1
PUNCTUATION TRANSFER IN TRANSLATED ARABIC TEXTS1
1 - Introduction
No descriptive or contrastive studies on punctuation seem to have been conducted in
translated Arabic texts in order to find out what could have been the influence of
translation transfer from the source text. However, if such an analysis were done, it
would be expected to reveal the extent to which these texts deviate from the
punctuation usage of the source texts; a phenomenon which could be, partly at least,
attributable to the influence of transfer from the native language of the translator.
In this paper, I intend to (a) compare punctuation usage in sample translated
Arabic texts (henceforth, TA texts) with that found in their source English texts
(henceforth, SE texts), (b) detect instances of translation transfer from SE texts
to TA texts in the use of punctuation marks, and (c) find out what aspects of
punctuation usage in the TA texts could be due to transfer from the native language
of the translator.
The study corpus consists of two translated Arabic versions of an English short
story entitled A Rose for Emily written by Faulkner and independently translated
into Arabic by Abbas al-Aqqad and Adnan Abdulla. The use of translation corpora
as sources for linguistic studies, especially in the field of cross-linguistic studies,
has recently gained wide currency. According to Baker (1993:235), translation
studies are at a turning point which comes as a "direct consequence of access to
large corpora of both original and translated texts. Gellerstam (1996:61) also stresses
that "translation corpora are important and perhaps unsurpassed in linguistic
research".
The data also include a passage taken from Abdulla's Arabic translation of
Faulkner's short story. This passage was de-punctuated and presented to ten
subjects, all of whom were Arab teachers of Arabic as a foreign language
(henceforth, the ATAs). To the ATAs, the translated Arabic passage
represented an original Arabic text since they had no access to the source English
text it was translated from. The ten ATAs were asked to re-punctuate the
passage, and their re-punctuating decisions were later examined. Moreover,
the research corpus also includes the source English short story of Faulkner,
1
This paper was originally presented at the XIV International Conference on Language, ! Linguistics,
Literature and Translation held at Yarmouk University, Jordan in 1998. It was published first in turjuman,
vol 8, Number 2, October 1999.
2
which represents the source text of which the two main TA texts were
translated versions.
The source English text and the two translated Arabic texts were closely
examined to observe how the punctuation marks used in the English text have
been rendered in the Arabic texts by the two translators. The comma and the
period were selected as the two punctuation marks representative of the use of
other punctuation marks in the punctuation systems of English and Arabic. The
analysis of these two marks was thought sufficient since they are the two
most commonly used in both languages. Conclusions drawn on the basis of
analyzing these two punctuation marks would therefore be safe to generalize
from. The research procedure was thus primarily based on examining the two
TA texts and their SE text to look for instances of correspondence and
divergence in the use of the comma and the period. The ATAs1 duplicate
passage, extracted from Abdulla's TA text, was also compared with that
translator's TA text in respect of the use of these two punctuation marks. The
punctuation practice of the ATAs was taken to represent the usage of educated
Arabs and the point of reference with which the use of punctuation marks in the
TA texts was compared. Moreover, the results of another study on punctuation
usage in original Arabic texts, which I have presented in a separate paper,
have also been referred to whenever necessary as representative of the norms of
punctuation practice in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) texts.2
More specifically, the research methodology used in the present study was as
follows:
a. The punctuation usage of the two Arabic translations in the TA text corpus
was compared with that of the SE text. Instances of correspondence and
divergence in the use of the comma and the period between the SE writer and
each of the two TA text translators were marked. The comma and the period in
the two TA texts as used by the translators themselves were also compared to
find out punctuation similarities and differences between the two translators.
b. The uses of the comma and the period by the second translator, Abdulla, as
found in the TA passage given out to the ATAs, were systematically
compared with those of the ten ATAs for similarities and differences in Arabic
punctuation practice.
c. Instances of correspondence between the punctuation usage of the SE text
writer and those of the TA text translators were taken to represent instances of
2
The detailed results are found in a paper entitled, "Punctuation Marks in Original Arabic Texts," also
included in this volume.
3
translation punctuation transfer from the source text when the TA usage was
found to diverge from the standard usage in Arabic, as represented by the
punctuation usage of the ATAs and/or reported in the results of the abovementioned study on punctuation usage in original Arabic texts.
d. Instances of divergence between the punctuation usage of the SE text and
that of the TA texts, were taken to represent transfer from Arabic, the native
language of the translators, when usage found in the TA text(s) corresponded to
standard Arabic practice.
2 - Results of the Contrastive Punctuation Analysis
The contrastive punctuation analysis between the two TA texts, on the one
hand, and all the punctuation marks used in Section I of the SE text, on the other,
revealed that the two TA text translators retained only 44% of the total number of
Faulkner's original punctuation marks: with Abdulla preserving 58% and al-Aqqad
30% These percentages call for some comments and raise many relevant
questions. First of all, the high discrepancy between the two Arab translators
themselves could point to a lower-than-normal level of agreement on the use
of punctuation marks among educated Arabs. Moreover, the amount of
correspondence in the use of punctuation marks between the TA texts and the
SE text could either be the result of transfer from English due to the translation
process itself or the result of what is shared in punctuation usage between
English and Arabic. On the other hand, the degree of divergence between the
punctuation usage of the SE text and that of the two TA texts could be
indicative of the amount of transfer from Arabic, the native language of the two
translators. The following analysis of the study corpus, using the research
methodology outlined above, is expected to shed light on these as well as
other aspects relevant to the above questions.
The results of the above-mentioned contrastive text analysis are reported below
for the comma and the period separately, as used in the SE text, its two Arabic
translations, as well as the ten versions of the TA passage given to the ATAs.
Sentences representing the different uses of each of the two punctuation marks
are quoted from the study corpus.
2.1. The Comma
In the text analysis which was conducted in the present study, each comma
found in the SE text was examined in order to find out whether it was retained,
deleted, or replaced by a different punctuation mark in the two TA versions. The
main purpose of doing this was to find out how much the use of the comma in
the SE text has influenced the translators' use of commas in the TA texts. To
verify punctuation transfer from the SE text, frequent reference was made to
the ATAs' use of commas in the ten versions of the TA passage; as this use is,
4
as was said above, considered to represent normal Arabic punctuation
practice. Occasional reference was also made to the norms of the comma
usage in Arabic arrived at by the writer in a separate study already referred to
in (1) above, as well as to the rules listed in Arabic references on the uses of the
comma.
An examination of the SE text, as represented by the first twenty sentences in
Faulkner's short story mentioned earlier, showed that the vast majority of the SE
commas have either been deleted or retained in the two Arabic translations.
There were, however, only seven out of a total of forty-seven commas in the SE
text which have been substituted by other punctuation marks in the TA texts:
four by periods, one by a dash, one by a colon, and one by three dots. The use
of periods in the translated Arabic texts will be taken up in a following section
of the study while the three single instances of the other punctuation marks
mentioned above will be ignored here since they are insignificant in number,
and as these punctuation marks are not dealt with in the present study. Table One,
therefore, only reports the numbers of the SE commas in the two major
categories mentioned above, viz. commas deleted in the translation and others
which were retained.
Table One
Comma Deletion
Abdulla
Total al-Aqqad
only
only
25
7
6
Comma Retention
Both Total al-Aqqad Abdulla only
only
12
15
5
8
Both
2
2.1.1. Comma deletion TA texts
In general, the deletion or substitution of any punctuation mark in translation
represents an act of resistance to the authority of the source text. Moreover,
since Arabic seems to be a language which favors the frequent use of commas
in its texts, it was quite unexpected to find that so many SE commas have
been deleted in the TA texts. Thus, the specific examples of comma deletion
must be closely examined in an attempt to find out the reasons behind the
translator's decision to delete the commas concerned. A cursory look at Table
One above shows that there are 25 cases of comma deletion in the Arabic
translation of the first twenty sentences in the SE text: twelve of these
deletions are made by both translators. This relatively high ratio of
instances of comma deletion was behind taking up this translation decision
first.
5
The following sentence is representative of English sentences in the source text in
which a fronted adverbial subordinate clause is separated by a comma from its
main clause:
(1) When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral.
(S1,SE)3
Both translators have opted for the deletion of the comma in this position, as
can be seen from (2) and (3) below:
.‫) لما توفيت السيدة إملي جريرسون خرج لتشييعها عامة أهل المدينة‬2(
(TA1)4
.‫) عندما توفيت اآلنسة إميلي غريرسن ذهبت المدينة برمتها الى الجنازة‬3(
(TA2)
A similar use of the comma in the source text is found in the following two
sentences:
(4) Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition [...]5 (S5,SE)
(5) When the next generation [....] became mayors and aldermen, this
arrangement created some little dissatisfaction. (S9,SE)
Both sentences above have fronted subordinate clauses separated by commas
from their subsequent main clauses, with the subordinate clause in the first
sentence being elliptical. Both translators have deleted the above two commas,
as they have done with the comma in (1) above. Thus, Abdulla renders (4)
above as:
‫) كانت اآلنسة أميلي وهي حية بمثابة تقليد‬4((TA2)6
3
The capital letter S followed by a subscript represents the number of the particular quoted sentence in
the sequence of sentences in the Source English (SE) text.
4
The capital letters TA refer to the translated Arabic text, while the subsequent subscript 1 or 2 refers to
the first Translator, al-Aqqad or to the second, Abdulla.
5
Three dots within square brackets represent my deletion of irrelevant elements in SE or TA sentences
when quoted as examples.
6
Notice the restructuring of the sentence in the translation of (4) above, as it is more normal to start
with the main clause in Arabic.
6
(Notice the restructuring of the sentence in the translation of (4) above, as it is
more normal to start with the main clause in Arabic). Similarly, Abdulla deletes
the comma in (5) above and thus translates it as:
[…] ‫) وعندماأصبح من الجيل الثاني روؤساء وأعضاء مجالس بلدية خلق هذا اإلجراء إ ستياء عندهم‬5(
(TA2)
As I have also observed in another study, there is a growing tendency in
original Arabic texts not to use commas to separate subordinate from main
clauses in sentences. This practice, however, does not seem to conform to the
rules on the different uses of the comma cited in Arabic references, which
state that commas are to be used in such positions (al-Rawsan, 1989:79,
among others). It thus becomes necessary to check this against the use of the
ATAs found in the study data. Five of the ATAs, who were asked to re-punctuate
a de-punctuated passage of the TA text translated by Abdulla, have in fact
conformed to the rules and used a comma similar to that found in (1) of the SE
sentence above. The other five ATAs have, however, agreed with the
translators on the deletion of the comma. Two preliminary conclusions can be
drawn from the above observations: (a) such a use of the comma is only optional
in Arabic sentences, and (b) the deletion of the comma by the two translators is
the result of transfer of punctuation from Modern Standard Arabic texts; a use
which is not yet recognized by some of the prescriptive rules on punctuation
found in Arabic references.
Another typical use of the comma in English sentences is to separate two or
more adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc. in a series of such words. Arabic, on the
other hand, tends to join such serial words by using the conjunctive waw. The
following SE sentences and their TA equivalents are representative of this: (8) It
was furnished in heavy, leather - covered furniture. (S20, SE)
(TA2) ‫) كانت مؤثثة بأثاث ثقيل ومغطى بالجلد‬9(
(10) They rose when she entered-a small, fat woman [...] (S23,SE)
‫ امرأة صغيرة الجسم وبدينة‬... ‫) نهضوا على أقدامهم عندما دخلت‬10(
(TA2)
(12) [...] Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care [...] (S5,SE)
7
‫) كانت العناية بالسيدة إيميلي تقليدا وواجبا وضربا من الرعاية‬13(
(TAl)
‫) كانت اآلنسة أميلي ]…[ بمثابة تقليد وعرف وواجب وموضع رعاية‬14(
(TA2)
(15) It smelled of dust and disuse-a close, dank smell. (S18,SE)
‫) وكانت تتصاعد هنالك رائحة الغبار والعفن‬16(
(TAl)
Rules on the use of the comma listed in Arabic references claim, however, that
Arabic does in fact also use commas in such positions. One of these references
gives the following two sentences as examples on this use (al-Sheikh, 1993:151):
.‫والرمان‬،‫والتفاح‬،‫والبطيخ‬،‫ العنب‬:‫)فاكهة الصيف كثيرة منها‬17(
.‫الشتاء‬،‫الخريف‬،‫ الصيف‬،‫ الربيع‬:‫)فصول السنة أربعة‬18(
It seems, however, that the use of the comma is less acceptable in (17) above,
although it may be more acceptable in sentence (18). This is because the use in
(17) of the three linking commas in the presence of three instances of the
conjunction particle, the waw, is redundant and not normal; whereas the use of
the commas in (18) without the waw is more functional. The following SE
sentence and its different renderings by the two translators seem to lend credence to
the above observation:
(19) It was a big, squarish frame house that [...] (S2,SE)
‫ مربع البنيان‬،‫ ) كان منزال كبير األركان‬20 (
(TA1)
8
‫ ) كانت الدار كبيرة ومدورة‬21 (
(TA2)
The first translator uses a linking comma in (20) above, but without a waw,
whereas the second translator uses a linking waw but without a comma in (21).
So, Arabic punctuation rules, like that quoted from al-Sheikh above, seem to be
in need of modification and refinement in light of evidence drawn from actual
usage. This becomes more obvious when we check such rules against the
punctuation of the ten AT As whose usage, as was pointed out earlier, is taken to
represent normal use of educated Arabs. Nine out of ten ATAs used no comma
between the two adjectives when asked to punctuate (21) above.
In concluding this section, it may be said that the above instances of comma
deletion can all be explained as resulting from transfer of Arabic punctuation
usage. Though Arabic, as was said earlier, tends to make abundant use of the
comma in its punctuation system, there are certain uses of the comma in English
which are not applicable to Arabic, as was shown above. Consequently, the
deletion of SE commas by one or both translators represents adherence to
actual Arabic punctuation usage, which is not yet reflected in the prescriptive
rules on Arabic punctuation.
2.1.2 Comma retention in the TA texts
The retention of SE commas in TA texts, on the other hand, seems to suggest
translation transfer from English, the language of the source text. However,
careful examination of instances where the SE commas have been retained in the
TA texts is required before such a hypothesis can be verified or rejected. Table
One above shows that there was a total of fifteen instances in which the commas
of the SE text fragment were retained in the TA text by one or both translators.
The translators have both agreed to retain the same SE commas in two cases
only, while al -Aqqad alone has retained five of the SE commas in his
translation and Abdulla eight. Such cases would generally represent adherence
to the punctuation conventions of the source text. When the use of commas
in the TA texts violates punctuation conventions in the target language, viz.
Arabic, it would more specifically be taken as an example of negative
transfer, i.e. interference, from the source text. Consequently, examining
samples of sentences with cases of SE comma retention in TA texts may prove
useful in throwing some light on the influence of translation from English on TA
texts.
It would perhaps be more revealing to begin with the two instances in which
both translators have agreed to retain the same SE commas. The following SE
sentence fragment and its two TA translations below are representative of
9
both cases just referred to above, in which the two retained commas are used
before adjectival clauses in the source text, as well as in the two TA texts:
(22) [...] to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant [...]
had seen in at least ten years. (SI, SE)
. . ( ‫ ذلك المنزل الذي لم ير فيه أحد منذ عشر سنوات‬،‫ ) الستطالع منزلها من الداخل‬23 (
).
(TAl)
‫ وهي أشياء لم يكن قد اطلع عليها في السنوات‬،‫ ) لرؤية األشياء الموجودة في داخل بيتها‬. . . ( ) 24 (
‫العشر الماضية على األ قل‬
)...(
(TA2)
The use of a comma in the two Arabic sentences above is not, however only
explicable in terms of adherence to the English source text punctuation marks,
and consequently taken to represent a case of punctuation transfer due to
translation from English, as was suggested above. Alternatively, the above use
of the comma in the two TA sentences can also be explained in terms of
applying Arabic punctuation usage, since both the rules and practice in Arabic
seem to agree that a comma is to be used in Arabic texts before adjectival
clauses.7 This specific use of the comma in Arabic is also verified by actual
practice in Arabic as seen in the punctuation of the ten ATAs, who all used a
comma when punctuating sentence (24) above. Thus, it would seem equally
plausible to explain the two translators' retention of the SE commas as a case
of positive transfer from Arabic rather than as a transfer from the English
source text.
We now move on to examine instances of comma retention by only one of the
two translators. Examining such instances can help explain what could have
motivated one translator, but not the other, to retain a particular SE comma.
Whenever possible, reference to the punctuation of the ten ATAs will be
made in order to compare the degree of correspondence or divergence between
7
Such a rule is cited in Muhaidat ei a! (1989:68) and al-Rawsan (1989:23), among others.
10
the punctuation of one of the translators and that found in normal Arabic usage as
represented by the ATAs. Thus, in the SE sentence fragment in (25) below:
(25) [...] in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor [...] (S5, SE) Abdulla has
retained the comma in his TA text version in (26) below:
) . . . ( ‫ الكولونيل سارتورس‬،‫ عندما قام عمدة المدينة‬1894 ‫ ) عام‬26 (
(TA2)
Conversely, the other translator has deleted the comma in his translation of (25)
above. However, Abdulla's use of a comma in (26) is 'correct' from the point of
view of the rules on the comma cited in Arabic references, which state that one
of the uses of the comma in Arabic is to separate two noun phrases standing in
apposition to one another (Muhaidatet gl, 1989:68). Yet, nine out of ten ATAs
have not applied this rule in practice and have consequently disagreed with
Abdulla's punctuation of (26) above by not using a comma in their own
punctuation of the same sentence. Thus, actual usage seems to support neither the
claim of the above-mentioned prescriptive rule nor Abdulla's above use of the
comma. Abdulla's retention of the comma here seems therefore to be more the result
of interference from the English source text; i.e., a case of punctuation
'translationese', than a 'correct1 application of the punctuation rules of
Arabic. Moreover, the punctuation rules listed in Arabic references again seem to
be in need of both revision and verification.
Similarly, the comma in the following SE sentence has been retained by one
translator while deleted by the other.
(27) When the negro opened the blinds of one window, a faint dust rose
sluggishly [...] (S21, SE)
‫ ارتفعت طبقة خفيفة من ذرات التراب‬،‫ ) عندما فتح الزنجي ستار إحدى النوافذ‬28 (
(TA2)
‫ ) فلما فتح شراعة إحدى النوافذ ظهر لهم ما في هذا الجلد من التشقق‬29 (
(TA1) [sic]
It was already concluded above, when discussing the translation of SE sentence (1)
into sentence (2) and (3) in Arabic, that educated Arabs were divided over the use
of a comma after a fronted subordinate clause, although the two translators agreed on.
not using a comma. This conclusion was based on the fact that half of the ATAs
11
used a comma after the initial subordinate clause in (3) whereas the other half not
to. Likewise, there is lack of agreement on the use of the comma in sentences
(28) and (29) above, but this time the translators themselves are divided over
the use of the comma. Thus, there is lack of consistency in this respect even
within the punctuation practice of the same translator, the second translator
has not used a comma in (3) whereas he uses one in (28), though both
sentences are structurally the same. The ATAs are split over the use of the
comma in sentences (2) and (3); the two translators disagree on the use of
the comma in sentences (28) and (29); and there is inconsistency even on the
part of the same translator in the punctuation of the two structurally identical
sentences in (3) and (28). All this clearly points to the conclusion that
punctuation practice in Arabic, including that of using the comma, does not yet
seem to be consistent and well-established.
The following SE sentence contains the parenthetical phrase as a matter of
business set off from the rest the sentence by two commas in accordance with
standard punctuation practice in English:
(30) 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, (S7, SE)
Abdulla, the second translator, has retained the two commas around the
parenthetical phrase in his version of (30) above:
‫ ) فابتكر الكولونيل سارتورس حكاية معقدة أساسها أن وا لد األنسة إميلي كان قد أقرض مبلغا من‬31 (
.‫ فضلت إيفاء الدين بتلك الطريقة‬،‫ وكقضية تجارية بحته‬،‫المال الى المدينة‬
(TA2)
The use of two commas to set off a parenthetical phrase in Arabic is not listed
among the uses cited in Arabic references on punctuation. The use of double
parenthetical commas by the translator in (31) above does not thus reflect an
accredited use of the comma in Arabic and may therefore be considered an
instance of punctuation 'translationese1, viz, translation punctuation
interference. The above tentative conclusion is confirmed by the fact that only
two ATAs out of ten have used double parenthetical commas as the second
translator has in (31) above. However, this use by the two ATAs as well as
by the second translator seems to support an observation arrived at by the
writer based on examining some original Arabic texts, that new punctuation
trends are evolving in Arabic (sec footnote 1). This particular new
punctuation tendency seems to be an outcome of the influence of translation
from English to Arabic.
To look for more evidence of translation transfer, whether from the source
text or from the translator's mother tongue, we now turn to examine how the
other major punctuation mark, i.e., the period, has been treated in the two
12
Arabic translations. We will also look into how the period is used in the
ATAs' versions of the TA passage.
2.2. The Period
The main use of the period in English is to conclude declarative sentences,
regardless of their length. In Arabic, on the other hand, the main use of the
period is typically to signal the end of a 'long’ declarative sentence or a
longer stretch of text, consisting sometimes of a whole paragraph, while using
commas to separate shorter declarative sentences. Hence, it becomes clear
that the use of the period as a sentence-final punctuation mark is not identical
in the two languages.8 Consequently, the distinction between the period and
the comma in Arabic seems to be fuzzy, at least insofar as their use at the
end of a sentence is concerned. In order to shed more light on the use of the
period in translated Arabic texts, it seems imperative to examine the SE text
carefully to see how each of the two translators rendered the source-text
periods in his Arabic translation. A comparison between the translators' use of
periods and that of the ATAs' will also be made whenever this is relevant
and possible.
The following SE-TA contrastive table shows that the writer ha used the
period 46 times in Section I of the English source text. It also shows that the
first translator, al-Aqqad, has retained 19 of these SI periods in the same
positions in which they were used in the SE text. Moreover, he has replaced
22 SE periods with other punctuation mark and deleted 5 SE periods in his
TA version of the source text. On the other hand, the second translator,
Abdulla, has retained 38 SE periods replaced 2 with other punctuation marks,
and deleted 5.
8
There is emerging however, a new trend in Arabic towards the use of a period to indicate the termination of short
declarative sentences as well as long ones.
13
Table Two
Period Retention
Both al-Aqqad Abdulla
15
4
23
Period Substitution
Period Deletion
al-Aqqad by: Abdulla by: Both al-Aqqad
a. comma
a. comma
9
2
2
3
b.2/3 dots
Abdulla
3
8
c. exclamation
4
d. colon
1
Total
Total
Total
al-Aqqad: 19; Abdulla; al-Aqqad: 22; Abdulla: 2 al-Aqqad: 5;
38
Abdulla: 5
Figures in the above Table can also show in a glance the wide discrepancy
between decisions taken and strategies used by the two translators when
dealing with the periods of the source text. While Abdulla has chosen to
retain 38 out of the original 46 periods of the source text, al-Aqqad has only
retained 19. Conversely, while al-Aqqad has replaced 22 of the original SE
periods with other punctuation marks, Abdulla has done so in 2 instances
only. In order to find out the role played specifically by punctuation transfer,
either from the English source text or from Arabic, the native language of the
translators, it becomes imperative to examine sample SE-TA sentences
representative of each of the three main translation options shown in Table
Two above, viz., period retention, substitution, and deletion. We will begin by
analyzing sentence samples under the period-retention option, since the largest
number of instances falls under this category.
2.2.1. Period retention
A quick comparison between the SE text and its two Arabic translations
shows that both translators mostly agreed in retaining the SE periods used to
conclude sentences falling in a paragraph-final position. This is not
unexpected, since the use of a period to mark the end of a paragraph is
standard punctuation practice both in English and Arabic. Thus, out of 11
paragraph-final periods found in Section I of the English source text, the two
translators have both retained the SE periods in seven cases. Al-Aqqad has
alternatively replaced the other four SE paragraph-final periods with
exclamation marks in two cases and by three dots in the other two instances.
14
Abdulla, on the other hand, has retained all the 11 SE periods in his translation.
Al-Aqqad's replacement of the two SE periods by exclamation marks seems
justifiable since they occur at the end of paragraph-final sentences expressing
strong emotional statements. However, his replacement ol each of the two SE
three consecutive dots is not easy to understand since the three dots are
supposed to be used in both English and Arabic to indicate some sort of deletion,
a case which is inapplicable to these uses of the three dots by al-Aqqad 9
However, the margin of agreement between the two translators is much narrower
when the SE period is used in a sentence-final position which is not located at
the end of a paragraph. Out of 36 instances of such sentence-final periods in
Section I of the SE text, al-Aqqad has retained only one third of them, viz., only
twelve. Abdulla, on the other hand, has retained twenty seven such SE
periods, i.e. about two thirds of them. This wide discrepancy between the two
translators in handling the same SE periods calls for a closer examination of
some representative sentences.
It is the punctuation of short sentences which seems most to give rise to the
discrepancy between English and Arabic on the one hand and between alAqqad and Abdulla, on the other. Arabic punctuation practice, unlike that of
English, does not favor the use of sentence final periods for short sentences, as
was already mentioned, but rather joins them to adjacent sentences by
commas or by some explicit sentence connectors. The rendering of such SE
sentences into Arabic either with or without a sentence-final period could
thus serve as yardstick for tracing the transfer of punctuation usage either from
the language of the source text or from the native language of the translator. Both
translators agreed on retaining the periods in the following two SE sentences:
(32) February came and there was no reply. (Sll,SE)
(33) But we have. (S34,SE)
Al-Aqqad has translated the above two SE sentences as follow, respectively:
‫ ) و ّحل فبراير ولم يظفرا منها بجواب‬34 (
(TA1)
9
The use of the three consecutive dots as a punctuation mark in Arabic texts still needs: however, to be studied
since this punctuation mark seems to be actually used to fulfill functions other than just the indication of deletion.
15
‫ ) ولكننا فعلنا‬35 (
(TA1)
Abdulla has given the following translations for (32) and (33) respectively:
‫ ) جاء شباط ولم يصل رد منها‬36 (
(TA2)
‫ ) لقد حاولنا‬37 (
(TA2)
It is evident from the above that both translators have, contrary to ordinary
Arabic punctuation usage, given each of the above two short sentences an
independent orthographic status by concluding it with a sentence-final period.
This seems a clear indication of the influence of punctuation transfer from the
source text on both translators.
Similarly, the influence of punctuation transfer from the SE text can also be
seen in the use of a period, rather than a comma, by both translators to end
sentences like the following two short sentences in the TA texts:
‫ ) وقد أقيم في شارع كان يعد من أهم شوارع المدينة‬38 (
(TA1)
‫ ) شيدت الدار فيما كان سابقا أفضل شارع في ا لمدينة‬39 (
(TA2)
Short sentences like the above two are, as was said earlier, traditionally
linked in Arabic texts by commas to the sentences which directly precede or
follow them, especially when such sentences have close semantic relations
with the sentences immediately adjacent to them in the text. This is stated in
rules on punctuation usage in all Arabic references consulted for the present
study. Such a state clearly prevails between sentences (39) above and (40)
below, which follows it in the TA text:
‫ ) ولكن زحف الكراجات ومحا لج ا لقطن طمس معا لم ا ألسماء‬40 (
‫ا لجليلة ا لتي علت دور جيرانها‬
16
(TA2)
The initial adversative walaakin in (40) above clearly indicates the close
semantic relatedness of this sentence to (39) which directly precedes it in the
text. Yet, both translators have opted to retain the SE text period between the
two sentences; this points to the influence of translation transfer in such
instances of period retention. This tentative conclusion gains more credence
when comparing the translators’ punctuation above with that of the ATAs.
Only one ATA used a period between sentence (39) and (40) in his TA text
punctuation, whereas seven out often used a comma, which is the common
practice in Arabic in such cases. The use of a period by the two translators, as
well as by one ATA, does not reflect standard punctuation usage in Arabic.
1t could, as was mentioned earlier, be symptomatic of a new punctuation
trend underway in Arabic texts. In the case of the two translators, however,
it is more probably the result of the influence of punctuation transfer from the
source text.
We now move to SE short sentences in which the sentence-final period has
been retained by one translator only. The second translator, for example, has
alone retained the sentence-final periods of twenty such sentences in the SE
text. This points to the fact that this translator has conformed more to the
punctuation usage of the source text than al Aqqad, who was somewhat more
able to resist yielding to the punctuation of the source text, Abdulla's
punctuation, therefore, carries more signs of punctuation transfer from the
source text, especially in instances where his punctuation appears to be at
variance with the normal punctuation usage found in original Arabic texts.
The traces of translation punctuation transfer in Abdulla's translation are
discernible in many such instances, for example, in his translation of the
two consecutive SE sentences below:
(41) She did not ask them to sit. (S27,SE)
(42) She just stood in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a
stumbling halt. (S28,SE)
He has retained the period at the end of the short English sentence in (41)
above, thus rendering the two SE sentences as follows:
‫ ) لم تطلب منهم أن يجلسوا‬43 (
(TA2)
17
‫ ) اكتفت بمجرد ا لوقوف أ مام ا لباب وأ نصتت إليهم‬44 (
‫بهدوء حتى توقف ا لناطق بلسانهم متلعثما‬
(TA2)
This is not typical of Arabic punctuation practice, as was said earlier. The
two Arabic sentences above would more normally appear as one sentence
connected by an adversative sentence connector like bal or walaakin. This is in
fact exactly what the other translator, al-Aqqad, has done in his translation,
which points to an instance of punctuation transfer from Arabic
‫ ) لم تدعهم ا لى ا لجلوس ولكنها وقفت با لباب وأ صغت في‬45 (
‫هدوء ا لى أن انتهى متحدثهم من حديثه‬
(TA1)
In the same vein, we notice that in his Arabic translation of the four
sentences in Paragraph Six of the source text, viz., sentences 23 through 26
in Faulkner's short story, Abdulla has retained all the four sentence-final
periods of the SE text. Al-Aqqad, on the other hand, has used commas and/or
explicit sentence connectors to join all four SE sentences into one long
'major' sentence. Thus, the whole of Paragraph Six in the SE text, which
comprises four sentences, has been rendered into a one-sentence paragraph in
al-Aqqad's translation. This, as well as the instances cited above, is yet
another result of the transfer of punctuation conventions from Arabic in alAqqad's translation. Conversely, Abdulla's retention of the four sentencefinal periods in his Arabic translation of Paragraph Six of the source text is a
clear piece of evidence pointing to punctuation transfer from the English source
text.
Another instance of punctuation transfer involving the retention of the period
can be seen in the translation of the following two sentences from the SE text by
al-Aqqad:
(46) Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity. (S6, SE)
18
(47) Colonel Saratoris invented an involved tale to the effect that [...]
(S7, SE)
‫ كال‬. . . ‫ ) وما كان معنى هذا أن السيدة إميلي تقبل ا لصدقة‬48 (
(TAl)
) . . .( ‫ ) بل كان ا لكولونيل سرتوريس قد ابتدع قصته ليفهم الناس أن‬49 (
(TAl)
However, a comma seems more appropriate, according to Arabic punctuation
rules, for joining sentences (48) and (49) above. Abdulla, the second
translator, has in fact used a comma in this case to link the above SE (46) and
(47) as follows;
‫ فأبتكر الكولونيل سارتورس حكاية معقدة‬،‫ ) ولم تكن اآلنسة إميلي من ا لنوع ا لذي يقبل با لصدقة‬50 (
) . . . ( ‫أساسها‬
(TA2)
Eight ATAs have also used a comma, like Abdulla. But al-Aqqad opted, as
shown above in (48) and (49), to retain the SE period in his rendering of SE
(46) and (47). This retention by al-Aqqad of the SE period seems once again
to represent the influence of punctuation transfer due to translation from the
SE text, which is manifested in this case by the tendency to use periods at the
end of short sentences.
2.2.2. Period substitution
The second column in Table Two above shows the number of cases in
which the periods in the English source text have been substituted with other
punctuation marks like the comma, deletion dots, the exclamation mark, etc.
A quick overview of the table shows that there are 22 such instances of
period substitution found in al-Aqqad's translation of Section I of the SE
text, compared to only 2 cases in Abdulla's translation. This vast discrepancy
between the two translators in using this translation option, viz. period
substitution, points to the different sources and types of influence the two
translators were exposed to. Whereas al-Aqqad generally seems to enjoy
more freedom in departing from the punctuation usage of the English source
19
text, Abdulla demonstrates once again that in the majority of cases, he
closely abides by the SE punctuation marks. Adherence to Arabic
punctuation conventions appears to be behind al-Aqqad's tendency to part
with the punctuation usage of the English source text, whereas the
punctuation of the source text seems to play the dominant role in Abdulla's
translation.
As was already briefly mentioned in 2.2.1. above, al-Aqqad, though less
than Abdulla, has retained the sentence-concluding periods of many SE
sentences in his translation. However, he has also opted for replacing the
sentence-final periods of many other SE sentences, short ones in particular,
by commas and joining them to one or more longer sentences. This sentenceconjoining process was carried out, for example, in al-Aqqad's translation of
three SE sentences in (51) below, where he replaces the two intervening
periods with linking commas to produce the long 'major' sentence shown in
(52):
(51) "I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me.
Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy
yourselves". (S31-33,SE)
‫ ولعل أحدكم‬،‫ بهذا أخبرني ا لكولونيل سرتوريس‬،‫ي ضرائب في جيفرسون‬
ّ ‫ ) ليس عل‬52 (
‫ ويقنعكم بما يجده هناك‬،‫يرجع الى سجالت ا لمدينة‬
(TA1)
On the other hand, Abdulla retains all the SE periods in (51) above in his
translation, as seen in (53):
‫ ربما‬.‫ لقد أوضح ا لكولونيل سارتورس ا لموضوع لي‬.‫ي ضرائب في جيفرسون‬
ّ ‫ ) ليست عل‬53 (
.‫يستطيع أحدكم ا لحصول على إذن لألطالع على سجالت المدينة فترتاحوا‬
(TA2)
Both al-Aqqad and Abdulla have joined the following short SE sentence by a
comma to the one adjacent to it in the source text:
(54) Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity. (S6, SE)
In his translation, al-Aqqad has joined the short sentence in (54) above to the
directly preceding long sentence in the SE text. Abdulla, on the other hand, has
chosen to annex (54) above to the immediately following long sentence in the
source text. This is another case where both translators have conformed to the
Arabic punctuation tradition of not granting short sentences an independent
20
orthographic status. It may be worthwhile to note that nine out of the ten ATAs
agreed with Abdulla and used a comma in their own punctuation of the Arabic
passage to join (54) above to the sentence which directly follows it in the TA text;
none of them has retained the period. This instance can therefore be taken to
represent yet another trace of punctuation transfer from Arabic, the native language
of the translators.
Finally in this sub-section, it remains to quickly examine instances where the
period in the SE text has been replaced in the Arabic translation by punctuation
marks other than by the comma. This specific type of punctuation substitution was
exclusively used by al-Aqqad, as can be seen from Table Two. In eight sentences
of Section I of the SE text, al-Aqqad has replaced the period with two or three
consecutive dots. Similarly, he has replaced the SE period with exclamation
marks in four SE sentences, and by a colon in one.
In his translation of the third sentence in the SE text, al-Aqqad has replaced the
sentence-final period in the English text by three dots. The three dots are
normally used in both English and Arabic as a punctuation mark signalling
the deletion of one or more words. Al-Aqqad has used this punctuation mark
despite the fact that he has not deleted any segment in his translation of this
sentence in the SE text. Consequently his use of the three dots instead of
the sentence-final period of the SE text is questionable. As was pointed out
in 2.2,1. above, the other unsystematic use of the three-dot punctuation mark
by al-Aqqad is found in his translation of sentences (4) and (8) of the SE
text. These two sentences in the English source text as well as in its Arabic
translation are declarative paragraph-concluding sentences which are to be
typically punctuated by a terminal period in both languages. Yet, al-Aqqad
has opted for closing these sentences in his translation by three dots each. This
use of the deletion dots is again based on no rules of Arabic punctuation; it
seems only to point to the observable instability in the use of punctuation
marks in Arabic texts due to the lack of well-established punctuation standards
and traditions.
Another instance of al-Aqqad's unsystematic use of punctuation marks in his
TA text is the use of two consecutive dots to replace three sentence-final
periods in three sentences of the SE text. In his translation of SE sentences
(17),(25), and (35), al-Aqqad has replaced the terminal period with two
consecutive dots. This punctuation substitution is quite confusing indeed,
since no reference whatsoever has been made in the literature reviewed of
such a punctuation mark either in English or in Arabic! This bizarre use of
the two consecutive dots represents yet another example of the fluid status
21
of the use of punctuation marks in Arabic texts even at the hands of wellknown text writers and translators like al-Aqqad.
To conclude our discussion on the replacement of the SE period in the
Arabic translations, we examine below two sentences where the period in the
SE text was replaced by an exclamation mark in the TA text, and a third SE
sentence in which the period was replaced by a colon. As was briefly pointed
out in the first paragraph of 2.2.1 above, the replacement of the period by an
exclamation mark in al-Aqqad's translation of sentences (39) and (43) of the
SE text goes along with punctuation standards in Arabic, where the
exclamation mark is used to conclude sentences which express strong
emotions and feelings. In the SE text, Miss Emily was very upset when
uttering sentences (39) and (43) as part of a long, angry reply to a charge
accusing her of evading tax payments. As for the replacement of the period in
the SE text by a colon, this can be found in al-Aqqad's translation of the
following two consecutive SE sentences:
(55) Her voice was dry and cold. (S30,SE)
(56) "I have no taxes in Jefferson [...]" (S31, SE)
In his translation, al-Aqqad has joined the two sentences above by a colon and
has introduced the verb qaalat in his translation of (55) above. He has thus
rendered the above two SE sentences into Arabic as:
‫ ليس علي ضرائب في جيفرسون‬:‫ ) قالت وفي صوتها جفاف وبرودة‬57 (
)...(
(TA1)
Al-Aqqad's decision to join the two SE sentences in his translation is
justified, since (56) above does in fact represent what Miss Emily actually
said. Hence, the translator opted for introducing a verb of saying in his
translation of (55), and joined what was actually said in (56) above to (55) by
a colon. This use of the colon when preceded by a verb of saying, instead of
using quotation marks for direct speech, is very common in Arabic (see alRawsan, 80, al-Sheikh, 153, & Ibrahim, 91 among others). Al-Aqqad's
replacements of the period with a colon or an exclamation mark can thus be
viewed as further instances representing transfer from Arabic.
2.2.3 Period deletion
Instances under this translation option, viz., the deletion in the TA texts of SE
periods, are the fewest in number compared to period retention and period
substitution. Only eight SE periods were deleted in the translation, as can be
seen by referring to Table Two above. In two of these instances, both
22
translators agreed on the deletion of the SE period, which leads us to begin
by examining these two instances. The two sentences from the source text
below
(58) "See Colonel Saratoris". (S45, SE)
(59) The Negro appeared. (S49, SE)
were translated by Abdulla as in (60) and (61), respectively:
" ‫ ) " راجعوا ا لكولونيل سارتورس‬60 (
(TA2)
‫ ) فظهر ا لزنجي‬61 (
(TA2)
The other translator, al-Aqqad, has translated (59) above as in (62) below,
but has chosen to delete (58) altogether.
‫ ) ثم ظهر ا لزنجي‬62 (
(TA1)
Al-Aqqad's decision to delete (58) above in his translation seems to be due to
the fact that this sentence is a repetition of an identical sentence occurring
just two sentences ahead of it in the source text. What is more important,
however, is that both translators seem to have been motivated to delete the SE
periods of (58) and (59) by the fact that these two sentences are too short to
be granted the status of full orthographic sentences according to the
standards of Arabic punctuation, as was pointed out earlier. Consequently,
al-Aqqad has joined SE (59) to the immediately following sentence in his
translation by using the resultative sentence connector fa as in (63) below:
) . . . ( ‫ ) ثم ظهر ا لزنجي فأومأت إليه أن‬63 (
(TA1)
23
Similarly, Abdulla has joined (60) and (61) above to the sentence which
directly follows them in his translation. It is rather odd, however, to find that
Abdulla has used no linking sentence connectors to join the two sentences, as
would normally be done in Arabic. Thus we have
‫ ( كان ا لكولونيل سارتورس قد توفي منذ أكثر من عشر‬،‫ ) راجعوا ا لكولونيل سارتورس‬64 (
‫ ليست علي ضرائب في جيفرسن‬،) ‫سنوات‬
(TA2)
" ‫ ) فظهر ا لزنجي " رافق هؤالء السادة الى ا لباب‬65 (
(TA2)
The fact remains that in deleting the sentence-final periods of the Arabic
sentences (60) through (62), both translators were under the influence of
Arabic punctuation usage. These instances are then all representative of
punctuation transfer from Arabic, the native language of the two translators.
The deletion of SE sentence-final periods in translation due to transfer from
Arabic is also manifest in many other instances where the periods concluding
SE sentences like the following have been deleted by one translator or the
other:
(66) The negro led them into the parlor.(S19, SE)
(67) "1 received a paper, yes, " Miss Emily said. (S37, SE)
It is to be noticed that both sentences above are short; hence, they are typically
not to be concluded by periods in Arabic, but rather to be annexed to
expected or following sentences. AI-Aqqad has faithfully adhered to this
Arabic punctuation practice in his translation of (67) above, and has thus
deleted the sentence-final period and joined it to the sentence following it, as
can be seen from (68) below:
) . . . ( ‫ أجل لقد تسلمت ورقة ممن يعتبر نفسه‬:‫ ) قا لت السيدة إميلي‬68 (
(TA1)
The same translator, however, seems to have flouted this Arabic punctuation
usage in his translation of SE (66) above. Instead of deleting the sentencefinal period as he has done with (67) above, he has opted to retain the period
24
used in sentence (66) above and sentence (69) below which immediately
follows it in the English source text:
(69) It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture. (S20, SE)
were thus rendered as two separate sentences into Arabic by Al-Aqqad as in
(70) below:
‫ وهي مفروشة بأثاث ثقيل مغطى با لجلد‬.‫ ) ومن ثم قادهم الى قاعة االستقبال‬70 (
(AT1)
Structurally, however, the above two Arabic 'sentences' form but one
sentence, since all of the second is in fact a dependent adjectival phrase
modifying the noun ‫ قاعة األستقبال‬in the first. The use of the medial period in
(70) above is thus structurally inadmissible and, consequently,
unacceptable in Arabic, as can be seen from comparing (70) to Abdulla's
(73) below. This instance of SE period retention in the TA text can only be
understood to have resulted from copying the punctuation usage of the source
text. Moreover, this particular instance of transfer from the source text has
resulted in a punctuation error in the Arabic translated text; it can therefore
be considered as a case of punctuation interference due to translation from
the English source text.On the other hand, Abdulla's Arabic rendering of
sentences (66) and (67) above was as follows:
) . . . ( ‫ ) قادهم الزنجي الى ردهة الدار التي‬71 (
(TA2)
) . . . ( ‫ قالت اآلنسة إميلي‬." ‫ نعم‬،‫ ) "تسلمت قصاصة ورق‬72 (
(TA2)
Abdulla has adhered to the punctuation of the source text in his TA (72),
and has consequently retained the sentence-final period. Though not yet
widespread, this use of a sentence-final period to conclude short sentences is
a fledgling tendency in Arabic punctuation usage, as was already said above.
Nevertheless, Abdulla's use of the period in (72) above is bizarre, since he
unjustifiably splits the SE sentence quoted in (67) above into two sentences
in translation. On the other hand, Abdulla's punctuation of (71) in his
translation of (66) above is more in accordance with the Arabic punctuation
practice of deleting the final period in a short sentence. Abdulla has deleted
the final period of this sentence and joined it to (69) above, the sentence
which immediately follows it in the English source text. Thus, he produces
(73) below;
25
‫ ) قادهم ا لزنجي الى ردهة الدار التي كانت مؤثثة بأثاث ثقيل ومغطى بالجلد‬73 (
(TA2)
Abdulla's translation and punctuation of (73) above is yet another indication
of punctuation transfer from the translator's native language.
3 - Conclusions and Suggestions
3.1. Conclusions
The present study has shown that the punctuation of translated Arabic (TA)
texts is subject to influences which come both from the punctuation of
English, the source text, and from the punctuation of Arabic, the target
language of translation in this case as well as the native language of the
translator(s). The following conclusions were drawn on the basis of the
above Arabic-English contrastive text analysis:
a. Transfer from English, the source language, was detected in the
punctuation of the TA texts in many instances. Most obvious of these are the
cases of period retention after short sentences (see 2.2.1.), a punctuation
practice which is not yet typical.
b. Transfer from English may, sometimes result in punctuation errors in the
TA texts. Such cases, as seen, for instance, in the punctuation of sentence
(12) above, may consequently be considered as representative of instances
of punctuation interference from the source language.
c. Transfer from Arabic, the target language as well as the native language
of the two translators, was found to be responsible for many punctuation
phenomena in the TA texts. TA sentences, for example, with comma deletion
in 2.1.1. and period deletion in 2.2.3, represent instances of such punctuation
transfer.
d. Punctuation rules listed in Arabic references do not always represent the
actual facts of punctuation usage in TA texts. Reference to such prescriptive
rules is made in the comments on sentences (17), (18) and (26) above.
e. Different translators arc subject to different degrees of punctuation transfer
from the source text and/or the target language depending on their educational
and linguistic backgrounds. It was seen in many instances in the punctuation of
the TA texts that transfer from Arabic was more manifest in al-Aqqad's TA text,
whereas transfer from English was more evident in Abdulla's translation. The
former was brought up in a more traditional Arabic atmosphere in Egypt, while
the latter was more open to the linguistic influences from English as a result of
26
his undergraduate and post-graduate studies in English language and
literature. For such instances of discrepancy between the two translators, see
sections 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 on period retention and period substitution, for example.
f. New punctuation trends are evolving in TA texts. Examples of such
fledgling punctuation practices are the use of two commas to set off parenthetical
sentence elements, as in sentence (31), as well as the use of sentence-final
periods to conclude short sentences, like (34), (35), (36), (37), (74), and (75).
g. Discrepancies in the punctuation usage between the two translators, the
ten ATAs, as well as inconsistencies within the punctuation practice of the same
translator show that punctuation in TA texts, and in Arabic texts in general, is still
in a state of fluidity. Reference to instances of this lack of well-established
punctuation standards is found in the comments made on the punctuation of
sentences (28) and (29), as well as in the fifth paragraph of 2.2.2
3.2. Suggestions
a. More descriptive and contrastive studies on the use of punctuation marks
in TA texts are needed. The use of punctuation marks other than just the
comma and the period should be investigated. Such studies should also not
be exclusively restricted to literary texts; other text types should also be
included. Scientific and journalistic texts, for example, are expected to be
more open to influences from the English punctuation system.
b.
Larger corpora need to be examined so as to arrive at more reliable
conclusions. The vast potential of the computer could be made use of in the
analysis of such large-scale data.
c. Practising and prospective English-Arabic translators ought to be made
aware of punctuation conventions found in both languages. The results of
such descriptive and contrastive studies on punctuation norms, as in (a) and
(b) above, for example, could be made available to translators in style-sheet
manuals.
27
References
- Abdulla, A. 1986. al-naqd al-tat
Dar al-Shu'uun al-Thaqaafiya
-tah
li (Applied Analytical Criticism). Baghdad:
- Abu Ajmiya, M. 1998. al-lugha al-‘arabiyya (The Arabic Language). Amman, Jordan: Dar
al-Hilal
- Abu Haltam, N. 1988. al-murshid fi al-imla:? (A Guide to Dictation). Doha, Qatar: Dar
al-Thaqa:fa.
- Abu Hamda, M. 1994. fann il-kita:ba wa tta‘bi:r (The Art of Writing and Expression),
Jordan: al-Aqs a Bookshop.
- AI-Aqqa:d, A. 1983. alwa:n min al-qis as
al-Anglo Bookshop.
-qas
ra (Types of the Short Stories). Cairo:
- Al-Awni, A. 1997. "muqa:raba ta:ri:khiyya li ‘ala:ma:t al-tarqi:m". (A Historical Approach to
Punctuation Marks), ‘a:lam il-fikr 26 (2), 265-318.
- Al-Khuli, F. 1988. dali:l il-imala:? wa qawa:‘id l-kitaaba al-‘arabiyya (Guide to Dictation
and Rules of Arabic Writing). Cairo: Wahba Bookshop.
- Al-Rawsan, S. 1989. asa:siya:t fi ta‘l:im maba:di? al-imlaa? wal tarqi:m
(Fundamentals of Teaching Principles of Dictation and Punctuation).
- Al-Sheikh, A. 1993. qawa:‘id il-kita:ba al-‘arabiyya wal inshaa? (Rules of Arabic
Writing and Composition).
- Baker, M. 1993, "Corpus Linguistics and Translation Studies: Implications and
Applications". In Baker, M. (ed.) Text and Technology: In Honour of John Sinclair, 233250. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: Benjamins.
- Crystal, D. (ed.) 1995. "Punctuation", The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English
Language. Cambridge: The University Press.
- Faulkner, W. 1991. "A Rose for Emily". In Bain et al (eds.) The Introduction to
Literature, 69-76. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.
- Gellerstam, M. 1996. "Translation as a Source for Cross- Linguistic Studies". In
Aijmer; K. el al (eds.) Languages in Contrast, 53-62. Lund: Lund University Press.
- Ibrahim, A. (?) al-imla:? wal tarqi:m (Dictation and Punctuation). Cairo: Ghareeb
Bookshop.
28
- Khafaji, R. 1998. "Punctuation Marks in Original Arabic Texts". (Forthcoming: paper
presented at the Fourteenth International Conference on Language, Linguistics,
Literature and Translation held at Yarmouk University, Jordan).
- Muhaidat, M. and Z. Borini. 1989. al-bas
to Arabic), Jordan: Irbib, Dar al-Kindi.
-‘arabiyya (The Simple Guide
- Qassim, A. 1989 qawa:‘id il-kita:ba al-‘arabiyya (Rules of Arabic Writing), al-Falah
Bookshop.
- Webster's New World Dictionary. 1993. "Guide to Punctuation, Mechanics, and
Manuscript Form", 1680-1683.