Contrastive Analysis of Concessive Conjunctions in Translated and Non-translated Arabic Texts: An Exploratory Study

Ashraf Fattah, Rashid Yahiaoui

Abstract


This study seeks to contribute to addressing a gap in theory-driven corpus-based research focused on the so-called translation specific features (TSF) in Arabic translated texts. It provides a contrastive Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL)-informed analysis of concessive/contrastive connective markers in a selected comparable corpus made up of translated and non-translated Arabic texts. This area of corpus-based research has been mainly driven by an interest in the linguistic features distinguishing translated from non-translated texts. The characteristic feature of the present study is the fact that it is based on a comparable corpus of translated and non-translated texts written by the same authors in more or less the same genre. Based on a comparison of concordance data, the study will highlight some interesting patterns of difference in the types and frequencies of concessive conjunctions used, as well as ‘explicitating’ and ‘upgrading’ tendencies between the two components of the corpus. Viewed from an SFL perspective, some such differences do not seem to be triggered by the English source texts involved or dictated by contrastive linguistic requirements but rather by the translation process itself.

Keywords


Arabic, Concessive, Conjunction, Corpus, Explicitation, SFL, Translation

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abu Hadid, M. F. (1927/ 2002). صلاح الدين وعصره (Saladin and His Epoch). Maktabat al-Usrah, The General Egyptian Book Organization.

Abu Hadid, M. F. (1937/1997). السيد عمر مكرم: زعيم مصر الأول (Omar Makram, Egypt’s First Leader). Dar al-Hilal.

Abu Hadid, M. F. (1941/1996). فتح العرب لمصر [Arab Conquest of Egypt] (2nd ed.). Cairo: Madbouli; translation of Arab Conquest of Egypt by Alfred J Butler. Oxford University Press.

Abu Hadid, M. F. (1961). أمتنا العربية (Our Arab Nation). Dar al-Ma’arif.

Aijmer, K. & Lewis, D. (2017). Contrastive Analysis of Discourse-pragmatic Aspects of Linguistic Genres. Springer International Publishing.

Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London and New York: Routledge.

Baker, M. (1996). Corpus based Translation Studies: the challenges that lie ahead. In Somers, H. (ed.): Terminology, LSP and Translation. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Baker, M. (2004). A corpus-based view of similarity and difference in translation. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 9/2: 167-193.

Blum-Kulka, S. (1986). ‘Shifts of cohesion and coherence in translation’ in House, J. and S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlingual and Intercultural Communication: Discourse and cognition in translation and second language acquisition studies (pp. 17-35). Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

Braithwaite, L. (1995). Lexicalisation and syntacticisation of the verb piacere: A longitudinal study of the interlanguage of learners of Italian as a foreign language. Tuttitalia 13, 27-38.

Butler, A. J. (1902/1978). The Arab Conquest of Egypt and the Last Thirty Years of the Roman Dominion. Oxford University Press.

Doherty, M. (2002). Language Processing in Discourse. A Key to Felicitous Translation. London and New York: Routledge.

Durant, W. (1963). The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage (Vol. 1). New York: MJF Books.

Fabricius-Hansen, C. (1996). Informational density: a problem for translation and translation theory. Linguistics 34(3), 521-565.

Fabricius-Hansen, C. & Ramm, W. (2008). Subordination and coordination from different perspectives. In Fabricius-Hansen and Ramm ‘Subordination’ versus ‘Coordination’ in Sentence and Text: A cross-linguistic perspective (pp. 1-30). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Fattah, A. (2010). A Corpus-Based Study of Conjunctive Explicitation In Arabic Translated and Non-Translated Texts Written by The Same Translators/Authors (PhD thesis). University of Manchester.

Fattah, A. (2016). An explicitation ‘syndrome’: a corpus-based investigation of explicitating shifts in the translation of the concessive conjunction ‘although/though’,’ Arab World English Journal 7(2), 195-215.

Fattah, A. (2018). ‘Explicitating structural shifts in English-Arabic translation: a corpus-based study of causal conjunctives ‘because’ and ‘li’anna’, Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 2(1), 39-59.

Halliday, M.A.K. & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London and New York: Longman

Halliday, M.A.K. & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (1999). Construing Experience Through Meaning: A Language-based Approach to Cognition. London and New York: Continuum.

Halliday, M.A.K. & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London and New York: Arnold.

Halliday, M.A.K. & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (2014). Halliday’s Introduction to Functional Grammar (4th ed.). London and New York: Routledge.

Hansen-Schirra, S. et al. (2012). Cross-Linguistic Corpora for The Study of Translations: Insights from The Language Pair English German. de Gruyter.

Huddleston, R. & Pullum, G. K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press.

Kitis, E. (2004). Conditional Constructions as Rhetorical Structures. Working Papers in Linguistics 30-51.

Klaudy, K. (1996). ‘Back-Translation as a Tool for Detecting Explicitation Strategies in Translation’ in Klaudy, Lambert and Sohar (Eds.), Translation Studies in Hungary (pp. 99-114). Budapest: Scholastica.

Mahmoud, Z. N. (1952/1967). تاريخ الفلسفة الغربية (الكتاب الأول: الفلسفة القديمة) [History of Western Philosophy, Book One: Ancient Philosophy], Cairo: Matba‘at Lagnat al-Ta’lif wa al-Targamah wa al-Nashr; translation of Russell, B. (1946). History of Western Philosophy.

Mahmoud, Z. N. (1958/1980). نحو فلسفة علمية (Towards a Philosophy of Science). Cairo: Al-Anglo.

Mahmoud, Z. N. (1956/1987). حياة الفكر والعالم الجديد (Intellectual Life in the New World). Cairo: Dar el-Shorouk.

Mahmoud, Z. N. (1953/1987). موقف من الميتافيزيقا (A Stance on Metaphysics). Cairo: Dar el-Shorouk

Martin, J.R. (1992). English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Olohan, M. & Baker, M. (2000). Reporting that in translated English: evidence for subconscious processes of explicitation?. Across Languages and Cultures 1(2), 141-158.

Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, & Svartvik, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.

Russell, B. (1995). History of Western Philosophy. London: Routledge.

Steiner, E. (2004). Ideational grammatical metaphor: exploring some implications for the overall model. Languages in Contrast 4(1), 139-66.

Steiner, E. (2008). Explicitation – towards an Empirical and Corpus-based Methodology. In Webster, J. (ed.). Meaning in Context: Implementing Intelligent Applications of Language Studies. London: Continuum.

Teich, E. (2013). Choices in analysing choice: Methods and techniques for register analysis. In Fontaine, L. and G. O’Grady (Eds) Systemic Functional Linguistics: Exploring Choice. Cambridge University Press, 417-431.

Vanderauwera, I. (1985). Dutch Novels Translated into English: The Transformation of a ‘Minority’ Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.4p.28

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
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.