1
TRANSLATION-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE 'UNIVERSALS':
The Case of Arabic Translated Texts*
1. Introduction
The objective of the present paper is to test the validity of two
hypotheses concerning the specificity of translational
language, viz. the occurrence of linguistic 'universals'
postulated to be typical of all translations. The two translation
generalities whose occurrence in Arabic translated texts is
investigated are: 'repetition avoidance' and 'explicitation'. The
first is seen in the marked tendency in translations towards the
deletion of lexical repetitions found in the ST; whereas the
second in the presence in translations of a higher degree of
explicitness as represented, for example, by adding
explanatory notes, filling in ellipsis, or using explicit sentence
connectors. The two hypotheses are tested by analyzing and
contrasting a number of English-Arabic and Arabic-English
translated texts so as to be able to ascertain the frequent
occurrence of these two translation phenomena which are
postulated to be translation 'universals'.
The role of the translator as a mediator of messages between
two sets of linguistic and socio-cultural situations leads to the
result that the translator also assumes the role of a
________________________________________________________
2
*This paper was first read, in a shorter version, at Atlas Fifth International
Conference on Current Issues in Translation, held in Amman, Jordan, during 18-19
December, 2005.
text mitigator. This means that s/he comes to introduce,
consciously or subconsciously, some linguistic modifications
into the target text so as to be able to communicate efficiently
with a readership living in a different place and, usually, at a
different time as well. This process of mediation and
mitigation may help explain the tendency in translational
language towards explication, simplification, and reduction of
unnecessary repetitions so as to alleviate the processing effort
for the new reader. It has also resulted in the phenomenon
observed by many translation researchers that:
translations are more similar to one another than to originals in the target
language [and] that not all linguistic features specific to translations are
reducible to interference – other sources are required to explain the rest
of the distance between translations and non-translations on the one
hand, and the proximity of translations to one another. (Mauranen &
Kujamäk 2004:5)
Persistent observations, like the above, have led to the
conclusion that the language of translated texts does not
exactly represent language as used in free communicative
events. Rather, it is similar to the type of language which is
produced under constraint, like that used by foreign-language
learners for instance. As a result of such pressures, the
language of translation would tend, for example to "flaunt
certain conventions and overuse certain features known to be
characteristics of style in the target language" (Hatim:
3
2001:153). Or, it would exhibit certain patterns of texture, e.g.
repetitions in the source text tend to be either deleted or
reworded (Schlesinger1991 & Toury1991). In the same vein,
Blum-Kulka remarks that the process of text interpretation
conducted by the translator on the source text results in a
target text which is more redundant than both the source text
as well as comparable target texts. As an example of this
increased redundancy, she points out that the cohesive
patterns in translated texts are neither according to those of
the TL norms nor those of SL norms, but follow a system of
their own (1986:33). Many other scholars have made similar
observations about the language of translated texts and have
consequently started to search for the 'regularities', or 'laws',
or 'tendencies' common to translated texts in general. This
search is worthwhile in that it can shed more light on
translation, both as a process and as a product. Based on such
recurrent observations and research findings, researchers have
begun to focus even more on studying the language of
translated texts and some of them have suggested different
names to depict this specificity of this language. Frawley
(1984), for example, proposes the term 'third code' or 'third
text' to emphasize the fact that translational language results
from the confrontation of the source and target codes/texts
and that it is distinct from both. Others, following Selinker in
the context of communicating in a non-native language,
suggest to call it 'interlanguage' or 'mediated language' so as to
attract attention to the fact that it is a sort of constrained
communication, unlike that of free language use (Chesterman
2004:45). Still others, like Schäffner & Adab (2001) prefer to
use the term 'hybrid text' in order to stress that translated texts
exhibit features which are somehow 'out of place'/'unusual' for
the target culture. They add, however, that these texts are still
accepted in the target language since they fulfill their intended
communicative functions and that the features which they
show "are not the result of a lack of translational competence
4
or examples of 'translationese', but are evidence of conscious
and deliberate decisions by the translator". Nomenclature
notwithstanding, the important thing to remember is that
although translated texts exist only in the target language in
which they are written and although they represent one of its
subsystems as a result, the language of such texts is unique in
many respects. In order to shed more light on the details of
this uniqueness, a brief survey of research whose aim is to
unveil the common linguistic regularities typical of translated
texts is given below.
2. The Specificity of Translational Language
The quest for regularities in different phenomena is
characteristic of all branches of human knowledge which
aspire to acquire the status of being scientific disciplines. All
sciences seek generalities and try to go beyond the particular.
The main movement of most scientific research has thus
mainly been bottom-up, beginning with particular cases and
then moving up to general laws. In Descriptive Translation
Studies, this means the search for and the identification of
linguistic regularities by relating translated texts to: (a) their
source texts, (b) the original texts of the languages they are
composed in, and (c) other translated texts both within the
same language or across languages. In her seminal paper on
"Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies", Mona Baker
reports that a number of scholars in the field have been lately
engaged in research representing all the three types just
mentioned above. They have managed, as a result, to arrive at
some conclusions concerning translation regularities. These
include the following, among others (Baker 1993:243-5):
5
(i) A higher level of explicitness, compared both to source
texts as well as to original texts in general. Both Blum-Kulka
(1986) and Toury (1991) have stressed that 'explicitation' is a
feature commonly found in the translational language of both
professional and non-professional translators. One example of
this explication policy is when translators add explicit
information which has been only implicitly understood from
the source text.
(ii) A marked tendency towards disambiguation and
simplification. This is found, for example, when 'potentially
ambiguous' personal pronouns in the source text are replaced
by common or proper nouns with precise reference so as to
resolve ambiguity (see, Vanderauwera 1985:97-8 and AbdelHafiz 2004, among others). Moreover, a marked tendency has
also been detected to make difficult syntax in the ST language
easier in the TT.
(iii) A preference for conventional 'grammaticality'. In this
respect, Shlesinger (1991:150) reports a strong tendency in
oral translations, i.e. interpretations, to "round off unfinished
sentences, grammaticize ungrammatical utterances and omit
such things as false starts and self-corrections (as quoted in
Baker 1993:244).
(iv) A tendency for avoiding repetition found in the source
text. This is realized, for example, by deleting instances of
frequent lexical repetition or rewording them (Shlesinger
1991 & Toury 1991).
(v)
A general tendency to overuse linguistic features
characteristic of the target language. For instance, the frequent
use of binominals, which is common in both Arabic and
Hebrew writings, has been found to occur more frequently in
6
translated Hebrew
(Toury1980:130).
than
in
its
non-translated
texts
Similarly, Chesterman draws a list of regularities noted by
researchers to occur in the language of translated texts.
Chesterman, however, prefers to call them 'potential
universals' rather than just 'regularities'. Moreover, he
classifies them into two broad categories, viz. (a) Potential Suniversals (S referring to the Source Text), and (b) Potential
T-universals (T standing for the Target Text). Chesterman's
list of 'potential universals' in translational language includes
the following (2004:40):
(a) Potential S-universals:
- Lengthening: i.e. translated texts are usually longer than
their source texts
- The law of interference: (Toury 1995)
- The explication hypothesis (Blum-Kulka 1986)
- Reduction of repetition (Baker 1993)
(b) Potential T-universals:
-
Simplification: as noted in less lexical variety, lower
lexical density,
and more use of high-frequency items
(Laviosa 1998)
- Untypical, and less stable, lexical patterning (Mauranen
2000)
7
The search for translation regularities has specially witnessed
an upsurge of activity since the mid-nineties. Large-scale
electronic corpora have then become available as research
tools and many scholars have consequently become capable of
arriving at more reliable results. Such corpora have, for
example, enabled researchers in Translation Studies to
confirm, refute or modify many of the above-mentioned
hypotheses on translational linguistic regularities which
hitherto had been only made on the basis of small-scale
corpora and manual analysis. Many research projects based on
computerized data banks of multi-million words have soon
begun to develop, especially in the U.K. and elsewhere on the
Continent. Almost all of these compare English with one or
more other languages, usually from within the Indo-European
family.
As for Arab scholars and Arabists, there are yet no large-scale
computerized parallel or comparable research projects or
corpora known to be available for either translated or original
Arabic texts. As a result, there are no large-scale analyses and
comparisons of Arabic translated texts either with their source
texts in other languages or with other original texts within
Arabic itself. Nor are there available yet studies which
compare the language of translations in Arabic with that of
translated texts in other languages. However, there have been
many individual attempts to study translational Arabic in
order to detect some of its linguistic characteristics. Limited
as these may be both in scope and corpus, they can still
provide the ground for much-needed extensive research in
Arabic texts in general, and translated texts in particular. Both
Mona Baker (1992) and Basil Hatim (1997) have, for
instance, discussed several examples of Arabic translated texts
in their books and pointed to some of the features of language
specificity, such as a characteristic high level of explicitness
8
compared to their English source texts. Others, like Aziz
(1997), Abdulla (2002) and Abdel-Hafiz (2004), among
others, have written research papers describing some
linguistic aspects of translational Arabic such as lexical
repetition, usually as compared to English. Al-Khafaji, as
well, investigates "the various linguistic alternatives open to
the English-Arabic translator [when] confronted with the task
of having to convert a large number of passive verbs in his
English source text into other linguistic forms if he were to
produce a normal Arabic text, free of gross translation
interference" (1996:19). A parallel pair of texts consisting of
an original English scientific text and its Arabic translation
has been investigated for this purpose. Two other papers of alKhafaji compare the use of punctuation marks in an Arabic
translation with its English source text, as well as with
original Arabic texts (1999 and 2001). Taken together, the
two papers thus represent an example of a combined parallelcomparable contrastive text analysis. The fourth paper within
Arabic Descriptive Translation Studies by al-Khafaji was an
attempt "to 'detect' [translational norms] and 'describe' the
various types of shifts, in the area of lexical repetition, which
have occurred in an Arabic-English translation" (2006). The
study also tries "to 'explain' the underlying factors that may
have prompted the various decision-making processes behind
these translation shifts" (ibid). Finally, I have analyzed a
number of parallel English-Arabic and Arabic-English
translations in the present paper for the purpose of testing the
occurrence of some of the common linguistic tendencies
exhibited by translational Arabic, as well as by translational
English. The following is a brief description of the data, the
research method, and the results of this analysis.
3. Data and Results of Analysis
9
3.1. Data and Methodology
In order to test the validity of the two above-mentioned
hypotheses concerning the specificity of translational
language in general, I have investigated a number of Arabic
and English translated texts. The data consists of four texts:
two Arabic-English translations and two English-Arabic ones;
the latter two are translations of the same English source text,
but by two different translators. All the texts belong to the
literary genre of the short story.1 The reason I have chosen to
analyze both Arabic and English translations, and not just
Arabic, is two-fold: (a) to double-check the results of analysis
by including translations from two different languages as well
as by examining two translated texts from each language
rather than one, and (b) to avoid the possibility of attributing
the results of analysis to stylistic preferences in Arabic and/or
English, rather than to tendencies common in all translations
irrespective of their source languages. Moreover, the
translations of four different translators, two in each direction,
have been used as data lest the results be misinterpreted as
being translator-specific. The analysis of the four translated
texts has been confined to the search for two of the abovementioned translation 'universals' only: Repetition Avoidance
and Explicitation. The main objective of the data analysis, a
sample thereof is given below, is to ascertain the occurrence
in the Arabic translated texts of the above two translation
tendencies which are widely postulated in the literature. The
method of analysis basically consists of carefully analyzing
and contrasting the translated texts with their source texts in
order to look for manifestations of these translation
The two Arabic original short stories are ‫ الحافلة تسير‬and ‫ الخروج من دائرة الصمت‬. They have
been translated into English by Nancy Roberts and Abdulla Shunnaq, respectively, with the
titles: Bus Walk and Out of the Silence. The English short story, on the other hand, is A
Rose for Emily by Faulkner. It has been translated by A. al-Aqqaad and A. Abdulla as ‫وردة‬
‫ الميلي‬and ‫وردة الى اميلى‬, respectively. (See the list of References at the end for the full facts of
publications of the above.)
1
10
'universals'. The purpose, on the one hand, is thus to detect
any instances of lexical repetition in the ST which are,
completely or partially, deleted in the TTs or are replaced by
synonymous words or are paraphrased. On the other hand, and
for the detection of explicitation, the text contrastive analysis
would search for instances where the TTs exhibit explicit
background information which is only implicit in the STs, or
show the replacement of any potentially ambiguous
pronominals or other deictic words in the STs by their explicit
referents in the TTs, as this sort of disambiguation is also
considered here as part of the explicitation strategy..
3.2. Results of Analysis
Reported below is a summary of the results of data analysis.
These are basically divided into two groups: one for reporting
the realizations of each of the two tested translation
'universals', viz. repetition avoidance and explicitation. It has
been deemed sufficient to report ten examples in each group
as representative of each of the two 'universals': five from the
Arabic translated texts and five from the English ones. Each
of the twenty examples, selected from the two groups and
reported below, comprises a source-text portion followed by
its translated version. Thus, forty text fragments in all are
cited below. For the purposes of the present paper, which is
only a brief report on a pilot study, and not a full-fledged
statistical one, this limited number of examples seems
indicative. There are, however, many more similar examples
which have been detected throughout the data analysis.
3.2.1 Repetition Avoidance in Translation
11
(A) Examples from the English-Arabic Translated Texts2
1.a - They were admitted by the old Negro into a dim hall from
which a stairway mounted into still more shadow. It smelled
of dust and disuse – a close, dark smell. The Negro led them
into the parlor. It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered
furniture. When the Negro opened the blinds of one window, .
..
‫ أدخلهم الزنجي الهرم الى ردهة مظلمة تفضي الى سلم يؤدي الى مكان‬- 1.b
‫ وكانت تتصاعد هنالك رائحةة الباةار والنفةنم ومةن ةم قةادهم الةى‬. . ‫أشد ظلمة‬
‫ فلما فتح شراعة احدى‬.‫ وهي مفروشة بأ اث قيل مبطى بالجلد‬.‫قاعة األستقاال‬
. . . ‫النوافذم‬
( al-Aqqad(
3
(Notice that the translator has retained only the first
occurrence of 'the Negro' and deleted the other two, replacing
them by the two implicit third-person pronouns in ‫ قةاد‬and ‫فةتح‬.
The translator has avoided the three frequent and proximate
instances of lexical repetition of the source text although
Arabic is known to be highly tolerant of lexical repetition in
its original texts. Instances like the above are indicative of the
specificity of the language of Arabic translated texts. This
language seems to exhibit certain special features which are
somewhat different from those of the source language and the
target language. However, it is still possible to argue that the
deletion of repetition in Arabic is due to the fact that the verbs
‫ قةاد‬and ‫ فةتح‬would, on their own, each refers to a masculine
third-person singular subject while their English counterparts
2
In the examples cited, I have underlined some words in order to highlight the linguistic
elements which are directly relevant to, or affected by, the shifts due to the translation
tendency under discussion.
3
After each of the illustrative text portions, cited as examples from the two Arabic
translations and the two English ones, the name of the translator is given in parentheses
immediately following the example.
12
do not. Reference to ‫' الزنجةةي‬the 'Negro' can thus still be
retrieved and sustained, without any ambiguity, in the Arabic
translation, but not in the English source text. But when we
find out that the same phenomenon of repetition deletion is
also detected in English texts translated from Arabic, as in
those which will soon be cited below, lexical repetition can no
longer then be attributable to Arabic-specific stylistic or
linguistic characteristics as such.
2.a - "Just as if a man – any man – could keep a kitchen
properly," the ladies said; so they were not surprised when the
smell developed.
‫ كانت السيدات في دهشة حينما انتشرت هذه الرائحة الكريهة مةن بيتهةام‬- 2.b
al-( . . . .‫قلةن ان أي رجةل يسةتطي أن يقةوم بتنظيةل المطةا‬
‫وكثيةرا مةا‬
)Aqqaad
(The second occurrence of man in the ST is deleted in the
translation.)
3.a – That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for
her. People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt,
her great aunt, had gone completely crazy . . .
‫ ويةذكر أهةل بلةدتنا كيةل جنةت‬.‫ هذا والناس يأسون لحالها في الحقيقةة‬- 3.b
.‫خالتها السيدة ويات‬
(al-Aqqaad)
13
(In the above, the translator has avoided the close repetition of
'people' by rewording in Arabic the second occurrence of the
word in the ST, viz. using ‫ أهةل بلةدتنا‬instead of ‫ النةاس‬Hence, the
translation shifts of either 'deletion' or 'rewording', are
alternatively used to avoid lexical repetition as can be seen
from the above examples.)
4.a – The little boys would follow in groups to hear him cuss
the niggers, and the niggers singing in time to the rise and fall
of picks.
‫ وكان صةبار الصةايان يتوافةدون فرافةات ليةروه وهةو يسةو الزنةوج‬- 4.b
) a l-Aqqaad ( .‫وينهرهمم وهم يبنون م حركة المناول صاعدة وهابطة‬
(Here, the translator has replaced the second occurrence of
'the niggers' by the pronoun ‫هةةةم‬, despite the potential
ambiguity which may result from this in the translated text:
Does the pronoun refer to ‫ صبار الصايان‬or to ‫ ? الزنوج‬Moreover,
the translator has opted to remove lexical repetition although
repetition is usually rhetorically motivated in literary texts,
like in the ones cited here.)
5.a – Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect
that Miss Emily's father had loaned money to the town, which
the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of
repaying.
‫ – كان الكولونيل سرتوريس قد ابتدع قصة ليفهم الناس أن والد السيدة اميلةي‬5.b
) al-Aqqaad( .‫ساق فأقرض المدينة قرضا وأنها تختار هذه الطريقة لسداده‬
14
(Does the pronoun in ‫ وأنهةا‬refer to ‫ السةيدة اميلةي‬or to ‫ ? المدينةة‬The
above Arabic sentence is ambiguous due to the substitution of
the second occurrence of 'the town' of the ST by a pronoun in
the TT. Once again, and despite the potential ambiguity, the
translator has chosen to remove the lexical repetition. This is
yet another clue of how entrenched the repetition-avoidance
tendency is in translated texts; including Arabic ones, as can
be seen from evidence displayed above.)
(B) Examples from the Arabic-English Translations
‫ – في المرة األولى كنت أقود سيارتيم في المرة الثانية بند أساوعين علةى‬6.a
‫األولىم كنت أقود حافلة فارهة عريضةم وكأطول ما تكون عليه هذه الحةافتت‬
.‫الحديثة‬
6.b – The first time, I was driving my car. The second, which
was two weeks after the first, I was behind the wheel of an
enormous swift bus – the longest type that exists. (Roberts)
(There are three different instances of lexical repetition in the
Arabic text extract above: ‫ المةرة‬, ‫كنةت أقةود‬, ‫حافلةة‬. None of the
three repetitions is retained in the English translated text: the
second occurrence of ‫ المةرة‬has been deleted, that of ‫كنةت أقةود‬
reworded, and of ‫ حافلة‬also deleted.)
‫ الالةةدةم ورث المشةةيخةم والاندقيةةة والبض ة مةةن‬.‫ عاةةدالرحمنم شةةي‬.‫ – الشةةي‬7.a
.‫آبائه وأجداده‬
15
7.b – Sheikh Abdel-Rahman had inherited his position, his
rifle and even his hostile disposition from his ancestors.
(Shunnaq)
(In order to avoid the lexical repetition of the word .‫ الشةي‬or its
derived form ‫المشةيخة‬, the translator has deleted the second
occurrence of the ST's lexical chain in the translated text,
while the third has been replaced by the general word
'position'.)
‫ ورث المشةةيخة والاندقيةةة والبض ة م فقةةد اعتةةاد أن يطةةو‬.‫ وألنةةه الشةةي‬- 8.a
‫بسيارته اللوري على الفتحين في مواسم الايادرم يجم شواالت القمةح للفقةرا‬
‫سر قيامه بهذه المهمةم قةائت‬
ّ .‫ في الاد فسر الشي‬.‫واأليتام في القرى المجاورة‬
‫هنةةاا الكثيةةر مةةن األيتةةام والفقةةرا فةةي القةةرى المجةةاورةم والبةةد مةةن أن يم ة و‬
.‫بطونهم بالخاز‬
8.b – The Sheikh's raids on the villages at harvest time began
as soon as he was given his title and position. Each time he
made a raid, he would demand sacks of wheat, ostensibly for
the poor and orphans in neighbouring villages. He used to say
that there were many poor people who needed to have their
stomachs filled with bread. (Shunnaq)
(In the Arabic ST extract above, there are two lexical chains:
one headed by .‫ الشةي‬while the other by ‫الفقةرا واأليتةام فةي القةرى‬
‫ المجةةاورة‬. In the English translation, however, the second
instance of the first chain, viz. ‫ المشةيخة‬is replaced by the title
and position whereas the third by the pronoun he. As for the
second instance of the second lexical chain in the ST, it has
16
been largely deleted, except for the word poor which has been
retained.)
‫ – كنت كنادتي ال أستطي رد طل بوسني تلايتةه ألحةدم وخمنةت ولةم أكةن‬9.a
‫مخطئا أن ماادئ القيادة واحدة سوا لسيارة أو لحافلةم وبةودي حقةا أن أخةوض‬
.‫التجربة لمجرد خوضها‬
9.b – As usual, I couldn't turn down a request if it was in my
power to grant it. I surmised correctly that the rules of driving
are basically the same for both cars and buses. Besides I really
did want the experience, simply for the sake of having it.
(Roberts)
(The translator has reworded the second occurrence of the
ST's lexical repetition and replaced it by having it rather than
by 'experiencing it'; which would have retained the repetition.)
‫ – ولم يكن هناا سةوى مقاعةد قليلةة متنةا رة ومسةاحات فسةيحة خاليةةم‬10.a
‫كحال الحافتت التي تستخدمها المطارات لنقل الركاب بين صالة المطارات‬
.‫والطائرة‬
10.b - . . . I noticed that the seats were few and far between
and interspersed with huge spaces, something like the buses
used in airports to take the passengers from the terminal out to
the airplane. (Roberts)
(To avoid repetition, the translator has deleted the second
occurrence of ‫المطةةارات‬, thus producing terminal instead of
'airport terminal'.)
17
3.2.2 Explicitation in Translation
(A) Examples from English-Arabic Translated Texts
11.a – It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been
white, decorated with cupolas and spires, and scrolled
balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies . . .
‫ كانت الدار كايرة ومدورة وقد طليت في وقت ما بالطت األبيضم ومزخرفة‬11.b
‫بالقاةةاب واألبةةراج والشةةرفات المدرجةةة علةةى أسةةلوب الطةةراف المنمةةاري الضةةخم‬
(Abdulla( .‫والثقيل الوطأة الذي شاع في سانينات القرن التاس عشر‬
(The English ST refers to the style 'of the seventies' without
specifying of which century; the original text writer must have
assumed that to be known to the ST readership. However, the
translator, thinking of the requirements of the TT readership
instead, must have deemed it necessary to clarify that the text
refers to the seventies of the 19thC, and not the 20 th C., for
example. He has consequently added the explanatory phrase,
viz. ‫ القةرن التاسة عشةر‬, to specify the temporal setting of the
text.)
12.a – And now Miss Emily had gone to join the
representatives of those august names where they lay in the
cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous
graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the
battle of Jefferson.
18
‫ واآلن انتقلت اآلنسة اميلي لتلتحق بممثلي تلك األسما الجليلة الراقدة فةي‬- 12.b
‫المقارة المحاطةة بأشةجار األرف التةي تطةل متأملةة مقةابر يوي الرتة النسةكرية‬
‫الناليةةة ومقةةابر الجنةةود المجهةةولين الةةذين قةةاتلوا فةةي الحةةرب األهليةةة األمريكيةةة‬
(Abdulla ) .‫وسقطوا في منركة جيفرسن‬
(American readers, for whom the above text was originally
written already know the history of the American Civil War;
this is part and parcel of their cultural background
information. Transferring the text from English to Arabic,
however, puts the translator in a socio-cultural situation
different from that of the original writer: the new readership
of Arabic cannot be assumed to share the above-mentioned
background information. The role of the translator as text
mitigator would hence make it imperative that s/he interfere in
favour of the reader by adding explanatory notes, together
with the possibility of deleting some source culture-specific
references sometimes.)
13.a – They called a special meeting of the Board of
Aldermen. A deputation waited upon her, knocked at the door
...
‫ – دعةةةوا الةةةى عقةةةد اجتمةةةاع لشةةةيول الالةةةدةم فاننقةةةد وتقةةةرر أن يةةةذه اليهةةةا‬13.b
)al-Aqqaad ) . . . ‫ فلما طرقوا بابها‬. . . ‫مندوبون منهم‬
(Joining sentences by various explicit sentence connectors has
been found to be one of the strategies commonly used to
realize the 'explicitation' tendency in translations. The motive
behind it is believed to be the translator's desire to make the
19
target text easier to understand. This might explain why the
translator has opted to join the two implicitly connected
sentences of the above ST by adding the underlined as explicit
joining words in the translation.)
14.a – "I received a paper, yes" Miss Emily said. "Perhaps he
considers himself the sheriff . . . I have no taxes in Jefferson."
. . ‫ قالت السيدة "اميلي" أجل لقد تسلمت ورقة ممن ينتار نفسةه الحةاكم‬-14.b
)al-Aqqaad ( !‫ي ضرائ في جيفرسون‬
ّ ‫ وم يلك ليس عل‬.
(In 14.b above, the translator has added an explicit sentence
connector. The function of the underlined words is to
explicate the adversative logical relationship between the two
sentences of the target text. This relationship is left implicit in
the source text.)
15.a – Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a
care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating
from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor – he
who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on
the streets without an apron – remitted her taxes . . .
‫ – كانت النناية بالسيدة اميلي تقليدا وواجاا وضربا من الرعايةم وفرضةا‬15.b
‫يتوار ه الناس في المدينة منذ عهد الكولونيةل سةرتوريس يلةك الحةاكم الةذي أصةدر‬
‫ االّ تخرج الةى الطريةق امةرأة مةن الزنةوج ببيةر ميدعةةم‬1894 ‫أمره يات يوم عام‬
)al-Aqqaad ( . . . ‫وظل ينفي اميلي من الضرائ‬
20
(Had the translator retained the underlined pronominal 'her' of
the source text in the translation, the reference of that personal
pronoun in the Arabic translation would have been
ambiguous: Does it refer to ‫ اميلةي‬or to ‫ ? امةرأة مةن الزنةوج‬The
translator has therefore opted to explicate the reference of the
pronoun her by replacing it with ‫اميلي‬.)
(B) Examples from the Arabic-English Translations
‫ ربمةا العتقةادهم أن‬.‫ ولم يكن يخطر باةال أحةد مةنهم التقةدم لمسةاعدتي‬. . . - 16.a
.‫الحافتت عندنا هي على هذه الشاكلة أو لثقتهم في براعة قيادتي‬
16.b – It didn't seem to have occurred to any of them to offer
me assistance, perhaps because they thought that all of "our"
buses were as unconventional as this one, or perhaps because
they had such confidence in my skill as a driver. (Roberts)
(The reference of the deictic word ‫ هةذه‬in the phrase ‫علةى هةذه‬
‫ الشةةةاكلة‬can be problematic to retrieve for the reader.
Consequently, the translator has decided to assume his
responsibility as a text interpreter by introducing, in the target
text, her understanding of the reference of the deixis in ‫الشاكلة‬
‫على هذه‬, viz. as unconventional as this one.)
)Shunnaq( .‫ فقد كانت له صداقة األنجليز وعساكرهم‬.‫ وألنه الشي‬-17.a
17.b – Being in this privileged position, the Sheikh had close
relations with the British soldiers.
21
(The title .‫ الشةةي‬is culture-specific in Arabic with all the
connotations and associations of power and prestige which go
with this position. Such background information cannot,
however, be taken for granted in the non-Arab socio-cultural
context for which the translated text is intended. Hence,
expansion for the sake of explicitation becomes necessary in
the translation.)
‫ كان عساكر األنجليزي يقيمون عنده أياما وليالي حينمةا كةانوا ياةدأون‬- 18.a
‫ يصةر علةى‬.‫ ولشدة صداقته لهم كان الشي‬.‫رحلة الاحث عن الثوار في جال الخليل‬
.‫تقديم مناسل اللحم لهم‬
18.b – He used to invite them to his house whenever they
passed by on their way to the Hebron Mountain, perhaps in
pursuit of some rebels. The Sheikh would pander to the
soldiers' every wish. He served them the choicest foods,
usually 'mensef'. (Shunnaq)
(The noun phrase ‫ مناسل اللحم‬refers to one of the choicest dishes
which is only served on special occasions in Jordan. This
cultural specificity of the term prompted the translator to
intervene, both by adding the phrase 'the choicest foods' and
by adding a special footnote, in order to explain it to the new
reader.4 The result is higher explicitness in the translated text.)
‫ ورث المشةةيخة والاندقيةةة والبض ة م فقةةد اعتةةاد أن يطةةو‬.‫ وألنةةه الشةةي‬-19.a
‫بسيارته اللةوري علةى الفتحةين فةي مواسةم الايةادرم يجمة شةواالت القمةح للفقةرا‬
.‫واأليتام في القرى المجاورة‬
4
The translator has added the following footnote to explain the word Mensef: " 'Mensef' is a
typical Jordanian dish composed of rice, meat and yoghurt" (Shunnaq 1996:51).
22
19.b – the Sheikh's raids on the villages at harvest time
began as soon as he was given his title and position. Each
time he made a raid, he would demand sacks of wheat,
ostensibly for the poor and orphans in neighbouring villages.
(Shunnaq)
(The word 'ostensibly' in the translated text has no
counterpart in the source text. Yet, its use in the translation
does not seem to add any new meaning to that already
understood from the source text. This is so since it would have
most probably become clear to the text reader by now that the
Sheikh was not in fact sincere in his claims about helping the
poor. So, the translator has not really introduced anything new
in the translation; he has only explicated what is already
implied in the source text. The translator must have somehow
felt it better to bring what is implicit to the surface.)
‫ في المرة األولىم قال أساوعين علةى هةذهم كنةت أقةود سةيارتيم وبرفقتةي‬- 20.a
.‫فوجتي وأطفالي‬
20.b – The first time, two weeks prior to the bus incident, I'd
been driving my car accompanied by my wife and children.
(Roberts)
(As in 16.a and 16.b above, the translator has clarified the
reference of the deictic word ‫ هةذه‬by explicating its referent,
viz. 'the bus incident'. The motive must have again been to
alleviate the comprehension load in the translated text.)
23
4. Concluding Remarks
4.1. In order to investigate some aspects of the language of
translation which are postulated to be typical of translated
texts in general, the present study has analysed a number of
translated texts both in Arabic and English. Close examination
and comparison of the forty text fragments reported in Section
3 above has confirmed that the translations exhibit linguistic
phenomena which support the two tested hypotheses
concerning the presence in Arabic and English translated texts
of both 'explicitation' and 'avoidance of lexical repetition'.
4.2. The above-mentioned results of data analysis attest
tentatively to the specificity of the language of Arabic
translated texts, which is the main theme of the paper.
Although based on a small-scale data analysis, these results
give credence to the Explicitation Hypothesis and the
Repetition Avoidance Hypothesis as global linguistic
regularities in translations irrespective of the languages
involved. This is especially so since similar results have
already been arrived at by a multitude of extensive research
projects based on large-scale computerized corpora of
translated texts in many other languages and in many parts of
the world.
4.3. These, as well as many others of the above-mentioned
common phenomena shared by translated texts, cannot only
be explained by recourse to any, or both, of the two languages
in question, viz. Arabic and English. Explanation, as was
argued above, has to be sought in both trying to understand
24
the general cognitive processes involved in the translation
process itself, as well as in the socio-cultural role of the
translator as communicator, mediator, and text mitigator.
4.4. Research evidence derived from the analysis of Arabic
texts translated from English, or vice-versa, can be of
'exceptional' significance for Translation Studies in general.
This is so since Arabic and English belong to two
typologically distant languages. The overwhelming majority
of the studies conducted in the field so far are biased to
comparing translations from English with those of other IndoEuropean languages, like French, German, Spanish, Swedish,
Norwegian, and Danish. However, it is methodologically vital
that the diversity of languages be taken into consideration
since the results may be distorted otherwise. Consequently,
both the research findings of comparing English translations
with Finnish and Hungarian for example, as well as those with
Arabic in the present paper, acquire special importance since
all three languages are typologically distant from English.
4.5. As pointed out in 4.1 and 4.2 above, the results of the
present study, although significant on their own, are based on
small-scale data of Arabic-English and English-Arabic
parallel texts. Larger corpora are required and other
translation 'universals' need to be investigated if we were to
arrive at results which are both more reliable and more
comprehensive concerning the specificity of the language of
Arabic translated texts. Moreover, Arabic translated texts
need also to be compared with parallel translated texts from
languages other than English. In addition to parallel corpora,
it is of considerable importance that comparable data
comprising translated and original texts within Arabic itself be
25
analyzed and contrasted so as to shed more light on the unique
linguistic and textual characteristics of both types of text.
4.6. Research findings from worldwide extensive projects on
the language specificity of translations, as well as the
preliminary results of the present study, all seem to confirm
that Arabic translated texts constitute a worthwhile and
feasible field of academic research within the wider discipline
of modern Arabic text linguistics.
References
Abdel-Hafiz, A. (2004). "Lexical Cohesion in the Translated
Novels of Naguib Mahfouz: the Evidence from The Thief and
the Dogs". http://www.arabicwata.org
Abdulla, A. (2002). "Rhetorical Repetition in Literary
Translation". Babel 47:4, 289-303.
Abdulla, A. (1986). "‫وردة الةةى اميلةةي‬." ‫ النقةةد التطايقةةي التحليلةةي‬.
Baghdad: Ministry of Culture & Information.
al-Absi, I. (1992). " ‫" الخةروج مةن دائةرة الصةمت‬. ‫مختةارات فةي القصةة‬
‫ القصيرة‬. 7-9. Amman: al-Dustour Printing Press.
al-Aqqaad, A. (1983). "‫وردة ألميلةةي‬. " ‫ ألةةوان مةةن القصةةة القصةةيرة‬.
Cairo: Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop.
Aziz, Y. (1997). "Translation and Pragmatic Meaning". Issues
in Translation, ed. by A. Shunnaq, C. Dollerup, & M.
Saraireh, 119-141. Irbid: Irbid National University.
26
Baker, M. (1993). "Corpus Linguistics and Translation
Studies: Implications and
Applications". Text and Technology: In Honour of John
Sinclair, ed. by M. Baker, G. Francis & E. Tognini-Bonelli,
233-250. Philadelphia & Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.
Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook on
Translation. London & New York: Routledge.
Berman, A. (2000). "Translation and the Trials of the
Foreign". The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by L. Venuti,
284-297. New York: Routledge.
Blum-Kulka, S. (2000). "Shifts of cohesion and coherence in
translation". The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by L.
Venuti, 298-313. New York: Routledge.
Chesterman, A. (2004). "Beyond the particular". Translation
Universals: Do they exist?, ed. by A. Mauranen & P.
Kujamäk, 33-49. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.
Eskola, S. (2004). "Untypical frequencies in translated
language: A corpus-based study on a literary corpus of
translated and non-translated Finnish". Translation
Universals: Do they exist?, ed. by A. Mauranen & P.
Kujamäk, 83-99. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.
Faulkner, W. (1996). "A Rose for Emily". The Heath
Introduction to Literature, ed. By A. Landy, 188-195.
Massachusetts: D. C. Heath & Co.
Frawley, W. (2000). "Prolegomenon to a Theory of
Translation". The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by L.
Venuti, 250-263. New York: Routledge.
27
Hatim, B. (1997). Communication Across Cultures:
Translation Theory and Contrastive Text Linguistics. Exeter:
University of Exeter Press.
Hatim, B. (2001). Teaching and Researching Translation.
London: Longmans.
al-Khafaji, R. (1996). "Arabic Translation Alternatives for the
Passive in English". Papers and Studies in Contrastive
Linguistics, 31, 19-37.
al-Khafaji- R. (2006). "In Search of Translational Norms: The
Case of Shifts in Lexical Repetition in Arabic-English
Translations". Babel, 52.
al-Khafaji, R. (2001). "Punctuation Marks in Original Arabic
Texts". Zeitschrift fur arabische Lingvistik /Journal of Arabic
Linguistics, 40, 7-24.
al-Khafaji, R. (1999). "Punctuation Transfer in Translated
Arabic Texts". Turjman, 8, 2, 71-97.
Laviosa, S. (1998). "Core Patterning of Lexical Use in a
Comparable Corpus of English Narrative Prose". Meta, XLIII,
4, 1-15.
Mauranen, A. (2000). "Strange strings in translated language.
A study on corpora". Inter-cultural Faultlines. Research
Models in Translation Studies I. Textual and
Cognitive Aspects. ed. by M. Olohan, 119-141. Manchester:
St. Jerome Publishing.
Nilsson, P. (2004). "Translation-specific lexicogrammar?:
Characteristic lexical andcollocational patterning in Swedish
texts translated from English". Translation
28
Universals: do they exist?, ed. by A. Mauranen & P.
Kujamäk, 129-141. Amsterdam &Philadelphia: John
Benjamins Publishing Company.
Papai, V. (2004). "Explicitaion: A universal of translated
text?". Translation Universals: do they exist?, ed. by A.
Mauranen & P. Kujamäk, 143-164. Amsterdam &
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
al-Rimawi, M. (1992). "‫"الحافلةة تسةير‬. ‫ مختةارات فةي القصةة القصةيرة‬.
161-163. Amman: al-Dustour Printing Press.
Roberts, N. (1996). "Bus Walk". A Selection of Jordanian
Short Stories. 61-66. Amman: Dar al-Hilal.
Schlesinger, M. (1991). "Interpreter Latitude vs. Due Process.
Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpretation in Multilingual
Trials". Empirical Research in Translation and Inter-cultural
Studies. ed. by. S. Tirkkonen-Conduit, 147-155. Tubingen:
Gunter Narr.
Schäffner, C. & B. Adab. (2001). "The Idea of the hybrid text
in translation: Contact and Conflict". Across Languages and
Cultures, 167-180.
Shunnaq. A. (1996). "Out of Silence". A Selection of
Jordanian Short Stories. 43-51. Amman: Dal al-Hilal.
Toury, G. (1995). Descriptive Translation Studies and
Beyond. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins
Publishing Company.
Toury, G. (1980). In Search of a Theory of Translation. Tel
Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.
Toury, G. (2000). "The Nature and Role of Norms in
Translation". The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by L.
Venuti, 198-211. New York: Routledge.
29
Toury, G. (1991). "What are descriptive translation studies
into translation likely to yield
apart from isolated
descriptions". Translation Studies: The State of the Art. ed. By
K. van Leuven-Zwart & T. Naajkens, 179-192. Amsterdam:
Rodopi.
Vanderauwera, R. (1985). Dutch Novels translated into
English: The Transformation of a Minority Literature.
Amsterdam: Rodopi