.1.2 Types of Ellipsis 139

4.3.1.2.1 Ellipsis Analysis 140

4.3.1.2 Analysis of Substitution 1434.3.2 Allusions 145

4.3.2.1 Translation of Allusions 146

4.3.2.2 Analysis of Allusions 146

4.4 Stylistic Analysis 152

4.4.1 Goldings Style 152

4.4.2 Analysis of Style 154

Informal style 154

Colloquial Style 156

4.5 Extra- Linguistic Determinants 158Subject Matter 158

Audience 160

Time and place 161

4.6 The General Makeup of the Novel and its Translations 163


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4.7 Statement of Quality 164

Chapter five 170

5.1 Conclusions 1705.2 Recommendations 173

5.3 Suggestions for Further Studies 174

Bibliography 176

Appendices 187

Abstract in Arabic 227


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List of Tables

No. Table page2.1 English Styles 26

3.1 Text Types Adapted from Reisss (2000) 75

4.1 EnglishArabic Collocational Differences of the Verb

deliver

110

4.2 Time and Place Information of TTs 163


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List of Figures

No. Figure page

2.1 Genre and Register Relation to Language 46

2.2 Analysis and Comparison Scheme of the

Original and Translated Texts

48

3.1 Three-Phase System of Translating Process 64

3.2 Use-Related Variation 71

3.3 Visual Distribution of Texts According to

Reiss Text Typology Adapted from Chesterman(1989)

77


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Key to Abbreviations

Abbreviation Term

Adj. Adjective

Adv. Adverb

DE Dynamic Equivalence

DTS Descriptive Translation Studies

FE Formal Equivalence

L Line Number in the ST

LOTF Lord of the Flies

MSA Modern Standard Arabic

N Noun

NP Noun Phrase

OALD Oxford Advanced Learners

Dictionary

r.f Researcher Footnote

SL Source Language

SLT Source Language Text

ST Source Text

T1 = Samir Izzat Nassars translationT2 = Abdul Hammed Al-Jammals

translation

T3 = Mahmoud Qasims translationThTS Theoretical Translation Studies

TQA Translation Quality Assessment

TTh Translation Theory

TT Target Text

TL Target Language

TLT Target Language TextV Verb

VP Verb phrase

Line Number in the ArabicTexts


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1.1 The ProblemLiterary language is one of the most difficult areas that the translator faces

since the original message should be carried into the target language stuffed

with least imaginable bit of emotion and very specific and intended structure

as well as vocabulary. The effect that the translated texts achieve in the target

culture should be, according to the equivalence notion, the same one that the

original message achieves in the original culture (Nida, 1964:159).

Lord of the Flies is one of the significant works not only for its literaryvalue but also for the linguistic implication indicated in the deep human

reflections and thoughts. Golding in this novel shows a compelling

imagination, a vivid realism as he describes the disintegration of the boys

civilization under the pressure of raw nature. He has been deeply infatuated

by the ambiguities of mysterious atmospheres that surrounded his childhood

as well as the post World War II period which ultimately appeared as

complex symbols in his works later on.

This particular William Golding's work, which was written in 1954, won theNobel Prize for literature in 1983 and translated into several languages. It was

translated into Arabic in 1967 under the title which literallymeans "The Seeds of Evil". Later, the novel was translated by several Arab

translators who did their translations using a variety of techniques and

methods along with remarkable differences in style, sentence formation and

vocabulary.

These differences which are noticeable along the translated texts represent a

phenomenon that requires investigation and careful analyses to identify the

elements that motivate the translators to prefer certain structural and lexical

choices rather than other ones. Arab translators introduced a variety of titles

no less than six titles were presented for the original title ofLord of The Flies,

they are as follows: ............................................................


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1- Buthoor Alshar literally the Seeds of Evil2- Lord Althubab the Lord of the Flies 3- Malik Althubab King of the Flies

4- Amir Althubab the prince of the flies 5- Sayid Althubab the Master of the Flies

6- Alihat Althubab the Gods of the Flies

7- Ilah Althubab the God of the Flies

Selected excerpts from three of them are chosen to carry out the assessment

process, namely, number 2, 4 and 6. The selection of these three translations

and their excerpts is based on the special features they have to serve as thedata needed to test the given hypotheses.

1.2 Hypotheses

It is hypothesized that:

1- Different translation methods could lead to different translated versions of

the same text.

2- Consistency in using the same key terms, while there is no justification to

change them, can lead to a more eligible text and eliminate any

inconsistency or vagueness.

3- Cultural and stylistic differences between both languages seem to giverise to mistranslations as far as the literary text under investigation is

concerned. In addition, these differences might press the translators to

manipulate some translated elements to fit the new cultural and religious

contexts.


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1.3 Aims of this Study

The study aims at:

1- Providing a translation assessment of the Arabic translations of Golding's

Lord of the Flies

2- Investigating the reasons behind those differences in translations and,

3- Suggesting translations for the inadequate rendition of some parts of the

TTs.

1.4 Procedures:

1- Introducing some of the substantial approaches to translation criticism

2- Developing an adequate model for assessment

3- Applying the model to the selected texts

4- Drawing up conclusions

1.5 Plan of the thesis

To approach the goal of assessing the three Arabic translations, the current

thesis is divided into five chapters; they are as follows:

1- Chapter one includes the exposition of the problem, hypotheses and theaim of the study

2- Chapter two includes a review of literature and the most influential

approaches in the field of translation studies.


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3- Chapter three includes two basic points; the first is introduction to the

most effective approaches to translation quality assessment. The second is

the choice of the most adequate model to fulfill the requirements of the

assessment process.

4- Chapter four: this chapter represents the practical part of the assessment

process. In this chapter, the ST and the TTs are analyzed and contrasted

according to the chosen model (in chapter three).

5- Chapter five: this chapter represents the valid conclusions obtained from

the previous step of analysis (chapter four). It also provides

recommendations and suggestions for further studies.

1.6 Limits of the Study

The study is limited to the assessment of three selected Arabic

translations of "Lord of the Flies" namely; a) Amir Althubab

translated by Abdul- Hameed Al-Jammal b) Lord Althubab translated by Samir Izzat Nassar c)Alihat Althubab translated by

Mahmoud Qasim. The assessment will be based on selected elements of

evaluation on the semantic, textual, stylistic and extra-linguistic levels as

well as the general make-up of the ST and TTs.

Since it would be impossible within the limits of this study to cover all the

elements found in the selected levels of analysis, therefore, only some of the

elements are chosen. It is also very hard to analyze the whole text of the

novel, therefore, sample excerpts from different places in the novel havebeen chosen to serve as data for carrying out analysis and evaluation of the

novel.


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1.7 The Value of the study

It is widely known that translation plays a remarkable role in enriching

the target language culture with new kinds of knowledge and information.

Accordingly, this makes communication among different cultures moreproductive and more fruitful. This fact makes it necessary to evaluate the

translated works and show their merits and demerits. Consequently, it would

be possible to provide the Arab readers with the opportunity of choosing the

high quality productions rather than leaving them blundering among the

huge amount of low quality products that are shown today. Also, no less

important is that, such studies represent a resource of worthy academic

guidance for the students of translation and for those interested in literary

translation as well.


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6

Chapter Two

Basic Concepts and Approaches to TranslationStudies

Introduction

This chapter deals with the most famous approaches to translation

studies as well as some introductory concepts that are necessary to pave the

way for a better understanding of the following chapters of this thesis.Translation is one of the most controversial branches of Applied

Linguistics fields and it has been gaining more interest, notably in the last

few decades, from other fields. This interest in translation is one of the

most important reasons which led to the diversity of the theories of

translation. These theories have been formed to explain the nature of

translation and identify it within a certain objective frame. Given the fact

that translation process is linked to subjects as much as the human being

can deal, it could be possible then to imagine the difficulty of contriving a

unified theory of translation. Nevertheless, these theories undergo acontinuous development and progress aiming at a reasonable level of

objectivity in this regard. The growth of Translation Studies as a separate

discipline is according to Lefevere (1992:xi) is a success story which

started from the 1980s.The subject witnessed an ongoing development in

different areas in the world and will continue to develop in the future.

Translation studies bring together work in a wide variety of fields,

including linguistics, literary study, history, anthropology, psychology and

economics. The theories which are to be discussed in this chapter do not

cover all the trends in the field of translation as this would be practically

impossible, but taking useful samples would be helpful to shed light on theareas of research in this subject as it pertains to the subject matter of the

current thesis.


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2.1 Basic Concepts

2.1.1 What is Translation?

In our daily life one gets connected to each other and interact by themost effective means which is language. Language, according to Fasold

and Linton (2006:9), is a finite system of elements and principles thatmake it possible for speakers to construct sentences to do particular

communicative jobs. So the main purpose of language is to achieve acommunicative task. This holds true also for the linguistic phenomenon of

translation. Hatim and Munday (2004:3) point out that translation can be

analyzed from two different perspectives: that of a process, which refers

to the activity of turning a ST into a TT in another language, and that of a

product, i.e. a translated text. They (1997:1) define translating as an actof communication which attempts to relay, across cultural and linguisticboundaries, another act of communication (which may have been intended

for different purposes and different readers / hearers).Shuttleworth and Cowie (1997:181) see thattranslation is a very broad

notion which opens the way to be understood in various ways. This broad

notion enables one to talk about translation as process and a product. In

addition, one can recognize sub-types of translations such as literary

translation, technical translation, subtitling and machine translation.

According to Ghazala (2006:1), translation refers to all processes and

methods used to transfer the meaning of the source language text into thetarget language.

On this very issue oftranslation as a process and product; Aziz andLataiwish (2000:4) see that translation as a process is related to a human

activity which nearly everyone has practiced and therefore has a broad

sense. As a product, it is mainly related to the result of this human activity

in form of translated texts among different languages. Translation for them

is a replacement of one text in certain language by another text in another

language. But, they argue that such a definition does not cover some

aspects of what translation term should cover. First, it focuses on text

translation; text is a linguistic unit above the sentence and more dependable

on context and may be written or oral. The second point which they raise,

is its focus on the translation from one language to another whereas other

types are excluded, i.e., paraphrasing within the same language. A more

comprehensive view about translation is seen by Jakobson

(1959/2000:114), who distinguishes between three different kinds of

translation; they are as follows:


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1) Intralingual, orrewording;2) Interlingual ortranslation proper;3) Intersemiotic ortransmutation

The first of these refers to an interpretation of verbal signs by means ofother signs of the same language. In other words, the process oftranslation occurs within the same language, for instance between varieties

or through paraphrasing, etc. The second kind concerns interpretation ofverbal signs by means of some other languages .The third one

Intersemiotic or transmutation is an interpretation of verbal signs bymeans of signs of non-verbal sign systems.

According to Ilyas (1989:19), translation is an operation in which the

source text is replaced by the target text according to the equivalence

notion on different levels namely, lexical, grammatical, phonological andgraphological.

What is noted from the above discussion, that the basic concept in the

process of translation isequivalence which can be established at differentlevels, namely, lexical, grammatical and phonological. The subject of

equivalence will be tackled in detail in the next sections.

2.1.2 The Translator

The translator is the one who undertakes the task of communicating the

overall meaning of a stretch of language to another language. The role of

the translator, according to Leppihalme (1997:18), should be given a due

emphasis in a problem-restricted study of translation because whatever

may be written by the translation scholars; the translator who must decide

how to solve each individual problem during the translating process. This

task needs certain qualifications supposed to be available in the translator

to achieve this act of communication and problem solving competence.

Najeeb (2005:8f) suggests that the translator should have some

qualifications in order to accomplish his/her task successfully and as

follows:

1-A broad base of vocabulary of both source and target languages

2-Comprehensive knowledge of the grammar, morphology, rhetoric in both

languages

3- Encyclopedic knowledge

4- The faithfulness in the rendition of the original text thoughts and ideas


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5- Patience, because translation needs a long period of practice and

training.

These above skills and qualifications do not mean that the translator is

that person who should know everything and can meticulously translate

any text without any help from anyone else other than him/herself.

Samuelsson-Brown (2004:2) clarifies this particular point by stating that

great number of people, including clients, has many misconceptions of

what is a skilled translator should have. Among these misconceptions are

the following:

As a translator you can translate all subjects

If you speak a foreign language you can automatically translate into

it

If you can make a conversation in a foreign language then you arebilingual.

Translators are mind-readers and can make a perfect translation; they

need not to consult the original author.

Hatim and Mason (1990:11) confirm that familiarity with the ideas and

underlying meaning of the writer of a SL text is a vital aid to translating.

On the other hand, unfamiliarity gives rise to the lack of confidence, or

the inability to grasp the meaning when a text is in a way or another

defective, obscure or has elliptical elements. They (ibid.) believe that thebest translators in the field of literary translation are those who are in tune

with the author. This necessary understanding of both the overt message

and underlying meaning of the text as well as the emotiveness values and

stylistic features that determine the flavor and feel of the message are the

first and most obvious requirements of any translator as Nida (1964:150)

believes.

Kelly (2005:64) argues that specialists in this field and the professional

translation markets see that professional translators have to possess the

following skills:

communicative and textual competence preferably in more than twolanguages and cultures

cultural and intercultural competence

subject area competence

professional and instrumental competence

attitudinal or psycho-physiological competence

interpersonal competence

strategic competence


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10

The above raised point of cultural competence contributes to the naming

of translators as cultural mediators. The translator represents a mediatory

channel through which understanding between two different languages and

cultures can be achieved. Hatim and Mason (1990:223) view of the

translator as a mediator stems from the fact that mutual communication

might otherwise be problematic without the mediatory role of the translator

between involved parties such as the translators of patents, contracts, verse

or fiction .This mediatory role can be more direct in the case of the

simultaneous interpreter.

Translators as cultural mediators should be, according to Katan

(1999:14), aware of their own cultural identity to the extreme in order to

understand how their culture influences perception.

The ideal role of the translator as it is argued by Nida (1964:153) is to have

a complete knowledge of both source and target language ,intimate

acquaintance with the subject matter, effective empathy with the originalauthor and the content and stylistic facility in the target language.

Unfortunately, these ideal competences do not always found in the

translator, therefore, a lot of discrepancies are found among translated texts

and the original ones. Consequently, the aim in most of the cases is to be as

close as possible to the essence of the message meant to be conveyed.

2.1.3 Prose Translation

According to Nida and Taber (1969:132) prose comprises three maintypes namely, narrative, descriptive and argumentative. In narrative text

the structure is based on series of events representing the theme of the text.

In descriptive the text based on spatial relations with a certain point that

represents the perspective from which the scene is described relative to that

point of view. Argumentative is based on logical relations.

Ilyas (1989:65) sees that literary translation does not follow word for

word translation .This is basically because it should express the authors

ideas as well as his style which are represented in his/her conscious choicesof words and their overtones, figures of speech and other stylistic elements

which inevitably do not allow that kind of literal translation. He also

stresses the position that it is unacceptable, in case of the novel translation,

to stress the content at the expense of the total structure of it. Belloc (1930)

cited in Ilyas (1989:66) has six rules suggested to the translation of prose;

they can be listed briefly as follows:


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1- The translator should avoid translating his work word by word or

sentence by sentence but the work should be looked upon as a whole unit.

2- The translator should translate the S.L. idiom by an equivalent T.L.

idiom which usually differs in form but have the same function in the target

language. For example, the Greek exclamation By the dog can betranslated into English as an exclamation by using the form By God.3- An S.L. intention should be rendered into an equivalent T.L. intention

and the translator should make up for any overbalance between both

intentions.

4- The translator should avoid the pitfall of similar words in different

languages. Sometimes these similar words are called (false friends) .This

problem occurs among languages of the same origin where the same words

carry different meanings in these languages. For example, the word brutalwhich signifies serious in French whereas it has a different denotation in

English as unkind or violent.5- The translator should not be slavish to the S.L. text since languages

differ in form. Necessary changes should be made by the translator to the

target text

6- The translator should not add elements that are not in the S.L.

Bakers (1992:111) suggestion for the translators is to work on lexicalitems and grammatical structures while performing the translation through

its multistage process. However, this depends largely on examining the text

as a whole before and after the translation process. The usefulness of

reading the text before starting the translating process is to understand the

text and realize its message. This will help to put the lexical items and

sentences in their due context which is realized by reading. The advantage

of the reading after the completion of translating process will help to

evaluate the target text whether it is an acceptable text in its own right. She

(ibid.) states that phraseology and the collocational and grammaticalpatterning of the target version must conform to target-language norms.

2.1.4 Meaning and Translation

It is well known that language can be used to express meaning, but it is a

very difficult task to define meaning. Part of the problem is that meaning

has various dimensions which are intermingled and cannot easily be

distinguished as separate, but as Portner (2006:138) sees, there are

semantic meaning and pragmatic meaning. The first meaning is the literal

meaning of an utterance or sentence, whereas the second is what the

speaker means; for example, if one asks you the following question: can


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12

you give me an apple? If you take the literal meaning of this question then

your answer would be yes I can because the question literally asks aboutyour ability. If, you take the question as a request made by the speaker to

give him an apple, then the meaning that you grasped is what intended by

the speaker to communicate. In this regard, some linguists put some

classifications to meaning for purpose of achieving more insight to the

nature of meaning and its relatedness to translation. According to Cruse

(1986) meaning can be of four distinguished types namely, propositional

meaning, expressive meaning, presupposed meaning, and evoked meaning.

With regard to the propositional meaning he (ibid.:271) sees that its

characteristics depend partly on the propositional attitude manifested by

the sentence in which it operates whether this sentence is a statement,

question, command, exclamation, etc. Propositional meaning has truth-

conditions (truth condition is defined according to Akmajian et al

(2001:589) as A condition that the world must meet for an expression thathas truth condition to be true). In the case ofexpressive meaning there is

no such truth conditions, see the following examples:

a- Ijust felt a sudden sharp pain.b- Ouch!

It is noted that both utterances convey the same message; that is of pain but

they differ in the way the meaning is put across. The example (a) can be

challenged for its truth value by saying for example: no you just lie while

example (b) its truth value cannot be challenged because it does not make

sense to challenge its truth in the same way of that in example (a). Cruses(ibid.: 278) third type is thepresupposed meaning which is used here torefer to semantic traits which are considered when one uses an expression,

or lexical item, in the utterance. For example, when one hears the word

drink , the first things that come to the mind are: there is something which

is liquid, potable, someone who drinks etc. All these associations are

presupposed by the hearer of this uttered lexical item unless a metaphorical

meaning is sought behind it. The fourth type of meaning according to

(ibid.:282) is theevoked meaning which plays a role in the cohesion of thediscourse and provides a further potential source of variation among

cognitive synonyms. The possibility of evoked meaning is a result of the

existence of different dialects and registers within a language.

This above classification is adopted by Baker (1992:13-5). She explains thesefour types as follows:


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1-Propositional meaning of a word or an utterance arises from the relationbetween it and what it refers to. This type of meaning gives us the ability to

judge the truth of an utterance. For example,shirt is a piece of cloth that canbe worn on the upper part of the body so it is not accurate to use it under

normal circumstances to refer to a kind of clothes worn to the lower parts of

the body.2- Expressive meaning relates to the speakers feelings or Attitude ratherthan to what words and utterances refer to.

3- Presupposed meaning arises from co-occurrence restrictions which makeus able to expect what is the following or preceding word when certain word

comes in a text. These restrictions include selectional restriction andcollocational restriction. The former depends on the propositional meaning of

a certain word, for example the word studious has the feature of (+) human,

therefore, a human may be expected to do the action. The latter depends on

the arbitrary co-occurrence of two or more words without following a logical

rule for this co-occurrence. For example, laws are broken in English, but in

Arabic they are contradicted.

4-Evoked meaning arises from dialect and register variation. The formerrepresents a variety of language that is used by a certain linguistic community.

The latter is a variety of language that a language user deems it as appropriate

in certain situations.

2.1.5 Collocation

A collocation is mainly a lexical relationship between words. This

lexical relationship is said to be subject more to arbitrariness arising from

common usage than from rules. An interesting example concerning the

arbitrariness of collocations is the wordsrancid andaddled which meanstale/rotten. When they enter in collocational relations with butter oreggs, English describes them as rancid and addled, when they go bad,

respectively. One cannot talk aboutaddled butter andrancid eggs because

they are unacceptable or at least unlikely collocations in English (Palmer,

1976 cited in Baker, 1992:47). Baker (ibid.) gives other examples to

illustrate this nature of collocation; English speakers typically break rulesbut they do not break regulations; they typically talk of wasting time but

not of squandering time. Newmark (1988:32) states that the chiefdifficulties in translating are lexical, not grammatical i.e. words,

collocations and fixed phrases or idioms. According to Bell (1993:97)

Similarity of occurrence collocation - is the basic formal relationship in

lexis A word tends to occur in relatively predictable ways with other


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words; certain nouns with particular adjectives or verbs, verbs with

particular adverbials. Newmark (1988:212) considers collocations veryimportant for the translator. They represent most important contextual

factor but their occurrence is considerably narrower, and lexical items

basically occur into high-frequency grammatical structures. He classifiescollocations into:

1- Adjective plus noun

In this regard, two examples from Newmark (ibid.) can be taken 'hard

labour', in Arabic " " and 'economic situation' as " "2- Noun plus noun or compound nouns

Nerve cell can be translated into Arabic as "" , eyeball intoArabic " "3- Verb plus object, such as read a paper in Arabic " "

And score (win) a victory in Arabic " " or " "It is seen that collocations are evident in both languages, English and

Arabic. Accordingly, it is possible to avail of this important characteristic

of language to evaluate the three translations based on their comparison

with the ST and see how the translators manage to convey these useful

structures into the TL by using an equivalent Arabic collocations.

According to Ghazala (2006:106-22) collocations in Arabic fall into

several types. He lists twelve most important ones using grammatical

classification:

1- Adjective + noun collocations, for example: hard labour ( / (

2- Verb + noun, for example : attend a lecture ) (3-Noun+noun collocations, for example: brain drainage ( ) 4- Noun + noun (the of genitive ( )) collocations, for example:Loss of memory ( (5- Noun + and + noun (addition( )) collocations ,for example: meansand ends ( ).

6- Adjective +adjective collocations, for example: hale and hearty ( )7- Adverb + adverb collocations, for example: wholly and heartedly ( (8- Noun + verb collocations (names of sounds), for example: bees buzz

) )9- Prepositional collocations, for example:

a- Noun + preposition : A protest against ( )b- Preposition +noun : by accident ( / )


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c- Adjective +preposition collocations :full of ( )d- Verb + preposition (prepositional verb )collocations: long for (

/ )10- Collocations of similes (as-as constructions) : as beautiful as a lark/as

pretty as a picture ( / / )11- Parts of countable nouns collocations, for example: a bouquet offlowers ( / )12- Parts of uncountable nouns collocations, forexample: a bit (piece) of

information ( ).

2.1.6 Figurative Language

According to Cruse (2006:63-4), figures of speech are mainly linguistic

expressions that are used figuratively, if their intended meaning is different

from their literal meaning or their understanding is based on meaning

extension. In the course of studying rhetoric, it is possible to recognize

many figures of speech but the main ones that have much attracted the

attention of linguists are the following: euphemism, hyperbole, metaphor,

simile, and understatement According to Ghazala (2006:145-6) it includes

besides these some other figures and as follows:

1- Pun A figure of speech which involves a play upon words.(Cuddon, 1999 :711).

2- Metonymy: a figure of speech tries to direct attention to an entity

through another entity related to it. For example, one can say: He read

Shakespeare to mean the works of Shakespeare. In other words, instead of

direct mentioning of the second entity, one can provide mental access to it

by some other entity (kovecses, 2010:172).

3- Personification: attributes human characteristics to inanimate objects;

common in childrens books, it is not just childs play. It can depict socialconflicts, with unions and companies as characters. (Gibbs, 2008:457). Bythe figure it is possible to give deeper meanings to many subjects

encountered in life such as poverty, evil, science etc., by addressing these

subjects as if they were human beings. In Goldings novel this figure ofspeech can be seen in the personification of the head of the pig as he called

it theLord of the Flies.


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4- Irony: According to Leech and Short (1981:278) it may be defined for

the fictional purposes as a double significance which arises from thecontrast in values associated with two different points of view. It could beestablished through single sentence or it may include the whole novel. In

LOTF many occurrences of irony are noted, for example, the bitter irony at

the end of the story is that the same smoke that the boys use to flush

Ralph for the kill is the signal for their rescue by the army who saw the

smoke .

As well as several other subtypes; Nida (2001:5) gives examples on

metaphorical expressions such as my father was a tower of strength,

literally ) ( and history is looking back in order to lookahead, literally ( ).

In translation, the translator has to find either the corresponding figure in

the target language or a matching explanation that gives the meaning of theST figure of speech. In this study, the researcher chooses the most evident

figures of speech devices such as:

1-Metaphor

2-Simile

The choice is based on their repeated occurrence in the ST which serves as

a base to evaluate the three translations. Consequently, this choice will

provide testing criteria for the adequacy of the Arabic translations and how

they render the ST figures of speech into Arabic.

2.1.6.1 Metaphor

Frequently, metaphor is used as a simile although it has sometimesbeen supposed that simile is a different figure of speech from metaphor; but

in fact it is a sub-species of metaphor, which is distinct only in that it keeps

the notion of comparison explicit(ibid.:3). In this present thesis, simileshall be considered as a separate category in order to process data in an

orderly way. Golding extensively relies in his novels, notably the most

popular one; LOTF, on the use of figurative language with its different

tools and devices. The most evident devices used by the writer, among

many others, are metaphor and simile. Concerning Allusion as a

metaphorical device, the researcher chooses to provide a separate section to

discuss and analyze it. Allusion represents a multi-facet topic; it represents

a link among different topics namely, metaphor, reference, intertextuality

and culture-specific terms. Consequently, it will be discussed within the


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textual level. Other devices are excluded from this study due to space and

time limitations, nevertheless, comments here and there are found

concerning other figures of speech according to their direct relation to

some data analyzed, namely, onomatopoeia, polysyndeton, etc. The

researcher notes that they are used extensively and, therefore, provide a

concrete base for the evaluation of the three Arabic texts.

2.1.6.1.1 Types of Metaphor

At the beginning, metaphor and simile are both comparisons; simile

uses words such as like, as while metaphor is achieved by deleting these

words, for example:

a- He is like a pig (simile)

b- He is a pig (metaphor)According to Ghazala (2006:146) metaphor has four parts (also

simile has the same parts (see Larson, 1984:247)):

1-Image (the thing really being talked about)

2- Object (What is being compared with )

3-Sense (point of similarity between both the topic and theimage)

4-Metaphor (the figurative word used in the expression)Metaphors are of different types and these types differ according to

the classifications set by the specialists. In this study Newmarksclassification, supported by additional and useful points raised by

Ghazala and Larson, will be adopted.

2.1.6.1.2 NewmarksClassification of Metaphor

Newmark (1988:106) states that whenever you meet a sentence

that is grammatical but does not appear to make sense, you have totest its apparently nonsensical element for possible metaphorical

meaning. According to Newmark, metaphors are of six types listedbelow with their corresponding translations into Arabic which are

quoted from Ghazala (2006), they are as following:,,, ,,,,

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


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( (a-Dead MetaphorsNewmark (ibid.), states that a dead metaphor is where one is hardly

conscious of the image and for a large extent related to the universalterms used to describe space, time, parts of the body, ecological features

and human activities, such as field, line, top, bottom, foot, mouth, arm andmany others. Ghazala (2006:147) defines dead metaphor as a metaphorwhich is not felt by language users. They use it unconsciously as an

ordinary, direct expression, but it is not. This is the reason for calling it

dead. The following examples are from Ghazala (ibid.) and as follows: ..

( (1-hands of the clock( (2-field of knowledge

( (b- Clich MetaphorsNewmark (1988:107) states that these metaphors perhaps temporarilyoutlived their usefulness, that are used as a substitute for clear thought,

often emotively, but without corresponding to the facts of the matter.

Ghazala (2006:148) defines this type of metaphor as that kind of

metaphor that is popular and frequently used and mostly informal, for

example: ala (ibid.)......

1-at the end of the day -) (2 head over heel in love

) (c- Stock or Standard Metaphors

Newmark (1988: 108), states that it is an established metaphorwhich in an informal context is an efficient and concise method of

covering a physical and/or mental situation both referentially and

pragmatically. It has according to Newmark (ibid.) emotional

warmth and cannot be deadened by overuse.

The following examples are from Ghazala (2006:150) as follows:

)// (1-ray of hope)/ (...2- throw light on


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d- Adapted Metaphor ( ( :Newmark (1988:111) explains that this type of metaphor should be

translated by an equivalent adapted metaphor or in other cases the

translator reduces it to its sense. In this type one can see examples such

as: the ball is a little in their court, sow division; get them in th edoor. Concerning the definition of this type of metaphor, Newmark doesnot provide a definition. According to Ghazala (2006:151) those adapted

metaphors which are originally taken from English do not pose a difficult

challenge to the translator since they are retained as they are in the source

language and the same image be maintained in Arabic. The following

examples are to illustrate this kind of metaphor and as follows:

1- The ball is in their court now ) )2- To sow division between them ) / )

): (e- Recent Metaphors

According to Newmark (1988: 111), it is a metaphorical neologismoften anonymously coined, which has spread rapidly in the SL, such aspissed for drunk, groovy for good, spastic for stupid. They are,

according to Ghazala (2006:152), newly coined in both languages. Thefollowing examples are for illustration and as follows:

( // / -(1 wooden talk) / -/ (2 he is skint

:) (f- Original Metaphor

This kind of metaphor contains the core of an important writersmessage, his personality, and his comment on life (Newmark, 1988: 112).He considers such metaphors as the source of enrichment in the targetlanguage. Ghazala (2006:153) gives the following examples:


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( / / (1-A window of opportunity( (2 - The fire green as grass

g- The last type is mentioned by Ghazala (2006:151); he calls it thecultural metaphor which is culture-specific metaphor. The followingexamples are quoted in Ghazala (ibid.) as metaphors used by English

communities through their cultural experience of the cricket game andas follows:

1- To field a question ) / (2- To keep a straight bat ) /(

2.1.6.2. Simile

Simile, like metaphor, is commonly looked upon as a figure of speech,

which is employed by writers for intensifying or heightening an emotional

effect on the part of the recipient. According to Punter (2007:147), simile is

but a form of metaphor which is the simplest one by using words such as

like or as.

As such Metaphor can be seen as simile without using the words likeor as. But, according to Punter (ibid.:12), the omission of these words iswhat gives metaphor the greater power over simile because it brings the

two compared entities closer to one another which poses a kind ofchallenge to the hearer or reader to make sense of this alleged or assumed

comparison .

In Arabic, simile )( can be achieved by four lexical items,namely; "" .The following examples are from Caspari (1974:76,80,210-11) and as follows:

1- As if it were a glittering star 2- It puts forth (something) like two horns 3- They have wings like (those of) bats 4- And the ancients have cut out in the mountain (something) like steps (or

a stair) by which one can ascend

2.1.7 Text

According to Halliday and Hassan (1987:1), text can be defined in

linguistics as any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that does

form a unified whole.They (ibid.: 2) consider a text as a semantic unit i.e.


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a unit of meaning and it is related to a clause or sentence not by size butby realization, the coding of one symbolic system in another. Now it ispossible to ask the following questions; what makes related sentences a

text? The flowing of information is easy to follow? And each part of the

text is integrated with other parts of the text? The answer is simply by

using cohesive devices, which maintain the cohesion of the text.

2.1.7 .1Cohesion and Text

Cohesion according to Baker (1992:180) represents a network of lexical,

grammatical, and other relations which links between the various parts of

the text. These relations and ties help the reader to recognize the meaning

of words and expressions by the help of surrounding words and expressions

which stand as the context by which the words and expressions can acquire

their specific meaning. In this regard cohesive relations are classified byHaliday and Hasan (1976) into five main types mainly, reference, lexical

cohesion , conjunction, substitution, and ellipsis. Cohesion distinguishes

text from non-text by interrelating linguistic elements across sentences. As

far as coherence is concerned, it is distinct from cohesion but shares with it

a crucial characteristic of creating sequences of meaning that bind the text.

The differences between coherence and cohesion are summed up by Hoey

by assuming that cohesion is a property of the text while coherence is a

facet of the readers evaluation of a text. Consequently, it could be possible

to consider cohesion as objective and coherence as subjective and differsfrom one reader to another (Baker, 1992:218).

Cohesion means according to Bailey (2003:55) linking phrases together so

one can get the whole text as clear and readable.

It can be achieved by several methods, such as linking phrases and

sentences by the use of conjunctions, by the use of words such as he, they

and thatwhich refer back to something mentioned before.

According to Larson (1984:394), cohesion of the text can be achieved by

devices such as pronouns, substitute words, verb affixes, deictic, pro-

verbs, conjunctions, special particles, forms of topicalization, and so forth.

She (ibid.) sees that the best way to translate these devices is to look for theappropriate devices in the receptor language and keep away from rendering

these devices one-for-one from ST into TT, because the result almost is the

deformation of the meaning intended by the original author.


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2.1.7 .2. Ellipsis and Substitution

According to Reiss (2000:53) the most inviting openings for the critic is

the area where the translator uses arbitrary additions and omissions which

lead to incongruity between ST and TT. But this does not lead us togeneralize that every addition or omission is a mistake on the part of the

translator because in many cases these are justified due to differences

among languages which make it necessary, in some cases, to make such

changes in the TT. According to Hatim and Mason (1990:12), translation is

always a motivated choice and procedures such as omissions, additions and

alterations may only be justified in case that they preserve the intended

meaning.

Ellipsis according to Palmer (1984:38) is related to the feature of pro-

formation (the use of pronouns and similar forms that replace verbs andother parts of speech.). Ellipsis is, according to Hatim and Mason(1990:240), an omission (for reasons of economy) of linguistic items

whose sense is recoverable from context. According to Hatim and Mason

(ibid.: 94) ... the notions ellipsis and redundancy are seen to be pragmaticvariables, entirely dependent on assumptions concerning the mutual

cognitive environments of ST and TT users. The main use of such device

is not to repeat what has been already stated or said and established in the

discourse, for example,Jack and Simon pretended to notice nothing. They

walked on (Golding, 1954/1987: 26), in this example both underlinednames are replaced by one pro-form they.Quinn (1982:27) argues that ellipsis phenomenon conceived variably

according to the reader and culture What to one culture is elegant

economy, or even just normal expression, to another can be enigmatic

brevity or even perverse obscurity. And this suggests that translatorsshould take care of this aspect and try to make their translation as clear as

possible depending on the rules and conventions of the target language.

2.1.7 .2.1. Nominal Ellipsis

Ellipsis within the nominal group (noun phrase). Nominals according to

Crystal (2003) refer to words which have some of the attributes of nouns

but not all, e.g.the poor are many, where the HEAD word of this Phrase

does pluralize... (314, emphasis in the original).According to Salkie(1995:57f) one should be specific about the kind of modifier that allows

ellipsis of the rest of the noun phrase after it.Nominal phrase may start with


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an article such as the, or a word such as some, other(s), or all. After these

words an ellipsis can be done provided that the preceding text makes it

clear what is meant by the ellipted words. Ellipsis can occur after cardinal

numbers, for example;Here are thirteen cards.Take any (-)1. Now give me

any three(-). The other example of ellipsis that takes place after the ordinal

numbers, for example; Smith was the first person to leave. I was the second

(-).

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives can have ellipsis after

them,whether they are formed by putting -er and es on the end, or by

using more and most(ibid.).

2.1.7.2.2. Verbal Ellipsis

Halliday and Hasan (1976:167) states that verbal Ellipsis means ellipsis

within the verbal group.Consequently, according to Halliday and Hasan

(ibid.) An elliptical verbal group presupposes one or more words from aprevious verbal group.the hearer or the reader resolves the meaning of theelliptical verbal group and makes the correct presupposition.

According to Salkie(1995:58), there are two basic kinds of verb ellipsis

and as follows:1- the first kind leaves out the verb and any modifiers to the right of the

verb. For example, international force was not used in the past,he agrees.

It should have been(-).

2- the second type of ellipsis, the subject and the finite verb are left out. For

example,whatAhmad is doing now?Ill tell you what he is doing now.(-)Playing football ,thats what (-). In this example it is noted that thesubject Ahmad and the finite verb is are left out before the word

playing.

2.1.7 .2.3. Clausal Ellipsis

According Halliday and Hassan (1976:211,316) clausal ellipsis is

most commonly found in question-answer sequences and WH-question.

1 (r.f.) The symbol (-) is used by the researcher to refer to the place of the elliptic elements or

substitution throughout the analysis for easiness.


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Salkie (1995:59-60) states that most of the clause is left out and all thatstays behind is a question word like whator why.The following examples are to illustrate this type of ellipsis:

a - many countries managed to make use of space technologies, we need to

know how (-).

b-Has John arrived?(-) Yes, he has.

When did John arrive?(-) yesterday.

2.1.7 .3. Substitution

Substitution is used where a speaker or writer wishes to avoid the

repetition of a lexical item or a phrase and is able to draw on one of the

grammatical resources of the language to replace the item or a group ofitems. Halliday and Hasan (1976:88) define substitution in simplest terms

as the replacement of one item by another. This device, according to Salkie

(1995:35), is a cohesive device that contributes to the cohesion of a text by

substituting for words that have already been mentioned and it includes the

use of special words such as one, do (or one of its other forms such as

does, did, done and doing ) and so.

Salkie (ibid.: 57) states that there is a similarity between ellipsis and

substitution since they both refer back to something mentioned earlier in

the text. Ellipsis is an example of substitution by zero.

Halliday and Hasan (1976) list three types of substitution namely nominal,verbal, and clausal. Examples of each are given below:

1- Which shirt do you want? - I want the red one. (Nominal)

In this example one is the substitute for the noun shirt.2- You wash the dishes. I'll do the pans. (Verbal)

In this example do is the substitute for the verb wash.3- John loves sailing. - So do I. (Clausal)

In this example so is the substitute for the clause I love sailing

2.1.7 .4.Allusion

Allusion, according to Hollander cited in Lennon (2004:4), is

etymologically related to illusion and both words are of Latin origin fromLatin ludo 'play', and the Latin rhetorical term allusio which means word-play. According to OALD (2010) allusion is what is said or written that

refers to or mentions another person or subject in an indirect way.In modern literature, allusions are one major form of intertextuality; they

are usually made to significant events, places or people who have very


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well-known qualities that the speaker or writer wishes to highlight in

his/her new text. Allusions are borrowed from history, from myth or from

any previous text for the purpose of recalling the qualities of the alluded to

text in the present moment of the speaker or writer. According to Hatim

and Mason (1990:129), each intrusion of a citation in the text is theculmination of a process in which a sign travels from one text (source) to

another (destination).Intertextuality is defined by Hatim and Mason (1990:10) as the

tendency of text producers to be influenced by other texts they have

experienced. According to them (1997:17 ), based on the basic notion,

various surface elements of a text including their underlying conceptual

meaning potential are signs and take their part in the process ofsignification. This semiotic process enables text users to identify a given

text element or sequence of elements depending on their experience and

knowledge of one or more previously encountered texts or textelements.This dependency on a prior text is usually expressed by

linguistic and/or nonlinguistic means at any level of text organization:

phonology, morphology, syntax or the entire compositional plan of the

text. As an example is the lexical item Job as in the phrase the

patience of Job. When this lexical item occurs in a text it provides a link

to the well-known story of the prophet Job and many other texts that made

use of this semiotic sign. Consequently, this helps to introduce a text that is

highly enriched with extra meanings that are mostly implied but understood

by a given linguistic community. Such lexical items are considered by

Hatim and Mason (ibid.) as sources of intertexual references and termed

them as sociocultural objects.

According to Mills (2001:73) Literary texts are, also, perhaps the mostintertextual of all texts, referring to other texts in terms of literary

allusion Based on this important role played by allusion in linking textswith other texts to provide the reader with an economic means to receive as

much knowledge as possible through few subtle allusions, the researcher

chooses this figure of speech as a good base for evaluation. Lord of the

Flies is known as an allegorical novel where mostly names, characters andthings carry symbolic references to some real and imagined referents

whether contemporary to the time when Golding wrote his novel or to

historical figures and events in the past. Consequently, the use of allusions

is designed by the writer to carry a message and provide his novel with

extra space represented in the huge amount of related knowledge those

allusions carry with them.


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2.1.8 Style

According to leech and Short (1981:10 ) there are many definitions for

the wordstyle, but, in its most general meaning, can be defined as the wayin which language is used in a given context, by a given person, for a given

purpose, and so on .Writers, it can be said, each has his own style,i.e.each has his own linguistic habits. Given this understanding, it is possible

to talk about the style of Dickens, of Faulkner and so on. Among the

numerous definitions of style the following is the Cuddons (1999:872)

definition of style and as follows:

The characteristic manner of expression in Prose or

verse; how a particular writer says things. The analysis

and assessment of style involves examination of awriter's choice of words, his figures of speech, the

devices (rhetorical and otherwise), the shape of his

sentences (whether they be loose or periodic), the shape

of his paragraphs indeed, of every conceivable aspect of

his language and the way in which he uses it.

According to the above definitions of style, it seems that style is no longer

seen as a mere dress of meaning and has nothing to do with meaning but, as

Ghazala (2006:222) states, it is considered to be as part and parcel of

meaning. These choices made by the author of the origin text would

doubtlessly suffer of some kind of change when translated into other

languages due to the linguistic and cultural differences. According to Aziz

(1990:278-81), there are two changes in the style between ST and TT. The

first change is ascribed to the nature of both languages and the second is to

the cultural frame of both linguistic communities. The first can be called

the linguistic change and the second as the cultural change.

2.1.8.1 Types of Style

According to Joose (cited in Ilyas 1989:67), style in English can be

classified into five types, namely; the frozen, the formal, the informal, the

casual, and the intimate style. Ilyas (ibid.) sees that it is not always

possible to establish a one- to- one correspondence between ST and TT due

to the situation differences. For example, a casual style in English may


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have an Arabic formal equivalent style. This is related to the cultural

differences, which may cause shifting of style from one type to another

because of these differences.

To illustrate with examples the above types of the English styles and their

Arabic translations, Ghazala (2006:224) presents a set of examples as they

are listed in table 2.1 below:

Table 2.1 English styles

style Example Frozen Be seated Formal Have a seat Informal Sit down, please Colloquial Feel at home /Vulgar or slang Sit bloody down! / Knowing the difficulty of recognizing the borders of each classification,

these five types are reduced to only two main types, namely; formal and

informal styles. Consequently, as Ghazala (ibid.) states, frozen and formal

styles would be considered as formal, whereas the other three types

namely; informal, colloquial and Vulgar (slang) would be included within

informal style classification.

On the other hand according to Ghazala (ibid.:226), Arabic has four styles

and as follows:1- Classical Arabic used in the language of the Holy Quran and Traditional

literature and can be used to translate the English frozen formal style.

2- Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) used in the formal writing of today and

can be used to translate the English formal and informal styles.

3- Colloquial Arabic used in the language of conversation and can be used

to translate the English colloquial style.

4-Vulgar or slang which is basically the street language used mixed with

unkind and bad language and can be used to translate the English vulgar or

slang language style.

These four Arabic styles can be reduced into two main familiar Arabic

styles offormal and colloquial where the first covers both classical Arabic

and MSA while the second covers both colloquial and Vulgar (or slang)

styles.


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2.1.9 Loss in Translation

According to Newmark (1988:7), translation is a craft that attempts to

replace a message in a written form by the same message in another

language. But loss of some kind of meaning is inevitable due to somefactors pertaining to each language characteristics and the nature of the

message. This loss of meaning happens when there is a kind of continuous

overtranslation by adding more details or undertranslation by increased

generalization. Translation whether process or product is done by the

translator who shoulders the burden of this process. The role of the

translator in finding equivalents is difficult but what is more difficult is to

choose the most suitable one among a wide or strict range of choices.

The loss is that the translator has to choose one of these possibilities

making it impossible to bear in mind all the others.

Bassnett (1991:30) sees that once one accepts that no sameness between

languages does exist then it is reasonable to talk about loss and gain in

translation. She (ibid.) directs the attention to the fact that as much as one is

concerned with loss in translation he should also pay attention to the gain

one could achieve from translation when it helps to clarify the SL text.

According to Aziz and Lataiwish (2000:75-77) gain and loss in

translation can be either related to signal or semantic information. For the

former the loss and gain can be on any of the three linguistic levels,

phonology, syntax or morphology. On the phonological level, whentranslation occurs among languages which have different structures of

consonant clusters there would be a loss on the cluster level. On the

morphological level, languages in general make use of some general

processes to form words .These general processes include: (a) prefixation, (b) - infixation, (c) - suffixation, (d) - conversion and , (e)-

compounding. Arabic makes use of (a, b, and c and rarely e ). English, on

the other hand, makes use of (a ,c ,d and e).The different use of word-

formation processes among languages would cause the original text to lose

some of its aesthetic effect intended by the author when he/she uses certain

form of word. With regard to signal loss and gain this can be seen in the

number system differences among languages. English and Arabic show no

oneto-one correspondence with regard to number system. The former hastwo number system, namely singular and plural while Arabic has three

number system, namely, singular, dual and plural. It is necessary according

to Aziz (1990:94) to observe this difference in number system between

English and Arabic when a translator faces sentences like the following:


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Thedogs were sleepingTheboys are playing outside.

The first thing which might occur to the mind of the translator is that dogs

and boys are plural and should be translated as such in Arabic. This might

be correct or might not .Dogs and boys in the above two examples may

refer to two or more than two. In English the plural form is used whereas

Arabic distinguishes between dual and plural. The two examples may be

translated into Arabic as follows:

This difficulty could be overcome if the context provides the necessaryinformation about the number of the referents in the text.

Another area in which loss can occur is the gender problem. According to

Aziz (1989:123), Arabic has two genders, masculine and feminine. It is

noted that correspondence between gender and sex in Arabic is almost

complete. This division into masculine and feminine in Arabic covers

inanimate things also according to their morphological markers. In Arabic

the most obvious marker is "" at the end of the feminine nouns andadjectives such as " " . Nevertheless, Arabic has some nouns which arefeminine but do not have such markers, for example, "" .English, according to Aziz (1989:120), has three genders namely,

masculine, feminine and neuter. Aziz (ibid.: 124), explains that English

shows very few nouns marked for gender, for example, god: goddess; hero:

heroine. Thus gender is more relevant to pronouns. Verbs and adjectiveshave no gender or are not involved in gender agreement ( ibid.).

In translation, if a translator faces a sentence such as the doctor came,the

translator would be uncertain about the suitable gender that should be used

in Arabic whether should it be or . This problem could

be solved only be contextual information provided by the text itself orextralinguistic information.

In fact the area of differences among languages is so vast and none can

claim the ability to cover more than the most appropriate aspects of it. Nida

(1964:156) believes that no two languages are identical whether in the

meaning related to corresponding symbols or how these symbols are

structured in phrases and sentences. This belief pushes him to deny the

existence of fully exact translations.


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As it is clear from the above discussion of Nida, what is hoped from a

translation is to achieve as close as possible version of the original. Loss

can occur in other areas where the translators are not blamed for certain

loss of the characteristics of the original text. For example, the translators

of the classical works, as Balmer (2006:185-6) explains, there is not onlyno author to ask but no author to dictate. This gap between the author andthe translator has mutually exclusive consequences. From one side, it

causes the lack of information about the author and the context in which his

work had been created and, on the other hand, it gives more freedom to the

translator to provide his own interpretation to a given text and, therefore,

loss on the part of the intended meaning of the author. Other kinds of

losses can occur in other aspects such as grammatical structures, tenses,

demonstratives..etc., which are tackled according to their relevancy and

occurrence in chapter four.

2.1.10 Context

Robison (2003:112) believes that while words and meanings are

undoubtedly important, however, their importance for the translator and

as for the most of people stems from their use in the context. This fact is

confirmed by the philosopher Wittgenstein when he states that themeaning of a word is its use in the language (Wittgenstein, qtd. In ibid.).

Context, according to Cruse (2006:34), is An essential factor in theinterpretation of utterances and expressions. The main aspects of the

context are as follows:

(1) What comes before and after a given utterance or an expression and this

is called co-text (2) the immediate situation, (3) the situation in its wideraspect which includes social and power relations, and finally; (4) shared

knowledge presumably exists between speaker and hearer.

This importance of contexts is clearly confirmed by Nida (2001:11) whobelieves that the choice of particular words and their meanings depend

basically on variety of context aspects; he mentions some of them as

follows:

other nearby words, the subject matter, the

presumed audience, and especially the meanings of

those words that so often do not mean what they


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say, for example, figurative expressions, indirect

responses, and proverbs.

He (ibid.:14) compares grasping of the appropriate meaning of a

nonlinguistic event through knowing the context of who does what, when,where, and why. For example, in order to know the different meanings of

the word run there is a need for the help of the contexts in which it occurs

: the dogs were running ) ( , the salmon are running ) ( , he is running into debt ) ( , his nose is running )( . Consequently, the senses of the wordrun vary with the diversity of

contexts and produce distinct concepts.

According to Anderman and Rogers (1999:7), Nida considers the task of

the translator as a multifaceted one in which many interacted factors affect

the translators choices. These factors are seen by Nida from a widerperspective. He sees context in terms of different syntagmatic,paradigmatic contexts within the text, text type, language variation, prior

translations, subject matter, style of the author, the publisher, the editor, the

reader and the medium of the translation. Newmark (1988:193) sees that

the meaning of words is influenced by certain linguistic, referential,

cultural and personal contexts.

With regard to the linguistic context, words may be limited in their

meanings by the constraints of collocation, the use of the word throughout

the text or its repetition for certain effects. As for the referential context,

Newmark (ibid.) believes that the topic of the text defines most of themeanings within certain limits, i.e., the topic would identify certain words

to be used within a certain semantic field. The cultural context, on the other

hand, related to ways of thinking and behaving within specific linguistic

community. Certain cultural words have no equivalent in other cultures for

example kuffiah /( ) in Arabic has its context and use whichis not the same for some other cultures. The last type of context is the

personal one which concerns the peculiar use of language by the individual

writer or speaker which forms his/her own unique idiolect. Newmark

(1991:87) sees that words are visibly and linguistically put into contextthrough the collocational relations, their grammatical functions and their

position in the word order of a sentence. Whereas invisibly and

referentially through their occurrence in a real or imagined situation, the

cultural and experiential background as well as the topic shared with the

reader.

After introducing the above main concepts that the current thesis will

analyse and evaluate according to their occurrence in the source text and


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the three Arabic translations, the following section will provide a survey on

the most well known trends in the field of translation.

2.2 Translation Studies

The study of translation history emphasizes the fact that translation is a

human activity. This activity has been going on since language began to

evolve and undoubtedly be affected by all kinds of external events and

factors that have their impact on language.

In order to provide the theoretical background for the main influential

approaches intended to theorize the translation phenomenon whether as

process or product, which translation theorists term as translating and

translationrespectively, a brief historical background of translation studieswill be provided. This background tackles the critical turning points in the

history of translation and main theories. This would be fruitful to our

subject matter without going into details as this would be the role of the

rest of this chapter.

What is today known as translation studies has occupied the scholarsminds for thousands of years and is not a recently discovered topic. Cicero,

in one century B.C., articulated a specific theory of translation when he

introduced his own translation of the speeches of the Attic orators

Aeschines and Demosthenes :

And I did not translate them as an interpreter,

but as an orator, keeping the same ideas and

forms ,or as one might say, the figures ofthought ,but in language which conforms to our

usage .And in so doing ,I did not hold it

necessary to render word for word ,but I

preserved the general style and force of the

language .

(Cicero, qtd. in Hatim and Mason, 2004:19)

In this respect it is noticed that Ciceros approach is the sense for sensetranslation rather than word for word along with other scholars like Horace,

Quintilian in the 1st

Century A.D. and St. Jerome in the 4th Century. The

reason is that they wanted to achieve the goal of introducing an

aesthetically pleasing and creative text in the TL.

Another period that witnessed a changing step in translation evolution was

marked by St .Jerome (the fourth century CE) whose approach to


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translating the Greek Septuagint Bible into Latin would present its effect

on later translations of the scriptures (Munday, 2001:7).

Newmark (1988:46f), introduces two approaches semantic and

communicative translation. Semantic translation: is personal and

individual, follows the thought processes of the author, tends to over-

translate, pursues nuances of meaning, yet aims at concision in order to

reproduce pragmatic impact. Communicative translation, on the otherhand, attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in

such a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and

comprehensible to the readership.

On the other hand, the notions of formal and dynamic equivalences also

play an important part in the work of the still very influential Nida who

points out that translation is mainly to reproduce in the target language

the closest natural equivalent to the message in the source language,first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. (Nida and Taber,1969:12)

The realization that translations are never produced in a vacuum, regardless

of time and culture and the desire to explain the time- and culture-bound

criteria which are at play, results in a shift away from a normative and

prescriptive methodology towards a descriptive methodology for the study

of the subject. This tendency within translation studies becomes noticeable

from the early eighties onwards. Varieties of linguistics continue to

dominate the field in the 1990s; Linguistic-oriented theorists such as Hatim& Mason (1990), Baker (1992) and some other linguists draw on text

linguistics, discourse analysis and pragmatics to conceptualize translation

on the model of Gricean conversation.

According to the functionalist approach translation is viewed as adequate if

the translated text is appropriate for the communicative purpose defined in

the translation brief. Any translation skopos may be formulated for a

particular original and there are no limits on the translators license tomove away from the source text. However, Nord (1997:63) makes the

point that the skopos rule is a very general rule which does not account forspecific conventions prevalent in a particular culture community.Then Even-Zohar's polysystem theory which was developed in 1970s

moves the study of translation out of a static linguistic analysis of shifts

and obsession with one-to-one equivalence into an investigation of the

position of translated literature as a whole in the historical and literary

systems of the target culture (Munday, 2001:109).

Then emerged as powerful as ever in the translation studies the cultural

studies in translation. These cultural approaches superseded the linguistic


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theories of translation. They see translation as cultural transfer and

investigate the interface of translation with other growing disciplines

within cultural studies (ibid.: 163).

In her book Translation Studies: An Integrated Ap

a dissertation in arabic translation

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