Email this article 
Hide
Show all
Towards a New Model for Implied Metaphor Translation: English Translations of Al Muallaqat
Abstract
This two-part paper argues that metaphor in both English and Arabic is defined and classified in almost the same way with some slight, but far from insignificant, differences. Those differences along with the linguistic nature of implied metaphor can be attributed to the failure in translating that type of metaphor from Arabic into English as shown particularly in Jones’, Johnson’s, and Arberry’s translations of Al Muallaqat. The fourteen examples of implied metaphor, chosen from “Muallaqa of Imru Al-Qais,” are translated by employing two main strategies based on the linguistic component of implied metaphor – none of which (this study argues) succeeds in translating implied metaphor into implied metaphor. In criticizing some, if not all, prominent models suggested by eminent figures, this study argues that theorists since the 1980s have not been involved in proposing new procedures that settle down such a problem in lieu of being preoccupied with iterating almost what Newmark (1988) suggests. Accordingly, this paper suggests a new cross-linguistic classification of metaphor – a classification that might better belittle the discrepancies of other classifications. More importantly, this study proposes a new model for translating implied metaphor into implied metaphor.
Keywords: Metaphor, Istiʕarah, Implied Metaphor, Vehicle-oriented Metaphor, Tenor-oriented Metaphor, Pre-Islamic Poetry, Al Muallaqat, Super-ordinate Metaphor, Subordinate Metaphor
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abdul-Raof, H. (2006). Arabic Rhetoric: A Pragmatic Analysis. New York: Routledge.
Abu Libdeh, A. (2011). Metaphor in Arabic Rhetoric: A Call for Innovation. Jordan Journal of Applied Sciences,13 (1), 227-242.
Abu Ubaydah, M. T. (1905). In Bevan, A. A. (ed.) The Naka'id of Jarir and al-Farazdak, Volume 1. Leiden: Brill.
Alhasan, W. Z. (2012). A Stylistic Analysis of Literary Translations: The Golden Odes of Pagan Arabia by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt. (Unpublished MA Thesis). Mutah University, Kerak.
Al-Jarjani, A. (2006). Al-Wasatah bayn al-Mutannabi wa Khusumihi, Ibrahim, M. & al- Bajawi, A. (eds.). Beirut: Al-Maktabah Al-Asriyah.
Al-Jurjani, A. (n.d.) Dalail Alijaz, Shakir, M (ed.). Cairo: al-Khanji Library.
Al-Khafaji, I. (1982). Sirr Al-fasaha. Beirut: Dar Al-Kutub Al-Ilmiyah.
Arberry, J. A. (1957). The Seven Odes. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
Cohen, M. Z. (2003). Three Approaches to Biblical Metaphor: From Abraham Ibn Ezra and Maimonides to David Kimhi. Leiden: Brill.
Dagut, M. (1976). Can "Metaphor" Be Translated? Babel, 22(1), 21-33.
Decter, J. P. (2007). Iberian Jewish Literature between Al-Andalus and Christian Europe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Deignan, A. (2005). Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Dickins, J., Harvey S. & Higgins, I. (2002). Thinking Arabic Translation: A Course in Translation Method: Arabic to English. London: Routledge.
Dickins, J. (2005). Two Models for Metaphor Translation. Target, 17(2), 227-273.
Fadaee, E. (2011). Translation Techniques of Figures of Speech: A Case Study of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm. Journal of English and Literature, 2(8), 174-181.
Hashim, Z. Y. (1994). Al- Istiʕarah Fi A'amal Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani [Implied Metaphor in the Works of Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani]. Mecca: University of Um al-Qura. Unpublished MA Thesis.
Ibn al-Mutazz, A. (1935). Kitab al-Badi', Kratchkovsky, I. (ed.). London: Messers Luzac and Co.
Johnson, F. (1893). The Seven Poems Suspended in the Temple of Mecca. Bombay: Education’s Society’s Steam Press.
Jones, W. (1807). Works of Sir William Jones. (Vol. 10). London: John Stockdale, Piccadilly, John Walker, Paternoster-Row.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Larson, M. L. (1998). Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence. Lanham:University Press of America, Inc.
Leezenberg, M. (2001). Contexts of Metaphor. Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd. Metaphor. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=metaphor&searchmode=none.
Newmark, P. (1988). A Textbook of Translation. New York: Prentice-Hall International.
Richards, I. A. (1936). The Philosophy of Rhetoric. New York and London: Oxford University Press.
Rihani, Z. (2002). Metaphor, Image, and Music in a Line by Nizar Qabbani. Translation Review, 62, 54-59.
Rura, L. (2010). Analysis of Translated Tropes: Metaphors, Similes & Analogies in a Case Study of the English & Dutch Translations of the Russian Poet Alexander Galich. Proceedings of the Conference Found in Translation. Kuala Lumpur: Ghent University College.
Simawe, S. A. (2001). Modernism & Metaphor in Contemporary Arabic Poetry. World Literature Today,75(2), 275-84.
Stamvobsky, Ph. (1988). The Depictive Image: Metaphor and Literary Experience. Massachusetts: Massachusetts University Press.
Van den Broeck, R. (1981). The Limits of Translatability Exemplified by Metaphor Translation. Poetics Today, 2(4), 73–87.
Vivian, P. (1900). A Dictionary of Literary Terms. London: George Routledge & Son.
Youssefi, K. (2009). An Analysis of the Translation of Metaphors in Hafiz’s Selected Poems. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. University of Sains Malaysia.
Zohdi, M., & Saeedi, A. A. (2011). Translating Metaphor and Simile from Persian to English: A Case Study of Khayyam’s Quatrains. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1(9), 1122-1138.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
2010-2023 (CC-BY) Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.
Advances in Language and Literary Studies
You may require to add the 'aiac.org.au' domain to your e-mail 'safe list’ If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox'. Otherwise, you may check your 'Spam mail' or 'junk mail' folders.