Lexical Non- Equivalence in Translation
ةمجرتلا يف يتادرفملا ؤفاكتلا مدع
A Presentation given by Eyhab A. Bader Eddin
March 30, 2015
Theoretical Setting
▪
1. There is no exact equivalence of meaning between the words of different varieties of languages.
▪
National standards of English use the same lexical items to mean completely different concepts.
▪
A few examples are: (Different words to mean exact objects and concepts)
British English American English
Railway Railroad
Tin Can
Petrol gasoline
Autumn Fall
▪ More confusing words :
▪ Same words to mean different concepts
British English American English
Cider(unless specified as ‘sweet cider’
is ALCOHOLIC
Cider(unless specified as ‘hard cider’
is NONALCOHOLIC
School excludes colleges and universities
School includes colleges and universities
A first –floorflat is the one above the ground floor
A first-floor flat is the one on the ground floor
▪ This has prompted a linguistic phenomenon to sprout, i.e. The difference among languages in referring to the same object, using the same linguistic form.
Lexical Anisomorphism
Or
Lexical Incongruence
Light blue vs Navy blue
▪ Language development does not follow the same lines of semantic thoughts.
▪ . In other words, two corresponding words in English and Arabic do not generate the same polysemes.
▪ There is an overlap in the development of
certain terms and their equivalents.
- A one-to-many lexical equivalence supports the theory that language categorizes areas of meaning differently.
- Languages often do not coincide in seeing the same analogous relationships between
various objects.
ضرأ ةجرد
Earth, ground, floor, estate, region
Step, degree, grade, rank, class
Consciousness figure
روعش ،نادجو ،يعو ،ريمض لاثمت ،مسج ،لكش ،مقر
In contrast to English using a single verb in
collocation with many objects and concepts, Arabic DOES amazingly use a distinct verb for each of them
Break (v)
Glass رسك
Law فلاخ
Record مّـطح
Spell لطبأ
Fast رطفأ
String عطق
Engagement خسف
Promise ثكن
Habit علقأ
Silence دّدب
The multiplicity of words used in Arabic where English uses one word, reveals how the simple actions of ‘breaking’ are perceived by the
English and the Arabs in two strikingly different manners.
Cut Wire
عطق
Bread مسق
Finger حرج
Price ضّـفـخ
Lecture عطاق
The Arabic kinship system, as opposed to its English counterpart, is worth reflecting on.
Why?
Cousin
معلا نبا نبا ةمعلا
نبا لاخلا
نبا ةلاخلا
تنب معلا
تنب ةمعلا
تنب لاخلا
تنب ةلاخلا
Based on the previous table, we can say … .
▪ The meanings of these terms are defined –in the Arab society- on the basis of three componential features, namely. Sex, generation and lineality.
▪ It is confusing to an Arab to hear or read the repeated reference to ‘cousins’ without being
able to differentiate the precise nature of kinship
Arabic and English segment another area
differently. The day is roughly divided into 9 basic divisions in Arabic, corresponding to
ONLY 6 in English.
ءاشعلا ءاسملا ( قسغلا )
برغملا رصعلا رهظلا ةادغلا حابصلا رجفلا ( حبصلا )
رحسلا
--- evening --- afternoon noon --- morning Day- break
Dawn
It would be interesting to survey the lexical items used in Arabic to express the division of a crowd into smaller units
Group
ليبق ةمذرش ةّـمل طهر رفن
جوف ةلث ةبث ةفئاط ةبصع
مائف ةلجُز ةرمز بزح ةقرف
لـبُـج ةلبُـج صبِـق ةقيزح ةلزح
Another area of interest would be the
‘ horse gait’
While English uses the following verbs to describe
▪the horse gait (walk, trot, canter, gallop and pace),
Arabic uses فلاو لاجترلإاو ةجلمهلاو قنعلاو بيقرتلاو ،ببخلا
جل
وحدلاو نايدرلاو ىليجعلاو فانخلاو عبضلاو ربضلاو يدقتلاو
جامهلإاو بادهلإاو ءاخرلإاو راضحلإاو جاجملإاو كارتبلااو
)
Translation problems arising from lexical incongruence:
▪ 1. Terms that are ONLY partially equivalent.
▪ One instance might be the use of ” uncle “ as a translation of both “ لاخ ” و “ مع ” .
▪ One more instance is “ ةيلامج ” وأ “ ءاجوع ”
▪ They are rendered instead by ….
“generic terms” or “superordinate lexical item” .
Whereas English has only one main verb ‘love’, Arabic has much more words signifying varying types and intensity of love.
The last example on this type of problems is
….
Love
ىوهلا ىوجلاو فغشلاو جعلالاو ةعوللاو فغشلاو قشعلاو فلكلاو ةقلاعلاو
مايهلاو هلولاو هيلدتلاو لبتلاو ميتلاو
Leonard Bloomfield states boldly and clearly that:
▪ ‘If the forms (of words) are phonemically
different, we suppose that their meanings are also different’.
▪ An example is ‘quick, fast, swift, rapid and
speedy’.
2. Terms with the same referential meaning, but different stylistic value:
▪ Sometimes the only available equivalent to an Arabic word is one which belongs to a different level of usage, and thus with a different stylistic value.
▪ In such cases, a translator is left to dive deep in the sea of language to come up with
‘poetic diction’ or ‘highly literary lexical
items’ .
Here is a table, revealing that:
Standard Arabic Literary
ملق عاري
هافشلا ىمللا
ليحن فجعأ
حيرج ميلك
دعتبا ّروزا
ضغبأ أنش
ةنبل كامدم
Do we have the same in English?
Interestingly enough, Arabic is characterized by the fact that some plurals are associated with poetic echoes or emotive force. How?
Neutral Emotively or poetically Charged
علاضأ علضأ
ءاشحلأا ىشحلا
راهزأ ريهازأ
تاملك ملك
عومد عمدأ
دلاوأ نادلو
3. Terms with the same referential meaning but different connotation
▪ In every linguistic community, there is tacit agreement about the associations and
connotations of words among its speakers.
▪ There are words whose referential meanings have gradually accumulated new emotive
components.
▪ An example is “ ةّـيلو ” وأ “ ةمرح ” whose English
available equivalent is only ‘woman’ .
Why is ‘woman’ not equivalent to the Arabic
ةمرح
”“ وأ
” ةيلو
“ ?
▪ Because the following semantic properties and components are absent from the English given equivalent, namely.
❖ Female inferiority
❖ Veiled and taboo
❖ Weakness or helplessness
4. Terms with the same referential meaning but different intensity.
▪
Look at the following Arabic sentence:
▪ “ هتافارخ ينع ّرج ”
-
One translator gave the equivalent ‘to feed ’ for ع ّرج “ .
-The Arabic verbal pattern ل ّعف implies causation or the
use of force, which are already incorporated by the Arabic verb ع ّرج.
-
