The Impact of Context in English-Arabic Literary Translation With Reference to Pragmatic Ambiguity

Khalaf Hussein, Hikmat; Daham Mhammad, Waffaa

	The Impact of Context in English-Arabic Literary Translation With Reference to Pragmatic Ambiguity
Journal of Tikrit University for the Humanities
Article 1, Volume 23, Issue 2, 2016, Pages 445-474
Authors
Hikmat Khalaf Hussein; Waffaa Daham Mhammad
Abstract
Abstract The text is a set of essential premises that take place in certain context, this text is interchangeable from one state into another according to the perquisites of the context. That is why, one must take this fact into consideration in the process of translation. This is because that every sole utterance is context independent and takes different directions due to contextual exchanges. Thus, context is basically one of the most indispensable perquisites in translation in general and in literary translation in particular. Its importance springs from the fact that the factors of the place and time play an important role in giving dramatic texts their truer deep meaning; besides, the factors of the paralinguistic system, intonation, gestures...etc. Actually, dramatic texts need special situations due to the fact that dramatic texts are written to be acted on the stage so much of the dialogues, interactions between the characters of the play and a great deal of pragmatic aspects that are lost in the process of translation. Therefore, the problem of pragmatic ambiguity is still aroused whether the text is source text or translated text; because its importance and intent cannot be appropriately understood unless it is performed on the stage. In addition to the different interpretations on the part of the same text that can be provided due to the different performers, performance, and played roles. For this reason we stress in our entitled project " The Impact of Context in English – Arabic Literary Translation with Reference to Pragmatic Ambiguity" on the importance of the context in both English and Arabic and the cement relationships that link the context with pragmatics on one hand and the context with translation on the other hand. The data of our study are selected from Shakespearean tragedy ''Macbeth'' which reflects a case of richness in the aforementioned relationships. The data are translated by three different famous translators in which our analysis based on each rendering separately to see: a) To which extent the translators restrict on the context of the original text. b) Whether the translators are able to resolve the problem of pragmatic ambiguity. c) Whether the translators are able to provide appropriate translation. Additionally, this paper also aims at investigating whether the translators succeed in transferring the text correctly according to the requirement of the context and the type of the text. That is to say, whether the translators have traced the exact context of the original text or not. Moreover, the focus is also here on the type of the used context. For example, the type of the context that the translator relies on in his translation, such as the linguistic context, such context connects with the word as a basic unit of the sentence depending on the phonological, morphological, and syntactic properties of the word. This is also attributed to the fact that every word can be issued in different manner to indicate different meaning as well as the syntactic position of the word within the sentence will indicate its function and thereby, enables the translators to find the appropriate equivalent for the sentence or the text. The second type of context is the situational context, such type of context plays vital role in giving texts their real explicit meaning depending on many factors including the conditions and circumstances surrounding the text, the nature of interaction between the characters of the dramatic work, the social status of the addressee and addressors, their circumstances, their psychological states, the relationship between them, the facial expressions, and the body movement. All these factors are elementary constituents in producing a complete, informative and effective rendering. The third type is the cultural context, this type relies on the type of the translated text, for example whether it is scientific, journalistic or literary text. The last type is the sentimental context which is tightly connected with the addressor and addressees' emotional states.

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