Translating structural pause in the Qur’an

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Bakri Al-Azzam
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Great Effort ◽  
Observable Feature ◽  
Semantic Value ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon ◽  
Problematic Aspect

This study aims to investigate the translation of syntactic pause as an under-researched linguistic observable feature from Arabic into English, with particular reference to Qur’anic examples. Due to the lack of studies in this area, and because the phenomenon has not been treated sufficiently in Qur’anic and non-Qur’anic discourses, Qur’anic verses illustrating the point are sampled, analyzed and discussed so as to uncover the difficulties and to suggest translation solutions. A handful of authentic and authoritative Qur’anic exegeses are consulted, in addition to three translations of the Qur’an, in an attempt to explore the role such interpretations can play in rendering the possible syntactic meanings into English. This makes it possible to provide a solid syntactic-translational ground for assigning syntactic-semantic value to the pause in the selected examples. This also allows the author to point out the problematic aspect of this linguistic phenomenon, where two acceptable readings of one syntactic structure can emerge. This study demonstrates that syntactic pause in the Qur’an presents certain challenges for the translator and requires great effort to render faithfully in the target language. The study also suggests how immediate and broader contexts can guide the translator in prioritizing one interpretation over another

Hedges and All That

Babel ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Ríos
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Julian Barnes ◽  
Formal Equivalence ◽  
Discourse Particles ◽  
Pragmatic Function ◽  
The Common ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

Summary The following is a study of a set of various linguistic items, from the so-called discourse particles to whole clauses, which perform the pragmatic function of compromising. We discuss them here under the common heading "hedge". A revision of the literature on English hedges precedes what appear to be their semantic and pragmatic equivalents in Spanish, as illustrated by their distribution in the translation into Spanish of Julian Barnes' novel Talking It Over (Hablando del Asunto) and the English and Spanish editions of the Mediterranean Magazine, which are the reference points for the whole discussion. The formal divergences in the translation of hedges reflected in Hablando del Asunto converge upon the difficulty of rendering compromising attitudes, on the part of the speaker, by linguistic means which differ in the two languages. Whilst there is usually formal equivalence between English and Spanish as far as clause-terminal tags and disclaimers are concerned, the difficulties seem to be that the latter possesses a wider range of semantically equivalent verbs whereas the former resorts mainly to modal expressions and detensifying adverbs. Following Hübler's (1981) distinction between internal and external gradators, we envisage the differences in the distribution of hedges as being in strict correlation with a greater flexibility in the Spanish syntactic structure. The fact that the Spanish version lacks hedging devices present in the original leads us to consider the role of pragmatics in translation in order to account for vagueness as a linguistic phenomenon that reflects compromising attitudes on the part of the speaker which should be conveyed into the target language, if not by semantically equivalent phrases, at least by pragmatically equivalent means. Résumé L'article qui suit est une étude des différents termes linguistiques, allant de ce qu'on appelle des particules de discours jusqu'aux propositions entières, qui remplissent la fonction pragmatique de compromis. Nous les discutons ici sous le titre commun de "hedge". Une révision de la littérature concernant les "hedges" anglais précède ce qui semble être leurs équivalents sémantiques et pragmatiques en espagnol, comme l'illustre leur présence dans la traduction en espagnol du roman de Julian Barnes Talking It Over ainsi que les éditions anglaises et espagnoles du Mediterranean Magazine, qui sont les ouvrages de référence pour la discussion. Les divergences formelles dans la traduction des "hedges" reflétées dans Talking It Over convergent sur la difficulté d'interprétation des attitudes de compromis, de la part de l'orateur, par des moyens linguistiques qui sont différents dans les deux langues. Tandis qu'il y a généralement une équivalence formelle entre l'anglais et l'espagnol en ce qui concerne les "tags" en fin de proposition et les "disclaimers", la difficulté semble être que l'espagnol possède une plus grande gamme de verbes sémantiquement équivalents alors que l'anglais a principalement recours à des expressions modales et des adverbes de non-intensification. Suivant la distinction de Hiibler (1981) entre les graduants internes et externes, nous envisageons les différences dans 1'occurence des "hedges" comme étant en stricte corrélation avec une plus grande flexibilité de la structure syntaxique espagnole. Le fait que la version espagnole manque de termes de compromis présents dans l'original nous amène a considérer le rôle de la pragmatique dans la traduction afin d'exprimer le vague en tant que phénomène linguistique qui reflète des attitudes de compromis de la part de l'orateur. Celles-ci devraient être transmises dans le langage ciblé, si non par des expressions sémantiquement équivalentes, au moins par des moyens pragmatiquement équivalents.

Efficient Phrase Table pruning for Hindi to English machine translation through syntactic and marker-based filtering and hybrid similarity measurement

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-210
Author(s):  
NILADRI CHATTERJEE ◽  
SUSMITA GUPTA
Keyword(s):  
Machine Translation ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Similarity Measurement ◽  
Translation System ◽  
Training Corpus ◽  
Generative Process

AbstractFor a given training corpus of parallel sentences, the quality of the output produced by a translation system relies heavily on the underlying similarity measurement criteria. A phrase-based machine translation system derives its output through a generative process using a Phrase Table comprising source and target language phrases. As a consequence, the more effective the Phrase Table is, in terms of its size and the output that may be derived out of it, the better is the expected outcome of the underlying translation system. However, finding the most similar phrase(s) from a given training corpus that can help generate a good quality translation poses a serious challenge. In practice, often there are many parallel phrase entries in a Phrase Table that are either redundant, or do not contribute to the translation results effectively. Identifying these candidate entries and removing them from the Phrase Table will not only reduce the size of the Phrase Table, but should also help in improving the processing speed for generating the translations. The present paper develops a scheme based on syntactic structure and the marker hypothesis (Green 1979, The necessity of syntax markers: two experiments with artificial languages, Journal of Verbal Learning and Behavior) for reducing the size of a Phrase Table, without compromising much on the translation quality of the output, by retaining the non-redundant and meaningful parallel phrases only. The proposed scheme is complemented with an appropriate similarity measurement scheme to achieve maximum efficiency in terms of BLEU scores. Although designed for Hindi to English machine translation, the overall approach is quite general, and is expected to be easily adaptable for other language pairs as well.

scholarly journals Debate in Translating Nouns in the Holy Quran

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Islam Al Momani ◽  
Nibal Malkawi ◽  
Mona Smadi ◽  
Raed Khasawneh
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Great Effort ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Holy Quran ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Holy Quran ◽  
Target Culture

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the semantic issues and problems related to nouns that some translators in their translation of the Holy Quran, couldn't translate it successfully such as Abdullah Yusuf and Souleymane Kanté. Although they did a great effort and their translation is successful but they fail to convey the meaning to some nouns. The researcher tried to introduce some suggestions to improve translation of nouns in the Holy Quran by explaining some of these issues, and not to undermine these translations.As the terminology of the Quran reflects the history of the rise of a monotheistic religion in Arabia, the terminology of its translation into Maninka reflects the long history of islamization of the Manding-speaking peoples, Souleymane Kanté's translation as an example.  On the other hand, some Arabic translations to English are also available, Abdullah Yusuf's translation as an example.The researcher investigated troubles these two translators face in translating the Holy Quran by providing some examples. It was clear that Yusufs' translation based on finding equivalent of nouns of the Quran in the target culture which is not always available, while Kante's translation based on that there are many words in the target language which can stand for any noun in the Holy Quran.The researcher concludes that Kante's translation is better and more professional because languages develops and translators must always find equivalent words in the target culture to convey the meaning they are seeking to explain.  

SYNTACTIC TRANSFORMATIONS IN TRANSLATING A SCIENCE ARTICLE

2020 ◽  
pp. 68-80
Author(s):  
O. O. Mykhailenko
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Sentence Structure ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Scientific Texts ◽  
Original Sentence ◽  
Language Norms ◽  
Science Article

Publishing the research results in a science article with an international professional journal is an optimal way of sharing the information about newest discoveries in the world of science and technology. Not all scientists have a command of English sufficient for writing a science article, in compliance with high language requirements of leading scientific journals. So, the services of highly-qualified translators of scientific texts into English are in great request, and Ukraine is not an exception. Apart from the basic components of translator’s professional competence, especially important is the knowledge of norms of the modern English language scientific discourse. A translator of scientific texts is to have solid knowledge of grammar of source and target languages, regularities in rendering grammar forms and constructions, translation transformations. The largest number of grammar problems in translation is related to understanding the syntactic structure of sentences and a translator’s ability to make necessary transformations. Our research was aimed at analyzing the role of syntactic transformations in reaching the adequacy in English translation of Ukrainian language articles from scientometric journals. The analysis proved that the majority of syntactic transformations were used to bring the source text in conformity with the target language norms. The measure of translation transformations was generally adequate, though there were cases of non-use of syntactic transformations where they were necessary. Grammar literalism was also observed, due to translator’s insufficient understanding of the sentence structure, lack of knowledge of grammar peculiarities of the target language and translation solutions available for solving a particular translation problem. A translator of scientific texts should be particularly attentive to the syntax of the original sentence, analyse it properly, identify grammar phenomena that may cause translation problems and may need syntactic transformations, and build a translated sentence in accordance with the science language norms.

scholarly journals syntax of small clause predication

2001 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 153-170
Author(s):  
Joan Rafel
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Small Clause ◽  
Clause Structure ◽  
Semantic Value ◽  
Syntactic Behavior

In this paper I put forward and justify a syntactic configuration that I call Complex Small Clause-structure. I show that this single syntactic structure can explain both the semantic value and the syntactic behavior of a range of constructions that up to now have been explored separately and, hence, proposed divergent analyses among them.  

scholarly journals THE EXISTENCE OF ARABIC LANGUAGE IN INDONESIAN SOURCE TEXT AND ENGLISH TARGET TEXT

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 990-1003
Author(s):  
Erlina Zulkifli Mahmud ◽  
Bima Bayusena ◽  
Ratna Erika Mawarrani
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Method ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Arabic Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Single Procedure ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Linguistic Units ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

Purpose: To study the existence of the Arabic language in the Indonesian language mostly limited to terms used in Islam religion. Methodology: This article discusses the existence of Arabic literature in the Indonesian source text, a novel with the life in a pesantren as the setting, where the author of the source text needs to translate the Arabic expressions used in the story into Indonesian. Then from the Indonesian source text, the novel is translated into English. The method used in this research is the descriptive comparative method. The leading theory used for this research is the strategies of Translation by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), what Arabic linguistic units involved in the Indonesian source text, and what strategy of conversion used by the author and the translator become the objectives of this research. Principal Findings: The results show that the Arabic linguistic units found are ranging from a word into a clause or sentence, and the strategies of Translation used in the target text do not always deal with one single procedure; sometimes, it involves a combination of some procedures. Applications of this study: The translation work may lead to similar as well as a contrastive linguistic phenomenon. People can learn more about languages involving in a translation, particularly when the structures of the source and target language are compared linguistically. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study covers the gap left in the previous research carried out by the same team entitled “Translation Equivalences of Islamic Terms in the Novel (The Land of Five Towers ‘Negeri Lima Menara’). This previous research used the same data source, Arabic expressions, in the novel. It focused more on the Arabic feelings relating to Islamic terms, such as names of five obligational prayers, names of optional prayers, activities in shalat, or praying. The rest of the Arabic phrases which are not used in this previous research are left unstudied.

scholarly journals Spaces of Meanings and Translators’ Identities

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
Conscious Choice ◽  
Culture Models ◽  
Language User ◽  
The One ◽  
Target Culture

<p>The focus of the paper is the analysis of translators’ identities as expressed in Polish-to-English and English-to-Polish translations understood in terms of informed choices from spaces of meanings. The first part of the paper deals with the relation of approximate correspondences between thought and reality on the one hand, and between thought, image, linguistic system and cultural emotional type on the other.  The concept of semantic approximation in communication, introduced in Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (2010, 2012) is shown to be conditioned by cognitive categorization problems of the language user, as well as a conscious  choice of the syntactic structure and meanings in discourse. The conscious choices from meaning spaces are motivated by the translator’s subjective intentions, as well as constraints imposed by the Target Language systems (displaced equivalence patterns), limitation on the translator’s linguistic repertory  and by Source Culture and Target Culture models and conventions. In the second part the study an interpretation is proposed of semantic and cultural SL and TL similarities, meaning displacement and reconceptualization in monolingual and intercultural communication and translation to account for the translator’s linguistic and cultural identity dynamics, with a varying emotional message. It is illustrated by examples of Polish-to-English and English-to-Polish translations.</p>

scholarly journals Verb Phrase and Its Translations Found in the Novel “Budha, a Story of Enlightenment”

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 505-518
Author(s):  
I Made Juliarta
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Target Language ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Translation Analysis ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Higher Rank ◽  
English Verb

This study aims at analyzing the syntactic structure of the verb phrase and its translation process occurred.  This study also analyzes the kinds of shifts of verb phrase occurred in the translation process from English into Indonesia.  This study is a descriptive qualitative study.  The theory used in analyzing data is the theory proposed by Catford and Radford (1988). The theory used in analyzing the data source is the theory in translation especially in shifts of translation and the theory in syntax in order to analyze the verb phrases found in the data source. There are 12 verb phrases as data of this study. The verb in the data source can be categorized as an Indonesian verb. It can be seen from the text that is available in the data source, that the verb phrase in the source language can be transferred into an Indonesian verb in the target language Then, there are some steps applied in this study, the first step of this research is to collect the data source found in the novel The Budha, a Story of Enlightenment. The second step is to read and identify the text in the novel The Budha, a Story of Enlightenment containing the verb phrase. The next step is to take some texts, analyze and interpret the data, and finally draw a conclusion. The verb phrase found in the novel The Budha, a Story of Enlightenment was identified by the researcher. And this study continued in analyzing the translation process occurred. The result of translation analysis of the text shows that there is a shift occurred in all the 12 processes of translating English verb phrase into Indonesian. 8 are classified as changing into lower rank and 4 are classified as changing into a higher rank. 

scholarly journals أسلوب ترجمة المجاز إلى التشبيه : دراسة للنصوص القرآنية المترجمة إلى اللغة الملايوية

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Nasimah Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Arabic Text ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
Semantic Fields ◽  
Translation Methods ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon ◽  
Significant Attention

Obviously, the term (المجاز ) has been given significant attention by the Arab traditional scholars as well as the modern scholars, especially those involved in semantic fields. There are several terms attributed to (المجاز ) such as (المعاني المجازية ), (التعابير المجازية ) and ( الدلالة المجازية ) until they are almost considered as having different concepts. As figurative meaning is a linguistic phenomenon that transcends its literal meaning, its translation is regarded as one of the crucial problems in conveying accurate meaning from one language to another. It is often difficult to ensure precise translation for figurative meaning due to its relationship with cultural, social, and semantic factors, in addition to people of a particular community who usually look at things from their own perspective. As a result, the translator will sometimes choose certain translation methods to overcome the problem of interpreting to clarify the intended meaning of the source text. From this point of view, this paper aims to study Quranic texts translated into the Malay language, and then analyze them to discover the effectiveness of the translation method used that is to translate metaphor into simile as well as to suggest a better translation that could attain the nearest connotation intended by the original Arabic text. This study employs descriptive, analytical, and comparative methods on selected Quranic translations in the Malay language by Mahmoud Younus, Abdullah Basmeih, and Zaini Dahlan. The findings show that these translators sometimes change the form of Quranic metonymy and metaphor to the simile in the target language to create a cultural adaptation. This surely confirms that the method of translating metaphor into simile has contributed towards bringing the closest meaning, but this method is rarely used. Therefore, this study suggests applying this method in translating Quranic metonymies, metaphors, and synecdoches to convey the meaning of the Quran clearly and to educate non-Arabic Muslim speakers with the messages of the Quran and its teachings, as well as to avoid inaccuracy of the intended meaning and to retain the usual method that suits the nature of the target language.

scholarly journals MENACE IN THE SEMANTIC AND SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF THE SENTENCE

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
Kuravska N.Yu. ◽  
Tykha U.I.
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Structural Types ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
The Status ◽  
Descriptive Method ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

Purpose. The article deals with the studying of semantics of menace as the means of expression of volitive modality. The purpose of the article is to determine the essence, semantic structure, functional and semantic specificity of menace; to analyze a menace situation in the system of its components, to examine the means of its expression in modern Ukrainian fiction.Methods. We have used method of theoretical and conceptual analysis for critical analysis of concepts available in Ukrainian and foreign linguistics regarding menace, method of continuous fixation of menace utterances from the texts of modern Ukrainian fiction, descriptive method and method of internal interpretation to establish differential features of menace, methods of semantic and functional-pragmatic analysis to characterize the functional-semantic features of menace and the means of its expression in modern Ukrainian fiction, method of contextual analysis, which assumes the existence of some context in which we study and analyze the semantics of menace.Results. The essence, semantic and functional peculiarity of menace compared to other modal manifestations is determined. Menace is a complicated linguistic phenomenon. Its origin is connected with the necessity of representation of the modal meaning of threat. Menace is a special type of volitive modality that realizes semantics of threat by a complex of different means. Menace is characterized by the independence of semantic structure, functional, communicative and pragmatic specificity, diversity of structural types. The peculiarities of the Ukrainian language in semantic and grammar meaning are also indicated.Conclusions. Menace is a mitigatory type of volitive modality, aimed at satisfying the needs, desires and interests of the speaker, and menace utterances are characterized by freedom of choice of the addressee, as he/she makes a decision as to the fulfillment of the action which is beneficial to the addresser. In a menace situation, the status of participants in the communicative process is not significant, and the action is performed by the addressee; menace utterances can be used both in formal and informal situations, they are initiative and normative. Verbal (lexical-semantic, morphological, syntactic) and non-verbal means are used to express menace, that prove and demonstrate illocutionary power of threat.Key words: menace modality, menace semantics, menace, menace utterance, menace situation, menace meaning. Мета. Стаття присвячена вивченню семантики менасива як засобу вираження модальності волевиявлення. Метою стат-ті є розкриття сутності менасива, визначення його семантичної структури і функціонально-семантичної специфіки; розгляд менасивної ситуації в системі її складників; аналіз різнорівневих засобів вираження менасива в художніх текстах сучасної української мови.Методи. У статті використано метод теоретико-концептуального аналізу для критичного аналізу концепцій, наявних в українському й зарубіжному мовознавстві стосовно менасива, метод суцільної фіксації менасивних висловлень із художніх текстів сучасної української мови, описовий метод із використанням прийому внутрішньої інтерпретації для встановлення диференційних ознак менасива, методики функціонально-семантичного й функціонально-прагматичного аналізу для харак-теристики функціонально-семантичних особливостей менасива та засобів його вираження в художніх текстах сучасної укра-їнської мови, а також для дослідження менасива в дії, у процесі його функціонування, метод контекстуального аналізу, який передбачає наявність деякого контексту, у якому вивчаємо й аналізуємо семантику менасива.Результати. У статті розкрито сутність, семантичну й функціональну своєрідність менасива на тлі інших модальних виявів. З’ясовано, що менасив є складним лінгвістичним явищем, виникнення якого пов’язане з необхідністю оформлення одного з видів модальних значень, а саме значення погрози. Визначено, що менасив є особливим типом волевиявлення, що реалізує семантику погрози сукупністю різнорівневих засобів. З’ясовано, що для менасива характерні незалежність семан-тичної структури, функціональна, комунікативна і прагматична специфіка, різноманітність структурних типів. У статті також показано специфіку української мови в семантико-граматичному сенсі.Висновки. Автори статті дійшли висновку, що менасив є одним із типів модальності пом’якшеного волевиявлення, спря-мований на задоволення потреб, бажань та інтересів мовця, а для менасивних висловлень характерна наявність свободи вибо-ру в адресата, оскільки він ухвалює рішення про виконання / невиконання дії, яка є бенефактивною для адресанта. У менасив-ній ситуації статус учасників комунікативного процесу несуттєвий, а каузовану дію виконує адресат; менасивні висловлення можуть уживати як в офіційній, так і в неофіційній обстановці, вони є ініціативними й нормативними. Для вираження мена-сива використовують вербальні (лексико-семантичні, морфологічні, синтаксичні) і невербальні засоби, які засвідчують і вияв-ляють іллокутивну силу погрози.Ключові слова: менасивність, менасивна модальність, менасивна семантика, менасив, менасивне висловлення, менасив-на ситуація, менасивне значення.

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