(Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics) Ali Almanna - Semantics For Translation Students - Arabic-English-Arabic-Peter Lang LTD (2016)

‘This is an extremely useful, well organised, clearly written, pedagogically
Ali Almanna
oriented work aimed at students of Arabic/English translation. The
chapters are coherently organised and cover a wide range of central
topics in semantics. This book fills a real gap and will be of use to
Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics

students of translation at undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels.’
– James Dickins,
University of Leeds, UK
Semantics for Translation Students

‘Written in a highly pedagogical language and filled with useful examples
and exercises, it aims to give future translators the unquestionably
necessary training in the field of linguistics/semantics and its application
to translation.’
– Juan José Martínez Sierra,
Universitat de València, Spain
‘It is a useful book with clear definitions, lush examples and insightful
summary questions. It will be most welcome for those willing to ground
their intuitions on translation on more solid linguistic (and especially
Semantics for
semantic) foundations.’
– Nicolas Frœliger,
Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7), France
Translation
This book is an introduction to semantics for students and researchers
who are new to the field, especially those interested in Arabic–English
Students
translation and Arabic–English contrastive studies. The book first
presents key concepts in semantics, pragmatics, semiotics, syntax Arabic–English–Arabic
and morphology and gradually introduces readers to the central
questions of semantics. These issues are then analysed and discussed
Ali Almanna
vol. 40
in conjunction with the act of translating between Arabic and English.
Seeking a balance between theoretical developments and empirical
investigation, the book thus provides both a systematic overview
of semantics and an application in the field of English and Arabic
contrastive semantics, hence offering a resource for students and teachers
of Arabic–English translation.
Ali Almanna has a PhD in Translation Studies from the University

of Durham and is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Translation at
Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman. He is a specialist in translation
theory, particularly the theoretical annotation of translation. His recent
publications include The Routledge Course in Translation Annotation.
Peter Lang
ISBN 978-1-906165-58-1
www.peterlang.com
‘This is an extremely useful, well organised, clearly written, pedagogically
Ali Almanna
oriented work aimed at students of Arabic/English translation. The
chapters are coherently organised and cover a wide range of central
topics in semantics. This book fills a real gap and will be of use to
Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics

students of translation at undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels.’
– James Dickins,
University of Leeds, UK
Semantics for Translation Students

‘Written in a highly pedagogical language and filled with useful examples
and exercises, it aims to give future translators the unquestionably
necessary training in the field of linguistics/semantics and its application
to translation.’
– Juan José Martínez Sierra,
Universitat de València, Spain
‘It is a useful book with clear definitions, lush examples and insightful
summary questions. It will be most welcome for those willing to ground
their intuitions on translation on more solid linguistic (and especially
Semantics for
semantic) foundations.’
– Nicolas Frœliger,
Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7), France
Translation
This book is an introduction to semantics for students and researchers
who are new to the field, especially those interested in Arabic–English
Students
translation and Arabic–English contrastive studies. The book first
presents key concepts in semantics, pragmatics, semiotics, syntax Arabic–English–Arabic
and morphology and gradually introduces readers to the central
questions of semantics. These issues are then analysed and discussed
Ali Almanna
vol. 40
in conjunction with the act of translating between Arabic and English.
Seeking a balance between theoretical developments and empirical
investigation, the book thus provides both a systematic overview
of semantics and an application in the field of English and Arabic
contrastive semantics, hence offering a resource for students and teachers
of Arabic–English translation.
Ali Almanna has a PhD in Translation Studies from the University

of Durham and is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Translation at
Sohar University, Sultanate of Oman. He is a specialist in translation
theory, particularly the theoretical annotation of translation. His recent
publications include The Routledge Course in Translation Annotation.
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
Semantics for
Translation StudentS
Contemporary Studies
in Descriptive Linguistics
Vol. 40
Edited by
Professor Graeme Davis & Karl A. Bernhardt
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Ali Almanna
Semantics for
Translation StudentS
Arabic–English–Arabic
PETER LANG
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche NationalÂ�
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Almanna, Ali, author.

Title: Semantics for translation students : Arabic-English-Arabic / Ali
Almanna.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Peter Lang, 2016. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016014193 | ISBN 9781906165581 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Arabic language--Translating into English. | Arabic
language--Semantics. | Arabic language--Composition and exercises.
Classification: LCC PJ6403 .A36 2016 | DDC 428/.02927--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014193
ISSN 1660-9301
ISBN 978-1-906165-58-1 (print) • ISBN 978-3-0353-0840-2 (ePDF)
ISBN 978-1-78707-122-3 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78707-123-0 (mobi)
© Peter Lang AG 2016
Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,

52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom
oxford@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com
Ali Almanna has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this Work.
All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.

Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgements xi
Note on Transliteration xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Chapter 1
Definitions 1
Chapter 2
Approaches to Word Meaning 11
Chapter 3
Morphology 35
Chapter 4
Affixation 49
Chapter 5
Tense and Aspect 65
Chapter 6
Modality 81
Chapter 7
Lexical Semantics 99
vi
Chapter 8
Semantic Roles 121
Chapter 9
Semantic Principles 135
Chapter 10
Levels of Meaning 153
Chapter 11
Pragmatics 171
Chapter 12
Annotating Semantic Issues 187
Bibliography 207
Index 215
Preface
This book provides an engaging and accessible introduction to semantics

for students and researchers who are new to the field. It introduces the
basics of semantics in a simple fashion. It adopts a step-by-step approach,
starting with the basic concepts and gradually moving readers to the central
questions in semantics to discuss them in a direct link with the actual act
of translating. It strikes a balance between theoretical developments and
empirical investigation. In addition to gaining a systemic overview of seman-
tics, readers can learn how to argue for analysis, thus being able to annotate
their own translation academically. Specialists in language-related fields,
such as linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, semiotics, morphology, syntax,
and translation will find this book an essential resource and reference.
Among the significant concepts introduced in this book are denota-
tion, connotation, sense, reference, the open choice principle, the idiom
principle, semantic roles, semantic relations, semantic field, componential
analysis, meaning postulates, frames, scripts, paradigmatic axis, syntagmatic
axis, speech acts, implicature, the cooperative principle, and semiotics.
This academic textbook is an accessible coursebook for students of
Arabic-English translation, Arabic-English contrastive studies, and students
of linguistics and semantics. The book is primarily designed for those whose
mother tongue is either Arabic or English and who have some knowledge
of both linguistics and semantics (at a basic level) and translation studies
(at a basic level).
Although the topics and analyses used in this book are intrinsically of
different levels of complexity (in particular the complexity levels are differ-
ent within the analysis of examples in Chapters 4–11), the book is designed
to be useful for true beginners, including those with very little background
in linguistics in general and semantics in particular. The intended reader-
ship for this book is BA students of applied linguistics, semantics, Arabic-
English contrastive studies, and Arabic-English translation studies. Further,
MA and PhD students in translation, applied linguistics, and contrastive
viii Preface
studies may also benefit from this book. In addition, students with majors
in subjects other than applied linguistics or English, such as translation,
might be required to take a semantics course. The book features authentic
materials taken from different text types, including literary texts, journal-
istic texts, religious texts, legal texts, and so on.
There are a number of books on the market that explain semantics,
such as the following:
• Carter, R. (1998). Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives. London/

New York: Routledge.
• Cowie, A. P. (2009). Semantics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Griffiths, P. (2006). An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics.
Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Kearns, K. (2000/2011). Semantics. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
• Kreidler, C. W. (1998). Introducing English Semantics. London/New
York: Routledge.
• Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Palmer, F. R. (1976). Semantics: A New Outline. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
• Riemer, N. (2010). Introducing Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
• Saeed, J. I. (2009). Semantics (3rd edn). United Kingdom: Wiley
Blackwell.
However, none of these books have approached the topic from a transla-
tion or contrastive point of view. Further, none of them have taken the
language pair Arabic-English as its focus.
The key features of the book
• it provides readers (whether translation students or translation research-

ers) with a resource for developing their own practical skills in semantic
analysis.
Preface ix
• it links grammar, semantics, pragmatics, and semiotics to the actual

work of translators (whether trainees or professionals).
• it provides readers with a list of recommended readings and resources
for each of the topics under discussion.
• each chapter closes with a wide-ranging selection of questions and
exercises.
• each chapter has a wealth of features, such as an overview outlining the
main points and technical words used in the chapter as well as illustra-
tive examples.
• it provides readers with a long, annotated literary text, thus enabling
them to have a clear vision of how to apply the theoretical elements
discussed throughout the book in a cohesive way.
Acknowledgements
My sincere appreciation goes to to Juan José Martínez-Sierra of the

Universitat de València (Spain), James Dickins of the University of Leeds
(UK), Nicolas Froeliger of the Université Paris Diderot (Paris 7, France), and
Vivina Almeida Carreira of Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra (Portugal),
all of whom read the whole manuscript and provided me with their valu-
able suggestions and comments.
My special thanks also go to Murtadha Bakir, Fred Pragnell, Naser
Al-Bzour, Hashim Lazim, Wafa Abu Hatab, Muntaha Ali, and John
Moreton, who offered valuable insights into, and guidance on, the many
and varied aspects of the linguistic and analytical challenges of translat-
ing Arabic.
In addition, I would like to thank the BA and MA students of Arabic-
English translation over the years at the University of Nizwa (The Sultanate
of Oman) and the University of Basrah (Iraq), whose translation projects
have served as sources for the translation examples used in this book.
Finally, no words could ever express my deepest love and gratitude to
my family, who have supported me in this work.
Note on Transliteration
The following Arabic transliteration system has been consistently employed

throughout this book. However, in the case of (‫ )ـــّــ‬shaddah, a consonant
is doubled. The names of Arab authors whose works have been published
in English are spelled as they appear in the publication without applying
this transliteration system. In addition, any Arab names that appear in
quotations follow the transliteration system of the reference quoted and
not that listed below. Some names, such as Mahfouz and the like, remain
as they commonly appear in English and have not been transliterated in
order to avoid confusion.
Arabic Transliteration
‫ء‬ ’
‫ب‬ b
‫ت‬ t
‫ث‬ th
‫ج‬ j
‫ح‬ h
‫خ‬ kh
‫د‬ d
‫ذ‬ dh
‫ر‬ r
‫ز‬ z
‫س‬ s
‫ش‬ sh
‫ص‬ s
‫ض‬ d
‫ط‬ t
‫ظ‬ z
‫ع‬ ‘
‫غ‬ gh
‫ف‬ f
‫ق‬ q
xiv Note on Transliteration
‫ك‬ k
‫ل‬ l
‫م‬ m
‫ن‬ n
‫ة‬/‫هـــ‬ h
‫و‬ w
‫ي‬ y
‫ى‬/‫ا‬ a
Vowels
fathah a
kasrah i
dammah u
alif ā
yaa’ ī
waaw ū
Abbreviations
Lit. Literal
SL Source language
ST Source text
SLC Source language culture
TL Target language
TT Target text
TLC Target language culture
Chapter 1
Definitions
Key terms
• Applied linguistics
• Discourse analysis
• Ethnography of communication
• Formal linguistics
• Language variation
• Linguist
• Linguistics
• Morphology
• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Pragmatics
• Psycholinguistics
• Semantics
• Sociolinguistics
• Syntax
• Verbal processing
This chapter provides the reader with a general overview on the discipline.
It identifies “semantics” and the relationship that it has with other branches.
It provides an introduction to linguistics along with its main branches and
approaches.
2 Chapter 1
1.1 Linguistics and linguists
1.1.1 Linguistics
Linguistics is the study of language; it is concerned with “the nature of lan-

guage and linguistic communication” (Akmajian et al. 2010: 5). Knowledge
of linguistics, however, is different from knowledge of a language. A lan-
guage speaker can use language without being able to analyse it. Like a
person who is able to drive a car without understanding how the engine
of the car works, a language user can use language without any conscious
knowledge of its internal structure. Conversely, a linguist can know and
understand the internal structure of a language without actually being
able to speak it.
1.1.2 Linguist
A linguist, then, is not an individual who speaks more than one language
(“bilingual” or “multilingual”); rather, a linguist is someone who studies lan-
guage as a human phenomenon. Linguists study the grammar of language,
the social and psychological aspects of language use, and the relationships
among languages, both historical and present-day. The field of linguistics,
like any complex field, includes several major divisions. In the rest of this
chapter, an attempt will be made to introduce these major divisions.
1.2 Formal linguistics
Formal linguistics focuses on studying the structures and processes of lan-

guage, paying particular attention to how it is organized and how it works.
The goal of formal linguists is to identify the common elements among
Definitions 3
the available structures under consideration in an attempt to discover the

most efficient way to describe language in general. There are a wide range
of schools of thought in formal linguistics, the most important three of
which will be discussed here:
• the traditional approach focuses on what is correct and what is not, what

is preferred and what is not, and so on. It refers to “a set of rules that
prescribes or defines how we are supposed to speak [and write], typically
according to some authority” (Denham and Lobeck 2010: 9; emphasis
in the original). For instance, the traditional approach to grammar tells
us that it is wrong to say I tomorrow to London will travels and that it is
preferable to say I will travel to London tomorrow.
• structural linguistics is part of structuralism; it is an approach originat-
ing from the work of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. In structural
linguistics, the physical features, such as phonology, morphology, and
syntax (described below) are given a front seat, while meaning or lexicon
is given a back seat (Crystal 1980). The ultimate objective of structural
linguists is to collect as many utterances as they can, and then classify
them to different linguistic categories (such as nouns, verbs, phrasal
verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc.) according to their forms and positions
in clauses and some other factors. For example, an adjective is defined,
according to structural linguistics, in terms of its position in a clause
and the suffixes attached to it, such as -ful, -al, -ous, and so on.
• the generative or transformational approach to the study of grammar
was introduced by Noam Chomsky in 1957 in his seminal work Syntactic
Structures. In his work, Chomsky focused on the relationship between
the “deep structure” of sentences, that is, what we have in our mind,
and the “surface structure” of sentences, that is, what we utter or write
on a piece of paper. For instance, in a sentence uttered or written
like this, The teacher was given a gift by the dean (surface structure),
the deep structure (what is in mind) is The dean gave the teacher a
gift – by resorting to the mechanism of passive transformation, what
is in mind (deep structure) is uttered or written in this way (surface
structure). Building on an assumption that all languages share certain
4 Chapter 1
linguistic features (universals), Chomsky (1960s) produced his theory

of Universal Grammar. Since Chomsky’s original proposals in 1957, a
number of elaborations have been made and many alternative theories
have been suggested.
Formal linguistics includes five main areas of study. Actually, these areas
are considered the core areas of linguistics. All can be studied “formally”
or “functionally”.
1.2.1 Phonetics
Phonetics is the study of the sounds of language and their physical proper-
ties. Phonetics describes how speech sounds are produced by the vocal appa-
ratus (the lungs, vocal cords, tongue, teeth, etc.) and provides a framework
for their classification. This is known as “articulatory phonetics”. However,
there are other branches in phonetics, namely “auditory phonetics”, which
is concerned with the perception of sounds, and the way in which these
sounds are heard and interpreted, and “acoustic phonetics”, which focuses
on the sounds of speech in terms of their frequency, duration, intensity,
and so on.
1.2.2 Phonology
Phonology involves analysing how sounds function in a given language or

dialect. For example, /p/ has two possible phones, i.e., sounds, in English
depending on its position in a word. If you place a sheet of paper near
your mouth and pronounce the words pin and spin, the paper will vibrate
after the /p/ in the first word, but not in the second word. This puff of air
occurs when /p/ is in the initial position of a word in English. Phonologists
examine such phonetic shifts to construct theories about linguistic sounds
in one language that can be used in comparing linguistic systems. The
analysis of sounds in different languages can be very useful for foreign
language teachers.
Definitions 5
Differences between phonetics and phonology

Unlike phonetics, which studies the sounds of language and their physical
properties, that is, describing how speech sounds are produced by the
vocal apparatus (the lungs, vocal cords, tongue, teeth, etc.), thus providing
us with a framework for their classification, phonology involves analysing
how sounds function in a given language or dialect.
1.2.3 Morphology
Morphology is the study of the structure of words. Morphologists study

minimal units of meaning, called “morphemes”, and investigate the pos-
sible combinations of these units in a language to form words. For exam-
ple, the word unhappiness is composed of three morphemes: un + happy
+ ness. The root, happy, is transformed from an adjective into a noun by
the addition of the -ness and made negative with un-. For more details on
morphology, see Chapter 3.
1.2.4 Syntax
Syntax is the study of the structure of sentences. Syntacticians describe how

words combine into phrases and clauses and how these combine to form
sentences. For example, I bought an expensive car yesterday is embedded as
a relative clause in the sentence, The car that I bought yesterday is expensive.
1.2.5 Semantics
Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, such as mor-

phemes, words, expressions, phrases, and so on. It focuses on the relation
between “signifiers” (words, phrases, signs, symbols, and the like) and what
they stand for, that is, “signifieds”. In semantic analysis, the focus is on “what
the words conventionally mean, rather than on what a speaker might want
the words to mean on a particular occasion” (Yule 1985/1996: 114).
6 Chapter 1
1.3 Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and

society. Language is envisaged as a socio-cultural phenomenon shaped by
certain social factors in a given society. In addition to studying these social
factors and their effect on shaping language, sociolinguists also concern
themselves with why the language under consideration displays variation
and varieties at a certain period of time. To this end, they adopt a synchronic
approach. The major divisions within the field of sociolinguistics are (1)
language variation and (2) language and social interaction (pragmatics,
discourse analysis, and ethnography of communication).
1.3.1 Language variation
Language variation is examined through studying the relationship between

the use of linguistic forms and nonverbal factors, such as geographical
areas, social classes, ethnic groups, age, sex, education, occupation,
function, or style. The combination of these various factors results in an
individual’s idiolect, that is, their particular and idiosyncratic manner of
speech. When a variety of language is shared by a group of people in a
certain society, it is known as a dialect. A dialect, whether standard or
nonstandard, covers the full range of elements used to produce speech:
pronunciation, grammatical constructions, and interactive features (cf.
Yule 1985/1996: 227). In this respect, dialect should be distinguished from
accent, which usually refers only to pronunciation.
Language speakers of any language speak one of the dialects within a
speech community. For example, the speech of an Egyptian is quite differ-
ent in terms of pronunciation, grammatical constructions, lexical choices
along with their denotative meaning and connotative meaning, and so on
from that of an Iraqi, even though the language spoken by both is Arabic.
In this regard, Yule (1985/1996: 227) rightly comments: “While differences
in vocabulary are often easily recognized, dialect variations in the meaning
of grammatical constructions are less frequently documented”.
Definitions 7
1.3.2 Language and social interaction
There is a strong relationship between language and society. Studying the

function of language in the real world is one of the areas that sociolinguists
give full consideration to. Three subfields of sociolinguistics investigate
this relationship.
pragmatics
Pragmatics looks at how context affects meaning. As such, pragmatics is

the study of what is not explicitly said and the role of context in interpret-
ing the speaker/writer’s intended meaning. For example, It is hot in here
can have a variety of meanings. It could be a request to open the window,
it could be an invitation to go out, or it could mean that the speaker is not
happy and wants to leave the place.
discourse analysis
Discourse analysis covers a wide range of different approaches. It exam-

ines how smaller linguistic forms relate in larger linguistic units, such as
conversational exchanges or written texts. To put this differently, discourse
analysis examines issues related to the textual relations appearing on the
surface of the text (i.e., cohesion); the relation between text and its context
(i.e., coherence); the relation between linguistic features and those features
of situation, such as field of discourse, tenor of discourse, and mode of
discourse (i.e., register); the relation between the text producer and text
receiver and their roles (i.e., speech event); and the relation between text
interpretation and text participants’ background knowledge (i.e., schema).
ethnography of communication
Closely related to discourse analysis is ethnography of communication (also

known as “ethnography of speaking”). It utilizes the tools of anthropology
to examine verbal interaction in its social setting, giving full consideration
to social and cultural practices in a given society on the one hand, and
8 Chapter 1
assumptions and beliefs of the members of the society on the other. A

good individual example of ethnographic research is the study of doctor-
patient communication. In such a study, microanalysis is involved, focusing
on not only what is said, but also on verbal and nonverbal aspects, such as
pauses between turns, interruptions, signs of hesitation, response patterns,
intonation, eye contact, and the like.
1.4 Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and

cognitive or mental systems. Psycholinguists concern themselves with
first and second language acquisition and how people store and retrieve
linguistic information, referred to as verbal processing.
1.4.1 Language acquisition
The study of how humans acquire language begins with the study of child
language acquisition. Principally, two hypotheses have been put forth. The
first hypothesis, which is known as the “imitation hypothesis”, proposes
that children learn language by means of hearing people around them,
thus starting imitating them (Rowe and Levine 2006/2009: 234). As for
the second hypothesis, which is known as the “innateness hypothesis”,
it proposes that “children have the innate capacity to differentiate pho-
nemes, extract words from the stream of language, and process grammar”
(p. 233). Proponents of this hypothesis, see for example Eric Lenneberg
(1967), draw a comparison between language acquisition and other innate
biologically based mental systems in nature and, thus, conclude that the
ability to acquire language is a biologically innate capacity. There is also
the distinction between the cognitive school that takes language acquisi-
tion to be part of a general cognitive development, and the more specified
approach of taking language to be the product of an independent mental
system that is innately endowed.
Definitions 9
1.4.2 Verbal processing
Verbal processing refers to the way in which people use certain linguistic
forms to communicate their own ideas and express their own feelings, and
how the brain creates and understands these linguistic forms. Most recent
theories in this area hold that this process is mainly carried out by the brain.
The process of hearing, understanding, and saying any linguistic form, say
a word, normally follows a certain pattern.
1.5 Applied linguistics
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics. Its ultimate

objective is to identify and examine language-related problems and offer
suitable solutions to them (cf. Berns and Matsuda 2006; Cook 2003; Hall
et al. 2011). The findings of any theoretical study can be applied to the
solutions of the practical problems related to it. The same holds true for
linguistics. Applied linguists examine, for instance, theories of language
acquisition with a view to developing first and second language teaching
methodologies. Similarly, they may investigate theories of sociolinguistics
in order to develop special teaching strategies for speakers of nonstandard
English, and so on. Applied linguistics covers a great number of branches,
such as language acquisition, language pedagogy, language planning,
stylistics, pragmatics, forensic linguistics, discourse analysis, conversation
analysis, lexicography, contrastive linguistics, translation, and so on.
Further reading
Aitchison, J. (1999). Linguistics (5th edn). London: Teach Yourself Series.

Baker, E. A., and Hengeveld, K. (eds; 2012). Linguistics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell
Publishing Ltd.
10 Chapter 1
Berns, M., and Matsuda, P. K. (2006). Applied Linguistics: Overview and History.
In K. Brown (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2nd edn),
pp. 394–405. Oxford: Elsevier.
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague, Netherlands: Mouton.
——. (1968). Language and Mind. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Cook, G. (2003). Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crystal, D. (1980). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Cambridge: Basil
Blackwell.
Elgin, S. H. (1979). What Is Linguistics? (2nd edn). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Fromkin, V., and Rodman, R. (1978). An Introduction to Language (2nd edn). New
York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Hall, C. J., Smith, P. H., and Wicaksono, R. (2011). Mapping Applied Linguistics. A
Guide for Students and Practitioners. London/New York: Routledge.
Lenneberg, E. (1967). The Biological Foundations of Language. New York: John Wiley
and Sons.
Rowe, B. M., and Levine, D. P. (2006/2009). A Concise Introduction to Linguistics.
New York: Pearson Education, Inc.
Slobin, D. I. (1971). Psycholinguistics. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
Trudgill, P. (1983). Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. Har-
mondsworth: Penguin.
Yule. G. (1985/1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Questions
1. How would you define “linguistics”, “phonetics”, “semantics”, “morphol-

ogy”, “syntax”, and “pragmatics”?
2. What is the difference between a “linguist” and a “bilingual person” or
“multilingual person”?
3. What is the difference between “phonology” and “phonetics”?
4. What is “formal linguistics”? And what are its main areas?
5. What is “sociolinguistics”? And what are its main areas?
6. Briefly explain the terms “applied linguistics”, “psycholinguistics”, and
“sociolinguistics”.
7. What are the main differences among the three main schools of thought
in formal linguistics?
8. In language acquisition, there are two hypotheses. What are they? Explain.
Chapter 2
Approaches to Word Meaning
Key terms
• Cognitive approaches
• Componential analysis
• Diagnostic features
• Frame semantics
• General approaches
• Hyponymy
• Incompatibility
• Lexicon
• Lexeme
• Meaning postulates
• Primitives
• Prototype
• Script
• Semantic features
• Semantic field
• Supplementary features
The previous chapter looked into the main branches of linguistics, such
as formal linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and applied
linguistics. It provided the reader with a general overview of the whole
discipline, and identified the place of semantics in the whole discipline.
This chapter addresses the main approaches to describing the relation-
ships between words and concepts. It introduces three main approaches,
namely:
1. general approaches, such as semantic fields (also known as “word fields”).

12 Chapter 2
2. formal approaches, such as componential analysis and the use of meaning

postulates.
3. cognitive approaches, such as frame semantics.
2.1 Semantic fields
A semantic field is defined as a set of lexical items teamed up semantically

as they share a common semantic property, thus forming a particular field
or domain. The notion of semantic fields (also known as “word fields” or
“semantic domains”) goes back to the linguist Jost Trier (1931). He argues
that the meaning of any lexical item is defined by relating it to, and con-
trasting its meaning with, other lexical items semantically related in a given
semantic field, thus identifying the relationship among them on the one
hand, and highlighting the differences among them. The basic tenets of
Trier’s theory can be summarized as follows:
1. the meaning of a lexical item is dependent on the meaning of other lexi-

cal items which are semantically related to it.
2. different semantic fields can form larger fields, thus covering all human
experiences.
3. any change in the meaning of any lexical item in a given semantic field
affects the meanings of the other lexical items in the field.
It is worth noticing that the lexical items in a given semantic field are not
necessarily synonymous, but rather they hold a variety of relations, such
as synonymy, hyponymy, hyperonymy, co-hyponymy, and so forth. As an
illustration, cooking terms, such as to cook, to bake, to boil, to simmer, to fry,
to deep-fry, and to broil quoted from Lehrer (1974: 63) may be discussed:
to cook: a general cooking term used to refer to the preparation of meals.
to bake: a cooking term used to refer to the preparation of bread, pasta, cookies, etc.
to boil: a cooking term used to refer to cooking with water.
to simmer: a cooking term used to refer to cooking with water, but the water used
should be below the boiling point.
to fry: a cooking term used to refer to the use of fat or oil in the process of cooking.
to deep-fry: a cooking term used to refer to the use of a large amount of fat or oil in
the process of cooking.
to broil: a cooking term used to refer to cooking by direct exposure to fire.
Semantic fields are based on paradigmatic relations, that is, the vertical rela-
tions, where lexical items are related and contrasted in a particular domain.
For example, the word book has a relationship with lexical items like novel,
novella, dictionary, and so on as they all can be found in and bought from
a bookshop. Therefore, in a sentence like this:
Yesterday, I went to the nearby bookshop to buy a book.
the lexical item book can be replaced with lexical items, such as novel, novella,
dictionary, and the like as they all can syntactically fill in the slot occupied
by the word book in the above sentence. Thus, it would be possible to pro-
pose that syntagmatic relations, that is, the horizontal relations need to be
incorporated in addition to paradigmatic relations when the meaning of
a lexical item is considered.
However, part of the difficulty in relating the idea of semantic fields
to the actual act of translating any text may arise from the fact that there
are a great number of lexical items in any language that cannot be filed
under any semantic domain. Consider, for example, lexical items, such as
only, just, nevertheless, and the like (Baker 1992: 19). In this respect, Baker
holds that the notion of “semantic fields works well enough for words and
expressions which have fairly well-defined propositional meanings, but not
for all, or even most of the words and expressions in a language” (ibid.).
Despite that, figuring out why the writer of the original text opts for such
a lexical item in place of other available lexical items may be very useful
to the actual work of the translators. To elaborate, the following sentence
where the lexical item to barbecue is used may be discussed:
I do not mind barbecuing today, but the problem is that I do not like it when smoke
gets in my eyes.
14 Chapter 2
As can be seen, the writer/speaker uses the lexical item to barbecue in place
of other lexical items, such as to roast or to grill. Thus, the translator, in
addition to figuring out the differences among these semantically related
words, needs to pay undivided attention to the significance of the lexical
item used in the original text while activating the mechanism of lexical
search for an equivalent in the target language. Here, while the verb to
grill is used to refer to cooking food under a grill, which heats the food
from above and the verb to roast is used to refer to roasting on an open
fire on a spit or in an oven, the verb to barbecue is used to refer to cooking
food on a metal frame on an open fire outdoors. Being fully aware of these
differences, the translator may well opt for the addition of ‫في الهواء الطلق‬
(in the open air), as in:
‫ ولكن المشكلة أنني ال أحبّ الدخان عندما‬،‫ي أن نشوي في الهواء الطلق اليوم‬ّ ‫ال مانع لد‬
.‫يدخل في عين ّي‬
2.2 Formal approaches
2.2.1 Componential analysis
Componential analysis (also known as “feature analysis” or “lexical decom-

position”) is an approach used by linguists to define the meaning of a lexi-
cal item by relating and contrasting it with other lexical items in a certain
semantic field. Due to the differences between the interfacing languages
and cultures, mismatch of reference frequently occurs. Newmark (1988:
114) makes a distinction between componential analysis in linguistics and
that in translation:
Componential analysis (CA) in translation is not the same as componential analy-
sis in linguistics; in linguistics it means analysing or splitting up the various senses
of a word into sense-components which may or may not be universals; in transla-
tion, the basic process is to compare a [source language] SL word with a [target
language] TL word which has a similar meaning, but is not an obvious one-to-
one equivalent, by demonstrating first their common and then their differing sense
components.
It is worth noticing that it is impractical to analyse all the lexical items used
in the original text. Componential analysis is carried out only on a word
of some significance in the SL text which cannot adequately be translated
one-to-one (Newmark 1988: 115). Componential analysis can be used as
a means to bridge lexical gaps linguistically and culturally between the
interfacing languages and cultures.
In his oft-cited book Componential Analysis of Meaning, Nida (1975)
classifies the components of any lexeme into two main types, viz. supple-
mentary components and diagnostic or distinctive components.
a. supplementary components refer to the additional features that a lexeme

shares with other semantically related lexemes. These components “may
be very important for an extensive definition of a meaning but which
are not diagnostic in specifying basic differences” (Nida 1975: 112).
b. diagnostic components refer to those components that serve to
distinguish the meaning of a certain lexeme from other lexemes
in a particular domain or field, that is, they specify that part of
meaning that distinguishes the lexeme in question from other seman-
tically related lexemes in a certain semantic field. In this regard, Nida
writes:
If all the universe were blue, there would be no blueness, since there would be nothing
to contrast with blue. The same is true for the meanings of words. They have meaning
only in terms of systematic contrasts with other words which share certain features
with them but contrast with them in respect to other features (p. 32).
To make this point clear, five lexical items, namely child, boy, girl, man, and
woman may be considered. These lexical items belong to the semantic field
of “human race”. In the semantic domain of child, boy, girl, man, and woman
[HUMAN] is a supplementary component, that is, an additional feature
that the lexical items child, boy, girl, man, and woman share. Therefore, to
distinguish them from one another, their diagnostic components could be
resorted to, such as [MALE] and [ADULT], as shown below:
Lexeme human male adult

child + +/– –
boy + + –
girl + – –
16 Chapter 2
man + + +
woman + – +
As can be observed, to distinguish them from one another, their sup-

plementary components cannot be relied on, that is, [HUMAN] as all of
them share the semantic feature [+HUMAN]. Alternatively, it is pos-
sible to fall back on their diagnostic components, that is, [MALE] and
[ADULT]. So,
child would be [+HUMAN], [–ADULT], but neither [MALE] nor [FEMALE].

boy would be [+HUMAN], [–ADULT], and [+MALE].
girl would be [+HUMAN], [–ADULT], and [–MALE].
man would be [+HUMAN], [+ADULT], and [+MALE].
woman would be [+HUMAN], [+ADULT], and [–MALE].
Primitives like [MALE], [HUMAN], [ADULT] or [MARRIED] are believed to

be both binary and universal. They are universal as they exist across cultures
and should be reflected by all languages. The number of these contrasting
features depends on the number of the concepts we try to describe. If we
add another concept, say, bachelor, then we need another primitive, that
is, [MARRIED].
incompatibility and hyponymy
Such an approach provides an economical means of representing sense

relations like incompatibility and hyponymy. To begin with, incom-
patibility holds between lexical items in a set if they share a number of
components but differ from each other in one or more contrasting feature(s).
For instance, man and woman are incompatible as they differ from each
other in one feature, that is, [MALE].
Further, any lexical item can be defined as a hyponym of another
if its features, i.e., primitives, contain all the positive features of the
other. As such, the lexical item bachelor is a hyponym of the lexi-
cal item man because it contains all the positive features of man
[+HUMAN], [+MALE], and [+ADULT], plus an additional feature, that is,
[–MARRIED]. This means that any bachelor is a man, but not all men are
bachelors.
In the actual act of translating any text from language A to language B, the
translators are sometimes required to analyse some lexical items and contrast
them with other semantically related lexical items in an attempt to be fully
aware of the distinctive features of the lexical item at hand. It also helps the
translators draw a comparison between the lexical item used in the original
text and the one to be used in the target text, thus putting a finger on the
similarities and differences between them. In this connection, Van Steenbergen
(2002: 29) holds that componential analysis as a tool “can play a crucial role
in cross-cultural communication, describing and analysing the features that
have a bearing on our understanding of reality”. It can be used not only for
linguistic and psychological inputs, but for anthropological input as well,
hence its relevance “beyond its traditional structuralist linguistic constraints”
(ibid.). To elaborate, the following example may be given full consideration:
ْ ‫قررت البارحة أن أشتري روايةً ولكن لم‬

ّ ‫يكن لد‬
‫ لذا ربّما‬،‫ي ما يكفي من الوقت لفعل ذلك‬ ُ
.‫أذهبُ اليوم ألشتريها من المكتبة القريبة‬
Here, the lexical item that needs extra attention is ‫مكتبة‬. The word ‫مكتبة‬
in Arabic refers to three referents, namely bookshop/bookstore, library, and
book case. This entails that the denotative meaning of ‫ مكتبة‬is wider and less
specific than the three words in English. Relying on the context where the
nonfinite verb ‫( أشتري‬to buy) is used, the translator can easily go for the
lexical item bookshop or bookstore. This is due to the diagnostic component
[+SALING BOOKS] that distinguishes the lexical item bookshop/bookstore
from library and bookcase [–SALING BOOKS]. As such, the above sentence
can lend itself to:
I decided to buy a novel last night, but there wasn’t enough time to do so. Therefore, I
may go today to buy it from the nearby bookshop.
However, in the following example, given to a number of translation stu-

dents to translate it into English, the lexical item ‫ زميل‬lends itself to col-
league and classmate. Consider the following four translations selected:
ST:
.‫لم يزرني أمس في البيت ال زمالئي وال أقاربي‬
18 Chapter 2
TT 1:
Neither my colleagues nor my relatives visited me yesterday at home.
TT 2:
Neither my classmates nor my relatives visited me yesterday at my house.
TT 3:
I was not visited yesterday by my colleagues and relatives.
TT 4:
My classmates and relatives did not visit me yesterday at home.
To make this point clear, the following authentic example from Husni and
Newman (2008: 44–45; bilingual edn) can be considered:
‫ ولن‬،‫ « سيعود إليك زوجك‬:‫قال الشيخ سعيد وهو يرمي في وعاء الجمر نتفا ً من البخور‬
‫ فنّدت عنها آهة‬،‫ وكان صوته وقوراً هادئا ً منح عزيزة الطمأنينة‬.» ‫يتزوج مرة ثانية‬
. « ً‫« ولكن عملي يتطلب ماالً كثيرا‬
ّ :‫ ابتهج لها وجه الشيخ وقال‬،‫ارتياح طويلة‬
He threw bits of incense into the dish filled with live coal, and said: “Your husband will
return to you, and he will not take another wife”. His voice was sedate and soft, and
soothed Aziza, who heaved a deep sigh of satisfaction. The Sheikh’s face lit up. “However,
my work doesn’t come cheap”, he said.
Here, the lexical item ‫ صوت‬refers to, at least, four referents, namely
‫( صوت اإلنسان‬voice), ‫( صوت غير اإلنسان‬sound), ‫( صوت التلفاز‬volume), and
‫( صوت اِنتخابي‬vote). The diagnostic feature that distinguishes voice from
other semantically related words, such as sound, volume and vote is that [OF
HUMAN BEING]. Being fully aware of the supplementary and diagnostic
features of the lexical items at hand, the translators have rendered the lexi-
cal item ‫ صوت‬into voice. Again, here the denotative meaning of the lexical
item ‫ صوت‬is wider and less specific than the lexical item voice in English,
thus resulting in translating by a hyponym. Translating by a hyponym (also
referred to as “particularizing translation”) “implies that the [target text]
TT expression has a narrower and more specific denotative meaning than
the [source text] ST expression” (Dickins et al. 2002: 56).
To elaborate, the following example quoted from Haifā’ Zangana’s
story (2009: 57) ‫( مثوى‬Dwelling) may be paid extra attention:
،‫ أعلى من صوت المارة والسيارات‬،ً‫من بين الرشفات البطيئة ينطلق صوتها حادا‬
‫ تلفظ ما هو‬.‫ تلحنه بطريقتها الخاصة‬.‫ يسري في أجسادهم‬،‫يخترق آذان المارة وأدمغتهم‬
.‫ فلوس للمحتاجين‬.‫ضروري فقط‬
Here, the lexical item ‫ صوت‬refers to two referents, viz. ‫( صوت المارة‬the
voice of the passers-by) and ‫( صوت السيارات‬the sound of the cars). Again,
the diagnostic feature that distinguishes these two lexical items is that the
former is [+OF HUMAN BEING] and the latter is [-OF HUMAN BEING].
Due to the differences between the interfacing languages, two lexical items
may well be used, namely voice and sound to live up to the expectations of
the target-language reader, as in:
Between slow sips, she releases a sharp squeal, louder than the voices of the passers-by
and sounds of the passing cars, piercing the ears and minds of the passers-by and travel-
ling through their bodies. She emits it in her own peculiar way and says only what is
necessary: “Money for the needy”.
2.2.2 Meaning postulates
Closely related to componential analysis is “meaning postulates”, a term

borrowed from logic. According to this approach, most lexical relations,
such as hyponymy, antonymy, synonymy, and the like can be analysed
by using “some basic connectives from propositional logic”, such as “if …
then”, “and”, “not”, “or”, or “if and only if ” (Saeed 2009: 323). Unlike com-
ponential analysis and other formal approaches to meaning that decom-
pose the meaning of the lexical item into its basic components in order to
specify its overall meaning and contrast it with some semantically related
words in the same semantic domain, the meaning postulates approach is
not decompositional. Rather, it attempts to “describe the relations which
a word has with other members of the same vocabulary” (Riemer 2010: 210;
emphasis in the original).
To figure out the hyponymy relationship between, for instance, pickup
and vehicle, this connective “if …, then …” can be used. Logically speaking,
if something is a pickup, then it is a vehicle. Similarly, hyponymy relation-
ships between lexical items, such as apple and fruit, chair and furniture,
20 Chapter 2
horse and animal, and bachelor and man can be analysed by using the same
formula “if …, then …”, as in:
If something is an apple, then it is fruit.
If something is a chair, then it is furniture.
If something is a horse, then it is an animal.
If somebody is a bachelor, then he is a man.
In a similar vein, part-part relationships between lexical items, such as

eye and nose, apple and banana, and sofa and chair, can be analysed, as in:
If an eye is part of a face and a nose is part of a face, then they are co-hyponyms of a face.
If an apple is fruit and a banana is fruit, then they are co-hyponyms of fruit.
If a chair is furniture and a sofa is furniture, then they are co-hyponyms of furniture.
One way of capturing the relation of nongradable antonyms (also known

as “binary antonyms”) between, for instance, lexical items, such as dead
and alive, single and married, close and open, and awake and asleep is to use
the following formula:
If something is dead, then it is not alive.
If somebody is single, then s/he is not married.
If something is closed, then it is not open.
If somebody is awake, then s/he is not asleep.
The relation of relational antonymy (also known “converses”) between

lexical items, such as teacher and student, doctor and patient, husband and
wife, and employer and employee can be detected by using this formula:
If X is the teacher of Y, then Y is the student of X.
If X is the doctor of Y, then Y is the patient of X.
If X is the husband of Y, then Y is the wife of X.
If X is the employer of Y, then Y is the employee of X.
To detect the relation of synonymy between lexical items, such as father

and dad, large and huge, and sofa and couch, this formula may be used:
If somebody is the father of somebody else, then he is his dad.

If something is large, then it is huge.
If something is a sofa, then it is a couch.
The discussion of the previous examples clearly shows the importance of this
approach in establishing the network of sense relations that a lexical item
has with other lexical items. It is worth noting that the meaning postulates
approach does not confine itself to the formalization of the standard lexical
relations that a word has with others (ibid.). Rather, it can be utilized to
capture any relation that a lexical item has with others. For example, to
form the network of sense relations that the lexical item ill has with other
lexical items, the following formula may be suggested:
If somebody is ill, then s/he is alive and kicking.
This formula tells us that s/he is still alive and kicking in addition to feel-
ing not well. However, we cannot suggest that s/he has been admitted
to hospital and discharged from it or s/he is on sick leave. Similarly, we
cannot predict his/her age, gender or marital status as they are not part of
the meaning of the lexical item ill.
Further, to establish the network of sense relations that the lexical
item ‫( قر َر‬to decide) has with other lexical items, the following sentence
may be given full consideration:
ُ
.‫قررت أن أقرأ رواية‬ ،‫النوم‬
ِ ‫ قبل أن أخل َد إلى‬،‫البارحة‬
Here, in an attempt to capture the meaning of the lexical item ‫قر َر‬, we may
opt for this formula:
If somebody can decide, then s/he is a human being and still alive and kicking.
However, to capture the overall meaning of the above sentence, we may

propose that as long as s/he decided to read a novel, this means that s/he
has the ability to read, that is, s/he is not illiterate. On top of this, s/he
is able to recognize a novel from other sub-genres, such as a short story,
novella, or poetry. Further, s/he is not so tired that s/he cannot do any-
thing, but falling asleep. Also, we may conclude that s/he has a bookcase
or, at least, a novel. To reflect all these elements, the translator may render
the above sentence into:
Last night, before falling asleep, I decided to read a novel.

22 Chapter 2
To reinforce this point, the following example discussed in the previous

section (quoted from Husni and Newman 2008: 44–45; bilingual edn)
may be re-considered:
.« ً‫« ولكن عملي يتطلب ماالً كثيرا‬
ّ :‫ ابتهج لها وجه الشيخ وقال‬،‫ارتياح طويلة‬
Here, by adopting the meaning postulates approach, we can conclude that

‫( عزيزة‬Aziza) is not single, but has a husband. So, logically speaking, this
means that she is both an adult and human being. Further, she has prob-
lems of some sort with her husband. She does not want to lose him. This
means she still loves him. Her husband is a Muslim as he has the right to
marry another woman. On the other hand, ‫( الشيخ‬the Sheikh) has nothing
to do with Islamic worshipping practices and providing religious guidance,
and the place is not a mosque as we do not expect that somebody throws
bits of incense into the dish filled with live coal in a mosque. Further, he
is not doing this for free, but will charge her some money, that is, he is not
pious as the denotative meaning of the word ‫( شيخ‬the Sheikh) may suggest.
2.3 Frame semantics
Frame semantics is a theory developed by Charles J. Fillmore in his case

grammar. According to this theory, the meanings of words are analysed
by emphasizing the continuities, rather than the discontinuities, between
the lexical items and one’s socio-cultural experience. In this connection,
Fillmore (1982: 111) comments: “Frame semantics offers a particular way of
looking at word meanings, as well as a way of characterizing principles for
creating new words and phrases, for adding new meanings to words, and for
assembling the meanings of elements in a text into the total meaning of the
text”. So, it is a bottom-up process, starting from the linguistic materials of
the text with a view to forming a mental image. It links linguistic semantics
to socio-cultural experiences and encyclopaedic knowledge. According to
this approach, people can capture the meaning of any lexical item by con-
sulting their encyclopaedic knowledge stored in their minds by virtue of
their accumulated experiences in life and previous reading, hearing, and so
forth. For instance, it is hard to capture the meaning of the term face book
without knowing anything about social media, which involves knowing
how to use a smart phone, computer, laptop, etc., how to invite people,
how to post and share, and so forth. To put this differently, the meaning
of a lexical item is understood when the concept encoded by the lexical
item is motivated by the language user’s socio-cultural experiences, beliefs,
assumptions, practices, accumulated value system, and so forth. Fillmore
(1982: 111) holds that “words represent categorizations of experience, and
each of these categories is underlain by a motivating situation occurring
against a background of knowledge and experience”.
To understand the meaning of the lexical item to buy, for instance,
it is necessary for the language user to rely on his/her background frame
experience and encyclopaedic knowledge. Hearing or reading the lexical
item to buy invokes in the mind of the hearer/reader different background
frame experiences, such as:
• how to buy it (going to a shop or a shopping centre, or buying online).

• how much to pay (whether the price is fixed or negotiable will be deter-
mined by many external factors).
• how to pay (knowing that a buyer has to pay money for anything to get
the item can be linked to other experiences, such as the method of pay-
ment, e.g., in cash or by a visa card, and so on).
• when to receive it (the time of receiving the item varies as buying a house
is different from buying a car or a belt).
• when to enjoy it (the concept of enjoying, possessing, selling, using,
giving away, etc. encoded by the word ownership needs to be linked to
other socio-cultural experiences to capture the meaning of the lexical
item owner associated with the word to buy).
24 Chapter 2
Further, in each scenario, the lexical item to buy might be associated with dif-
ferent scenes and frames along with different preconditions and (un)expected
results. For a traditional person at a certain age in a given society, to buy a book
requires a physical seller, price, and bookshop. However, for somebody else
who is able to order it online, there will be no physical seller and bookshop.
2.3.1 Frames
In order to understand frame semantics, we need to understand the idea of

“frame” first. A frame is a conceptual structure that provides background
of beliefs, assumptions, practices against which the meaning of a lexical
item can be captured. These frames organize stereotype knowledge about
an entity, event, situation, and the like. Below I will consider dog-frame. It
has two attributes namely:
1. IS-A attribute, which triggers a superordinate frame, that is, a

mammal-frame and an animal-frame, as in:
animal-frame
A dog is a mammal. mammal-frame
2. HAS attribute, as in:

leg-frame
A dog has four legs and one tail.
tail-frame
Further, these legs and the tail are instances of more general legs and tails
in the real world. As such, if somebody who is speaking the truth tells us
about a dog, we will know for sure that the entity in question is a mammal,
that it is an animal and that it is a living creature. Also, we will know that
the entity has one head, two eyes, four legs and one tail, and can eat, breathe
and move around, but cannot speak, fly, etc. We know this thanks to our
knowledge accumulated from our socio-cultural experiences. In this regard,
Saeed rightly comments that “words are in a network of semantic links with
other words and it is reasonable to assume that conceptual structures are
similarly linked” (2009: 38).
The attribute can also have a default value, such as a particular colour
(white, black, etc.), size (small, big, etc.) or action (barking, growling, whin-
ing, wagging its tail, etc.). It is worth noting that “our system of cognitive
classification is structured in terms of prototypes, in that some instances of a
concept are more typical (closer to the prototype) than others” (Akmajian
et al. 2010: 231; emphasis in the original). These default values are taken for
granted unless proved otherwise. So, each lexeme is assumed to invoke in
the mind of the reader or hearer a particular frame which has a network
of many related frames.
These frames associated with the lexical item in question are relevant
for translation since the lexical item along with its frames may vary from
one language and culture to another. For instance, the lexical item ‫زميل‬
in Arabic refers to both a person who you work with in a job and a person
who is in the same class as you in school, college, university, etc. Therefore,
to translate a sentence like this:
Tonight, one of my colleagues is coming to visit me.
the translators need to reflect the different frames associated with the lexical
item colleague; therefore, they may well opt for a term or expression that
activates the work-frame, as opposed to class-frame, as in:
.‫ سيزورني أحد زمالئي في العمل‬،‫الليلة‬
However, in a sentence like this:

Yesterday, we congratulated our colleague on his promotion.
the work-frame will be activated by virtue of the lexical item promotion

that excludes class-frame, as in:
.‫هنأنا زميلنا يوم أمس بمناسبة ترقيته‬
To reinforce the point, the lexical item ‫ فراشة‬in the following text quoted
from Mahmūd Al-Braikān’s poem ‫( احتفاء باألشياء الزائلة‬Homage to the
ephemeral things) translated by Shihāb Ahmad Al-Nāsir (2006: 18–19;
bilingual edn) may be considered:
26 Chapter 2
ST:
‫أربع أی ٍد‬
ً ‫تمتد إلى دفء النار معا‬
‫وعیون أربع‬
‫تتأمل طفال في مهده‬
‫مائدة‬
‫من زاد الفقراء‬
‫وحدیث ھادئ‬
‫ فیلم السهرة‬،‫اللیل‬
‫أنسام الفجر ترف رفیف جناح فراشة‬
TT:
Four hands
Stretch out together to the warmth of fire,
And four eyes
Pore over a child in his cradle.
A meal
From the poor’s provisions,
And a quiet talk,
The night, and the late night film;
The dawn’s breezes flutter
A flutter of a moth’s wing.
As can be seen, the translator has translated the lexical item ‫ فراشة‬into the
lexical item moth in place of butterfly. The main difference between moths
and butterflies is that moths are primarily nocturnal, i.e., flying at night
while butterflies are diurnal, i.e., flying in the daytime. Having taken into
account the different frames associated with the lexical item ‫ فراشة‬in such
a context … ‫ فيلم السهرة‬،‫( الليل‬the night, and the late night film), the transla-
tor has opted for the lexical item moth instead of butterfly, thus activating
the night-frame, as opposed to day-frame.
This means that the translator “must be aware of framing differences
and understand how linguistic and textual processes attach to frame-based
knowledge” (Neubert and Shreve 1992: 65). Thus, the translators’ role is to
use the linguistic elements that activate the relevant frames for the inter-
pretation of the target text, thereby enabling the target readers to draw
the reasonable contextual inferences from their frame-based knowledge.
2.3.2 Scripts
An extended form of frame is referred to as “script”, which represents activi-

ties, such as giving a lecture, delivering a political speech, buying a house,
opening a bank account, visiting a dentist, eating at a restaurant, and so on.
This situational frame, that is, “script”, was developed first by Schank and
Abelson’s (1977). Building on contextual dependency theory that deals
with the representation of meaning in sentences, Schank and Abelson
(1977) in their book Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding introduced
the concept of “script” with a view to handling story-level understanding.
To elaborate, the script that describes the activity of visiting a dentist, for
example, may be discussed here. To begin with, it is an event frame specify-
ing a number of requirements related to such an event frame, such as the
purpose (the reason behind visiting a dentist), properties (a dental chair,
a little sink with a cup, a dental mirror, a dental explorer, a high-pitched
drill, a periodontal probe, etc.), and the participants’ roles (a dentist, a
nurse, receptionist, etc.).
Further, there will be some preconditions, such as a common dental
problem or any other reasons. While people with a lot of problems with
their teeth do, of course, need to visit the dentist often, many other people
visit a dentist because they need regular check-ups. However, some other
people go there for different reasons, such as to straighten, lighten, reshape
or repair their teeth. So, there should be a reason. In some countries, another
precondition may be required, that is, the patient has money in order to
pay for his/her NHS dental treatment.
Scripts have “a prescriptive value, since they provide information
about the goals and behaviour patterns (including linguistic behav-
iour) which are acceptable in conventional situations” (López 2002:
320–321). For instance, in the situation of visiting a dentist, the patient
may well expect the receptionist and dentist to address him/her in a
formal and respectful way (unless, of course, they have already known
each other for a long time). Therefore, in such a situation, the patient
expects to hear
Greetings, such as
Good afternoon
Good evening
28 Chapter 2
Questions, such as
Can I help you?
How can I help you?
Polite requests, such as

Can I have your name?
Can I have your date of birth?
Can I see …?
Have a seat please.
A dentist who says, for instance, Hi man, what’s up? would certainly annoy
the patient.
Further, each script consists of a number of scenes, such as entering
the clinic (entering scene), talking with the receptionist (talking scene) and
waiting your turn (waiting scene which involves many different scenes).
After your name is called in the waiting room, you will go into an exam
room and sit down in a dental chair (examining scene). Having had your
teeth cleaned, flossed and checked for cavities, you will leave the room
(leaving scene). As stated above, in some countries you may be required
to pay (paying scene). At times, there will be additional scenes, such as
arranging an appointment, visiting a pharmacy, re-entering the clinic,
and so forth. As can be seen, there is an action in each scene, such as
to enter, to talk, to wait, to examine, to pay, hence the specificity of each
scene. It is worth noticing that the event frames vary from one scenario to
another, from one society to another, and so on. As such, when translat-
ing from language or culture A into language or culture B, the translators,
in an attempt to form a mental image and, then, reflect it in the target
language and culture, need to give full consideration to all these
scripts (situational frames) along with their perspective value, scenes
and actions along with their conditions and preconditions. Further,
they should be fully aware of framing differences between the inter-
facing languages and cultures, thus opting for the use of certain terms
and expressions that activate the relevant frames for the interpre-
tation of the target text in order to enable the target readers to draw
the reasonable contextual inferences based on their frame-based
knowledge.
2.3.3 Prototype
Closely related to frames and scripts is the concept “prototype” proposed by

Rosch and her colleagues (for more details, see Saeed 2009: 37). According
to this model, concepts are teamed up into many groups, and each group
consists of a number of members. While some of these members occupy a
central position, thus they are typical members, others are peripheral mem-
bers. For example, the lexical item horse in the category ANIMAL is a more
central member than the lexical item camel. Similarly, the lexical item orange
is a more central member than the lexical item kiwi in the category FRUIT.
Within frame semantics, the use of prototypes as a model is illustrated
by Fillmore (1977) by the analysis of the concept widow. The lexical item
widow is specified due to a background scene where a woman got married
some time ago, and then her husband died, thus affecting her entire life.
Similarly, the meaning of the lexical item divorced is specified due to a back-
ground scene where a person is no longer married to a former husband or
wife. The question that may jump into mind here is: would you call a woman
a divorced woman who had been divorced from her husband and later got
married to somebody else? In such a case, we are not pretty sure if we can
call such a woman a divorced woman any more or not since certain proper-
ties of the background frame for this concept are missing (Fillmore 1977).
Finally, the following individual example of a change in doxic beliefs
and practices drawn from BBC may be considered to close the discussion
of this section:
Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is in custody following his dramatic capture
by US forces in Iraq. (BBC, 14 December 2003).
The chief lawyer for deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein says he has been denied
access to his client for the first time in more than a year. (BBC, 5 February 2006).
Witnesses said there had been a wave of air strikes and that former President Saddam
Hussein’s palace had been hit. (BBC, 30 June 2014).
Here, semantically speaking, the adjective ousted, i.e., ‫ معزول‬is different

from deposed, i.e., ‫مخلوع‬, toppled, i.e., ‫ مطاح به‬or former, i.e., ‫ سابق‬as each
30 Chapter 2
has its own background frame. Further, the adjective former, i.e., ‫سابق‬
used more recently by BBC is different from deposed, toppled, and ousted
in the sense that former has a wider and less specific denotative meaning
than those offered by the other adjectives, such as deposed, toppled, and
ousted. This, according to frame semantics, explains the observed asym-
metries in many lexical relations (for more details, see Fillmore 1977,
1982; Keith 2001). The basic idea is that language users cannot under-
stand the meaning of a single word without access to all the essential
knowledge that relates to that word. For example, they would not be
able to understand the differences among words like: former, toppled,
deposed, and ousted without knowing anything about the situation of
taking over power, which also involves, among other things, the politi-
cal system, the way of taking over and the ex-president himself, and
so on.
Further reading
Fillmore, C. (1977). “Scenes-and-frames Semantics”. In A. Zampolli (ed.), Linguistic

Structures Processing. Amsterdam: North Holland, pp. 55–82.
——. (1982). “Frame Semantics”. In Linguistics Society of Korea (ed.), Linguistics in
the Morning Calm. Seoul: Hanshin Publishing, pp. 111–137.
Lehrer, A. (1974). Semantic Fields and Lexical Structure. Amsterdam: North Holland.
López, A. M. R. (2002). “Applying Frame Semantics to Translation: A Practical
Example”, Meta: Translators’ Journal, Vol. 47 (3), pp. 312–350.
Neubert, A., and Shreve, G. M. (1992). Translation as Text. Kent, OH: The Kent
State University Press.
Nida, E. A. (1975). Componential Analysis of Meaning. The Hague: Mouton.
Saeed, J. I. (2009). Semantics (3rd edn). United Kingdom: Wiley Blackwell.
Schank, R. C. and Abelson R. P. (1977). Scripts, Plans, Goals and Understanding.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Steenbergen, G. van (2002). “Componential analysis of meaning and cognitive lin-
guistics”, Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, Vol. 28 (1), pp. 19–38.
Trier, J. (1931). Der deutsche Wortschatz im Sinnbezirk des Verstandes. Die Geschichte
eines sprachlichen Feldes. Heidelberg: Winter.
Questions
1. What is the difference between “componential analysis” and “meaning

postulates approach”?
2. How would you define “frame semantics”?
3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of componential analysis.
4. How would you know the difference between two lexical items which
are semantically related? Discuss.
5. In his book Componential Analysis of Meaning, Nida (1975) classifies the
components of any word into two main types. What are they? Discuss
with illustrative examples.
6. What is “translating by a hyponym”? Discuss with illustrative examples.
Exercises
Exercise 1: Try to suggest possible meaning postulates that capture the

relationships between the following lexical items:
1. cold and hot

2. table and sofa
3. cup and glass
4. bus and coach
5. lend and borrow
6. adviser and advisee
7. right and wrong
8. leg and body
9. hamburger and burger
10. kiwi and fruit
32 Chapter 2
Exercise 2: What are the main scenes and actions in the following activities?
1. opening a bank account
2. giving a lecture
3. eating at a restaurant
Exercise 3: In frame semantics, frames organize stereotype knowledge about

an entity, event, situation, and the like. Building on this, what are the main
frames that may be associated with the following lexical words? Try to use
IS-A attribute and HAS attribute to identity them.
1. a car
2. a teacher
3. a book
4. a banana
5. an armchair
6. a piglet
Exercise 4: Critically discuss the following analyses of bovine terms:
bull: [+bovine] [+male] [+adult]
cow: [+bovine] [–male] [+adult]
calf: [+bovine] [–adult]
Exercise 5: How would you capture the difference in meaning between the
following lexical items?
1. library and bookshop
2. voice and sound
3. solicitor and barrister
4. garden and park
5. house and home
6. evening and night
7. to like and to love
8. to assassinate and to kill
Exercise 6: The following example quoted from Samīra Al-Māni‘ (1997: 7)
and translated by Paul Starkey (2008: 5). Critically discuss the translation
of the semantic repetition ‫صياح وضوضاء‬.
،‫ أثناء ما تكون السماء ملتصقة باألرض من ش ّدة العتمة‬،‫في ليلة من ليالي شتاء بغداد‬
.‫سُمع صياح وضوضاء خارجًا من إحدى غرف داخلي طالبات كلية اآلداب‬
One Baghdad winter’s night – a night so dark that the sky seemed to merge into the
earth – a great commotion could be heard coming from a room in the Faculty of Languages
girls’ boarding house.
Chapter 3
Morphology
Key terms
• Analytic causativity
• Causativity
• Free morphemes
• Grammatical morphemes
• Inflectional morphemes
• Lexical causativity
• Morpheme
• Morphological causativity
• Morphology
• Syntax
• Transitivity
The previous chapter looked into three main approaches to describing
the relationships between words and concepts, namely semantic field,
formal approaches (such as componential analysis and meaning postulates
approach), and frame semantics. This chapter gives full consideration to
morphology, causativity, and transitivity in a direct link with the actual
act of translating a text.
3.1 Grammar
Grammar has two main dimensions: morphology and syntax. Morphology

focuses on the structure of lexical items, the units that make up lexical
items, and the way in which the form of lexical items varies, thus indicating
36 Chapter 3
specific contrasts in the grammatical system of language, such as past/

present/future, singular/dual/plural, passive/active, etc. (Almanna 2016:
83). Syntax, on the other hand, deals with the grammatical structure of
groups of words (clauses vs sentences), and the linear sequence of classes of
words (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, etc.). The syntactic structure imposes
restrictions on the way messages can be organized in the text.
Syntacticians describe how words combine into phrases and clauses,
and how these combine to form sentences. For example, I bought a book
two days ago is embedded as a relative clause in the sentence The book that
I bought two days ago is quite valuable and interesting. Choices in language
can be expressed grammatically or lexically. In this respect, Almanna (2016:
82) comments: “Choices made from closed systems (singular/dual/plural;
past/present/future; active voice/passive voice, etc.) are grammatical; those
made from open-ended sets are lexical”. Grammatical categories are not
identical in all languages. Languages differ widely in the way they map
various aspects of world experiences (for more details, see Baker 1992: 84).
In this chapter, special attention will be paid to morphology, causativity,
and transitivity in a direct link with translation.
3.2 Morphology
Morphology is the study of word formation. It is concerned with “the

structure and classification of words and the units that make up words”
(Rowe and Levine 2006/2009: 87). Morphologists study minimal units of
meaning, called “morphemes”, and investigate the possible combinations of
these units in a language to form words. For example, the word imperfections
is composed of four morphemes:
im + perfect + ion + s
The root perfect is transformed from an adjective into a noun by the addi-
tion of -ion, made negative with -im, and pluralized by -s. Morphemes are
classified by morphologists into:
Morphology 37
• “grammatical morphemes” (specifying the relationship between one

lexical morpheme and another) vs “lexical morphemes” (having mean-
ing in and of themselves).
• “free morphemes”, such as quick, hand, read, govern, etc. (can stand alone
as words) vs “bound morphemes”, such as –ly, –ful, –able, pre–, –ment,
in–, etc. (cannot stand alone as words).
• “inflectional morphemes” (indicating certain grammatical functions of
words, such as the plural marker –s, past tense marker –ed, possessive
marker –’s, progressive marker –ing, comparative marker –er, superlative
marker –est, etc.) vs “derivational morphemes” (can change the grammati-
cal category, or part of speech, of a word, such as adding –ful to beauty,
thus changing the word from a noun to an adjective, beautiful) (for more
details on morphology, see Parker and Riley 1994/2010: 79–93; Rowe
and Levine 2006/2009: 91–92).
Unlike English morphology, which is predominantly analytic, Arabic

morphology is synthetic (cf. Farghal and Almanna 2015). This means that
the two languages have two contrasting morphemes, thus sometimes caus-
ing problems to translators. For instance, English words, such as readers,
writers, and players can be easily analysed into three morphemes, namely:
• a root (read/write/play)
• a doer morpheme (-er)
• a plural morpheme (-s)
In Arabic, however, the corresponding words ‫قُرّاء‬, ‫ ُكتّاب‬, and ‫ال ِعبين‬/‫ال ِعبون‬,
do not lend themselves to such a linear analysis, but rather they undergo
vowel changes as well as plural morphemes ‫ين‬/‫ ون‬within the abstract
triconsonantal roots ‫قرأ‬, ‫كتب‬, and ‫لعب‬. To put this differently, prelexicalized
forms that have to do with reading, writing, and playing become:
ِ (reader) and ‫( قُرّاء‬readers)

• ‫قارئ‬
• ‫( كاتِب‬writer) and ‫( ُكتّاب‬writers)
• ‫( ال ِعب‬player) and ‫ال ِعبين‬/‫( ال ِعبون‬players)
Another difference between Arabic morphology and English morphology

is that in English derivation, “the root functions as input for prefixes and
38 Chapter 3
suffixes which may change word class” (Farghal and Almanna 2015:
54). For example, from the verb to study, a number of words, such
as: restudy, studying, studied, studies, student, students, and so on
can be created. In Arabic, however, “the root functions as input for
semantically related verbs which in turn function as input for other
derivation processes” (ibid.). Similarly, from the verb ‫س‬ َ ‫( َد َر‬to study),
the following words ‫س‬ َ ‫( د ّر‬he taught), ‫( َدرْ س‬lesson), ‫دارس‬ ِ (student),
‫دارسون‬
ِ (students), ‫مدرسة‬ (school), ‫س‬ ِّ‫در‬ ‫م‬
ُ (teacher), and ‫س‬ ‫ر‬
َ ‫( تدا‬to discuss)
can be generated.
With respect to translation, translators need to pay extra attention
to these semantically related Arabic words to avoid confusion that they
may cause as they sometimes lend themselves to morphologically unre-
lated words. To make this point clear, the following semantically related
Arabic verbs along with their corresponding words in English may be
considered:
… ‫ اِستقتل‬،‫ قاتل‬،‫• قتل‬

.‫قتل العدو عشرة جنود من قواتنا‬
The enemy killed ten soldiers from our troops.
.‫قاتلت قواتنا العدو ببسالة‬

Our troops fought the enemy bravely.
.‫اِستقتل من أجل أن يتزوّجها إال إنه طلّقها بعد شهرين‬
He has made every effort in order to marry her, but divorced her after two months.
… ‫ اِستجوّب‬،‫ تجاوب‬،‫ جاوب‬،‫• أجاب‬

.‫جاوب جميع األسئلة بشكل صحيح‬/‫أجاب‬
He answered all questions correctly.

.‫اِستجوّب القاضي الشاه َد‬
The judge cross-examined the witness.
.‫ تجاوب مع طلبي‬،‫عندما سألته كي يساعدني‬

When I asked him to help me, he had a positive reaction with my request.
Morphology 39
… ‫ تمارض‬،‫• مرض‬
.‫مرض البارحة فنقلناه إلى المستشفى‬
He felt sick last night, so we took him to hospital.
.‫تمارض كي ال يخرج معها‬
He pretended to be ill in order not to go out with her.
… ‫ تباكى‬،‫• بكى‬
.‫ما إن ذهبت أمه إلى عملها حتى أخذ الطفل يبكي عليها‬
No sooner had his mother left for her job than the child started crying over her.
.‫أخذ الطفل يتباكى كي يكسب عطف والديه‬
The child started to feign crying in order to gain his parents’ sympathy.
As can be observed, the verbs ‫قاتل‬, ‫قتل‬, and ‫ ;اِستقتل‬the verbs ‫تجاوب‬, ‫جاوب‬,
and ‫ ;اِستجوّب‬the verbs ‫مرض‬, and ‫ ;تمارض‬and the verbs ‫بكى‬, and ‫ تباكى‬lend
themselves to different renditions in English.
To further illuminate the importance of giving full consideration to
morphological asymmetries between the interfacing languages, the fol-
lowing translation produced by a translation student can be examined:
ST:
Standing in what is left of his burnt-out home this week, Jehad showed me a photo on
his mobile phone. It was of a cheeky, chunky, round-faced little boy in denim dungarees,
chuckling in a pushchair, dark-eyed with a fringe of fine brown hair pushed across his
brow.
TT:
‫ أراني صورة في‬،‫وعندما كان جهاد واقفًا في ما تبقّى من بيته المحروق في هذا األسبوع‬
‫ ممتلئ الخدين وكان يرتدي‬،‫ مكتنز‬،‫ كانت لولد صغير ذي وجه مستدير‬.‫هاتفه المحمول‬
‫ وعيناه قاتمتان ذات أهداب بنية رقيقة تصل‬،‫ردا ًء قطنيًا وكان ضاح ًكا في عربة أطفال‬
.‫إلى حاجبيه‬
Apparently, the student translator has confused the two semantically related
English words cheek and cheeky when rendering the word cheeky in the
source text. Checking up the meaning of the adjective cheeky in a number
of monolingual dictionaries, it may be concluded that it has nothing to
do with cheek. Rather, it simply means slightly rude or showing no respect,
but often in a funny way.
40 Chapter 3
3.3 Causativity and transitivity
3.3.1 Causativity
Causativity (from the verb to cause) indicates that the doer of the action or
activity causes somebody or something else to do or to become something
else. In general, there are three main types of causatives, viz. analytic causatives,
lexical causatives, and morphological causatives. To begin with analytic causa-
tives, they are syntactic constructions with certain verbs. Examples of analytic
causatives in English include verbs, such as to make, to have, and to get, as in:
The boss made her type the letter.

The boss had her type the letter.
The boss got her to type the letter.
However, examples of analytic causatives in Arabic include the use of the

verb ‫( جعل‬to make), as in:
َ ُ‫س هو تص ّرف‬
.‫ك األحمق‬ َّ
ٍ ‫إن ما جعلني أغضب يو َم أم‬
What made me angry yesterday was your silly behaviour.
It is worth noticing that in Arabic we can reflect the same causativity, thus
producing the same mental image without using the verb ‫( جعل‬to make),
as in:
َ ُ‫س هو تص ّرف‬
.‫ك األحمق‬ َّ
ٍ ‫إن ما أغضبني يو َم أم‬
Lexical causatives, on the other hand, are lexical items that have implicit
causativity. Examples of lexical causatives in English include verbs, such
as to kill, that is, to cause to die, to send, that is, to make somebody go,
and to feed, that is, to make somebody eat (for more details, see Goddard
1998/2011: 304).
With respect to morphological causatives, they are created by the pro-
cess of affixation. Morphological causatives in English are created by adding
suffixes, such as –en, –ify, and the like. Consider the following examples:
Morphology 41
thicken, widen, blacken, awaken, loosen, sharpen, soften, strengthen, weaken, worsen
clarify, amplify, beautify, falsify, magnify, satisfy, simplify, terrify, etc.
Morphological causatives in Arabic are created easily. For instance, some

َ َ‫عط‬, ‫عطَ َل‬, ‫ساف َر‬, ‫ َر َح َل‬, ‫لبِس‬, etc. can
َ ‫ضح‬, ‫جلَس‬, ‫نا َم‬, ‫بكى‬, ‫س‬
verbs, such as,َ ‫ك‬
be changed into transitive verbs, and then, causatives as they have implicit
transitivity incorporated into the verb stem.
)to make somebody laugh( ‫ك‬

َ ‫ض ّح‬/‫ أضحك‬vs (to laugh( ‫ك‬
َ ‫• ضح‬
)to make somebody cry( ‫ب ّكى‬/‫ أبكى‬vs (to cry( ‫• بك َى‬
)to put somebody to bed; to send somebody to bed( ‫ نوّم‬vs (to sleep( ‫• نام‬
� َ ّ‫ عط‬vs (to sneeze( ‫عطس‬
)to make somebody sneeze( ‫س‬ َ •
)to break( ‫ عطّل‬vs (to break; to be broken( ‫تعطّل‬/‫• عطل‬
)to make somebody understand( ‫فهّم‬/‫ أفهم‬vs (to understand( ‫تفهّم‬/‫• فهم‬
to return; to bring back; to( ‫ر ّج َع‬/‫ أرجع‬vs (to return; to come back( ‫• رج َع‬
)give back
to bring out; to take out; to send out; to(�‫ خ ّر َج‬/‫ أخرج‬vs (to go out( ‫• خرج‬
)sack out
� َ ‫ خ ّر‬vs (to graduate( ‫• تخ ّر َج‬
)to graduate( ‫ج‬
)to expel somebody from the country( ‫ سفّ َر‬vs (to travel( ‫• ساف َر‬
)to make somebody angry( ‫أغضب‬
َ vs (to be angry( ‫غضب‬
َ •
)to make somebody sad( ‫ح ّزن‬/ َ‫ أحزن‬vs (to be sad( َ‫• حزن‬
)to make somebody feel ill( ‫ّض‬
َ ‫مر‬/‫أمرض‬
َ vs (to feel sick; to be ill( ‫مرض‬
َ •
)to awake; to wake up; to awaken( ‫ صحّا‬vs (to awake; to wake up( ‫• صحا‬
)to feed( ‫أطعم‬/‫ أ ّكل‬vs (to eat( ‫• أك َل‬
to give somebody a drink; to make somebody( ‫ّب‬
َ ‫ شر‬vs (to drink( ‫شرب‬
َ •
)drink
)to teach( ‫ علّ َم‬vs (to learn( ‫• تعلّم‬
42 Chapter 3
)to teach( ‫ّس‬ َ ‫ در‬vs (to study( ‫درس‬

َ •
)to remind( ‫ ذ ّك َر‬vs (to remember( ‫• ذك َر‬
)to make somebody forget( ‫نسّى‬/‫ أنسى‬vs (to forget( ‫• نسى‬
)to surprise( ‫أدهش‬
َ /‫دهش‬
َ vs (to be surprised( ‫• اِندهش‬
)to surprise( ‫باغت‬/‫ فاجأ‬vs (to be surprised( ‫• تفاجأ‬
)to encourage; to brave( ‫ ش ّج َع‬vs (to be brave; to be encouraged( ‫ • تشجّع‬
)to hurt( ‫ ّأذى‬vs (to be hurt( ‫• تأذى‬
As can be observed, there are some English verbs that can be used both
transitively and intransitively, e.g., to break in Tom broke the window and The
window broke. With such verbs, the object of the transitive verb is identi-
cal with the subject of the intransitive one. In the actual act of translating,
translators need to consider these linguistic asymmetries. To elaborate, the
following example may be considered:
‫شعر زميلتِها‬
ِ ّ ‫ ما أضحكها ق‬.‫ضحكت كثيراً مع زميالتِها أمس في داخل الصّف‬
�‫صة‬ ْ
.‫ضحكة‬ِ ‫ال ُم‬
Here, the verb ‫ك‬َ ‫ضح‬َ is an intransitive verb, that is, it does not have a direct
object, thus lending itself to the verb to laugh in the past. However, in the
second sentence the verb ‫ك‬ َ ‫ أض َح‬is transitive, that is, it needs an object. To
reflect the transitivity, the translator may well opt for the verb to make fol-
lowed by the first form of the verb to laugh, as in:
She laughed a lot with her classmates in class yesterday. What made her laugh was her
classmate’s funny haircut.
Following is another example:
‫ ما الذي أبكى الطف َل؟ هل تأذى؟‬-

ْ
،ُ‫ذهبت أ ُمه‬ َ ‫ لكنه في البداية أخ َذ يتباكى كي يكس‬،‫ لم يتأ َذ‬،‫ ال‬-
‫ عندما‬،‫ ولكن‬.‫ُب عطفَ أ ِم ِه‬
.ً‫ أخ َذ الطف ُل يبكى عليها بُكا ًء ُم ّرا‬،‫إلى عملِها‬
Here, the verb ‫ تأذى‬is different from ‫ أصاب شخصا ً بأذى‬:‫أذى‬ ّ . While the former
is intransitive, thus lending itself to the adjective hurt preceded by was to
reflect the tense, the latter is transitive, thus lending itself to the verb to hurt.
Translating the intransitive verb ‫تأذى‬ ّ to an adjective preceded by verb to be
Morphology 43
in the past leads to “class shift” to use Catford’s (1965) terminology, that
is, changing the part of speech through the nexus of translation. Further,
in the above example, three verbs ‫أبكى‬, ‫تباكى‬, and ‫بكى‬, which are semanti-
cally related, that is, they are derived from the same root (‫)بـ ك ى‬, are used.
Therefore, extra attention needs to be paid to their meanings, voices, etc.
To begin with, the verb ‫( أبكى‬also ‫ )ب ّكى‬is a transitive verb, thus lending itself
to to make somebody cry in the past. As for the verbs ‫ى‬ َ ‫( بك‬to cry) and ‫تباك َى‬
(to feign crying), they are intransitive verbs. Taking into account the mean-
ings of these verbs, the translator may well suggest a rendering like this:
What made the child cry? Was he hurt?
No, he wasn’t. But, in the beginning he started to feign crying to gain his mom’s sym-
pathy. However, as soon as she went out to her job, he started to cry over her bitterly.
Following is an example extracted from Fū’ād Al-Takarlī’s (2009: 181) story

‫( التباس‬Confusion):
‫ دواء لم يجربه‬،‫أتذ ّكر جيدا أني أخبرتك أكثر من مرة بأن زوجي لم يأخذ ذلك المساء‬
،‫ بالضبط بعيد العشاء‬،‫ نعم‬،‫ بعيد العشاء‬،‫ لقد تذ ّكر‬.‫من قبل أو شيئا ً غير معروف لدينا‬
،‫أنه نسي أن يتناول حبة الصباح من دواء الضغط … ذلك « التينورمين » المعتاد الذي‬
.‫ أنك تعرفه‬،‫الشك‬
In this example, seven verbs are used, viz. two intransitive verbs ‫( تذ ّكر‬to
remember) used twice and ‫( نسى‬to forget), and five transitive verbs, namely
‫( أخبر‬to tell), ‫( أخذ‬to take), ‫( جرّب‬to try out), ‫( تناول‬to take), and ‫( عرف‬to know).
Paying special attention to these verbs along with their tenses, aspects, and
voices, a professional translator may suggest a rendering like this:
I do remember very well telling you more than once that my husband that evening did
not take any medicine that he had not taken before or anything else unknown to us. He
remembered just after dinner, yes, exactly shortly after dinner, that he had forgotten to
take his morning tablet for hypertension, the usual Tenormin which you no doubt know.
3.3.2 Transitivity
The concept of transitivity is related by the traditional grammarians to

the types of verbs that need objects. However, transitivity is defined by
Halliday (1976: 199) as “the set of options relating to cognitive content,
44 Chapter 3
the linguistic representation of extralinguistic experience, whether of the

phenomena of the external world or of feelings, thoughts and perceptions”.
According to Halliday, transitivity refers to the way in which the mean-
ings of smaller units, such as words and expressions, are encoded in larger
units, such as clauses or sentences. Approached from such a perspective,
“a number of processes can be identified as to whether they represent an
action, behaviour, saying, state of mind, state of being or state of existing,
inter alia, process of doing, process of behaving, process of sensing, pro-
cess of being and process of existing respectively” (Almanna 2016: 151). In
studying the type of the process of transitivity, three main components,
viz. the process, the participants, and the circumstances, should be given
full consideration. To illustrate this, these two examples extracted from
Muhsin Al-Ramlī’s story (2009: 31) ‫ي‬ ّ ‫( البحث عن قلب ح‬Search for a Live
Heart) may be given full consideration:
(‫ يخرج (هو‬.‫ وعلى جانبي الممر أبواب مرقمة‬،‫ داخل أحد المستشفيات‬،‫في ممر ضيق‬
.‫ يثقل حركته األلم والحزن الحاد‬،‫من أحدها ماسحا ً عينيه‬
Here, the original writer decides to encode and present his ideas by employ-
ing a material process, as in:
• actor: ‫( هو‬he)
• the process of doing ‫( يخرج‬to go out)
• goal: no goal
• circumstances:
• an adverb of place: ‫ ( من أحدها‬from one of them). Here, ‫( أحدها‬one of
them) refers back to one of the numbered doors on both sides of
the narrow corridor in one of the hospitals.
• an adverb of manner ‫( ماسحا ً عينيه‬rubbing his eyes).
• a clause of manner ‫( يثقل حركته األلم والحزن الحاد‬his movement weighed
down by deep pain and grief ).
To reflect the same mental image, the translator needs to pay undivided
attention to the processes of transitivity used in the original text along with
their main components. With this in mind, a professional translator may
well suggest a rendering like this:
Morphology 45
In a narrow hospital corridor, there is a succession of numbered doors on both sides. He

comes out of one of them rubbing his eyes, his movement weighed down by deep pain
and grief.
‫ فهم يدركون بأن‬،‫وحتى الجيران يودون لو ينقلوا لنا خبر عودته بسرعة ليوقفوا حزننا‬
… ‫لحظة حزن إضافية قد تقضي علينا‬
Here, the original writer, in an attempt to express his feelings and ideas,
resorts to certain processes, participants and circumstances. As can be
noticed, five processes are used, namely:
• a process of wishing ‫( الجيران يودون‬neighbours want).

• a material process …‫( ينقلوا لنا خبر‬to bring us news of …) indicating an
implicit verbal process, that is, ‫( يقولوا‬they say) plus a goal ‫( خبر‬news),
and an adverb of manner ‫( بسرعة‬quickly).
• a material process ‫( يوقفوا حزننا‬they stop our sorrow) used metaphorically
to mean to put an end to our sorrow.
• a process of sensing ‫( فهم يدركون‬they realize) where ‫( هم‬they) is the sensor
of the process, ‫( يدرك‬to realize) is the process of sensing, and the clause
… ‫( بأن‬that …) is the phenomenon of the process.
• a material process ‫( لحظة حزن قد تقضي علينا‬a moment of sorrow may destroy
us) used metaphorically to mean any other moment of sorrow might be
too much for us.
Giving full consideration to the types of processes used in the original text
along with their participants and circumstances, a well-trained translator
may well suggest a translation like this:
Neighbours, too, want to bring us news of his return as quickly as they can to put an
end to our sorrow as they realize that any other moment of sorrow may well destroy us
(Or: might be too much for us).
To finish off this section, the following example extracted from Mahmūd
‘Abdulwahhāb’s story ‫( الشباك والساحة‬The Window and the Courtyard)
translated by Sadkhan and Pragnell (2012: 19; bilingual edn) may be
analysed:
46 Chapter 3
ST:
‫أغلقت المرأة ضلفة الشباك اليسرى ثم تح ّركت داخل الغرفة وجلست خلف منضدة‬
‫صغيرة مكسوّة بشرشف أصفر وضع عليها صندوق خشبي صغير محفور على غطائه‬
.‫رأس فتاة زنجية‬
TT:
The woman shut the left side of the window, and then moved inside the room and sat
down at a small table covered by a yellow sheet. On it there was a small wooden box, its
cover carved with the head of a Negro woman.
Here, the original writer, in an attempt to express the mental image that
he has of the world around him, decides to opt for certain processes and
participants, and determined in advance which participant will act and
which one will be acted on. As can be noticed, six processes are used, as in:
• a material process ‫( أغلقت المرأة ضلفة الشباك اليسرى‬the woman shut the left
side of the window): ‫( المرأة‬the woman) is the actor of the process, ‫أغلق‬
(to shut) is the process of doing, and ‫( ضلفة الشباك اليسرى‬the left side of
the window) is the goal of the process.
• a material process without a goal ‫( تحرّكت داخل الغرفة‬she moved inside the
room): the implicit pronoun ‫( هي‬she) is the actor of the process, ‫تحرّك‬
(to move) is the process of doing, and ‫( داخل الغرفة‬inside the room) is an
adverb of place.
• a material process without a goal ‫( جلست خلف منضدة‬she sat down at a
table): the implicit pronoun ‫( هي‬she) is the actor of the process, ‫( جلس‬to
sit down) is the process of doing, and ‫( خلف منضدة‬at a table) is an adverb
of place.
• an implicit material process ‫( منضدة صغيرة مكسوّة بشرشف أصفر‬a small table
covered by a yellow table-cloth): the actor is unknown, ‫( كسى‬to cover) is
the process of doing, and ‫( منضدة صغيرة‬a small table) is the goal of the
process.
• a material process ‫( وضع عليها صندوق خشبي صغير‬a small wooden box
was put on it): the actor is unknown, ‫( وضع‬to put) is the process of
doing, and ‫( عليها‬on it – it refers back to the table) is an adverb of place.
This material process functions as an existential process: an existent
‫( صندوق خشبي صغير‬a small wooden box), an implicit process of existing
‫( يوجد‬there was), and an adverb of place ‫( عليها‬on it).
Morphology 47
• an implicit material process ‫( محفور على غطائها رأس فتاة زنجية‬its cover was
carved with the head of a Negro woman): the actor is unknown, ‫( حفر‬to
carve) is the process of doing, and ‫( رأس فتاة زنجية‬the head of a Negro
woman) is the goal of the process.
Being fully aware of the types of processes along with their participants and
circumstances, the translators have succeeded in offering an equivalent text
that effectively reflects the types of processes along with their participants
and circumstances, thus producing an accurate mental image.
Further reading
Almanna, A. (2016). The Routledge Course in Translation Annotation: Arabic-English-

Arabic. London/New York: Routledge.
Farghal, M., and Almanna, A. (2015). Contextualizing Translation Theories: Aspects of
Arabic-English Interlingual Communication. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars Press.
Goddard, C. (1998/2011). Semantic Analysis: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1976). “Notes on Transitivity and Theme in English. Part 2”, Inter-
national Journal of Language and Philosophy, Vol. 3 (1), pp. 199–244.
Thakur, D. (1999). Linguistics Simplified: Semantics. New Delhi: Bharati Bhawan.
Questions
1. It is argued that English and Arabic represent two contrasting mor-

phologies. While English morphology is predominantly analytic, Arabic
morphology is largely synthetic. Explain with illustrative examples.
2. Morphemes are classified by morphologists into many types. What are
they?
48 Chapter 3
3. How would you define “morphology” and “syntax”?

4. What are the main types of causatives? Discuss with illustrative examples.
5. What is transitivity according to the traditional grammarians?
Exercises
Exercise 1: Try to identify the functions achieved by the morphemes (-able,

im-, in-, and -less) in these words (achievable, impolite, independent, and
wireless), and then suggest equivalents to them in Arabic.
Exercise 2: Analyse the meanings of the morphemes in these words: inven-

tion, indispensable, politeness, interviewee, and unemployment.
Exercise 3: Identify the type of causativity in the following sentences:
1. I made him wash my car yesterday.

2. They had him sing in the party.
3. The police killed the thief while leaving the house.
4. His father sent him to the nearest pharmacy.
5. Before going to bed, she sent her naughty boy to bed.
Exercise 4: Identify the types of processes along with their participants and
circumstances in the following text extracted from Mahmūd ‘Abdulwahhāb’s
(2012: 19) story ‫( الشباك والساحة‬The Window and the Courtyard). Then,
translate it into English.
‫ كان المطر ينهمر على أعالي‬.‫أطلت امرأة في األربعين من الشباك تراقب الطريق‬
‫ يقفزان داخل باص‬،‫ في الشارع‬،‫ شخصان‬.‫البيوت وأعمدة التلفزيون ورؤوس األشجار‬
.‫المصلحة في اللحظة التي تحرك فيها‬
Chapter 4
Affixation
Key terms
• Affixation
• Chameleon prefixes
• Homonymous affixes
• Inflectional morphemes
• Polysemous affixes
• Prefixation
• Suffixation
The previous chapter considered the similarities and differences in morphol-
ogy, causativity, and transitivity between Arabic and English. This chapter
examines affixation, such as infixes, prefixes, and suffixes, in a direct link
with the actual act of translating a text.
4.1 Affixation
Affixation refers to the addition of prefixes, suffixes or infixes (an infix means
a letter or a group of letters added within the word stem in some languages,
such as Arabic). To begin with English affixation, a prefix is a letter or a
group of letters attached to the beginning of a word and changes its original
meaning. A suffix, however, is a letter or a group of letters attached to the
end of a word and changes the way a word fits into a sentence grammati-
cally. For its turn, Arabic has prefixes, infixes and suffixes; however, they
are derivational and inflectional, that is, they are limited in number. For
50 Chapter 4
example, the prefix ‫ مـ‬is attached in Arabic to a number of verbs to indicate

the place where an action or event is done, such as:
Word stem (verb) Place

• ‫َب‬ َ ‫( َكت‬to write) — ‫( مكتب‬office)
• ‫( عَم َل‬to work) — ‫( معمل‬factory)
• ‫( ن َز َع‬to take off ) — ‫( منزع‬changing room)
• ‫ ذب َح‬or ‫( سل َخ‬to slaughter) — ‫مذبح‬/‫( مسلخ‬slaughterhouse)
• ‫( سعى‬to move or attempt) — ‫( مسعى‬attempt or effort)
• ‫( رمى‬to throw) — ‫( مرمى‬goal, range or distance)
• ‫( وض َع‬to put) — ‫( موضع‬position)
• ‫( وق َع‬to fall) — ‫( موقع‬site or location)
• ‫( نز َل‬to go down) — ‫( منزل‬house)
• َ‫( هبط‬to land) — ‫( مهبط‬landing ground or landing field)
• ‫( صع َد‬to go up) — ‫( مصعد‬lift)
• ‫( دخ َل‬to enter) — ‫( مدخل‬entrance)
• ‫( خر َج‬to go out) — ‫( مخرج‬exit)
• ‫جلس‬َ (to sit) — ‫( مجلس‬sitting room or council)
However, the prefix ‫ مـ‬is also added to word stems, such as َّ‫( رش‬to spry or
ّ ‫( ف‬to unscrew) to change them into nouns of
sprinkle), ‫( بَ َر َد‬to file), and ‫ك‬
instruments, as in ‫( مرش‬sprayer or sprinkler), ‫( مبرد‬file), and ‫( مفك‬screw
driver) respectively. The same prefix ‫ مـ‬can be added along with the infix ‫ـــا‬
to word stems, such as ‫( فتح‬to open), and ‫حرث‬ َ (to cultivate) to change them
to nouns of instruments, as in ‫( مفتاح‬key), and ‫( محراث‬plough) respectively.
The suffix ‫ـي‬, however, is added to a number of nouns to indicate
nationalities, as in:
Noun Nationality
• ‫( عراق‬Iraq) — ‫( عراقي‬Iraqi)
• ‫( مصر‬Egypt) — ‫( مصري‬Egyptian)
• ‫( عُمان‬Oman) — ‫( عُماني‬Omani)
• ‫( تونس‬Tunisia) — ‫( تونسي‬Tunisian)
• ‫( كويت‬Kuwait) — ‫( كويتي‬Kuwaiti)
• ‫( قطر‬Qatar) — ‫( قطري‬Qatari)
Affixation 51
The same suffix ‫ ــي‬can be added to nouns, such as ‫( رمل‬sand), ‫( ثلج‬snow),

‫( شمس‬sun), ‫( قمر‬moon), ‫( أرض‬earth), ‫( هواء‬air), ‫( صحراء‬desert), ‫تعليم‬
(education), and the like to change them into adjectives, as in ‫( رملي‬sandy),
‫( ثلجي‬snowy), ‫( شمسي‬solar), ‫( قمري‬lunar), ‫( أرضي‬land or soil), ‫( هوائي‬airy),
‫( صحراوي‬desert-like), and ‫( تعليم ّي‬educational) respectively.
Translating suffixes and prefixes from Arabic into English does not
cause a serious problem to translators as they are limited in number.
However, translating suffixes and prefixes from English into Arabic requires
extra effort. This is because a wide-range of English prefixes and suffixes
are borrowed from Latin and Greek, thus it is not an easy task to figure
out their exact meanings. Further, some of them have several related and/
or unrelated meanings (see below). As such, in the following sections full
consideration will be given to English affixations and their translations
into Arabic.
4.2 Changes associated with affixation
While the addition of the prefix dis- to the verb like to form dislike is an
example of prefixation, the addition of the suffix –er to the verb teach to
form the noun teacher is an example of suffixation. With affixation (in
particular suffixation), there must be a change at all or most of these levels:
• the morphological level

• the syntactic level
• the semantic level
• the phonological level
To make this point clear, the adjective large may be considered. The addi-
tion of the prefix en-, for instance, to it will change it
• at the level of morphology (two morphemes en + large in place of just

one morpheme, i.e., large).
52 Chapter 4
• at the level of syntax (it will function as a verb instead of an adjective).

• at the level of semantics (it will be changed into the meaning of causing
something larger or becoming larger).
• at the level of phonology (there will be no change).
However, the addition of the suffix –ise (also –ize) to the noun critic will
change it at the four levels, including the phonological level.
4.3 Suffixes and prefixes in English
In this section, an attempt will be made to provide the reader with the
meanings of the suffixes and prefixes commonly used in English. Following
are examples of English prefixes:
Prefix Meaning
ante- before, as in antenatal, anteroom, antedate, and the like.
anti- against or opposing, as in antibiotics, antidepressant, antidote,
antisocial, and the like.
co- with, as in co-author, co-translator, co-worker, co-pilot, co-operation,
and the like.
de- off, down or away from, as in defame, defrost, destabilize, devalue,
and the like.
dis- not or opposite of, as in disagree, disappear, disapprove, disembark,
dislike, and the like.
ex- former, out of or away from, as in ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, ex-
husband, ex-mayor, ex-president, ex-wife, export, exhale, exclusive,
and the like.
extra- beyond or more than, as in extracurricular, extraordinary, and
the like.
fore- before, as in forehead, foresee, foreword, foremost, and the like.
Affixation 53
hyper- over or above, as in hyperactive, hypertension, hypermarket, and

the like.
micro- small, as in microscope, microbiology, microfilm, microwave, and
the like.
mid- middle, as in midfielder, midway, and the like.
mis- wrong or bad, as in misinterpret, misread, misspell, misunderstand,
and the like.
mono- one or singular, as in monotone, monolithic, and the like.
re- again, as in, rediscover, redo, replay, reread, rewrite, and the like.
semi- half, as in semicircle, semi-final, and the like.
sub- under, as in sub-category, sub-divide, submarine, subtitle, and the
like.
super- above or over, as in superimpose, superman, supermarket, super-
natural, superstar, and the like.
trans- across or beyond, as in transport, transnational, transatlantic,
and the like.
tri- three, as in triangle, tricycle, and the like.
un- not, as in undone, unfair, unfriendly, unhappy, unknown, and
the like.
uni- one, as in unicorn, unicycle, uniform, unilateral, universal, and
the like.
Suffixes can be classified into four main groups, namely noun suffixes, verb
suffixes, adjective suffixes and adverb suffixes:
Noun suffixes
Suffix Meaning
-acy state or quality, as in accuracy, determinacy, democracy, and
the like.
-al the action or process of, as in criminal, denial, trial, and the
like.
54 Chapter 4
-ance/-ence state or quality of, as in absence, acceptance, annoyance, depend-

ence, equivalence, maintenance, negligence, tolerance, and the
like.
-dom condition of, state of being or realm, as in boredom, freedom,
kingdom, stardom, wisdom, and the like.
-er/-or doer of an action, as in creator, collaborator, doctor, editor, inter-
preter, inventor, investor, reader, reviser, teacher, translator, and
the like.
-ism state, quality, doctrine or belief, as in capitalism, heroism, ideal-
ism, socialism, terrorism, tourism, and the like.
-ist person or doer of an action, as in artist, communist, geologist,
linguist, scientist, theorist, and the like.
-ment action, result or condition, as in argument, enchantment, gov-
ernment, movement, shipment, and the like.
-ness state of being or quality, as in coldness, happiness, heaviness,
highness, kindness, illness, sadness, shyness, sickness, tiredness,
weakness, and the like.
-ship state or condition of, skill of or position held, as in author-
ship, citizenship, friendship, hardship, internship, scholarship,
and the like.
-sion/-tion state of being or quality, action or process, as in attention, cel-
ebration, caution, completion, navigation, position, promotion,
decision, and the like.
Verb suffixes
Suffix Meaning
-ate to make or become, as in activate, collaborate, evaporate, facili-
tate, mediate, medicate, and the like.
-en to make, as in awaken, fasten, loosen, sharpen, soften, strengthen,
weaken, worsen, and the like.
-ify/-fy to make or cause, as in amplify, beautify, falsify, justify, magnify,
satisfy, simplify, terrify, and the like.
-ise/-ize to cause, treat or become, as in authorize, criticize, conceptual-
ize, contextualize, culturalize, publicize, and the like.
Affixation 55
Adjective suffixes
Suffix Meaning
-able/ible capable of being, as in audible, drinkable, doable, edible, excit-
able, incredible, notable, preventable, portable, readable, and
the like.
-al relating to, having the form or character of, as in bacterial, colo-
nial, herbal, international, national, natural, theatrical, and the
like.
-ful full of, as in forceful, helpful, skilful, thankful, and the like.
-ic/-ical relating to, characterized by or having the form, as in analytic,
analytical, comic, comical, economic, economical, historical, organic,
psychological, nonsensical, musical, and the like.
-ious/-ous having the qualities of, full of or characterized by, as in ambi-
tious, cautious, dangerous, gracious, jealous, religious, ridiculous,
and the like.
-ish relating to or having the quality of, as in childish, sheepish,
squeamish, and the like.
-ive having the nature of, inclined to or have the quality of, as in
attractive, attentive, expensive, informative, inquisitive, repulsive,
and the like.
-less without, as in fearless, homeless, hopeless, meaningless, wireless,
and the like.
-y made up of, characterized by or having, as in airy, angry, brainy,
fruity, hungry, icy, jumpy, sandy, teary, and the like.
Adverb suffixes
Suffix Meaning
-ly in the manner of, as in angrily, crazily, happily, quickly,
slowly, softly, and the like.
-ward/wards specifying direction, as in backwards, eastward, homeward,
inward, towards, and the like.
-wise in relation to, in the manner of or direction of, as in
clockwise, lengthwise, likewise, otherwise, timewise, and
the like.
56 Chapter 4
4.4 Polysemous prefixes and suffixes
Polysemy (see Chapter 7 for more details) refers to the words that have
at least two different but related meanings. Just as there are polysemous
words, there are polysemous prefixes or suffixes, that is, there are prefixes
and suffixes that have at least two different but related meanings. Consider
the following polysemous prefixes and suffixes adapted from Thakur (1999:
52–53):
Affix Meaning
bi- a. twice in one period, as in biannual, bimonthly, and so forth.
b. having two, as in bicycle, bilingual, bilateral, bidirectional,
and so forth.
-ful a. having much of or being full of, as in beautiful, cheerful, force-
ful, harmful, meaningful, painful, peaceful, successful, useful,
sorrowful, and so forth.
b. amount that fills, as in fistful, spoonful, handful, mouthful,
and so forth.
-ery a. art of, as in cookery, pottery, and so forth.
b. place of an action, as in bakery, fishery, and so forth.
-ette a. diminutive, as in cigarette, diskette, kitchenette, and so forth.
b. imitation, as in leatherette, and so forth.
-ish a. of or like, as in boyish, childish, girlish, mannish, and so forth.
b. almost, as in greenish, reddish, yellowish, twentyish, thirtyish,
and so forth.
-less a. having not or without, as in, childless, friendless, homeless,
humorless, wireless, and so forth.
b. not causing or giving, as in harmless, painless, and so forth.
un- a. not, as in uncertain, unsure, uncomfortable, unhappy, unable,
unfair, and so forth.
b. do the reverse of, as in undress, uncover, undo, unzip, unscrew,
unbutton, and so forth.
Affixation 57
4.5 Homonymous prefixes and suffixes
Just as there are homonymous words, that is, words that have at least two
different unrelated meanings, there are homonymous prefixes and suffixes.
Consider the following examples adapted from Thakur (1999: 53):
Affix Meaning
a- a. not or without, as in agnostic, amoral, apolitical, asexual, asym-
metrical, atheist, atypical, and so on.
b. in the state of, as in ablaze, afloat, asleep, and so on.
dis- a. not, as in disbelieve, dislike, distrust, displeasure, and so on.
b. to know something or to make it known, as in disclose, discover,
and so on.
c. to change, as in discolour, and so on.
-er a. the doer of an action, as in builder, designer, player, reviser, singer,
teacher, and so on.
b. the comparative degree, as in bigger, nicer, older, shorter, smaller,
richer, and so on.
-ly a. every, as in hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, annually, yearly, and
so on.
b. having the quality of, as in, manly, neighbourly, friendly, schol-
arly, and so on.
4.6 Chameleon prefixes
Chameleon prefixes appear at the beginning of a word and cannot be

removed from it, that is, it is an intrinsic part of the word. Unlike the
other types of prefixes, these chameleon prefixes change their spelling and
physical forms slightly to suit the word attached to it. Following are some
examples of chameleon prefixes:
58 Chapter 4
Chameleon prefixes Meaning

a- not or without, as in apathy, anaemic, and the like.
com- with or jointly, as in company, comrade, community,
and the like.
contra- against, as in contraceptive, contradict, and the like.
de- down or away, as in descend, and the like.
ex- out of or outside, as in exit, exhort, and the like.
homo- same, as in homogeneous, and the like.
para- beside, as in paradox, and the like.
sub- under, as in substitute, and the like.
trans- through or across, as in transmit, transcend, and the
like.
tri- three, as in triceps, triathlon, and the like.
4.7 Translating English suffixes and prefixes
As can be observed, there are several methods to translate English prefixes

and suffixes along with their word stems into Arabic:
• it can be translated into one word, as in renew ‫يُج ّدد‬, supermarket ‫بقالة‬,
builder ‫بنّاء‬, singer ‫مغنّي‬, reviser ‫مراجع‬, translator ‫مترجم‬, unbutton ‫األزرار‬
‫يفتح‬, disappear ‫يختفي‬, homeless ‫مشرّد‬, discover ‫يكتشف‬, cigarette ‫سيكارة‬, suc-
cessful ‫ناجح‬, useful ‫مفيد‬, beautiful ‫جميل‬, disbeliever ‫كافِر‬, bakery ‫مخبز‬, etc.
• it can be translated into a genitive construction, as in: defamation
‫تشويهُ السمع ِة‬, bilingual ‫ثنائ ُي اللغ ِة‬, deforestation ‫عملية تقليل الغابات‬, depopula-
tion ‫عملية تقليل السّكان‬, overproduction ‫نتاج‬ ِ ُ‫فرط‬, etc.
ِ ‫اال‬
• it can be translated into a prepositional phrase, as in: underground
‫تحت األر ض‬, and the like.
• it can be translated into a compound word, as in decentralization
‫الالمركزية‬, apolitical ‫ال سياس ّي‬, and the like.
Affixation 59
• it be translated into a noun phrase, as in infrastructure ‫بُنية تحتيّة‬, super-

ّ ‫مضا ٌد حيو‬, kitchenette
structure ‫بُنية فوقيّة‬, bicycle ‫دراجة هوائيّة‬, antibiotics ‫ي‬
‫مطب ٌخ صغير‬, etc.
To elaborate, the lexical item destabilize in following example may be given

adequate consideration:
Yesterday, the Iraqi government accused the neighbouring countries, particularly Turkey
of destabilizing the country.
Here, the addition of the suffix –ize to the adjective stable changes it into
a verb, that is, causing something stable or becoming stable. However, the
addition of the prefix de- to the verb stabilize changes its meaning into the
opposite despite the fact that it does not change its word class. Being aware
of the meanings and functions of the prefix de- and suffix –ize, the transla-
tor may well opt for a genitive construction ‫زعزعةُ النظام‬, as in:
.‫ وبخاصة تركيا بزعزعة النظام‬،‫همت الحكومةُ العراقيةُ دو َل الجوار يوم أمس‬
ْ ّ‫اِت‬
Following are two examples translated by Safīa Al-Sa‘dī in her final transla-
tion project entitled Life in Japan (2015: 2):
ST:
One of the first things you notice in Japan – trash cans are impossible to find at public
places!
TT:
‫فأوّل األشياء التي ستالحظها في اليابان هو استحالة أن تجد صناديق القمامة في األماكن‬
.‫العامة‬
In the above example, the lexical item impossible has been translated into
one word, that is, ‫استحالة‬. Being fully aware of the meaning and function of
the prefix im- added to the adjective possible, the translator has opted for
the noun ‫( استحالة‬impossibility). Here, there is an example of “class shift” to
use Catford’s (1965) term. Class shift occurs when a source language item,
such as the adjective impossible is translated into a target language item
60 Chapter 4
which belongs to a different grammatical class, such as the noun ‫استحالة‬

(for more details on shift see Almanna 2016: 61–64).
ST:
When living in Japan, you will learn a lot about handling trash. As the islands are tiny
and densely populated, it was crucial for the Japanese to focus on recycling and minimiz-
ing their impact on the nature around.
TT:
.‫ فإن التعامل مع النفايات هو أحد األمور التي تتعلّمها‬،‫في الحقيقة عندما تعيش في اليابان‬
‫ فقد كان حريّا ً باليابانيين أن ير ّكزوا على إعادة‬،‫وألن الجزر صغيرة وآهلة بالسّكان‬
َّ
.‫التدوير وتقليل تأثير النفايات على الطبيعة المحيطة بهم‬
Here, the suffix –ese added to Japan and prefix re- added to the verb cycle
will be given full consideration. To begin with the suffix -ese, it is added
to the names of the countries to refer to the people of that country. The
prefix re- added to the verb cycle, however, does not change its word class,
but adds a specific meaning to the verb cycle, that is, again. Paying undi-
vided attention to their meanings and functions, the translator has opted
for ‫ اليابانيين‬in a genitive case to refer to the people of Japan and a genitive
construction ‫ إعادة التدوير‬to stand for the verb recycle. As can be observed,
there is a combination of both class shift, that is, changing parts of speech,
and unit shift, that is, translating a word into a phrase. It is worth noting
that such a shift cannot be avoided due to the differences between the
interfacing languages.
Further reading

Scholars Press.
Affixation 61

Questions
1. In English, it is claimed that the suffix –able is attached only to transi-

tive verbs, as in readable, breakable, washable, debateable, useable, doable,
drivable, etc. However, there are some intransitive verbs, such as run that
takes the –able, as in runnable. Are there other intransitive verbs that
can take the suffix –able?
2. What do “infixes” mean? Discuss with illustrative examples.
3. What do “chameleon prefixes” mean? Discuss with illustrative examples.
4. With affixation (in particular suffixation), there must be a change at
different levels. Discuss with illustrative examples.
5. To translate English prefixes and suffixes into Arabic, there are several
methods. What are they?
Exercises
Exercise 1: Read the following pairs of words, paying extra attention to the
affixes attached to them and decide whether they are examples of polysemy,
homonymy or neither:
1. sleepless – childless
2. spoonful – successful
3. unhappy – uncover
4. ablaze – asymmetric
5. yellowish – girlish
6. bilingual – bimonthly
7. friendly – quickly
8. discover – disembark
62 Chapter 4
9. misunderstand – misbehave
10. irregular – irrelevant
Exercise 2: Read the following pairs of words, paying extra attention to

the prefixes attached to them and decide whether they are examples of
chameleon prefixes or not:
1. paradox 6. substitute
2. exist 7. atypical
3. asocial 8. coordinator
4. apathy 9. defame
5. company 10. bicycle
Exercise 3: Read the following pairs of words, paying extra attention to the
affixes attached to them and decide whether they are examples of class-
maintaining affixes or class-changing affixes:
1. amoral 11. quickly

2. unhappy 12. undo
3. mishear 13. criticize
4. foreman 14. hyperactive
5. co-author 15. friendship
6. mileage 16. spoonful
7. usherette 17. boredom
8. telegram 18. booklet
9. pre-war 19. waitress
10. supermarket 20. childish
Exercise 4: Identify the meanings and functions of the following prefixes

and suffixes in the following words:
1. (mal-) in maltreatment and malware

2. (in-) in incomplete and incoherent
3. (ex-) in ex-wife and ex-president
4. (-ment) in government and management
Affixation 63
5. (anti-) in antisocial and antibiotic

6. (de-) in defrost and defame
7. (dis-) in distrust and discover
8. (-able) in readable and drinkable
9. (-ness) in kindness and tiredness
10. (multi-) in multipurpose and multilingual
Exercise 5: The following text is extracted from Hans Küng’s Book Islam:
Past, Present and Future. Comment on the following translation produced
by one of the translation students, paying particular attention to the trans-
lation of the prefixes and suffixes (cited in Al-Shuraīqī 2016: 23):
ST:
The Islamic economy had hardly any comparable stimuli from religion. Changes of
mentality were at best superficial. Immobility, intellectual laziness and economic incom-
petence were widespread.
TT:
‫ فكانت التغيرات الفكرية في‬.‫وبالكاد لعب الدين دوراً مماثالً في االقتصاد اإلسالمي‬
‫ وبشكل ثابت كان التخلّف الفكري والعجز االقتصادي اإلسالمي‬.‫أفضل حالتها الظاهرية‬
.‫منتشرا‬
Chapter 5
Tense and Aspect
Key terms
• Aspect
• Atelicity
• Perfect aspect
• Perfect progressive aspect
• Progressive aspect
• Simple aspect
• Telicity
• Tense
The previous chapter looked into infixes, prefixes, and suffixes in Arabic
and English. This chapter gives full consideration to tense and aspect in a
direct link with the actual work of the translators.
5.1 Tenses versus aspects
Both “tense” and “aspect” refer to time. So, what is the difference between
them? Although both of them “convey temporal information about a
described event or state of affairs”, tense refers to when an event or situation
happens, thus locating the described event or state of affairs on the timeline:
past, present, or future (Kearns 2000/2011: 176). However, aspect refers
to how a described event or situation happens. In English, for instance,
there are four types of aspect, viz. “simple aspect”, “perfect aspect”, “pro-
gressive aspect”, and “perfect progressive aspect” (cf. Celce-Murcia and
66 Chapter 5
Larsen-Freeman 1999; Griffiths 2006; Kearns 2000/2011; Kreidler 1998).

To illustrate, the following sentences may be discussed:
I eat an apple in the morning.
I am working in this company.
I have waited for you.
I have been teaching at this university for two years.
Example Tense Aspect

I eat … simple present tense simple aspect
I am working … present continuous tense progressive aspect
I have waited for … present perfective tense perfect aspect
I have been teaching … present continuous perfect and progressive
perfect tense aspect
As can be observed, all these examples are in the present tense as they
describe different situations in the present, yet each conveys different infor-
mation, or points of view, as to how the action pertains to the present. As
such, they differ in aspect. In what follows, these types of aspect will be
examined in detail.
5.1.1 Simple aspect
In simple aspect (also known as “zero aspect”), the emphasis is placed on

the regularity and frequency of the described action or situation as a matter
of routine, unchanging situations, or general truth. Semantically speaking,
in a sentence like this:
I drink a cup of coffee in the morning.
there is an implicit adverb of frequency and/or habituality, such as always,

usually, often, every day, and so on. These implicit adverbs trigger a habitual
interpretation of simple present tense clauses. In the following example:
My little daughter brushes her teeth by herself.
Tense and Aspect 67
the act of brushing in the above sentence is characterized by dynamism and

telicity (the word “telicity” is derived from the Greek work “telos”, which
means the characteristic of having a natural finishing point). Further, it is
durative as it occupies time; therefore, it can be considered as an accom-
plishment rather than an achievement or activity. The difference between
an accomplishment and achievement is that the former is durative while
the latter is nondurative. “Given that an achievement is an event bound-
ary rather than a ‘full’ event, it is nondurative” (Kearns 2000/2011: 158).
In the following example (adapted from ibid.), reach the city expresses the
onset of being in the city:
We reached the city in the morning.
In other words, the emphasis (aspect) in the above example is placed on

the completion of the act of reaching the city (nondurative) not on the
act of being in the city (durative). To reflect both the tense and aspect, the
translator may well suggest a rendering like this:
.‫وصلنا (إلى) المدينة في الصباح‬
On the other hand, the difference between an accomplishment and activ-
ity or process is that the former is telic (i.e., it has the property of having
a natural finishing point) while the latter is atelic (i.e., having no natural
finishing point), as in the following example in which the process of walk-
ing does not lead to a natural finishing point, but rather the walker has to
decide to stop walking for any reason:
I walk in the park in the morning.
However, this does not exclude habitual interpretations. When one of the
adverbs of frequency and/or habituality is explicitly used, this will force
habitual interpretations, thus excluding other available interpretations,
such as a single-event interpretation (Griffiths 2006: 102). To reinforce
this point, following is another example:
My brother is taller than me.
Here, as can be seen, the tense is a simple present tense. The verb used is
static. Further, it is not characterized by the property of having a natural
68 Chapter 5
finishing point (i.e., it is atelic). Such characteristics do not trigger habitual

interpretations, but rather, give rise to stative interpretations. Try to insert
one of the adverbs of frequency or habituality to see the result. Being taller
than somebody else does not have a forward movement or a finishing point.
As such, the emphasis (i.e., aspect) is placed on unchanging situations – he
is taller than me yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
She visits her family twice a year.
In the above example, the tense is present. The emphasis (aspect) is on the
regularity and frequency of the action as a matter of routine indicated by
the phrase twice a year. To reflect both the tense and aspect, the translator
may use a verb in the present, as in:
.‫تزور عائلتها مرتين في السّنة‬
Here is another example:
In the UK, it rains heavily in some cities in winter.
Here, the tense is present. The emphasis (aspect) is on the regularity and
frequency of the action. To reflect both the tense and aspect, the phrase
‫( عادة ما‬usually) can be added, as in:
.‫ تهطل األمطار بغزارة في بعض المدن في فصل الشتاء‬،‫في المملكة المتّحدة‬
Or
.‫ عادة ما تهطل األمطار بغزارة في بعض المدن في فصل الشتاء‬،‫في المملكة المتّحدة‬
When the phrase ‫( عادة ما‬usually) is added, there will be a “level shift” to
use Catford’s (1965) terminology. Level shifts occur, for instance, when an
item in the source text is at one linguistic level (e.g., grammar) and trans-
lated into an item at a different level (e.g., lexis). In this regard, Almanna
(2016: 61) states that “to emphasize the frequency of the action in Arabic,
the only solution is to resort to lexical items/expressions, such as ‫عادة ما‬
usually, ‫ غالبا ما‬often, and so on or leave it to the context to see to it”.
In the following example, the emphasis is on general truths:
The earth is round.
Tense and Aspect 69
So, the aspect is simple. To reflect both the tense and aspect in Arabic, a
nominal sentence may be resorted to, as in:
ّ
.‫إن الكرة األرضية مستديرة‬
To express habituality in the past, used to may be used, as in the following

sentence:
I used to play football very well.
This indicates that the speaker used to play football very well in the past,
but now s/he does not.
5.1.2 Progressive aspect
In progressive aspect, the emphasis is put on the continuity of the described

action or event. The emphasis is shifted from the beginning and end of the
action or event towards the middle phase, thus presenting the action or
event as an ongoing activity, as in the following example:
I am writing a novel.
Here, the tense is present continuous marked by verb to be followed by the

base form of the verb plus the suffix –ing. However, this is not enough for
translation purposes. We need to know where the emphasis is placed and
whether the described event or situation is a state, activity, accomplishment,
or achievement. To begin with, the emphasis is put on the continuity of
the action. Further, such an act of writing is durative (occupying time),
dynamic (not static), and atelic (having no natural finishing point but
the writer has to decide to stop writing for a particular reason). Further,
writing a novel in the above example does not entail that the writer has
completed all stages of writing a novel – the emphasis is on the middle
phase of writing. As such, it may be concluded that there is an implicit time
marker, such as right now, currently, and the like. To reflect both the tense
and aspect, the translator may use lexical items and expressions, such as
70 Chapter 5
‫( ال أزال‬still), ‫( في هذه األثناء‬at this moment), ً ‫( حاليا‬currently), and so on. Or,

s/he may opt for the use of the present active participle ً ‫ ُمنه ِمكا‬, ً ‫ ُمنغ ِمسا‬, as in:
.‫ال أزا ُل أكتبُ روايةً في هذه األيام‬

.‫ال أزا ُل ُمنغ ِمسا ً في كتابة رواية في هذه األيام‬
In a sentence like this:
She is singing right now.
the tense is a present continuous tense, expressed by is singing and forced

by means of the adverbial right now. Such an act of singing entails that the
singer has sung as it lacks sub-interval property. Compare it now with the
following sentence in the past continuous tense:
She was singing from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Here, the emphasis is on the continuity of the act of singing in a specific

period of time in the past. This entails that she sang on the one hand, and
the event described by a telic predicate happened at a particular interval
of time, that is, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
In Arabic, to emphasize the continuity of the described action, event
or situation in a specific period in the past, language users normally use
the verb ‫ كان‬followed by a verb in the present, as in:
ِ ُ‫نت أ‬
.‫راج ُع دروسي أمس في مثل هذا الوقت‬ ُ ‫ُك‬
ُ ‫ ُك‬. The
Here, the act of revising ‫ أراجع‬is in the past, indicated by the verb ‫نت‬
emphasis is placed on the continuity of the described action in a specific
period in the past, thus lending itself to a past continuous tense:
I was revising my lessons yesterday at this time.
To conclude, progressive aspect is characterized by the following

characteristics:
• the event is expressed by a dynamic verb (such as walk, talk, eat, drink,
play, and the like) not a static one (such as realize, know, believe, and
so on).
Tense and Aspect 71
• it usually has sub-interval properties, and the focus is on inside the dura-
tion of the described event, that is, on one or more sub-intervals not on
the whole event run time.
• the emphasis is shifted from the beginning and end of the described
action or event towards the middle phase, thus presenting the action
or event as an ongoing activity.
• it can be telic (leading up to, but not including, a finishing point) or
atelic (does not lead up to a finishing point), depending on the verb and
its predicate.
5.1.3 Perfect aspect versus perfect progressive aspect
In perfect aspect, the emphasis is shifted towards the duration of the

described event or situation that began in the past and is seen relevant to
the present time. In a sentence like this:
Tom has written a collection of short stories.
the emphasis is on the duration of the event that began in the past and
is seen relevant to the present time, thus entailing that Tom has spent a
period of time to accomplish his job. Further, the present perfect form has
written portrays the state of Tom in the aftermath of writing his short sto-
ries. As such, the perfect aspect in the above example triggers a “recently”
interpretation, that is, the time of writing the short stories is a frame just
before the time of speech. To translate it into Arabic, the translator may
use an optional particle ‫ لقد‬followed by a verb in the past, or may bring out
the implicit adverb of time, i.e., recently, as in:
.ً‫كتب توم مجموعة قصص قصيرة مؤخرا‬

َ )‫)لقد‬
Again, adding the adverb of time ‫( مؤخرا‬recently) or the particle ‫ لقد‬will

result in a level shift. According to Catford (1965) a level shift occurs when
the source language item at one linguistic level (e.g., lexis) has a target lan-
guage equivalent at a different level (e.g., grammar) or the other way round.
To reinforce this, these two sentences may be compared:
72 Chapter 5
I have waited for you for an hour.

I have been waiting for you for an hour.
In the first example, the emphasis is placed on the duration of the event
(i.e., one hour). It entails that the speaker has waited for an hour and has
just left. To put this differently, the time of waiting is a frame just before
both the time of leaving the place and time of speaking. To reflect both the
tense and aspect in Arabic, a verb in the past along with the time marker
‫( لمدة‬for the period of) may be used, as in:
.‫ك لمدة ساعة‬
َ ‫اِنتظرت‬
In the second example, the emphasis, however, is shifted from the begin-
ning and end of the described event towards a sub-interval that occupies
a longer period than that occupied by progressive aspect, thus it is called
perfect progressive aspect, that is, a combination of two aspects: progressive
aspect and perfect aspect. To reflect both the tense and aspect in Arabic,
the translator may well opt for an optional expression ‫( ال أزال‬still) followed
by a verb in the present along with the time marker ‫( منذ‬for/since), as in:
.‫ك من ُذ ساع ٍة‬

َ ‫)ال أزالُ) أنتظر‬
Or, s/he may start his/her sentence with ‫( منذ ساع ٍة‬for an hour) followed
by a nominal sentence ‫ك‬
َ ‫ أنا أنتظر‬preceded by an additive connector ‫( و‬and),
as in:
.َ‫من ُذ ساع ٍة وأنا أنتظرك‬
5.2 Translating tenses and aspects
One of the challenging problems in translating from English into Arabic

and vice versa is translating tenses and aspects. This is because of the differ-
ences between the two languages. Unlike Arabic, English has certain mor-
phological resources to express aspect, such as simple, progressive, perfect,
Tense and Aspect 73
or perfect progressive. Therefore, to express simple aspect, for example, in

English, the language user has to express it grammatically as in:
My friend goes to school with his dad.
However, to translate the same aspect into Arabic, which has no grammati-
cal category for aspects, translators can express it lexically by using lexical
items when they are relevant (cf. Baker 1992). Languages differ widely in
the way they map various aspects of world experiences. In this connection,
Baker (1992: 84) rightly comments:
Languages which have morphological resources for expressing a certain category,
such as number, tense, or gender, have to express these categories regularly; those
which do not have morphological resources for expressing the same categories do
not have to express them except when they are felt to be relevant.
In the above example, there is an implicit adverb of frequency or habitual-

ity, such as usually, often, every day, and the like, that gives rise to a habitual
interpretation of simple present tense clauses. As such, in an attempt to
lay emphasis on the regularity and frequency of the action as a matter of
routine (aspect) on the one hand, and to make the text read smoothly and
cogently on the other, the translator may well resort to adding phrases, such
as ‫( عادة ما‬usually) or ‫( كل يوم‬every day) (cf. Almanna 2014, 2016), as in:
.‫عادة ما يذهب صديقي إلى المدرسة مع أبيه‬
Or
.‫يذهب صديقي مع أبيه إلى المدرسة ك ّل يوم‬
Languages differ widely in the way they record various aspects of world
experiences. To illustrate this, the following example, in particular the
first sentence in the text, along with two translations produced by two
translation trainees may be given full consideration:
ST:
They will face trial in October 2013, reports say. The three men were extradited from
the UK last week along with another pair, Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan, following
a long legal battle.
74 Chapter 5
TT 1:
‫ وتزامن ترحيل الثالثة مع‬.‫ حسبما ذكرت التقارير‬2003 ‫سيمثالن للمحاكمة في اكتوبر‬
.‫ترحيل اثنين آخرين وهما بابار أحمد وطه إحسان بعد معركة قانونية طويلة‬
TT 2:
‫ وقد اُستلم المتهمون الثالثة‬.‫اكتوبر‬/‫أشارت التقارير أن محكمتهما ستعقد في تشرين األول‬

‫من حكومة المملكة المتحدة في األسبوع الماضي برفقة اثنين آخرين هما بابار أحمد وطه‬
.‫إحسان الستكمال محاكمتهما الطويلة‬
Here, in the first sentence in the original text, the writer uses a simple pre-
sent tense expressed by say. Although a simple present tense is used, the
emphasis is on the completion of the action, rather than on its continuity
or frequency. Having given full consideration to verb aspect, the translation
trainees have intrinsically managed the text when translating the simple
present tense expressed by say into a past tense, viz. ‫ ذكرت‬and ‫أشارت‬. This
is an example of “intra-system shift”, to use Catford’s (1965) term. Intra-
system shifts occur when translators opt for a noncorresponding term in
the target language system although there is a formal corresponding one.
To further illuminate how (not) taking into account verb aspect may
well affect the translation, thus creating a different mental image, the
following example extracted from Lubna Mahmūd Yāsīn’s story (n.d.)
‫( بصمة مواطن‬A Citizen’s Fingerprint) translated for the purposes of this
study can be discussed:
ST:
‫… ثم التفت إلى صاحبنا … وسحب رسم بصمته الذي كان قد جف‬

… « ‫ « انه هو … المتمرد … خذوه‬:‫وطابقه مع نفس البصمة ال ُمكبّرة … وعاد يقول‬
TT:
Then, the officer turned to our friend and pulled up the depiction of his fingerprint which
was dry in order to compare it to the magnified fingerprint. Once again, he stated, “It’s
him, it’s the insubordinate, take him”.
The translator, to a certain degree, has succeeded in offering an equiv-

alent text that effectively reflects the variables of register, the language
Tense and Aspect 75
function, lexical choices, the emphasis used in the original text in the form
of the particle ‫إن‬ّ , and so on. However, there is a minor deviation in the
relationship between the second sentence and the third sentence. In the
original extract, there is no time lapse between the two material processes
‫( سحب رسم بصمته … وطابقه‬he pulled up the depiction of his fingerprint …
and compared it), whereas in the target text, the psychological speed of
events has been slowed down when the translator has opted for in order
to compare it. Such a comparison, according to the target text, can be after
a minute, one hour, one day, and so on, or it might be completely ignored
later. Similarly, the change in aspect from a past perfect tense in the source
text, expressed by ‫الذي كان قد جف‬, to a simple past tense, expressed by was
dry in the target text, does produce a change in time reference, thus affect-
ing the pragmatic communicative effect, in that the emphasis in the source
text is on the sequence of events, whereas the emphasis in the target text
is put on the completion of the event.
To further illustrate the importance of reflecting the verb aspect, the
following example quoted from Husni and Newman (2008: 44–45; bilin-
gual edn) may be examined:
ST:
.« ً‫ولكن عملي يتطلب ماالً كثيرا‬
ّ « :‫ ابتهج لها وجه الشيخ وقال‬،‫ارتياح طويلة‬
TT:
As can be noticed, in the original text there is no time gap between

the process of saying ‫( قال‬he said) and the process of doing ‫( يرمي‬he is
throwing). In the original text, while the emphasis in ‫( قال‬he said) is placed
on the completion of the act of saying, the emphasis in ‫( وهو يرمي‬and he
is throwing) is put on the continuity of the act of throwing in a specific
period in the past as there is an implicit ‫( كان‬was). However, the translators,
76 Chapter 5
for no obvious reason, have resorted to using the connector and, thus
changing the emphasis in the process of doing ‫ وهو يرمي‬on the one hand,
and creating a time gap on the other. Had they given full consideration to
the sequences of the described acts, that is, the act of saying and the act of
throwing, they could have suggested something like this: While throwing
bits of incense into the dish filled with live coal, he said … .
To make this point clear, the following example extracted from a short
story titled ‫( الخيول‬The Horses) by ‘Abdul-Rahmān Al-Rubai‘ī (cited in
Dickins et al. 2002: 86–87) may be considered:
ST:
:‫سأل ْته‬
‫– أحجزتَ ؟‬
:‫وه ّز رأ َسهُ وقال‬
.‫– على وشك‬
‫– أطلبتَ غرفة بح ّمام؟‬
.‫– نعم‬
.‫ فغرفتي بال ح ّمام‬.‫ أخبرني عن رق ِم ِها‬.‫– حسنًا‬
ْ
:‫وأضافت‬
.‫– الوسخ يضايقني‬
TT:
“Have you checked in?” she asked.
He shook his head and said: “Almost”.
“Did you ask for a room with a bathroom?”
“Yes”.
“Good. Give me the number, my room hasn’t got one”.
And then she added: “I get fed up with the dirt”.
In some parts of the source text, the emphasis is placed on the completion of
the acts, viz. ‫( سألته‬she asked him), ‫( ه ّز رأسه‬he shook his head), ‫( قال‬he said),
and ‫( أضافت‬she added). However, in the interrogative sentences ‫ أحجزت‬and
‫أطلبت غرفة بح ّمام‬, the emphasis is put on the duration of the described actions
that began in the past and are seen relevant to the moment of speaking.
In the target text, however, the tense in one of the interrogative sentences,
Tense and Aspect 77
namely ‫ أطلبت غرفة بح ّمام‬has been changed into a simple past tense, thus
changing the emphasis. Had the translator given full consideration to the
emphasis (aspect) in such a sentence, s/he could have suggested a render-
ing like this: Have you asked for a room with a bathroom?
Finally, the following example quoted from Karīm ‘Abid’s story
(‫( غرام السيدة (ع‬The Passion of Lady A), translated by Erick Winkel (2010:
63–64) may be considered:
ST:
‫ كانت وهي‬.‫عندما عادت الفتاتان إلى البيت لم تكن اآلنسة (ع) تعرف ماذا حدث للرجل‬
‫ فهي لم تجد فيهم من يثير إهتمامها على‬.‫تغيّر ثيابها وحيدةً تف ّكر بطلبة قسم اللغة الفرنسية‬
.‫عكس ما كانت تتوقّع قبيل دخول الجامعة‬
TT:
The two ladies returned to the house. Miss A did not know what happened with the man.
She changed her clothes and concentrated on thinking about the male students in the
French Department. She hadn’t found any of them who could rouse her interest, which
was the opposite of how she felt before she went to the university.
The change in aspect from a past continuous tense, expressed by

‫ كانت وهي تغيّر‬in the source text, to a simple past tense in the target text,
does produce a change in time reference, affecting the pragmatic com-
municative effect, in that the emphasis in the source text is on the conti-
nuity of the action in a specific period of time, whereas in the target text
the emphasis is put on the completion of the act of changing her clothes.
Further, opting for the connector and to connect the two events, as in she
changed her clothes and concentrated on … does slow down their pace, thus
generating a time gap between the two events. Further, the translator has
opted to disconnect the processes by using two separate sentences. As a
result, the pace of events is slowed down. The original subordinate sentence
… ‫ عندما عادت … لم تكن‬is re-presented as two independent sentences in the
target text, thereby generating a feeling that there is probably a time gap
between the two events.
78 Chapter 5
Further reading
Akmajian, A., Demers, R. A., Farmer, A. K., and Harnish, A. K. (2010). Linguistics:
An Introduction to Language and Communication (6th edn). Cambridge, MA:
The MIT Press.
Almanna, A. (2014). Translation Theories Exemplified from Cicero to Pierre Bourdieu.
Germany: Lincom Europa.
——. (2016). The Routledge Course in Translation Annotation: Arabic-English-Arabic.
London/New York: Routledge.
Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation. London/New York:
Routledge.
Farghal, M. (2012). Advanced Issues in Arabic-English Translation Studies. Kuwait:
Kuwait University Press.
Scholars Press.
Griffiths, P. (2006). An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press.
Kearns, K. (2000/2011). Semantics. Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kreidler, C. W. (1998). Introducing English Semantics. London/New York:
Routledge.
Yule, G. (1985/1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Questions
1. What is the difference between “tense” and “aspect”? Explain with illus-
trative examples.
2. How would you distinguish between an “accomplishment” and
“activity”?
3. How would you distinguish between an “accomplishment” and
“achievement”?
4. What is the difference between “telicity” and “atelicity”? Discuss with
illustrative examples.
5. What is the difference between I will drive to London tomorrow and I
will be driving to London tomorrow morning? Discuss.
Tense and Aspect 79
Exercises
Exercise 1: Before translating the following sentences, try to identify where

the emphasis is put:
1. Hurry up, the train is leaving.

2. The train has just left.
3. The train has already left.
4. I have been waiting for you for an hour.
5. I have waited for you for an hour.
6. I waited for you an hour ago.
Exercise 2: Before translating the following sentences, try to identify where

the emphasis is put:
.ً‫ّف أُدرِّسُ في مثل هذا الوقت غدا‬ ِ ‫سأكونُ في الص‬ .1
.‫من ُذ الصباح الباكر والسما ُء تمطر بغزار ٍة‬ .2
.ً ‫بدأت تشخر شخيراً قويا‬ ْ ْ
‫أغمضت عينيها حتى‬ ‫ما إن‬ .3
.‫ت‬
ٍ ‫عملت في هذه الجامعة خمس سنوا‬ ُ ‫ سأكونُ قد‬،‫بعد ثالثة شهور‬ .4
.ً‫لقد زارني أخي في بيتي الجديد مؤخرا‬ .5
.‫خرجت مع صديقتها لشراء هدي ٍة ِالبنتها‬ ْ ْ ّ‫بعد أن نظ‬
،‫فت شقتها‬ .6
Exercise 3: Comment on the translation of the following text extracted from
a short story titled ‫( الذي أضاع أمه‬He Who Lost His Mother) by Zaid Dāmāj
Mutī‘ (n.d.), paying extra attention to the translation of tenses and aspects:
ST:
.‫– سيدي … لقد أضعت أمي‬

.‫لم ينظر الرجل إليه بل واكب سيره المسرع … والصبي يهرول لكي يحاذيه‬
… ‫– لقد أضعت أمي‬
… ‫نظرت المرأة إليه شزراً وتلمست محفظتها اليدوية بحركة تلقائية‬
TT:
– “I’ve lost my mum, sir”.
The man didn’t look at him; rather, he continued walking quickly as the boy hurried
to keep up with him.
80 Chapter 5
– “I’ve lost my mum, madam”.

The lady looked at him askance and automatically ran her hand over her handbag.
Exercise 4: Before translating the following sentences, try to identify the

differences between the following pairs:
.‫ لم تسنحْ ل ّي الفرصةُ ألعم َل في بريطانيا في العام الماضي‬-‫ أ‬.1

.‫ لم تسنحْ ل ّي الفرصةُ ألعمل في بريطانيا‬،‫ لغاية العام الماضي‬-‫ب‬
.‫ ما عدا رئيس القسم‬،‫موظف راتبه أمس‬ ٍ ُّ‫ لم يتسلّم أي‬-‫ أ‬.2
.‫ ما عدا رئيس القسم‬،‫موظف راتبه‬
ٍ ّ
ُّ‫ لم يتسلم أي‬،‫ لغاية يوم أمس‬-‫ب‬
.‫ لم يتّصلْ ب ّي يوم أمس ال أخي وال أختي‬-‫ أ‬.3
.‫ لم يتّصلْ ب ّي ال أخي وال أختي‬،‫ لغاية يوم أمس‬-‫ب‬
Exercise 5: Translate the following text extracted from Mary Ali’s text titled
Women’s Liberation through Islam, published on 24 June 2013 (<http://
www.islamreligion.com>), to a professional level. Then, annotate your own
translation, paying special attention to grammatical issues, in particular
those related to tenses and aspects.
A Muslim woman must cooperate and coordinate with her husband. There cannot,
however, be cooperation with a man who is disobedient to God. She should not fulfill
his requests if he wants her to do something unlawful. A husband also should not take
advantage of his wife, but be considerate of her needs and happiness.
Chapter 6
Modality
Key terms
• Ability and lack of ability

• Advisability
• Deontic modality
• Epistemic modality
• Expectations
• Futurity
• Lost opportunities
• Modal verbs
• Modality
• Necessity and lack of necessity
• Obligation
• Possibility/likelihood
• Permission
• Polite request
• Preference
• Prohibition
The previous chapters considered some grammatical issues, such as causa-

tivity, transitivity, affixation, tense, and aspect. This chapter, completes
the introduction to these grammatical issues by touching on modality and
its types and functions in both Arabic and English. Further, this chapter
provides the reader with an approach to translating modality from Arabic
into English and vice versa.
82 Chapter 6
6.1 Modality
While communicating with each other, language users are in need of

expressing their own attitudes, opinions, or moods towards what happens,
towards what exists in the outside world, towards the truth of an utterance,
or towards the event described by that utterance. To do so, they need to
fall back on modality. Modality is a concept used widely in a direct link
with such notions as:
• Obligation:
We must not lose the match tomorrow, or we will be out of the tournament.
• Necessity:
I haven’t visited my friend for ten years, so I will have to visit her this summer.
• Lack of necessity:
In order to apply for this job, you must speak two languages, but you don’t
have to have a degree in international relations.
• Prohibition:
You mustn’t use your mobile during takeoff.
• Expectation:
There are plenty of petrol stations in the town; it should not be too difficult
to find somewhere to get petrol.
• Advisability:
She should/ought to consult her doctor immediately.
• Possibility:
She may be in the office. Have you called her?
• Ability:
She can speak three languages in addition to her mother tongue.
• Request:
Would you switch on the light, please?
• Permission:
May I open the window, sir?
Modality 83
• Preference:
I would rather stay at home tonight than go out.
• Lost opportunities:
You should have asked me earlier. Now, it’s too late.
• Habitual past:
My father used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day.
In what follows, the types of modality and main functions achieved by

modality in Arabic and English will be explained.
6.2 Types of modality
In English, modality is most commonly expressed by modal verbs, such as

shall, will, would, can, could, may, might, must, and so on. However, some-
times modality is expressed by
• phrases, such as be going to, be used to, be supposed to, etc.

• adverbs, such as possibly, probably, etc.
• clauses, such as it is possible that, it is likely that, it is unlikely that, it is
probable that, etc.
In Arabic, although there is no well-defined class of modals perfectly cor-

responding to English modal verbs and expressions (Abdel-Fattah 2005;
Almanna 2016; Al-Qinai 2008; Aziz 1989; Farghal and Shunnaq 1999),
modality can be expressed by
• modalized particles, such as ‫ســـ‬, ‫سوف‬, ‫لعل‬, ‫قد‬, etc.

• modalized verbs, such as ‫يُرجّح‬, ‫يتوجّب‬, ‫ينبغي‬, ‫يتعيّن‬, ‫يجب‬, ‫يُفترض‬,
‫يُستبعد‬, ‫يُحبّذ‬, ‫يُفضّل‬, ‫يستطيع‬, ‫يُحتمل‬, ‫يُستحسن‬, etc.
• modalized prepositions, such as ‫على‬, ‫لـ‬, etc.
• modalized prepositional phrases, such as ‫من الجائز‬, ‫من الممكن‬, ‫من ال ُمرجّح‬,
‫من ال ُمحبّذ‬, ‫من ال ُمفضّل‬, ‫من ال ُمستبعد‬, ‫من ال ُمحتمل‬, ‫من الواجب‬, ‫من المفروض‬,
‫بإمكانِ ِه‬, ‫بمقدور ِه‬,
ِ ‫من ال ُمتعيّن‬, ‫من ال ُمستحسن‬, etc.
84 Chapter 6
In general, modality can be classified into two main types, viz. “deontic
modality” and “epistemic modality” (Almanna 2016; Halliday 1970; Hoye
1997; Jarjour 2006; Lyons 1977; Perkins 1983, among others).
6.2.1 Deontic modality
The word “deontic” means “duty”, “necessity” or “obligation”. It “is

obligation/necessity-oriented. In other words, it describes how things ought
to be” (Almanna 2016: 94). However, some researchers (cf. Downing and
Locke 1992; Farghal and Shunnaq 1999; Jarjour 2006) hold that deontic
modality is also used to indicate “permission”.
I haven’t visited my family for ten years, so I will have to visit them this summer.
(obligation and/or necessity)
When you finish, you may leave. (permission)
6.2.2 Epistemic modality
The term “epistemic” means “to understand” or “to have knowledge”.

Therefore, to express the degree of their commitment to the truth of the prop-
osition, the language users can use modal verbs epistemically (cf. Almanna
2016; Downing and Locke 1992; Farghal and Shunnaq 1999; Jarjour 2006).
He’s studied well; he should pass the exam (expectation).
6.3 Translating modality
As Arabic does not have a well-defined class of modals precisely correspond-

ing to English modal verbs and expressions on the one hand, and modality
in general is characterized by ambiguity, contextuality, and indeterminacy
on the other (cf. Abdel-Fattah 2005; Almanna 2016; Bybee and Fleischman
Modality 85
1995), identifying the function of the modal verb in question should be

paid extra attention. Thus, in translating modality, we would like to sug-
gest the following four steps adopted with a slight modification from Bell’s
(1991) cognitive approach:
1. visual recognition (i.e., reading the original text with a view to identifying
the modal verb used) – this is an easy task.
2. identifying the function of modality in the source text – this is the most
difficult and challenging task.
3. mechanism of lexical search – this requires translation trainees to develop
a contrastive competence.
4. encoding the draft semantically, pragmatically, lexico-grammatically
and stylistically in the target text – here, the translators need to
pay attention to the linguistic and stylistic norms of the target
language.
As an illustration, the following example may be considered:
I had to get up early yesterday; there were a lot of things to be done.
1. visual recognition: try your hand at identifying the modal verb used in
the source text: it is had to.
2. the function of the modal verb: obligation and/or necessity + in the
past.
3. mechanism of lexical search: had to can be translated in Arabic into
… ‫ كان يُفترض‬،‫ كان من المفروض‬،‫ كان ينبغي‬،‫كان عل ّي‬
4. encoding the draft semantically, pragmatically, lexico-grammatically

and stylistically in the target language, as in:
ّ ‫كان عل ّي أن أستيقظَ ُمب ّكراً أمس؛ إذ كان لد‬

.‫ي الكثير من االلتزامات‬
To make this point clear, these two examples extracted from Hans Küng’s
book Islam: Past, Present and Future (cited in and translated by Al-Shuraīqī
2016: 23) may be given full consideration:
86 Chapter 6
ST:
The Islamic economic system could not become the equal of the European. It was also
vitally important that until well into the twentieth century, almost all Islamic countries
were economically dependent on the European colonial powers.
TT:
.‫ولم يستطع النظام االقتصادي اإلسالمي أن يكون نداً للنظام االقتصادي للدول األوروبية‬
‫ كانت غالبية الدول اإلسالمية‬،‫ومن المهم ذكره أنه وحتى فترة متقدمة من القرن العشرين‬
.‫تعتمد اقتصاديا ً على قوى االستعمار األوروبي‬
In the original text, the writer uses the modal verb could in the negative
form to express the inability of the Islamic economic system to become the
equal of the European in a specific period of time in the past. So, here
three elements need to be given full consideration through the nexus of
translation, that is, ability, negation, and past. Being fully aware of these
three elements, the student translator has resorted to ‫لم يستطع‬, thus reflecting
the inability of the Islamic economic system to become the equal of the
European in a specific period of time in the past.
Following is a second example (p. 24):
ST:
One might think of the unconditional prohibition against usury, which is hardly
compatible with the modern international financial system.
TT:
‫ وهو األمر الذي من الصعب توافقه مع النظام‬،‫وقد يفكر البعض في التحريم المطلق للربا‬
.‫المالي الدولي الحديث‬
In the source text, the modal verb might is used epistemically to express
the writer’s commitment to the truth of the proposition. Therefore, the
function of the modal verb might here is to indicate a possibility. Being
aware of the function of the modal verb used, the translator has opted for
the modalized particle ‫قد‬, thus accurately reflecting the degree of certainty.
Modality 87
6.4 Modality: Different functions
As hinted above, modality can achieve wide-ranging functions; therefore,

translators need to give full consideration to these functions prior to adopt-
ing their own translation strategy. In what follows, some light will be shed
on the main functions achieved by modality in both languages.
6.4.1 Obligation and necessity
To express obligation or necessity in English, must, have to, and had to can
be used, as in the following examples:
I haven’t visited my friend for three years, so I will have to visit her this summer.
Due to the traffic system, you cannot turn right here, you must turn left.
He left before the end of the meeting; he had to go home early.
In Arabic, however, to express obligation or necessity, the following modal-

ized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions may be used:
… ‫ من الواجب‬،‫ من الضروري‬،‫ يُفترض‬،‫ يتوجّب‬،‫ على‬،‫ ينبغي‬،‫ يتعيّن‬،‫• يجب‬

‫ كان من الواجب‬،‫ كان من المفروض‬،‫ كان يُفترض‬،‫ كان ينبغي‬،‫ كان يتعيّن‬،‫• كان يجب‬
Consider the translations of the above sentences:
.‫ لذا عل ّي زيارتها هذا الصيف‬،‫لم أ ُزر صديقتي منذ ثالث سنوات‬

‫ يتوجّب عليك) أن‬/‫ ال يمكنك أن تستدير يمينًا هنا؛ يجب (يجب عليك‬،‫بسبب ا ِالزدحام المروري‬
.‫تستدير يسارًا‬
.ً‫غادر المكان قبل اِنتهاء ا ِالجتماع ألنه كان يُفترض أن يذهب إلى البيت ُمب ّكرا‬
6.4.2 Lack of necessity and prohibition
To express lack of necessity or prohibition in English, must not and do not

have to can be used, as in the following examples:
88 Chapter 6
She does not have to wear glasses when driving, but she usually does.
You mustn’t use your mobile during takeoff.
In order to apply for this job, you must speak two languages, but you don’t have to have
a degree in international relations.
In Arabic, however, to express lack of necessity or prohibition, the follow-

ing modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions may be used:
…‫ ليس ُملز ًما‬،)‫ ليس لزا ًما (عليك‬،‫ ال داعي لـ‬،‫ ال حاجة إلى‬،‫ يتعيّن أال‬،‫• يجب أال‬
.‫ ولكنها عادة ما تفعل ذلك‬،‫ال يت ّوجب عليها أن تلبس نظاراتها (عويناتها) أثناء القيادة‬
.‫يجب عليك أال تستعمل نقالك (موبايلك) أثناء إقالع الطائرة‬
‫ ولكن ليس لزا ًما عليك أن تكون‬،‫كي تق ّدم على هذه الوظيفة يت ّوجب عليك أن تتكلّم لغتين‬
.‫لديك (تحمل) شهادة في العالقات الدولية‬
Note that must not indicates that we still have a necessity and/or obliga-
tion not to do something (prohibition) and that is why it is important to
reflect such a necessity in your translation, as in:
…‫ يتوجّب أال‬،… ‫… يجب أال‬، § ‫ يُفترض أال‬،… ‫• أال‬
However, do not have to indicates that the necessity and obligation have
been removed; hence our suggestion:
… ‫ ليس لزا ًما عليك‬،… ‫ ال داعي لـ‬،… ‫• ال حاجة إلى‬
6.4.3 Advisability, opinion, and expectation
To express advisability, an opinion, or an expectation in English, should

and ought to can be used, as in the following examples:
The government should/ought to do more to help homeless people.

You look very tired; you ought to/should go to bed.
I believe that teachers should have higher salaries.
Modality 89
In Arabic, however, to express advisability, an opinion, or an expectation,

the following modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions may
be used:
… ‫ يُستحسن‬،)‫ يتعيّن (عليك‬،‫ ينبغي‬،‫• عليك‬

… ‫ من المقرر‬،‫ من المتوقع‬،‫• من المفروض‬
.(‫)ينبغي) على الحكومة أن تعمل الكثير لمساعدة الناس المشردين (الذين بال مأوى‬
.‫ عليك (يُستحسن) أن تذهب إلى الفراش‬،‫تبدو متعبًا جدا‬
.‫رواتب عالية‬
َ ‫أعتقد (في رأيي) أن ال ُمعلّمين (ال ُمدرّسين) ينبغي أن يتقاضوا‬
6.4.4 Lost opportunities
To talk about lost opportunities in English, should or ought to followed by

a past participle may be used, as in the following examples:
We lost the match but we should have won because we were better than them.
I feel sick; I should not have eaten so much rice.
You should have consulted your doctor a long time ago.
In Arabic, however, to talk about lost opportunities, the following modal-

ized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions preceded by ‫ كان‬may be
employed:
… ‫ كان يتعيّن‬،‫ كان يُفترض‬،‫ كان ينبغي‬،‫• كان من المفروض‬
.‫ لكن كان يُفترض (كان من المفروض) أن نفوز ألننا ُكنا أفضل منهم‬،‫لقد خسرنا المباراة‬
.‫أشعر باإلعياء؛ إذ كان يتعيّن عل ّي أال آكل الكثير من الرز‬
.‫ كان يتعيّن عليك) أن تستشير الطبيب قبل مدة‬/‫كان يُفترض‬/‫كان ينبغي (كان من المفروض‬
90 Chapter 6
6.4.5 Possibility/likelihood
To express possibility/likelihood in English, these may be used:
• “may” or “might”
• “maybe” or “perhaps”
• It is “probable”/“possible”/“likely”/“unlikely” that
• “possibly” or “probably”
as in the following examples:

She may be in the office. Have you called her?
He might be playing football now.
You might have left it in the shop.
In Arabic, however, to express possibility/likelihood, the following

modalized particles, verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions may be
employed:
‫ من ال ُمحتمل‬،‫ يُحتمل‬،‫• قد‬

‫• ربّما‬
‫ من ال ُمستبعد‬،‫ من ال ُمحتمل‬،‫• من ال ُمرجّح‬
‫ هل اتّصلت بها؟‬.‫ ربّما) تكون في مكتبها‬،‫ يُحتمل‬،‫قد (من ال ُمحتمل‬

.‫من ال ُمحتمل (ربّما) أنه يلعب كرة القدم اآلن‬
.‫ يُحتمل) أنك قد تركتها في المحل‬،‫ربّما (من ال ُمحتمل‬
Note that in legislative texts, may means “be allowed to”, thus it is trans-
lated into ‫لـ‬, ‫يجوز‬, ‫يحق‬.
The landlord may rescind the rental contract without the consent of the tenant in case
of emergency.
.‫يجوز) للمالك أن يفسخ عقد اإليجار من دون موافقة المستأجر في حالة الطوارئ‬/‫)يحق‬
Modality 91
The tenant may not assign the rental contract to a third party without the written
consent of the landlord.
.‫ال يحق للمستأجر أن يتنازل عن عقد اإليجار للغير بدون موافقة خطيّة من المالك‬
Or
…‫ال يجوز للمستأجر‬

… ‫ليس من حق المستأجر أن‬
Note that in religious texts, may is used for supplication in this formula:
May + Allah/God + Verb 1
May Allah reward you.

May Allah rest him in peace.
Note that in interrogative sentences, may is used for asking permission;

thus it is translated into
… ‫ هل بإمكاني أن‬،‫ أتسمح ل ّي‬،‫• هل ل ّي‬
May I open the window, sir?

May I use your pen, please?
6.4.6 Ability, lack of ability, and (not) giving permission
To express ability, lack of ability, and/or (not) giving permission in English,

can, could, or be able to can be used, as in the following examples:
She can speak three languages in addition to her mother tongue.

Although he spoke quickly, I could understand what he said.
She will be able to buy this house next year.
In Arabic, however, to express ability, lack of ability, or (not) giving permis-

sion, the following modalized verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions
may be used:
… ‫ (ال) يمكنه‬،‫ (ليس) بمقدوره‬،‫ (ليس) له القدرة‬،‫• )ال) يستطيع‬
92 Chapter 6
.‫تستطيع (بمقدورها) أن تتكلّم ثالث لغات باإلضافة إلى لغتها األم‬

.‫ إال إنني تم ّكنت من فه ِم ِه‬،‫على الرغم من أنه تكلّم بهدوء‬
.‫ باستطاعتها) شراء هذا المنزل في السنة المقبلة‬/‫سيكون بمقدورها (بإمكانها‬
6.4.7 Futurity
To express futurity in English, will, shall, or be going to can be used, as in

the following examples:
When will you know your exam results?
I am going to travel to London next week.
She won’t be able to attend the meeting.
In Arabic, however, to express futurity, the following modalized particles,

verbs, prepositional phrases, and expressions may be employed:
… ‫ لن‬،‫ في النيّة‬،‫ ينوي‬،‫ سوف‬،‫• ســـ‬
‫متى ستعرف نتائ َج اِمتحاناتك؟‬

.‫أنوي السفر (في النيّة أن أسافر أو سأسافر) إلى لندن في األسبوع ال ُمقبل‬
.‫االجتماع‬
ِ ‫لن تتمكن من حضور‬
Note that in legislative texts, shall means “must”, thus it is translated into
‫يجب‬, ‫يتوجّب‬, ‫ من الواجب‬or just a simple present tense.
The tenant hereby shall make no structural alterations without the landlord’s written
consent.
ّ ‫يلتزم المستأجر بموجب هذا العقد بأال يجري أ‬

.‫ي ترميمات من دون موافقة المالك الخطيّة‬
The first Party hereto shall conform to the conditions prescribed herein and pay the rent
in full not later than the tenth day of each month.
‫يجب على الطرف األول في هذا العقد أن يتقيّد بالشروط المنصوص عليها في العقد‬
.‫ويدفع اإليجار كامالً في مدة ال تتجاوز اليوم العاشر من ك ّل شهر‬
Modality 93
Or
… ‫يلتزم الطرف األول‬
Note that in interrogative sentences, Shall I…? or Shall we …? is
used to express suggestions, thus it may be translated into Arabic as
… ‫هل تقترح‬, ‫ما رأيك‬, etc. or just ‫هل‬, as in the following example:
Shall we go to the cinema this evening?
‫)ما رأيك) هل نذهب إلى السينما هذا المساء؟‬
6.4.8 Polite request
To express a polite request in English, sentences beginning with: Will you…?,

Would you…?, or Could you…? can be used, as in the following examples:
Would you switch off the light, please?
Could you tell me in detail what happened last night?
Can you pass me the salt, please?
In Arabic, however, to express a polite request, these structures may be

employed:
an imperative sentence + … ‫ رجاء‬،‫ لو سمحت‬،‫• من فضلك‬
an imperative sentence + (… ‫ بارك هللا فيك‬،‫ )ربي يخليك‬some religious expressions •
… ‫ هل لك أن‬،… ‫ هل تتكرّم بـ‬،… ‫ي أن‬ ّ ‫• هل ل‬
‫ أو هل تت ّكرم بإغالق اإلنارة لو سمحت؟‬.‫من فضلك (لو سمحت) إِغلق اإلنارة‬

‫هل لك أن تخبرني بالتفصيل ع ّما حدث البارحة؟‬
‫ أو من فضلك ناولني الملح؟‬.‫ جزاك هللا خي ًرا‬،‫ناولني الملح‬
6.4.9 Preference
To express preference in English, would prefer, would better, or would rather

can be used, as in the following examples:
94 Chapter 6
I would rather stay at home tonight than go out.

She would prefer to study translation than English.
I would prefer to travel by train.
In Arabic, however, to express preference, the following modalized verbs,

prepositional phrases, and expressions may be used:
… ‫ من ال ُمستحسن‬،‫ من ال ُمفضّل‬،‫ يُستحسن‬،‫ يُحبَّذ‬،‫• يُفضَّل‬

… ‫ أُحبِّذ أن‬/‫• أفضِّل أن‬
.‫أفضل أن أبقى في البيت هذہ اليلة على أن أخرج‬ ِّ

.‫تُحبِّذ أن تدرس الترجمة على أن تدرس اللغة اإلنكليزية‬
ُ ِّ ‫أف‬
ِ ِ‫ض ُل (أحبِّذ) أن أسافر بالق‬
.‫طار‬
Note that I’d better is different from you’d better as the former is used
to express “preference” while the latter is used to express “advisability”.
Consider the following two examples:
I’d better get back to work. (preference)

You’d better tell her everything. (advice)
Further reading

Almanna, A., and Almanna, F. (2008). Translation: History, Theory and Practice (in
Arabic). London: Sayyab Books Ltd.
Al-Qinai, J. (2008). “Translating Modals between English and Arabic”, Translation
and Interpreting Studies, Vol. 3.1/3.2, pp. 30–67.
Aziz, Y. (1989). A Contrastive Grammar of English and Arabic. Iraq: Mosul Univer-
sity Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1970). “Functional Diversity in Language as Seen from a Considera-
tion of Modality and Mood in English”, Foundations of Language: International
Journal of Language and Philosophy, Vol. 6, pp. 322–361.
Modality 95
Hoye, L. (1997). Adverbs and Modality in English. London: Longman.

Lyons, J. (1977). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Perkins, M. R. (1983). Modal Expressions in English. London: Frances Pinter.
Questions
1. Are there certain categories for modal verbs in Arabic? Discuss.

2. Modality in language falls into two main categories. What are they?
Discuss with illustrative examples.
3. The modal verb may has a number of functions. What are they and
how do you translate it?
4. Modality is characterized by ambiguity, contextuality, and indetermi-
nacy. Explain with illustrative examples.
5. What are the main functions of shall?
6. What are the main functions of can?
7. What are the main functions of should or ought to?
8. How would you express “lost opportunities” in Arabic?
9. How would you express “preference” in English?
10. How would you express “futurity” in English?
Exercises
Exercise 1: Translate the following sentences into Arabic, paying special

attention to modality:
1. I will issue another cheque within two weeks.

2. I am going to study English at the University of Exeter in Britain next
year.
3. Those students should not be playing tennis at this time. They ought
to be at school.
96 Chapter 6
4. You ought to improve your English if you decide to stay in the English
department.
5. She should consult her doctor immediately.
6. You can use my mobile.
7. He shouldn’t make a rushed decision.
8. You must keep it secret. You mustn’t tell anyone.
9. Could you please translate this sentence?
10. Would you like me to show you the city’s main landmarks?
11. Would you like to have your breakfast in the garden?
12. I am not sure if they will be able to come tomorrow.
13. You can write your CV now, but you don’t have to do so immediately.
14. He was able to run ten miles without stopping yesterday.
15. You cannot smoke here.
Exercise 2: Identify the functions of the modal verbs (highlighted for you)
and then translate them into Arabic:
1. In order to apply for this job, you must speak English, but you don’t
have to have a degree in languages.
2. She has failed her exam; she has to retake it.
3. You mustn’t use your mobile in class.
4. Look! He is going to fall down the hole.
5. I sent the letter two weeks ago, so it ought to have arrived by now.
6. She has been studying hard for the exam, so she should pass it.
7. This is the best book that I’ve read. You must read it.
8. We ought to have called and invited her if we had known that.
9. He would rather join the army than study at the university.
10. The weather is very cold outside. If you go out now, you will catch cold.
Exercise 3: Identify the functions of the modalized verbs, particles, and

expressions and then translate them into English:
.‫ عليك أن تستأذن من والدك قبل الذهاب إلى الحفلة ألنك ال تزال صغيرًا‬.1
.‫ من ال ُمحتمل أن أبيع سيارتي وأشتري واحدة جديدة تناسب وضعي الجديد‬.2
‫ وإال ستتعرّض‬،‫ ولكن يجب أال تتجاوز المدة المحددة‬،‫ بإمكانك أن تركن سيارتك هنا‬.3
.‫إلى مخالفة مرورية‬
‫ ‪Modality‬‬ ‫‪97‬‬
‫‪ .4‬على البائع تسليم الشقة في مدة ال تتجاوز ‪ 15‬يو ًما‪.‬‬

‫‪ .5‬لل ُمستأجر أن يُر ِّمم الشقة ويستقطع نفقات الترميم من أجرة البيت شريطة أن يت ّم‬
‫إبالغ صاحب العقار قبل البدء بالترميمات‪.‬‬
‫‪ .6‬يحق لصاحب العقار رفع دعوى قضائية يطالب فيها ال ُمستأجر بإخالء العين‬
‫المستأجرة إن تخلّف ال ُمستأجر عن دفع األجرة ال ُمتفّق عليها في العقد ال ُمبرم بينهما‬
‫لمدة شهرين‪.‬‬
‫‪ .7‬أنوي السفر إلى الهند إلجراء فحوصات طبية‪.‬‬
‫قواميس كافية في قاعة‬
‫َ‬ ‫ّ‬
‫‪ .8‬ال حاجة إلى أن تجلب معك قاموسًا ألنهم سيوفرون‬
‫االمتحان‪ ،‬ولكن يُمكنك أن تجلب واحدًا إن شعرت أنه أكثر فائدة من قواميسهم‪.‬‬ ‫ِ‬
‫‪ .9‬لو كنت أعرف أنك قد عُدت من سفرتك لكنت أوّل الحاضرين‪ .‬ولكن‪ ،‬ص ّدقني‪ ،‬لم‬
‫يكن عندي أيُّ خبر‪ ،‬كان المفروض أن تتصل ب ّي وتخبرني‪.‬‬
‫ت لتُهنّئه‪.‬‬‫نجاح ِه ولم تأ ِ‬
‫ِ‬ ‫بخبر‬
‫ِ‬ ‫‪ .10‬من ال ُمستبعد أنها سمعت‬
‫‪Exercise 4: In order to translate modality from language A to language‬‬

‫‪B, the translator needs to detect the function of the modal verb used. In‬‬
‫‪this chapter, we have provided the reader with an approach to translating‬‬
‫‪modality. Discuss it with illustrative examples.‬‬
‫‪Exercise 5: What are the functions of don’t have to and must not in these‬‬
‫‪two examples:‬‬
‫‪1. You don’t have to be a good tennis player to enjoy the game.‬‬
‫‪2. You mustn’t eat in class.‬‬
Chapter 7
Lexical Semantics
Key terms
• Antonymy
• Homonymy
• Homophony
• Hyperonymy
• Hyponymy
• Lexical semantics
• Polysemy
• Reference
• Referent
• Referring expression
• Sense
• Synonymy
In another area of semantics, “lexical semantics”, the focus of attention is

shifted towards the study of word meaning, and the lexical relations that
a word has with others. In lexical semantics, lexical relations, such as syn-
onymy, antonymy, hyponymy, hyperonymy, polysemy, homonymy, and the
like, are given full consideration. This chapter studies these relations in a
direct link with the actual act of translating.
100 Chapter 7
7.1 Reference versus sense
Reference refers to the relationship between words or expressions

(technically known as “referring expressions”) inside the linguistic system
and objects (technically known as “referents”) in the real world. When
you hear or read, for instance, the word chair, and you are familiar with its
meaning in English, you will have a mental image of it – something that has
a seat, a back, and usually four legs; something that you can sit on, move,
touch, and so on, as in the following diagram:
This theory (known as “naming theory”) does not work with abstract words
that do not refer to anything in the real world, such as happiness, sadness,
beauty, courage, cowardice, and so on. Hearing or reading these words does
not conjure up any mental image in our mind. Does that mean that these
words are meaningless? In this regard, Goddard (1998/2011: 4; emphasis
in the original) rightly comments:
People sometimes think that the meaning of an expression is simply – and merely –
the thing that it identifies or “picks out” in the world (the so called referen).
[…] to see that meaning is distinct from reference, we only have to think of words
which do not refer to anything at all […]. These words are not meaningless, so whatever
the meaning of a word may be, it must be something other than what the word
refers to.
In addition to their denotative meanings (i.e., dictionary meanings), lexical

items acquire part of their meanings from their relations with other lexi-
cal items inside the linguistic system and another part from the context in
which they occur. In this respect, Kreidler (1998: 46) holds:
The meaning that a lexeme has because of these relationships is the sense of that
lexeme. Part of this relationship is seen in the way words do, or do not, go together
meaningfully.
In semantics, “sense” refers to the relationship that a lexical item has

with other lexical items inside the linguistic system. For instance, if an
Arabic learner with a basic level asks you about the meaning of the lexical
item ‫( سعادة‬happiness) in a sentence like ‫أشع ُر بالسعادة‬, you may resort to
using lexical items that have strong relationships with the word in ques-
tion, such as
• the adjective ‫( سعيد‬derived from the noun ‫ )سعادة‬along with its synonyms,
such as ‫فَ ِرح‬, ‫ ُمبت ِهج‬, ‫مسرور‬, etc., or its antonyms, such as ‫حزين‬, ‫تعيس‬, etc.
• the opposite of ‫سعادة‬, i.e., ‫ حزن‬along with its synonyms, such as ‫تعاسة‬,
and so on.
In another example, we may go for other relations that the word in question
has with other words, such as one-to-many relations (also known as “whole-
part relations”), as in ‫( جسم‬body) and its hyponyms, such as ‫( يد‬hand), ‫ساق‬
(leg), ‫( وجه‬face), and so on. By contrast, words like ‫( عين‬eye), ‫( أنف‬nose), ‫فم‬
(mouth), ‫( خد‬cheek), and the like, have many-to-one relations (also known as
“part-whole relations”) with the word ‫( وجه‬face). Cast in more technical terms,
• the word ‫( جسم‬body) is a hyperonym of words like ‫( يد‬hand), ‫( ساق‬leg),

‫( وجه‬face), etc.
• the word ‫( يد‬hand) is a hyponym of ‫( جسم‬body)
• the word ‫( وجه‬body) is a hyperonym of words like ‫( فم‬mouth), ‫( عين‬eye),
‫( خد‬cheek), etc.
102 Chapter 7
• the word ‫( فم‬mouth) is a hyponym of ‫( وجه‬face)

• the word ‫( فم‬mouth) and ‫( أنف‬nose) are co-hyponyms
In what follows, these lexical relations that a lexical item may have with
other lexical items will be examined in detail.
7.2 Synonymy
When words can be used by a language user to mean the same thing in a
given context, then they are synonymous. Examples of synonymy in English
include verbs like to start and to begin; adjectives like big, large, and huge;
nouns like father and dad; and adverbs like fast, quickly, and rapidly, and so
on. Examples of synonymy in Arabic include, for instance, verbs like ‫فَر َح‬,
‫ َس ِع َد‬, and ‫ ;اِبتهَ َج‬adjectives like ‫ وسيم‬and ‫ ;جميل‬nouns like ‫ سنة‬and ‫ ;عام‬and
so on. However, it is worth noting that although synonyms are instances
of both mutual entailment and co-hyponyms, they are rarely fully identi-
cal in all contexts (cf. Kreidler 1998: 97; Palmer 1976: 60). In this respect,
Palmer (ibid.) rightly comments that “no two words have the exactly the
same meaning. Indeed it would seem unlikely that two words with exactly
the same meaning would both survive in a language”. He holds that there
are at least five ways in which they differ (pp. 60–64):
1. some sets of synonyms belong to different dialects of the language,

as in:
American English British English
• fall autumn
• mall shopping centre
• bookstore bookshop
• apartment flat
• downtown city centre
• soccer football
• check cheque
• elevator lift
• gas petrol
• highway motorway
• subway underground
2. some sets of synonyms are used in different styles or registers, as in:

Formal Informal
• commence start
• gentleman man or chap
• terminate end
• purchase buy
3. some sets of synonyms are said to be different in their emotive or

evaluative meanings, as in:
• stateman politician
• hide conceal
4. some sets of synonyms are collocational restricted. For example, in

English the adjectives fast and quick are co-hyponyms, but we say
fast food, not quick food, and we say a quick shower, not a fast shower.
Similarly, we say beautiful weather, beautiful dog or beautiful village,
but not handsome weather, handsome dog or handsome village.
5. some words are close in meaning or their meanings overlap, as in,
for example, the verb to govern and its synonyms, such as to direct,
to control, to determine, to require, etc. Their meanings overlap since
we can have a set of synonyms for each lexical item.
At times, the same lexical item may have a different antonym, depending
on the context in which it occurs, as in the following sentence:
It is a deep river.
Here, it is acceptable to say It is not a shallow river, but not It is a profound

river as the opposite of the adjective deep in this context is shallow.
Arabic shows preference for “semantic repetition” in which, at least, two
synonyms, or near synonyms, are used in juxtaposition. To translate such a
semantic repetition from Arabic into English, the translator could opt for one
of the four techniques suggested by Dickins et al. (2002: 60–61). These are
1. merging, that is, merging the two synonymous words used in the
source text into one word in the target text.
2. grammatical transposition, that is, changing the part of speech
of one of the synonymous words used in the source text, such
104 Chapter 7
as changing a noun into an adjective, a verb into an adverb, and

so on.
3. semantic distancing, that is, translating the two synonymous words
used in the source text into two words, but their meanings are
slightly different in the target language.
4. maintenance, that is, maintaining the same form of semantic rep-
etition along with the synonyms used.
As an illustration, the following example quoted from ‘Abdul-Sattār Nāsir’s

story (2009: 21) ‫( ثالث قصص ليست للنشر‬Three Stories not for Publishing)
may be considered:
ST:
‫ وتوّج امرأة‬،‫ثم و ّزع الملك نصف أمواله على الفقراء والمعدمين والمنافقين والثرثارين‬
‫ وعاش الناس في فرح وابتهاج …‏‬،‫أخرى على عرش المملكة‬
The synonyms or near-synonyms in the source text, viz. ‫الفقراء والمعدمين‬
and ‫ فرح وابتهاج‬can be merged into one word, as in:
• the king distributed half of his wealth to the poor, the hypocrites and the gossips.
• the people lived in happiness.
Or, they can be maintained as in:

• the king distributed half of his wealth to the poor, the needy, the hypocrites
and the gossips.
• the people lived in delight and happiness.
As the near-synonyms ‫ الفقراء والمعدمين‬show a slight difference in mean-

ing in Arabic in terms of the degree of poverty, they lend themselves to
the poor and the needy respectively. In the second example, a grammatical
transposition, in which the Arabic doublet can be replaced by the English
adjective-noun phrase, is preferred here to maintain the general effect of
the emphasis provided by such a repetition in the source text, as in:
TT:
Then, the king distributed half of his wealth to the poor, the needy, the hypocrites, and
the gossips. He also crowned another queen to sit on the throne of the kingdom. The
people lived in great happiness.
7.3 Antonymy
When words have opposite meanings in a given context, they are anto-
nyms. Examples of antonymy in English and Arabic include adjectives like
big ‫كبير‬ ‫ـــــ‬ small ‫صغير‬

tall/long ‫طويل‬ ‫ـــــ‬ short ‫قصير‬
old ‫كبير‬/‫قديم‬ ‫ـــــ‬ young/new ‫شاب‬/‫صغير‬
narrow ‫ضيّق‬ ‫ـــــ‬ wide ‫عريض‬
high ‫عال‬
ٍ ‫ـــــ‬ low ‫منخفض‬
deep ‫عميق‬ ‫ـــــ‬ shallow ‫ضحل‬
thick ‫سميك‬ ‫ـــــ‬ thin ‫نحيف‬
heavy ‫غامق‬/‫ثقيل‬ ‫ـــــ‬ light ‫فاتح‬/‫خفيف‬
strong ‫قوي‬ ‫ـــــ‬ weak ‫ضعيف‬
Examples of antonymy in English and Arabic include nouns like:
woman ‫اِمرأة‬ ‫ـــــ‬ man ‫رجُل‬

girl ‫بِنت‬ ‫ـــــ‬ boy ‫ولد‬
husband ‫زوج‬ ‫ـــــ‬ wife ‫زوجة‬
male ‫ذكر‬ ‫ـــــ‬ female ‫أنثى‬
In modern semantics, antonymy is divided into three types, viz. “gradable

antonyms”, “nongradable antonyms”, and “relational antonyms”. To begin
with, gradable antonyms (also known as “nonbinary antonyms”) refer to
gradable adjectives, such as
fast ‫سريع‬ ‫ـــــ‬ slow ‫بطيء‬
tall ‫طويل‬ ‫ـــــ‬ short ‫قصير‬
cold ‫بارد‬ ‫ـــــ‬ hot ‫حار‬
big ‫كبير‬ ‫ـــــ‬ small ‫صغير‬
cheep ‫رخيص‬ ‫ـــــ‬ expensive ‫غال‬
ٍ
beautiful ‫جميل‬ ‫ـــــ‬ ugly ‫قبيح‬
Or they refer to gradable adverbials, such as:

politely ‫بأدب‬ ‫ـــــ‬ rudely/impolitely ‫بوقاحة‬
gently ‫بلطف‬ ‫ـــــ‬ ferociously ‫بوحشيّة‬
slowly ‫ببطء‬ ‫ـــــ‬ quickly ‫بسرعة‬
106 Chapter 7
This is because in these examples “we have two fully ‘gradable’ adjectives,
that is, adjectives with a ‘comparative’ and a ‘superlative’ forms” (Cowie
2009: 38).
However, other English adjectives, such as open and shut, single and
married, awake and asleep, alive and dead, right and wrong, or their equiv-
alents in Arabic like ‫ مفتوح‬and ‫مغلق‬, ‫ أعزب‬and ‫متز ّوج‬, ‫صاح‬ ٍ /‫ ُمستيقظ‬and
‫نائم‬, ‫ ح ّي‬and ‫ميت‬, and ‫ صواب‬and ‫خطأ‬, respectively, are opposite ends of a
scale that do not have various intermediate terms – somebody is either alive
or dead; s/he cannot be alive and dead at the same time. These nongradable
antonyms are also known as “binary antonyms” or “complementary pairs”.
The third type of antonymy is called relational antonymy (also known
as “converses” or “converseness”). It refers to pairs of words, such as give/
receive or father/son that share the same/some semantic features, but the
focus or direction is reversed. For instance, when we say Dr Tom is Peter’s
advisor, this implies that Peter is one of the Dr Tom’s advisees, and when we
say ‫( ليلى زوجة أحمد‬Layla is Ahmed’s wife), this implies that ‫أحمد زوج ليلى‬
(Ahmed is Layla’s husband). These two examples clearly illustrate the rela-
tionship between the words advisor/advisee and wife/husband from an
opposite point of view. Examples of relational antonyms in Arabic and
English include words like
student ‫طالب‬ ‫ـــــ‬ teacher ‫ ُمعلِّم‬/‫ُمدرِّس‬

husband ‫زوج‬ ‫ـــــ‬ wife ‫زوجة‬
patient ‫مريض‬ ‫ـــــ‬ doctor ‫طبيب‬
employer ‫ربّ العمل‬ ‫ـــــ‬ employee ‫موّظف‬/‫عا ِمل‬
give ‫يعطي‬ ‫ـــــ‬ take ‫يأخذ‬
borrow ‫يقترض‬/‫يستعير‬ ‫ـــــ‬ lend ‫يُسلّف‬/‫يُقرض‬
buy ‫يشتري‬ ‫ـــــ‬ sell ‫يبيع‬
rent ‫يستأجر‬ ‫ـــــ‬ let ‫يؤجّر‬
in front of ‫أمام‬ ‫ـــــ‬ behind ‫خلف‬
above ‫فوق‬ ‫ـــــ‬ below ‫تحت‬
In this regard, Thakur (1999: 22) holds that “the addition of the comparative
suffix –er and, similarly, the use of the periphrastic more changes gradable
adjectives into converse terms”. So, adjectives, such as tall and short, rich
and poor are examples of gradable antonyms, but taller than and shorter
than, richer than and poorer than are examples of converse terms. This is
because when we say Tom is taller than Peter implies that Peter is shorter
than Tom, and so on.
In the actual act of translating any text, the translators, for various
reasons, may opt for what is called “modulation” by Vinay and Darbelnet
(1958/1995: 89). Modulation refers to “a variation of the form of the mes-
sage, obtained by changing point of view”. To illustrate, the following
translation provided by one of my MA students can be discussed:
ST:
The Sultanate’s finance management has realized the effects of the decline in oil prices
on sources of budget finance, therefore it identified alternatives that do not prejudice the
citizens’ interests and social services.
TT:
‫وألن إدارة المالية في السلطنة أدركت اآلثار المترتبة على هبوط أسعار النفط على‬
‫ فإنها حددت البدائل التي تنفع مصالح المواطنين والخدمات‬،‫مصادر تمويل الميزانية‬
.‫االجتماعية‬
As can been seen, the student translator, when translating do not prejudice,
has opted for the verb ‫( تنفع‬to benefit) in place of the direct translation,
i.e., ‫( ال تض ّر‬lit. not harm). This is an example of modulation as the trans-
lator has changed the form of the message from negative into affirmative
without changing the meaning. It is worth noting that such modulation
is optional in the sense that Vinay and Darbelnet (ibid.) use the term as
there is no harm in Arabic to say ‫( التي من شأنها عدم اإلضرار بـ‬that would
not harm/prejudice …).
7.4 Polysemy
Polysemy (from a Greek word polysemia, which means many meanings)

refers to a lexeme that has two or more related meanings. The difference
between polysemy and homonymy (see below) is subtle, and there is no
108 Chapter 7
clear-cut distinction. In an attempt to make a distinction between polysemy

and homonymy, lexicographers suggest that there will be a single entry
with a numbered list of the distinguishable meanings of the word if a word
has several related meanings, that is, polysemy. However, there will be two
separate entries when the two words are treated as having two unrelated
meanings, that is, homonymy (cf. Fromkin et al. 2003: 180; Kreidler 1998:
52; Yule 1985/1996: 121). The noun eye, for example, has multiple related
meanings, such as an eye of a person, an eye of a needle, and so on, so it is
an example of a polysemous lexeme. The same holds true for words like
head, shoulder, foot, hand, mouse, and bright, as in:
• head ~ a head of a person ‫رأس‬
~ a head of a department ‫رئيس‬
~ a head of lettuce ‫رأس‬
~ a head of a nail ‫رأس‬
• shoulder ~ a shoulder of a person ‫كتف‬
~ a shoulder of a roadway ‫َمتن‬
• foot ~ a foot of a person ‫قدم‬
~ a foot of a mountain ‫سفح‬
• hand ~ a hand of a person ‫يد‬
~ a hand of a clock or a watch (‫عقرب (الساعة‬
• mouse ~ a mouse as an animal (‫فأر(ة‬
~ a mouse of a computer ‫ماوس‬
• bright ~ bright meaning shinning ‫شرق‬
ِ ‫ُم‬
~ bright meaning intelligent ‫ذكي‬
Like English, Arabic has a lot of examples of polysemous words. These
are some:
root ~ the part of a plant that grows under the ‫جذر‬ •
ground
root ~ the root of a hair or tooth
soap ~ a substance that is used by people for ‫صابونة‬ •

washing their bodies, etc.
kneecap ~ the bone that covers the front of the knee
foot ~ the lowest part of a person or animal’s leg ‫قدم إنسان أو حيوان‬ •
foot ~ a measure of length ‫ وحدة قياس‬:‫قدم‬ •
foot ~ the part of a socket in which a person puts ‫قدم الجواريب‬ •
his/her foot
Below are two examples of polysemy from the Holy Quran:
ST:
(71 ،‫يا أهل الكتاب لِ َم تلبسون الحق بالباطل وتكتمون الحق وأنتم تعلمون ('آل عمران‬
TT:
People of the Book! Why do you confound the truth with vanity, and conceal the truth
and that wittingly?
(Arberry 1955/1996)
Here, the polysemous word is ‫ تلبسون‬from the verb ‫س‬ َ َ‫لَب‬, which liter-
َ َ‫ألب‬/‫س‬
ally means to dress somebody or cover somebody with clothes. However,
in this verse, it is used by Allah while addressing the people of the Torah
and Bible to mean to mix or to mingle the truth with falseness.
ST:
‫والالتي يأتين الفاحشة من نسائكم فاستشهدوا عليهن أربعة منكم فإن شهدوا فأمسكوهن‬
(15 ،‫في البيوت حتى يتوفاهن الموت أو يجعل هللا لهن سبيال (النساء‬
TT:
As for those of your women who are guilty of lewdness, call to witness four of you against
them. And if they testify (to the truth of the allegation) then confine them to the houses
until death take them or (until) Allah appoint for them a way (through new legislation).
(Pickthall 1930/2006)
Here, the polysemous word is ‫تأتون‬, derived from the verb ‫أتى‬, which liter-
ally means to come. However, in this verse, it is used to refer to the com-
mitment of adultery or iniquity.
110 Chapter 7
7.5 Homonymy
Like polysemy, homonymy also refers to a word with two or more differ-
ent meanings. However, in the case of homonymy, the word has multiple,
unrelated meanings. Examples of homonymy in English include words
like:
• can ~ a modal verb ‫ يمكنه‬،‫يستطيع‬

~ a metal or plastic container used for holding or ‫عُلبة‬
carrying liquid
• spring ~ an act of jumping up ‫قفزة أو وثبة‬

~ the season of the year that follows winter ‫فصل الربيع‬
~ a place where water comes up naturally from ‫ينبوع أو نبع‬
under the ground
• pupil ~ part of the eye ‫بؤبؤ العين‬

~ a school child ‫تلميذ‬
• bank ~ a financial institution where money is kept (‫مصرف (بنك‬
safely for its customers
~ the ground along the side of a river or canal ‫ضفة‬
~ as a verb meaning to expect or trust somebody ‫يعتمد على‬
to do something, or something to happen
• race ~ a competition between people, animals, cars, ‫سباق‬

and the like
~ one of the groups into which people can be ‫ِعرق‬
divided according to their origin, colour, etc.
• mole ~ a small animal with dark fur ‫خلد أو طوبين‬

~ a small dark spot on a person’s skin ‫خال أو شامة‬
• match ~ an organized game or sports event ‫مباراة‬
~ as a verb meaning to have the same colour or ،‫ يالئم‬،‫يطابق‬
pattern of something else ‫ينسجم مع‬
Below are some examples of homonymy in Arabic:
liquid ~ a substance, such as water, etc., that is not solid ‫• سائل‬
and can be poured
asker or ~ the person who asks or begs
beggar
grandfather ~ the father of one’s father or mother ‫• ج ّد‬

seriousness ~ the quality of being serious
greet(ed) ~ to welcome people when meeting them ‫• سلّم‬

hand(ed) ~ to give or pass something to somebody
maternal uncle ~ one of the brothers of one’s mother ‫• خال‬

mole ~ a small dark spot on a person’s skin that never goes
away
7.6 Homophones
Homophones refer to lexical items that have different meanings and dif-
ferent spellings, but the same pronunciation. Examples of homophones in
English include words like:
feet ‫قدم‬ ‫ـــــ‬ feat ‫عمل جسور‬

write ‫يكتب‬ ‫ـــــ‬ right ‫يمين‬/‫صواب‬/‫حق‬
soul ‫روح‬ ‫ـــــ‬ sole ‫وحيد‬/‫أخمس القدم‬
meet ‫يصادف‬ ‫ـــــ‬ meat ‫لحم‬
hour ‫ساعة‬ ‫ـــــ‬ our ‫خاصتنا‬
there ‫هناك‬ ‫ـــــ‬ their ‫خاصتهم‬
hear ‫يسمع‬ ‫ـــــ‬ hair ‫شعر‬
buy ‫يشتري‬ ‫ـــــ‬ bye ً ‫وداعا‬
through ‫خالل‬ ‫ـــــ‬ threw ‫رمى‬
eight ‫ثمانية‬ ‫ـــــ‬ ate ‫أكل‬
new ‫جديد‬ ‫ـــــ‬ knew ‫عرف‬ ِ
sea ‫بحر‬ ‫ـــــ‬ see ‫يرى‬
tire ‫يتعب‬ ‫ـــــ‬ tyre ‫إطار‬
112 Chapter 7
lesson ‫درس‬ ‫ـــــ‬ lessen ‫يقلل‬/‫يق ّل‬

suite ‫جناح‬ ‫ـــــ‬ sweet ‫حلوى‬/‫حلو‬
not ‫ليس‬/‫ال‬/‫ما‬/‫لم‬ ‫ـــــ‬ knot ‫عقدة‬/‫يربط‬
no ‫كال‬/‫ال‬ ‫ـــــ‬ know ‫يعرف‬
night ‫ليلة‬ ‫ـــــ‬ knight ‫فارس‬
Examples of homophones in Arabic include words, such as ‫( عصا‬stick)

and ‫( عصى‬to disobey), ‫( يحيى‬Yahya) and ‫( يحيا‬to live), ‫( على‬on) and ‫( عال‬to
become high), ‫( بنو‬sons of) and ‫( بنوا‬they built), and the like. In some dialects,
such as Iraqi, Kuwaiti and Omani, however, words like ‫( ظ َّل‬to remain)
ّ (to believe) and ‫ضن‬
and ‫( ض َّل‬to go wrong), ‫ظن‬ ّ (to be stingy), ‫( حض َر‬to attend)
and ‫( حظر‬to ban), and the like are considered examples of homophones as
they are pronounced in a similar way.
7.7 Lexical relations and translation
This section will illuminate the importance of appreciating and, then,

reflecting the source text semantic relations in the target text. To get the dis-
cussion started, the following two examples quoted from Muhsin Al-Ramlī’s
story (2009: 31) ‫ي‬ ّ ‫( البحث عن قلب ح‬Search for a Live Heart) may be given
careful consideration:
ST:
… ‫ينتابني خجل قابض وكآبة ثقيلة حين أضحك‬
TT:
I have a feeling of deep shame and sadness when laughing …
Here, there is an example of textual restructuring. Grammatically speaking,

the doer of the first process ‫( خجل قابض وكآبة ثقيلة‬deep shame and serious
depression) needs to be reorganized in the target text to ensure that it reads
smoothly and cogently.
Approached from a syntactic perspective, the original sentence consists

of two clauses conjoined by ‫( حين‬when). To begin with the first clause, it
has two noun phrases conjoined by the additive connector ‫( و‬and) to form
one unit, namely ‫( خجل قابض وكآبة ثقيلة‬deep shame and serious depression).
This noun phrase is assigned the semantic role of theme by the verb ‫انتاب‬.
To put this differently, in this clause, there are two arguments along with
the main verb ‫انتاب‬, viz. the pronoun ‫( ني‬me) in the objective case filling
the role of experiencer, and ‫( خجل قابض وكآبة ثقيلة‬deep shame and serious
depression) filling the role of theme.
However, in the second clause ‫( حين أضحك‬when I laugh), there is only
one argument, viz. I filling the primary role of actor and secondary role
of experiencer along with the main verb ‫( ضحك‬laugh) and the connector
‫( حين‬when) conjoining the two clauses to form one complex sentence (for
more details on semantic roles, see Chapter 8 in this book).
ST:
… ‫ وأفتح قميصي وصدري‬،‫فأصعد إلى سطح الدار في منتصف الليل‬
TT:
In the middle of the night I go upstairs, undo my shirt, bare my chest…
The verb ‫( فتح‬to open) in Arabic is used widely to denote a quite good
number of actions, for example:
‫فتح بابًا‬
‫فتح مدينة‬
(‫فتح أزرار (قميصه‬
‫فتح زجاجة‬
‫فتح صدره‬
However, in English, native speakers of English use different verbs for each
activity, thus creating a variety of unmarked collocations, as in:
to open a door
to conquer a city
114 Chapter 7
to undo a button
to unscrew a bottle
to bare one’s chest
This is an example of particularizing translation or translation by a hypo-

nym in which the denotative meaning of the word used in the target text
is narrower and more specific than that of the word used in the original
text. Also, in English both nouns ‫( قميص‬shirt) and ‫( صدر‬chest) need a verb.
To illuminate the importance of giving full consideration to the seman-
tic relations through the nexus of translation, the following example from
‘Abdul-Sattār Nāsir’s story (2009: 15) ‫( ثالث قصص ليست للنشر‬Three Stories
not for Publishing) may be considered:
ST:
‫ حتى تأكد له أنها ليست‬،‫ وما أن اقترب منها‬،ً‫ فرآها عارية تماما‬،‫دخل الملك على زوجته‬
‫ وأن حارسه « األمين » ينام هانئا ً معها …‏‬،‫بمفردها‬
‫ وعند‬،‫خرج الحارس من غرفة « الملك » وفي بطنه أكثر من جرح عريض عميق‬
‫‏‬. … ‫ كان الحارس قد مات‬،‫الباب‬
TT:
When the king came in, he saw that his wife was completely naked. The moment he
approached her, he realized that she was not alone. His “faithful” bodyguard was sleep-
ing peacefully next to her.
The guard ran out of the king’s bedroom, his belly bearing more than a wide, deep gash.
He died by the door.
The denotative meaning of the verb ‫ خرج‬is to go out. However, giving full
consideration to the context in which it is used and focusing on transferring
the image conjured up in the mind of the original reader, rather than adher-
ing to the denotative meanings of the individual lexical items, the phrasal
verb to run out could be chosen. This is because stabbing somebody with
a dagger or a knife causes him/her to run out of the place rather than leav-
ing the place quietly. Further, the word ‫ جُرح‬can be translated into wound,
gash, etc. However, taking into account the context in which it is used
and the semantic features of each lexical item, one would go for the noun
gash rather than wound. This is because the lexical item gash is a hyponym,
that is, a type of the lexical item wound – a gash is a long, deep wound. As
such, translating the lexical item ‫ جُرح‬whose denotative meaning is wider
and less specific than the lexical item gash is an example of particularizing
translation or translation by a hyponym.
Following is another example extracted from Yāsmīn bin Zarāfa’s story
‫( دانا والفئران‬Dana and the Mice) translated into English by Fred Pragnell
(2013: 1–2; bilingual edn):
ST:
،‫ وتحبُّ األوساخ … كانت غرفتها على الدوام غير منظمة‬،‫ تكره النظافة‬،‫دانا طفلة مهملة‬
‫ وأحذيتها تنام قربها‬،‫ خزانتها مفتوحة والثياب تُ ِطلُّ منها‬،‫أدواتها مبعثرة على األرض‬
… ‫بروائحها الكريهة‬
TT:
Dana was a careless child. She hates cleanness and likes dirtiness. Her room was always
messy; her stuff was scattered on the floor. Her cupboard was open and the clothes peeped
out. She was sleeping beside her stinky shoes.
As can be seen, the original writer introduces two pairs of antonyms, viz.
‫( تكره‬to hate) versus ّ‫( تحب‬to love or to like), and ‫( نظافة‬cleanness) versus
‫( األوساخ‬dirtiness) in a very short extract. Further, there are two synony-
mous words, namely ‫( غير منظمة‬not organized) and ‫( مبعثرة‬scattered), used
in the original text. These synonymous words lend themselves to messy and
scattered respectively. Being fully aware that these antonyms and synonyms
fall in parallel structures, thus acquiring stylistic features that need to be
reflected in the target text, the translator has intrinsically managed the text
and reflected these stylistic features.
Here is another example from Enid Blyton’s story Mr Twiddle in
Trouble Again (1947), translated by one of the BA students at the University
of Nizwa (Al-Hinai 2015: 22–23):
ST:
“Oh, foolish man! Oh, stupid, ridiculous man! Oh, silly, silly man! I told you those boots
were to be soled – s-o-l-e-d, Twiddle, and you went and sold them – s-o-l-d. I wanted
you to get new soles put under them – and you go and sell them! Twiddle, will you ever,
ever, do anything really sensible? No, you never will”.
116 Chapter 7
TT:
‫ لقد‬.‫ يا للعجب أيها السخيف‬،‫ أيها الغبي! األبله‬،‫ أيها الرجل األحمق! يا الهي‬،‫» يا للعجب‬
‫( وهي تتهجّى الكلمة‬s-o-le-d) ‫( توديل‬soled) ‫قلت لك بأن األحذية يجب أن تبطّن‬
‫ أردتك أن تحصل على بطانة‬،(sold) (S-O-L-D) ‫ وأنت ذهبت وبعتها‬.‫حرفًا حرفًا‬
‫ لن تفعل‬.‫ هل لك أن تقوم يو ًما بأمر معقول حقًا؟ كال‬،‫ توديل‬.‫ وأنت ذهبت لبيعها‬،‫جديدة‬
.« ‫ذلك أبدًا‬
Here, there is an example of homophony (i.e., two words have the same
pronunciation but with different meanings) in which two lexical items,
viz. sold (the past participle of the verb to sell) and soled (the past partici-
ple of the rarely used verb to sole) are used in juxtaposition, thus creating
a confusing situation to one of the in-text participants. Having given full
consideration to such a lexical relation between these two words and their
roles in developing the text, the translation trainee has intrinsically man-
aged the text by adding ‫( وهي تتهجّى‬while she is spelling), thus reflecting the
in-text participant’s tone of indignation.
Further reading
Francis, G. (1993). “A Corpus-Driven Approach to Grammar: Principles, Methods

and Examples”. In M. Baker, G. Francis, and E. Tognini-Bonelli (eds), Text and
Technology: In Honour of John Sinclair. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John
Benjamins, pp. 137–156.
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., and Hyams, N. (2003). An Introduction to Language (7th
edn) USA: Heinle, a Part of Thomson Corporation.
University Press.
Palmer, F. R. (1976). Semantics: A New Outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, Concordance and Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
——. (1998). “The Lexical Item”. In E. Weigand (ed.), Contrastive Lexical Semantics.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
——. (2008). “The Phrase, the Whole Phrase and Nothing But the Phrase”. In S.
Granger and F. Meunier (eds), Phraseology: An Interdisciplinary Perspective.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, pp. 407–410.
Questions
1. How would you define the following terms: “antonymy”, “polysemy”,

and “homonymy”?
2. What is the difference between “sense” and “reference”?
3. Are there absolute synonyms? Discuss with illustrative examples.
4. Do these words fear, love, car, teacher, and company refer to objects in
the real world?
5. What are the main aspects of weakness of “naming theory”?
Exercises
Exercise 1: Among the following pairs of antonyms, which are gradable

and which are nongradable?
1. ‫حاضر – غائب‬
2. ‫ح ّي – ميت‬
3. ‫حزين – سعيد‬
4. ‫راسب – ناجح‬
5. ‫غير شرعي – شرعي‬
6. ‫خطأ – صح‬
7. ‫كبير – صغير‬
8. ‫غبي – ذكي‬
9. ‫ضعيف – قوي‬
10. ‫غير مؤدب – مؤدب‬
118 Chapter 7
Exercise 2: What is the basic lexical relation between the following pairs
of lexical items?
1. vehicle – pickup
2. bus – train
3. fruit – apple
4. burger – chicken burger
5. cold – hot
6. chair – furniture
7. teacher – student
8. strong-minded – stubborn
9. hammer – screwdriver
10. lawyer – solicitor
Exercise 3: Decide whether the two lexical items in each of the following
pairs are homophones or not:
1. son – sun
2. court – caught
3. ate – eight
4. by – bye
5. tail – tale
6. no – know
7. new – knew
8. sea – see
9. meet – meat
10. great – greet
Exercise 4: Decide whether the two lexical items in each of the following
pairs are homophones or not:
‫ك َّل متني – كلّمتني‬ .1

‫ذهب‬
َ – ْ‫ذهب‬ .2
‫عصا – عصى‬ .3
‫ظن – ضن‬ .4
‫آل– آل‬ .5
‫َع ُد ّو – َع ْدو‬ .6
‫ ‪Lexical Semantics‬‬ ‫‪119‬‬
‫‪Exercise 5: The following text is extracted from ‘Abdul-Hamīd Al-Gharbāwī’s‬‬

‫‪ (Face). Translate it into English. Then, annotate your own‬وجه )‪story (n.d.‬‬
‫‪translation, focusing on the semantic relations.‬‬
‫إلى الغائبة الحاضرة دوما في الذاكرة‪ .‬وماذا بإمكاني أن أفعل؟‬

‫احت ّ‬
‫ك الحديد بالحديد فتوقف القطار‪.‬‬
‫ّ‬
‫كنت أجلس وحدي‪ ،‬قبل دخوله المحطة بقليل‪ ،‬أتصفح مجلة ثقافية باذخة آتية من إحدى‬
‫دول الخليج العربي‪ ،‬وعن يميني وشمالي مقعدان فارغان‪ ،‬حين أقبلت هيفاء تسير على‬
‫مهل‪ ،‬يستر شعرها خمار أسود‪ ،‬أبت خصلة منه إال أن تفضح المستور وتعلن عن لونه‬
‫فانسلت من تحت الخمار شقراء‪.‬‬
Chapter 8
Semantic Roles
Key terms
• Actor
• Affected participant (patient)
• Affecting participant (stimulus)
• Agent
• Argument
• Associate (predicate)
• Benefactor (benefactive)
• Causer
• Experiencer
• Goal
• Instrument
• Location
• Positioner
• Recipient
• Resultant (effect)
• Semantic case
• Semantic role
• Source
• Theme
• Theta role
In semantics, instead of focusing on the meanings of the lexical items uti

lized by the language user (be it a speaker or writer) to describe a particular
situation, special attention can be paid to their semantic roles in the situa-
tion described. A semantic role (also known as a “theta role”, “semantic case”,
or “thematic role”) is the underlying relationship that an entity (semantically
122 Chapter 8
called “argument”) such as a person or thing has with the main verb in a
clause. This chapter gives full consideration to these underlying relation-
ships that entities have in certain situations.
8.1 Semantic roles
In a situation like The boy opened the door with the key, there is a verb
describing an action (i.e., opening the door), and three noun phrases or
arguments describing the roles that the entities (such as people, places,
things, etc.) have with the main verb in the clause. Cast in more technical
terms, in the above situation, the boy fills the role of agent (also known by
some scholars as “actor”), the door fills the role of theme, and the key fills
the role of instrument, as shown below:
The boy opened the door with the key.

agent = opener action theme = opened instrument
As discussed above, some scholars use “agent” and “actor” to refer to the
same referent. However, in this chapter, a distinction will be made between
them. Agent is the initiator of the action who is responsible for his/her
decision (Kearns 2000/2011: 207). It can be distinguished from actor
by inserting words and expressions, such as deliberately, on purpose, or in
order to, as in:
He closed the window.
He [deliberately] closed the window. So, he fills the role of agent.

However, in a sentence like this:
She left the window open.
there are two different interpretations:

Semantic Roles 123
a. She left the window open [on purpose]; therefore, she fills the role of
agent.
b. She [carelessly] left the window open; therefore, she fills the role of actor.
In another situation when a noun phrase designates an entity as an entity

that has a feeling, a perception, or a state, it will fill the role of experiencer.
Consider the following example:
She heard the explosion in the street.

experiencer = hearer verb theme = heard location
To reinforce the point, in a situation like this:
The scene frightened my little daughter.
my little daughter is the one who experienced the fear through her percep-
tion. As such, my little daughter fills the role of experiencer (i.e., the entity
that perceives a particular mental or emotional process or state). With
psychological verbs or verbs of perception (such as see, hear, smell, taste,
understand, frighten, and the like), there is no physical action; therefore,
the entity perceiving a particular mental or emotional process or state is
labelled experiencer (for more details, see Kearns 2000/2011: 212–213;
Yule 1985/1996: 116–117).
8.2 Types of semantic roles
Depending on the verb per se, there are a number of noun phrases that
have relations with the verb and fill different semantic roles in the clause
or sentence. Some verbs, such as sleep may have only one argument, as in
I slept while others may have two, three, or more, as in I gave him a book
for his brother in which there are four arguments, viz. I, him, a book, and
his brother.
124 Chapter 8
These noun phrases or arguments fill different roles in a clause or

sentence. Further, the same argument in a given clause may fill more than
one role, as in I gave her a gift in which there are three arguments, namely
I filling the role of agent and source, her filling the role of goal and recipi-
ent (or may fill the role of benefactor), and a gift filling the role of theme.
Agent, actor, theme, and experiencer are the main semantic roles that
have been discussed by many scholars in different coursebooks. However,
there are other types of semantic roles, such as affecting (stimulus),
affected (patient), associate (predicate), location, instrument, source,
goal, recipient, causer, resultant (effect), benefactor (benefactive), and
so on that we need to be familiar with (see below).
It will now be shown how verbs, such as to kill, to see, to paint, to destroy,
to walk, to give, to make, and to like in these situations may have different
semantic roles:
The man killed the thief.
Here, there are two arguments, viz. the man (the one who killed, i.e., killer)
filling the role of agent, and the thief (the one who was killed, i.e., killee)
filling the role of patient, that is, the affected participant.
The man killed the thief with a knife.
Here, there are three arguments, viz. the man filling the role of agent, the
thief filling the role of patient or affected participant, and a knife filling the
role of instrument, that is, the entity with which the agent did the action.
I saw an insect on the wall.
Here, there are three arguments, viz. I filling the role of experiencer, an
insect filling the role of theme, and on the wall filling the role of location.
I painted the chair with the new brush.
Here, there are three arguments, viz. I filling the role of agent, the chair
filling the role of affected participant (patient), and the new brush filling
the role of instrument.
Semantic Roles 125
I painted a new painting.
Here, there are two arguments, viz. I filling the role of agent, and a new
painting filling the role of resultant (effect).
The flood destroyed the crop.
Here, there are two arguments, viz. the flood filling the role of causer, and
the crop filling the role of affected participant (patient).
I walked home through the park from the office.
Here, there are four arguments, viz. I filling the role of agent or actor,
home filling the role of goal (i.e., endpoint), the park filling the role of
path (i.e., the pathway of a motion), and the office filling the role of source
(i.e., starting point).
She gave me a book.
Here, there are three arguments, viz. she filling the role of agent or actor
and source, me filling the role of recipient and goal for sure (and may fill
the role of benefactor), and a book filling the role of theme.
She gave me a book for my brother.
Here, there are four arguments, viz. she filling the role of agent or actor
and source, me filling the role of recipient and goal, a book filling the role
of theme, and my brother filling the role of benefactor.
I was given a book.
Here, we have three arguments, viz. I filling the role of goal (i.e., the end-
point of the book), and recipient (i.e., the receiver of the book), a book
filling the role of theme, and the implicit initiator of the action somebody
filling the role of agent and source.
She made him a cake.
126 Chapter 8
Here, there are three arguments, viz. she filling the role of agent and source,
him filling the role of goal, recipient and benefactor, and a cake filling
the role of resultant.
She made him angry.
Here, while she fills the role of affecting participant (stimulus) and him
fills the role of experiencer as he was experiencing anger, the adjective angry
is an associate (predicate). However, it can be argued that him angry is a
third argument assigned a theme semantic role by the verb made.
My brother likes music.
Here, there are two arguments, viz. my brother filling the role of experiencer,
and music filling the role of affecting participant (stimulus).
These semantic roles can be summarized as follows:
Agent The role of an argument that performs an action deliberately,

or accidently but affecting another entity, as in:
She broke the glass.
He opened the window.
The dog ate the loaf of the bread.
Actor The role of an argument that performs an action without
affecting another entity, as in:
My little son left the door open.
I gave him the book.
Theme The role of an argument that undergoes the action, but does
not change its state, as in:
I saw an insect on the wall.
She borrowed the book from her friend.
The room is small.
Affected The role of an argument that undergoes an action and changes
participant its state because of another entity or due to the described
(patient) event, as in:
The boy broke the window.
The window was broken by the wind.
Semantic Roles 127
Experiencer The role of an argument that perceives a particular mental or

emotional process or state, as in:
She felt sad.
The scene frightened my friend.
Affecting The role of an argument that identifies the source of sensory
participant or emotional feeling that affects another entity without any
(stimulus) action, as in:
My daughter likes watching TV.
Music delights me.
She hates these programmes.
Instrument The role of an argument with which the agent performs the
action, as in:
He signed the contract with a pen.
I locked the door with the key.
She ate the rice with a tea spoon.
Location The role of an argument that identifies the location of an
entity, as in:
I saw the man in the street.
She put the book on the desk.
Source The role of an argument that tells the starting point of an
entity (i.e., the starting point from which it moves), as in:
She borrowed the book from the library.
My friend travelled from London to Paris.
Goal The role of an argument that tells the endpoint of an entity
(i.e., the endpoint to which it moves), as in:
He handed the letter to the dean.
The boy went home.
Path The role of an argument that is the pathway of a motion and
through which an entity moves, as in:
She walked home through the park.
The girl went from home to school through the narrow street.
Recipient The role of an argument that names the receiver of the entity,
as in:
I showed her the photo.
I sent him an e-mail.
128 Chapter 8
Benefactor The role of an argument that names the benefactor of the

action, as in:
The teacher gave me the book for my brother.
She made a cake for her son.
Causer The role of an argument that is directly involved in the
causation of an event, as in
The crop was destroyed by the flood.
The heavy rain has destroyed the harvest.
Resultant The role of an argument that comes into existence as a result
(effect) of the agent’s action, as in:
She made a cake.
She baked a pie.
Associate The role of an argument that tells the status of another argu-
(predicate) ment, as in:
My father is a teacher.
The glass is empty.
It cost 10 US dollars.
8.3 Semantic roles and translation
The most important part in translation is reflecting the message intended

by the original text producer. Therefore, changing the verbs used in the
original text, or adding, deleting, or changing the semantic roles filled
by these arguments, will definitely create slightly or completely different
mental images and messages. As an illustration, the following example
along with three different translations selected from many translations
produced by translation trainees may be discussed:
ST:
She gave me a book for my brother.
Semantic Roles 129
TT 1:
.‫أعطتني كتابًا عن طريق أخي‬
Back-translation: She gave me a book via my brother.
TT 2:
.‫أعطتني كتابًا‬
Back-translation: She gave me a book.
TT 3:
.‫أعطتني كتابًا ألوصله إلى أخي‬
Back-translation: She gave me a book to hand [it] to my brother.
In the source text, there is a transitive verb, that is, to give (in the past tense
and active voice) and four arguments, viz. she filling the role of agent and
source, me filling the role of recipient and goal, a book filling the role of
theme, and my brother filling the role of benefactor.
In translation 1, the trainee has not changed the verb when opting for
‫أعطى‬, but she has changed the semantic roles filled by the four arguments.
To begin with, the argument ‫( أخي‬my brother) fills the role of first recipient
and goal of the verb ‫ أعطى‬in ‫( أعطت أخي‬she gave my brother) and agent 2
of the verb ‫ أعطى‬in ‫( أعطاني‬he gave me). Further, the role of benefactor is
filled by the speaker expressed by the objective pronoun ‫( ني‬me).
In translation 2, the trainee has not changed the verb, but resorted
to deleting one of the arguments (i.e., for my brother which fills the role
of benefactor), thus hiding the explicit benefactor my brother and giving
rise to the possibility of considering the speaker him/herself as filling the
role of benefactor.
In translation 3, the trainee has successfully rendered the verb along
with its four arguments and their semantic roles when opting for the expres-
sion ‫( ألوصله‬to give it to or to hand it to).
To demonstrate how not giving full consideration to the semantic
roles may seriously affect the accuracy of the translation, the following
translation produced by a translation trainee can be analysed and evaluated:
ST:
Abu Hamza denies US terror charges.
130 Chapter 8
TT:
.‫أبو حمزة المصري ينفي تهمة االرهاب الموجه إليه في الواليات المتحدة‬
In the source text, Abu Hamza fills the role of actor, US terror charges fills
the role of theme, and there is no location. However, in the target text,
the translation trainee, getting confused, has changed the adjective US
modifying the theme into the expression ‫( في الواليات المتحدة‬i.e., in the US,
which fills the role of location), thereby creating a completely different
mental image. Had the translator given full consideration to the verb and
its semantic roles, she could have suggested something like:
.‫نفى (ينفي) أبو حمزة تهم اإلرهاب األمريكية‬
To further illustrate the importance of giving full consideration to the main

verb in a clause along with the semantic roles filled by the arguments that
have relations with the verb, these two examples extracted from Lubna
Mahmūd Yāsīn’s story (n.d.) ‫( بصمة مواطن‬A Citizen’s Fingerprint) trans-
lated for the purposes of this study may be considered:
ST:
.‫قام أحدهم بنزع القيود التي كانت على حواسه … فتح عينيه ليجد نفسه في مكتب فاخر‬
TT:
One of them removed the shackles which were placed on his senses. He opened his eyes
to find himself in a luxurious office.
In analysing the semantic roles in this example, the above extract can be
divided into two main segments:
‫• قام أحدهم بنزع القيود التي كانت على حواسه‬

‫• فتح عينيه ليجد نفسه في مكتب فاخر‬
In the first segment, there are two clauses, viz. ‫ قام أحدهم بنزع القيود‬and
‫التي كانت على حواسه‬. In the first clause, the verb ‫قام بنزع‬, derived from the
verb ‫نزع‬, has two arguments, viz. ‫( أحدهم‬one of them) filling the role of agent
Semantic Roles 131
and ‫( القيود‬restraints) filling the role of theme. As for the relative clause
‫( التي كانت على حواسه‬which had covered his senses), the relative pronoun
‫( التي‬which), which refers back to ‫( القيود‬restraints), fills the role of positioner,
and the whole clause fills the role of location.
In the second segment, however, there are two clauses, viz. ‫فتح عينيه‬
and ‫ وجد نفسه في مكتب فاخر‬connected by ‫( لـ‬to). In the first clause, there are
two arguments that have a relation with the verb ‫( فتح‬to open). They are the
implicit pronoun ‫( هو‬he) filling the role of actor, and ‫( عينيه‬his two eyes)
filling the role of theme. Similarly, in the second sentence, there are three
arguments that have a relation with the verb ‫( وجد‬to find), viz. an implicit
pronoun filling the role of actor, ‫( نفسه‬himself) filling the role of theme, and
‫( في مكتب فاخر‬in a luxurious office) filling the role of location.
Being aware of the importance of reflecting the exact message sent
out by the author, the translator has successfully rendered the verbs
‫قام بنزع‬, ‫كانت‬, ‫فتح‬, and ‫ يجد‬along with their arguments, thus maintaining
the semantic roles intact. However, the change in aspect from a past per-
fect tense in the original text, expressed by ‫( التي كانت على حواسه‬i.e., first
the restraints had covered his senses, and then one of them removed the
restraints) to a simple past tense in the target text, expressed by were placed,
does produce a change in time reference, affecting the pragmatic commu-
nicative effect, in that the emphasis in the original text is on the sequence
of events, whereas in the target text the emphasis is put on the comple-
tion of the described actions (for more details on tenses and aspects, see
Chapter 5 in this book).
Here is a second example:
ST:
… ‫ نعم … وماذا في ذلك‬:‫أجاب الضابط وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع بين التعالي والسخرية‬
TT:
The officer answered, wearing a smile simultaneously imbued with arrogance and sar-
casm: “Yes, what about it?”
In the original text, there are four arguments, namely ‫( الضابط‬the officer) filling
the role of actor, the clause ‫( وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع بين التعالي والسخرية‬while he
was wearing a smile simultaneously imbued with arrogance and sarcasm) filling
132 Chapter 8
the role of manner, and two themes ‫( نعم‬yes) and ‫( وماذا في ذلك‬and what about
that). Further, the clause of manner ‫وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع بين التعالي والسخرية‬
(while he was wearing a smile simultaneously imbued with arrogance and
sarcasm) can be further broken down into two main arguments (i.e., ‫هو‬
(he) filling the role of actor and ‫( ابتسامة‬a smile) filling the role of theme)
that have an underlying relation with the verb ‫( يرتدي‬to wear). Being fully
aware of the importance of reflecting the meaning meant by the author, the
translator has successfully rendered the verbs along with their arguments,
thus reflecting the semantic roles in the target text.
Further reading
Carter, R. (1998). Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives. London/New York:

Routledge.
Cowie, A. P. (2009). Semantics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kearns, K. (2000/2011). Semantics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kreidler, C. W. (1998). Introducing English Semantics. London/New York: Routledge.
Yule, G. (1985/1996). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Questions
1. How would you define “arguments” and “semantic roles”?

2. What is the difference between “grammatical relations” and “semantic
roles”?
3. Explain how the same argument may have more than one semantic
role.
4. Some scholars state that some weather verbs, such as rain, snow, and the
like have no argument. Discuss.
5. What is the difference between “agent” and “actor”, on the one hand
and between “theme” and “affected participant” on the other?
Semantic Roles 133
Exercises
Exercise 1: Provide the reader with illustrative examples to the following

semantic roles:
1. agent
2. recipient
3. source
4. goal
5. location
6. instrument
7. causer
8. resultant
9. patient
10. stimulus
Exercise 2: Read the following sentences carefully in order to label their

semantic roles filled by the arguments in each clause. Then translate them
into Arabic and annotate any shift that may occur in the semantic roles
through the nexus of translation:
1. I went to London.
2. She sent me an e-mail yesterday.
3. When I was in Egypt, I was given many lectures in an Egyptian dialect.
4. The harvest has been destroyed by the flood completely.
5. I spent many hours designing a cover for your book.
6. My boss wrote a recommendation letter for me.
7. Peter borrowed some money from his friend.
8. The party delighted him.
9. The shoe hurts her foot.
10. He smelled a nasty smell.
Exercise 3: In the following text (taken from John Ruskin’s fairy tale The
King of the Golden River and translated by one of the BA translation
134 Chapter 8
students at the University of Nizwa), there are many arguments that fill
the role of agent and causer. Try to identify them with your students and
then discuss how the translation student has dealt with them:
ST:
Things went on in this manner for a long time. At last came a very wet summer, and
everything went wrong in the country round. The hay had hardly been got in when the
haystacks were floated bodily down to the sea by an inundation; the vines were cut to
pieces with the hail; the corn was all killed by a black blight.
TT:
‫ مما أفسد كل‬،‫ ثم جاء صيف شديد الرطوبة‬.‫سارت األمور على هذا النحو لفترة طويلة‬
‫ لم يتسنَ لهم الحصول على القش حتى جرفت السيول أكوام التبن الى‬.‫شيء في البالد‬
‫ وأُتلِف محصول الذرة بالكامل في معظم‬،‫ ودمرت حبات البرد أشجار العنب‬،‫البحر‬
.‫مناطق البالد‬
www.islamreligion.com>), by paying special attention to the main verb in
each clause and its arguments along with their semantic roles:
ST:
A Muslim woman has the privilege to earn money, the right to own property, to enter
into legal contracts and to manage all of her assets in any way she pleases. She can run
her own business and no one has any claim on her earnings, including her husband.
Chapter 9
Semantic Principles
Key terms
• Collocation
• Compositionality
• Idiom principle
• Idioms
• Lexical features
• Open choice principle
• Phrasal verbs
• Phraseological features
• Phraseological tendency
• Slot-and-filler principle
• Terminological tendency
Semantically speaking, in order to produce utterances or understand them,
language users (be they speakers or writers) rely on two features, namely
lexical features and phraseological features (cf. Francis 1993; Sinclair 1991,
1998). These two types of features cover both compositional meaning and
unitary meaning. This chapter explores two aspects of word use and word
meaning in terms of Sinclair’s (1991, 1998) distinction between the “open
choice principle” (or “terminological tendency”) and the “idiom principle”
(or “phraseological tendency”).
136 Chapter 9
9.1 Semantic principles
As suggested above, in order to produce or understand utterances, language

users rely on both lexical and phraseological features. To do so, they con-
sciously or subconsciously follow two principles, namely the open choice
principle (or terminological tendency) and the idiom principle (or phra-
seological tendency). At times, the lexical items have both a terminological
tendency and a phraseological tendency, as in literal phrasal verbs, such
as sit down, stand up, come in, put down, pick up, and so on. In this type
of phrasal verbs, in which a verb is followed by a directional particle, it
is not difficult to figure out their meanings because both terminological
tendency and phraseological tendency are in harmony. However, at other
times, there is some sort of tension between these two tendencies, as in,
for example aspectual phrasal verbs, such as take off, set up, etc., or idi-
omatic phrasal verbs, such as keep up, brush off, zone out, close in on, wind
up, and zero in on. In these two types of phrasal verbs, especially the idi-
omatic phrasal verbs, the meaning of the whole phrasal verb is not related
to the meanings of its constituents (for further details, see Almanna 2010;
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman 1999, among others). Such tension has
encouraged lexicographers to take into account both tendencies while
designing their dictionaries. In the past, they used to focus mainly on the
terminological tendency.
9.2 The open choice principle
To begin with the open choice principle, a language user can sometimes
elicit the meaning of the whole sentence or clause from its words and their
arrangements – the syntax of any language can specify the slots into which
memorized items can be inserted. This principle tells us the basic restrictions
on the possible choices of lexical items that can be utilized by a language
user to syntactically fill in every slot identified in any given text (Sinclair
1991: 109). For example, the meaning of the sentence:
My friend will travel to London next week.
is compositionally driven by the meanings of its lexical items along with

the grammatical markers used in the sentence:
• friend preceded by the possessive pronoun my that functions as a deictic

expression referring to the speaker.
• travel in the future tense indicated by the modal verb will.
• London preceded by the preposition to, thus indicating the final desti-
nation of the actor.
• week preceded by the word next, thus functioning together as a deictic
expression indicating when the actor of the action will travel.
To elaborate, the following example may be considered:
ِ ‫ال يزا ُل مشه ُد الحاد‬

.‫ث يطاردني في أحالمي منذ سنتين‬
Again, the meaning of the above sentence is compositionally driven by the

meanings of its lexical items along with the grammatical markers used in it:
• ‫( مشهد‬scene) although it is not preceded by a definite article, such as ‫أل‬

(the), it is defined as it is followed by a defined noun ‫( الحادث‬the accident).
It is assumed here that ‫( مشهد الحادث‬the scene of the accident) is known to
the addressee. Otherwise, the speaker needs to run a preparatory check:
“if I uttered it, would the addressee know which ‫( مشهد‬scene) I am talk-
ing about?”
• the verb ‫( يطارد‬lit. to chase) is in the present tense. The emphasis is
placed on both the continuity of the described action at the moment of
speaking indicated by ‫( ال يزال‬still) and the duration of the action that
began in the past (two years ago) and is seen relevant to the present
indicated by ‫( منذ‬for/since).
• the pronoun ‫( ني‬me) is in the objective case referring to the speaker.
138 Chapter 9
• the noun ‫( أحالم‬dreams) is the plural form of ‫( حلم‬dream); it is followed

by the possessive pronoun ‫( ي‬my) referring to the speaker.
Paying undivided attention to the meanings of the lexical items or expres-

sions along with the grammatical markers used in it on the one hand,
and taking into account the linguistic and stylistic norms of the target
language on the other, a professional translator may well suggest a ren-
dering like this:
The scene of the accident has been haunting my dreams for two years.
For Sinclair (1991: 109), the open choice principle is:
a way of seeing language as the result of a very large number of complex choices. At
each point where a unit is complete (a word or a phrase or a clause), a large range of
choices opens up and the only restraint is grammaticalness.
Closely related to Sinclair’s open choice principle is “compositionality”.

Compositionality means that the meaning of a word, phrase, clause, or
sentence is determined by the meanings of its components (semantics) and
the way they are put together to form words, phrases, clauses, or sentences
(morphology and syntax) (for more details, see Farghal and Almanna 2015:
66–78; Griffiths 2006: 17–19; Kearns 2000/2011: 57–78). The meaning of
a word, for instance, is determined by the meanings of its morphemes, and
the meaning of a clause or sentence is determined by its parts. Therefore,
a language user cannot understand the meaning of the following sentence
unless s/he knows the meanings of its parts and the way they are ordered
to form such a sentence:
I have been working in this company for ten years. (The year of uttering the sentence
is 2016).
• I: the actor referring to the speaker; the pronoun I does not indicate
the speaker’s gender, age, etc., but we can guess that his/her age is over
twenty-eight.
• have been working: work means to do a job that needs a physical or
mental effort in order to earn money. From its position in the sentence,
it is a verb in the continuous perfect tense, so the aspect is perfect
progressive, emphasizing that the speaker started working in the com-

pany in 2006 and is still working at the moment of uttering his/her
sentence.
• in this company: company means a business organization selling goods or
services. The demonstrative pronoun this along with the preposition in
means that the speaker works in the company that has been mentioned
earlier by him/her or by the addressee, or it might be the place of utter-
ing his/her sentence.
• for ten years: covering the whole period from 2006 up to 2016.
Giving full consideration to the meanings of the parts of the above sen-
tence and the way they are ordered to form such a sentence on the one
hand, and paying extra attention to the linguistic and stylistic norms of
the target language on the other, a well-trained translator may suggest a
translation like this:
ٍ ‫من ُذ عشر سنوا‬

.‫ت وأنا أعم ُل في هذه الشركة‬
Or
.‫ال أزا ُل أعم ُل في هذه الشركة منذ عشر سنوات‬
However, in any language, there are a great number of expressions whose

meanings cannot be figured out by relying on the meanings of their parts
and the way they are ordered to form larger units. In what follows, these
exceptions will be discussed.
9.3 The idiom principle
The idiom principle, however, posits that a language user “has available to
him or her a large number of semi-preconstructed phrases that constitute
single choices, even though they might appear to be analysable into seg-
ments” (Sinclair 1991: 110). For example the word cheese has a relationship
140 Chapter 9
with words like butter, milk, yogurt, and so on as they all parts of dairy
products (see semantic fields and semantic relations in this book). Therefore,
in a sentence like this:
some cheese
some butter
some milk
I will have for breakfast.
some eggs
a cup of coffee
a cup of tea
a native speaker expects expressions like some cheese, some butter, some
milk, some eggs, some milk, a cup of coffee, a cup of tea, and the like to
syntactically fill in the slot identified in the above sentence. Such a prin-
ciple is known as “slot-and-filler”, as it tells the reader/listener the basic
restrictions on the possible choices of lexical items that can be utilized
by a language user to syntactically fill in every slot identified in any given
text (Sinclair 1991: 109).
However, the same word cheese in a sentence like this:
It seems that his brother is a big cheese in one of the major companies in the country.
cannot be replaced with one of the expected words/expressions above as the

word cheese in the idiomatic expression a big cheese refers to an important
or powerful person in a group or organization.
The same holds true for lexical items like butter and milk in these two
sentences:
This is your grade in the exam, so don’t try to butter me up.

You have to do your best if you don’t like your presentation to be just milk and water.
In the first example, to butter up means to treat somebody nicely in hopes

of receiving special favours. As for the second example, milk and water
means weak or feeble. Therefore, the meanings of to butter up and milk and
water are not related directly to the denotative meanings of their receptive
constituents, that is, butter + up and milk + water.
Similarly, when you hear somebody saying:
At the beginning of an exam, I always have butterflies in my stomach.
most English speakers will recognize that s/he does not mean literally to
have butterflies in his/her stomach, but rather, it means s/he is very nerv-
ous or worried. The phrase to have butterflies in one’s stomach, then, is not
compositional since its overall meaning, that is, to be nervous or worried,
does not derive from the meanings of its components.
9.4 Idioms versus collocations
Unlike collocations, which “are fairly flexible patterns of language which

allow several variation in form”, idioms allow no variation (Baker 1992: 63).
Thus, fear-related idioms like
• to have/get cold feet

• to have your heart in your mouth
• to show the white feather
• to be yellow
• to have no guts
• to get the wind up
cannot be respectively modified into something like
• to have/get frozen feet

• to have your mouth in your feet
• to show the blue feather
142 Chapter 9
• to be red
• to have no stomach
• to get the storm up
Idiomatic expressions allow almost no variation in form under normal cir-

cumstances and “present particular difficulties because they are restricted
collocations which cannot normally be understood from the literal meaning
of the words which make them up” (Carter 1998: 65). To put this differ-
ently, to elicit the meaning of an idiomatic expression, language users and
translators cannot rely on the open choice principle, that is to say, relying
on the meanings of its components. Rather, they need to resort to the idiom
principle by treating the idiomatic expression as one unit. A few more exam-
ples may serve to show how translators need not to depend on the open
choice principle only, but they need to rely on the idiom principle as well:
When he saw the scene, he lost his nerve and got the wind up suddenly.
When he was surrounded by the enemy, he showed the white feather and surrendered.
When he heard the explosion, he had his heart in his mouth.
As stated above, these idiomatic expressions, viz. to get the wind up, to show
the white feather, and to have your heart in your mouth cannot be understood
without treating them as units. They are fear-related idioms meaning to
be frightened, to exhibit cowardice, and to be extremely afraid respectively.
Therefore, they lend themselves into something like this in Arabic:
.‫ يرتجف من الخوف‬،‫ فجأة‬،‫ فقد أعصابه وأخذ‬،‫حينما رأى المشهد‬

.‫ خاف فسلّم نفسه‬،‫عندما حاصره العدو‬
ِ َ‫عندما سمع صوت‬
.‫ وقع قلبه في قدميه‬،‫االنفجار‬
Collocation, on the other hand, means the tendency of two or more lexi-
cal items to co-occur together in certain contexts. Adjectives like fast and
quick, for instance, are synonyms as they share the sense of “doing some-
thing at speed”. However, the adjective fast collocates well with nouns like
food and train, but not meal or shower, while the adjective quick collocates
well with nouns like meal and shower, but not food or train. Collocations
are language-specific, that is, what is considered as collocation cannot be
taken for granted in another. Further, they are not governed by fixed rules.
Rather they arbitrarily co-occur. In touching on the basic characteristic

properties of collocations, Baker (1992: 48) states that
patterns of collocation are largely arbitrary and independent of meaning. This is so

both within and across languages. The same degree of mismatch that can be observed
when comparing the collocational patterns of synonyms and near-synonyms within
the same language is evident in the collocational patterning of “dictionary equiva-
lents/near equivalents” in two languages.
In a direct link with translation, it is essential that translators while trans-

lating collocation give full consideration to the degree of predictability of
lexical co-occurrence, that is, the degree of its markedness, as opposed to
unmarkedness. Combinations like
‫ حبّة زيتون‬،‫ قطعة حلوى‬،‫ شريحة لحم‬،‫رغيف خبز‬
are labelled unmarked as they are natural combination for native speakers
of Arabic. Similarly, combinations like bright face, bright child, bright idea,
bright future, bright voice, and so on are unmarked collocations as they sound
natural for native speakers of English. Marked collocations, however, are
unnatural combinations that are deliberately used by the speaker/writer
to create new images (Baker 1992: 51). As an illustration, the following
example quoted from Lubna Mahmūd Yāsīn’s story (n.d.) ‫بصمة مواطن‬
(A Citizen’s Fingerprint) translated for the purposes of this study may be
considered:
ST:
‫يبتلعه المساء … فيوغل في أحشاء الصمت … ومن ذا الذي يستطيع فرارًا إذا عسعس‬
‫األلم داخل النفس … وتوغلت األحزان في حنايا الفؤاد … يتآكل قلبه … تتساقط أشالؤه‬
… ‫يتم ّزق صوته … على حدود الزمان وال من ُمجيب‬
TT:
The night swallows him so he delves ever deeper into the heart of silence. Who can, then,
escape if the pain is densely settled inside the self and sadness penetrates the depths of the
heart? … His heart erodes; his limbs fall off; his voice gets torn away at the boundaries
of time, yet no response comes.
144 Chapter 9
In this example, the original writer deliberately uses an unnatural com-

bination ‫( أحشاء الصمت‬lit. the intestines of silence) to create a new image.
So, it is an example of marked collocation. To reflect the same degree of
markedness, the translators may exclude unmarked collocations, such as
wall of silence or a vow of silence. In this regard, Trotter (2000: 351) rightly
comments: “Translation requires invariance in the markedness of col-
locates, rather than replacing abnormal usage in an original with normal
usage in translation”.
To illustrate the importance of giving full consideration to collocation
and its degree of predictability, the following two examples from Muhsin
Al-Ramlī’s story (2009: 29) ‫ي‬ ّ ‫( البحث عن قلب ح‬Search for a Live Heart) can
be discussed:
ST:
)‫ يخرج (هو‬.‫ وعلى جانبي الممر أبواب مرقمة‬،‫ داخل أحد المستشفيات‬،‫في ممر ضيق‬
‫ يثقل حركته األلم والحزن الحاد فيستند أحيانًا على جانبي‬،‫من أحدها ماس ًحا عينيه‬
… ‫الممر‬
Although the adjective ‫( حاد‬sharp) in the source text describes both

nouns ‫( ألم‬pain) and ‫( حزن‬sorrow), it collocates well with the noun pain in
English. To find an adjective that typically collocates with sorrow, a profes-
sional translator may opt for deep. When opting for using two adjectives
that collocate well with the two nouns, viz. pain and sorrow, it will make
the target text run more naturally than the source text, i.e., euphemiz-
ing it. To avoid such euphemism on the one hand, and to maintain the
same degree of effect on the other, the translator may resort to using only
one adjective deep, which is typically in collocation with grief, and, to less
degree, with pain, as in:
TT:
In a narrow hospital corridor, there is a succession of numbered doors on both sides. He

himself comes out of one of these doors rubbing his eyes, his movement weighed down
by deep pain and grief; from time to time he leans for support against both sides of the
corridor.
Here is a second example:
ST:
‫ لم‬،‫ خذني كلي بلحمي وشحمي (يضحك) ال … ال … لم يقل ذلك ألنه بال لحم وال شحم‬:)‫)يقلده‬
.‫ وفيه بضعة عظام‬،‫يكن إال كيسًا من الجلد المبلل بالعرق‬
TT:
“Take all of me, my flesh and my fat,” he cries, impersonating the drunkard. He laughs
and says, “No, no, he didn’t say that, for he had neither flesh nor fat. He was just a bag
of skin and bones, drenched in sweat”.
The phrase ‫( لحمي وشحمي‬lit. my flesh and my fat) is used in Arabic for
emphasis to mean “all” or “personally”, thus it may be translated into an
expression like body and soul, which is an expression used in English to
mean “completely”. However, repeating the components of the phrase in
the text many times, such as ‫ بال لحم وال شحم‬and the like, leaves us with no
alternative but the literal translation. Baker (1992: 72) rightly comments
that translators should take into account “the significance of the specific
items which constitute the idiom, i.e., whether they are manipulated else-
where in the source text” or not.
Following is another example quoted from Mahfouz’s (1966: 183)
novel ‫( ثرثرة فوق النيل‬Adrift on the Nile) and translated by Frances E.
Liardet (1993: 17):
ST:
‫وتهلل وجه علي السيد بتفاؤل مباغت فقال برجاء‬:

!‫– أراهن على أن رجب سينجب أطفاال‬
:‫ ضحك رغم توتر أعصابه وقال‬.‫وإذا بأنيس يضحك‬
.‫– عملتم من الحبة قبة‬
TT:
Ali’s face shone with a sudden optimism. “I bet that Ragab will have children!”
And then Anis laughed. He laughed in spite of his tense nerves. “You’ve made a moun-
tain out of a molehill”, he said.
146 Chapter 9
In Arabic, when someone is exaggerating the importance of something

trivial or treating a problem as greater than it is, people can tell him
that ‫( يعمل من الحبة قبة‬lit. he’s making a dome from a grain). So, it is an idi-
omatic expression, and its meaning cannot be figured out by relying on
the meanings of its components. Rather, it should be treated as one unit.
The sentence ‫يعمل من الحبة قبة‬, then, is not compositional since its overall
meaning, that is, making a slight difficulty seem like a serious one does not
derive from the meanings of its components. To render the same function
and impact, the translator may resort to an idiomatic expression, such as to
make a mountain out of a molehill, thus producing a functional equivalent.
As can be seen, the function of the original sentence has been given full
consideration, thus lending itself to a functional equivalent, that is, You’ve
made a mountain out of a molehill.
9.5 Phrasal verbs
English phrasal verbs are very important part of everyday English. Every
student or translator of English needs a basic understanding of the most
common phrasal verbs. Such phrasal verbs undoubtedly constitute one of
the major difficulties English learners as well as translators and interpreters
have to contend with when approaching this type of idiomatic expressions
(cf. Almanna 2010; Cowie and Mackin 1993; McArthur and Atkins 1974;
Turton and Manser 1985, among others).
According to the Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written
English (Biber et al. 2002), phrasal verbs consist of a verb, such as to put,
to go, to give, to look, and so on, followed by an adverbial particle, such as
off, out, up, at etc. Commonly, the adverbials used with phrasal verbs have
a less than literal meaning, making the phrasal verb as a whole idiomatic
in meaning. It is this idiomatic meaning that allows the phrasal verb to be
replaced with a single word verb. For instance, the phrasal verb to put off
can be replaced with the single word verb, to postpone (Biber et al. 2002).
Phrasal verbs are an essential part of spoken and written English at all levels,
and nobody planning to master the language can afford to overlook them.
The most widely used classification is proposed by Celce-Murcia and

Larsen-Freeman (1999) According to Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman
(1999: 432–433), phrasal verbs are divided into three categories: literal
(e.g., sit down, stand up, pass through, etc.), aspectual (e.g., read though, set
out, write over, etc.), and idiomatic (e.g., chew out, run up, tune out, etc.).
In distinguishing literal phrasal verbs from the other types, Celce-Murcia
and Larsen-Freeman (ibid.) rely on the criterion of compositionality, as
opposed to noncompositionality. They hold that literal phrasal verbs are
compositional while others are noncompositional. Actually, their clas-
sification is problematic as sometimes we have phrasal verbs which are
noncompositional. Consider, for instance, the phrasal verb to look up.
According to their classification, the meaning of the phrasal verb to look
up may be restricted to gaze upwards. However, this phrasal verb has many
other meanings, such as to seek somebody or something out, to seek infor-
mation about somebody or something in a book, to visit somebody, and so
forth. Therefore, phrasal verbs in this study are divided into four categories:
literal, aspectual, idiomatic, and polysemous.
9.5.1 Literal phrasal verbs
Literal phrasal verbs are very easy to understand. For example, it is not
difficult to pinpoint the meaning of sit down, stand up, or come in because
their meanings are obvious. Most commonly, literal phrasal verbs are verbs
+ directional particles (ibid.). For instance, sit down, stand up, pick up, bend
down, put down, pass through, fall down, climb up, and so on are all verbs
followed by directional particles.
9.5.2 Aspectual phrasal verbs
Aspectual phrasal verbs are phrasal verbs whose meanings are not as
transparent as literal phrasal verbs; however, their meanings are not idi-
omatic either (for further details, see Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman
1999). Examples of this type of phrasal verbs include set up, take off, start
out, and so forth. These phrasal verbs can be classified into a number of
148 Chapter 9
semantic classes, depending on the semantic contribution of the particle

used, as in:
• inceptive: signaling a beginning state, as in take off, set out, start up, etc.
• continuative: emphasizing the continuity of the action, as in run on and
on, hurry along, read through, skim through, think through, work away,
play around, mess around, travel around, etc.
• iterative: emphasizing the repetition of the action, as in do over and over,
turn over and over, write over, think over, type over, etc.
• completive: emphasizing the completion of the action, as in drink
up, eat up, close up, clean up, catch up, wind up, mix up, find out,
fade out, wear out, blow out, check over, win over, cut off, turn off, burn
down, etc.
9.5.3 Idiomatic phrasal verbs
Idiomatic phrasal verbs, however, are phrasal verbs whose meanings are not
easy to predict. To put this differently, the meaning of the whole phrasal
verb is not related to the meanings of its constituents. For example, keep
up, brush off, zero in on, close in on, run up, tune out, zone out, and chew out
are all idiomatic phrasal verbs.
9.5.4 Polysemous phrasal verbs
The final type of phrasal verbs is polysemous. As the name suggests, poly-
semous phrasal verbs can have multiple meanings, such as check out, look
up, make up, go off, go out, and set off.
To demonstrate how not giving full consideration to the unitary nature
of these phrasal verbs and relying on the meanings of their constitutes may
seriously affect the whole process of understanding, and then, translation,
the following example along with three translations produced by translation
students of the Department of Translation at the University of Basrah may
be considered:
ST:
Jehad burst out of the editing suite screaming. He sprinted down the stairs, his head in
his hands, his face ripped with anguish.
TT 1:
‫ وركض بأقصى سرعة إلى الطابق السفلي وكان‬.‫خرج جهاد من مكتب التحرير صارخا‬
.‫منفزعا ووجهه حامال عالمات األلم‬
TT 2:
‫اندفع جهاد من قسم التحرير منفجرا بالصراخ والعويل وراكضا بأقصى سرعته‬
.‫إلى الطابق السفلي ويده على رأسه‬
TT 3:
‫خرج جهاد من قسم التحرير بأقصى سرعته وهو يصرخ ويده على رأسه وبدت على‬
.‫وجه عالمات الحزن‬
Here, two phrasal verbs are used in the original text, viz. burst out and
sprint down. To begin with the first phrasal verb to burst out, it has been
translated into ‫( خرج‬to go out) by one trainee and ‫( اندفع‬to burst out) by
two trainees. In Arabic, the verb ‫( خرج‬to go out) is different from ‫( اندفع‬to
burst out) as the former does not indicate that the actor of the action Jehad
has gone with all haste, while the latter does. Therefore, one of the trainees
has opted for ‫( خرج‬to go out) followed by ‫( بأقصى سرعته‬with his top speed),
to create a similar mental image. As for the second phrasal verb to sprint
out, it has been translated into ‫( ركض‬to run) followed by ‫بأقصى سرعته‬
(with his top speed) by two trainees, while it has been merged with the verb
‫( خرج‬to go out) into one verb by one trainee.
Further reading
Almanna, F. (2010). Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs. London: Sayyab Books Ltd.
Baker, M. (1992). In Other Words. London/New York: Routledge.
150 Chapter 9
Erman, B., and Warren, B. (2000). “The Idiom Principle and the Open Choice Prin-
ciple”, Text, Vol. 20 (1), pp. 29–62.
Scholars Press.
edn) USA: Heinle, a part of Thomson Corporation.
Sinclair, J. (1998). “The Lexical Item”. In E. Weigand (ed.), Contrastive Lexical Seman-
tics, pp. 1–24. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
——. (2008). “The Phrase, the Whole Phrase and Nothing but the Phrase”. In S.
Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins, pp. 407–410.
Siyanova-Chanturia, A., and Martinez, R. (2014). “The Idiom Principle Revisited”.
Applied Linguistics, pp. 1–22. doi: 10.1093/applin/amto54.
Questions
1. What is “compositionality”? Discuss with illustrative examples.

2. Explain Sinclair’s (1991) “open choice principle” and “idiom principle”.
3. Do you agree that in any language there are wide-ranging expressions
whose meanings cannot be figured out by falling back on the meanings
of their parts and the way they are ordered to form larger units? Discuss
4. What is “collocation”, and how would you translate marked collocation,
as opposed to unmarked collocation?
5. There are four types of phrasal verbs. What are they? Explain with illus-
trative examples.
Exercises
Exercise 1: Identify the type of the phrasal verb in each sentence (high-
lighted for you). Then, translate the sentences into Arabic, paying particular
attention to the phrasal verbs:
1. No need to press anything, the light goes on automatically when you

approach the door.
2. The manager will consider the proposal that you have put forward.
3. I’ve been trying hard, but it seems it won’t come off my hands.
4. She’s been trying to screw her parents out of thousands of US
dollars.
5. My youngest brother monkeyed around with my car yesterday.
6. My sister has been missing many days of college; she is falling behind
in her studies.
7. I hope I’m not butting in, but I must say, it’s a wonderful idea.
8. You’ve been getting at me the whole day, could you please lighten up
a bit?
9. I bought the gift, but I have to wrap it up before going to her birthday
party.
10. I was so exhausted after taking the TOEFL test that I nodded off
before dinner.
Exercise 2: How would you translate the following idiomatic expressions

(highlighted for you) idiomatically into Arabic?
1. Why did you ask him such an embarrassing question? You are always
putting your foot in it.
2. When I voted for him, I was convinced he would win, but I backed the
wrong horse.
3. She had to swallow her words when I got the job as she said I’d never
ever get the job.
4. The prime minister, faced with the journalists’ embarrassing questions,
let the cat out of the bag.
5. We don’t want any problem with them, so please keep mum about what
you saw last night.
Exercise 3: In the following sentences, which of the highlighted expressions

can be considered compositional, and which are idioms?
1. The students got into deep water with their teacher for the noise they
made.
152 Chapter 9
2. The text you asked me last week to translate was a hard nut to crack.
3. The police are barking up the wrong tree if they think Tom stole the
car.
4. When I saw my little daughter standing in front of the open window,
I had my heart in my mouth.
5. When the lights suddenly went out, my heart missed a beat.
Exercise 4: Translate the following text extracted from Muhsin Al-Ramlī’s

story (2009) ‫ي‬ّ ‫( البحث عن قلب ح‬Search for a Live Heart). Then, annotate
your own translation in terms of (1) translating collocation, and (2) trans-
lating idiomatic expressions:
… ‫)ينظر إلى ساعته) الوقت مرة أخرى … يضيق دائ ًما ويحاصرني كهذا الممر الخانق‬
‫أواه … كيف قلب أمي إذاً؟ … أمي التي تس ّمرت عند النافذة ليل نهار … ترضع السجائر‬
… ‫وعيناها الدامعتان ترقبان الطريق … تراه يترجّل عن كل السيارات المارقة … ينزل‬
‫ وحتى الجيران يودون لو‬،‫قد ينزل في أية لحظة … بل حت ًما سينزل ألنه الب ّد أن يعود‬
‫ فهم يدركون بأن لحظة حزن إضافية قد تقضي‬،‫ينقلوا لنا خبر عودته بسرعة ليوقفوا حزننا‬
‫علينا … ربّما هذه اللحظة … أو القادمة … فمتى سيشفى؟ متى يعود؟ متى؟ متى؟‬
Chapter 10
Levels of Meaning
Key terms
• Affective meaning
• Allusive meaning
• Associative meaning
• Attitudinal meaning
• Collocative meaning
• Connotation
• Denotation
• Interpretive semiotics
• Paradigmatic axis
• Reflected meaning
• Semiotics
• Sign
• Signified
• Signifier
• Structural semiotics
• Stylistic meaning
• Syntagmatic axis
The previous chapter considered the two main semantic principles: the open
choice principle and the idiom principle. This chapter gives full consid-
eration to the levels of meaning, such as denotative meaning, connotative
meaning, affective meaning, allusive meaning, associative meaning, attitu-
dinal meaning, collocative meaning, reflected meaning, and stylistic mean-
ing. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of paying extra attention
154 Chapter 10
to paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes in testing the sign’s significance and,

thus, translation accuracy.
10.1 Denotation versus connotation
Approached from a semiotic perspective, signifiers are often classified into

two main types: a denotative signifier and a connotative signifier (Al-Shehari
2001: 151). According to Peirce, any sign can produce two kinds of meaning:
denotative and connotative. The denotative meaning is the literal (direct)
meaning that can be understood via a direct and clear relationship between
the sign and the thing it refers to. The connotative meaning, on the other
hand, is that meaning which comes into existence as a result of an interac-
tion between the sign and the user’s context. So, the denotative meaning of
the lexical item ‫ حديقة‬refers to “a piece of land (usually near a house) where
flowers and vegetables are grown usually with a piece of grass” (Oxford
Wordpower 2010: 331). However, more recently this word has acquired a
connotative meaning in the Iraqi dialect, particularly by young people, refer-
ring to a person (male or female) who has no couple – a number of related
words, such as the verb ‫( يح ّدق‬lit. to garden) and ‫( صاير حديقة‬lit. to become
a garden), are derived from its connotative meaning. Approached from a
semiotic perspective, the word ‫( حديقة‬garden), in addition to referring to a
physical referent in the real world (denotation), it invokes in the mind of
the Iraqi young people the idea of not having a couple (connotation). So,
the relationship between the denotative meaning and the connotative one
is what Peirce calls “interpretant” that works as a sign.
To elaborate, the word ‫ أگول‬used in Kuwait to mean stop talking or
stop exaggerating (connotation) may be discussed here. The word ‫أگول‬
is derived from the verb ‫( قال‬to say), which is pronounced in Kuwait and
some other places in the Arab world ‫( گال‬gāl), hence the expression ‫أگول‬
(agūl), i.e., I say (denotation). To reinforce the point, the following signs
along with their denotative and connotative meanings in different dialects
may be given full consideration:
(Egyptian dialect) ‫• گامد‬

Denotative meaning: It is derived from the verb ‫ َج َم َد‬, which is pro-
nounced in some areas of Egypt ‫( گمد‬gamada),
hence the adjective ‫( گامد‬gamid). Its literal,
straightforward meaning is to be frozen.
Connotative meaning: strong, handsome, beautiful, nice, etc.
(Libyan dialect) ‫• شيوعي‬

Denotative meaning: A communist
Connotative meaning: Poor
(Omani dialect) ‫• مع نفسك‬

Denotative meaning: Literally means by yourself, alone, etc.
Connotative meaning: It is not your business, go away, etc.
(Omani dialect) ‫• وحش‬

Denotative meaning: A monster.
Connotative meaning: An expert.
(Iraqi dialect) ‫• اِ ْش ِر ْد‬

Denotative meaning: Literally means to escape.
Connotative meaning: It means handsome, beautiful, breathtaking, etc.
(Iraqi dialect) ‫• ناصرية‬

Denotative meaning: Nasirriyya is a city in the south of Iraq.
Connotative meaning: It refers to wicked people or sometimes to a
wicked sense of humour.
(Iraqi dialect) ‫• يُغنّي‬

Denotative meaning: It is from the verb to sing; they say: he is singing.
Connotative meaning: To exaggerate.
156 Chapter 10
At times, the denotative meaning of a certain lexical item or expression

in a given language is wider and less specific than its counterpart in the
target language, thus resulting in particularizing translation as opposed
to generalizing translation. As an illustration, the following example may
be considered:
I have to invite all my neighbours to my hen night.
A hen night (also known as a “hen party” or “bachelorette party”) is a party

held for girls who are about to get married, shortly before their wedding.
It can be translated into ‫الحنّة‬/‫ليلة الحنّاء‬. Here, the denotative meaning
of ‫الحنّة‬/‫ ليلة الحنّاء‬is wider and less specific as it refers to both the hen night
and stag night (a stag night, also known as a “stag party” or “bachelor party”,
which is a party held for men who are about to get married, shortly before
their wedding). Translating it into ‫الحنّة‬/‫ليلة الحنّاء‬/‫ حفلة‬without specifying
it, there would be generalizing translation, as in:
.‫عل ّي أن أدعو جميع جيراني لحفلة حنّائي‬
Following is another example quoted from Enid Blyton’s story Mr Twiddle
in Trouble Again (1947), translated by one of the BA students at the
University of Nizwa (Al-Hinai 2015: 20–21):
ST:
He bent over his work quite angry. Mrs Twiddle blushed, for she hated anyone to be
angry with her. She went out of the shop, furious with Twiddle, because she thought he
had gone with his boots to the other cobbler’s and hadn’t told her.
TT:
‫ وكانت تكره أن يغضب‬،ً‫ احم ّر وجه السيدة تويدل خجال‬.‫ثم انحنى إلى عمله وهوغضبان‬
‫ وخرجت من المحمل تشتاط غضبا على تويدل؛ ألنها اعتقدت بأنه ذهب إلى‬.‫عليها أحد‬
.‫االسكافي اآلخر دون أن يخبرها‬
Here, the verb to blush meaning to become red in face, especially due to
shame, embarrassment, etc. lends itself in Arabic to (ً ‫اِحم ّر وجهه (خجالً أو اِرتباكا‬.
Being fully aware of the denotative meaning of the verb to blush, the transla-
tion student has resorted to specifying its denotative meaning by adding the
word ‫( خجال‬shyly). Similarly, the denotative meaning of the lexical item boots
is narrower and more specific than its expected counterpart in Arabic, that
is, ‫( حذاء‬shoes). Relying on the context, the translator has opted for deleting
it completely. Translating it into ‫( حذاء‬shoes), there would be generalizing
translation.
10.2 Connotation: Different overtones
It is worth noting that the connotative meaning is not agreed upon by all
people, rather it varies from one person to another, from one geographi-
cal area to another, from one society or culture to another, and so on.
Connotation “refers to the personal aspects of meaning, the emotional
associations that the word arouses” (Kreidler 1998: 45). Dickins et al. (2002:
66–73) hold that there are six types of connotative meaning. They are
“attitudinal meaning”, “associative meaning”, “affective meaning”, “allusive
meaning”, “collocative meaning”, and “reflected meaning”. In what follows,
these six types of connotative meaning and more will be discussed in a
direct link with the actual act of translation.
10.2.1 Attitudinal meaning
It refers to the attitude that the language user has according to his/her
socio-cultural experiences. For example, all these Arabic verbs in the fol-
lowing expressions:
(‫• يشرب أو يتناول (الخمر‬

‫• يحتسي الخمر‬
‫• يبلبع أو يتس ّمم‬
refer to the same activity, that is, drinking alcohol. However, they are dif-
ferent in connotation. While the first one ‫يتناول‬/‫ يشرب‬is neutral and used
in both spoken and written language and the second one ‫ يحتسي‬is also
neutral but used in written language only, the third one ‫يتس ّمم‬/‫ يبلبع‬has a
pejorative overtone, reflecting the language user’s attitude towards both
the act of drinking alcohol and the doer of the action.
158 Chapter 10
10.2.2 Associative meaning
Associative meaning is that part of meaning that has to do with the stereo-
typical images that have been conjured up in the mind of the language user
towards the lexical items used. When Arab interpreters/translators hear/
read the English word secretary, they automatically associate it with the
idea of female gender, thus rendering it into ‫( سكرتيرة‬i.e., female secretary).
10.2.3 Affective meaning
Affective meaning refers to that part of meaning that reflects the choice
of lexical items resorted to by the language user and their effect on the
addressee. Imagine that you visited your boss at his office, and after two
minutes he got angry with you, thus telling, asking, or ordering you:
.‫• ما أريد أشوف وجهك في المكتب‬

Lit. I don’t want to see your face in the office.
.‫• اُخرجْ من المكتب‬
Lit. Go out of the office.
‫ ممكن تغادر المكتب؟‬،‫• من فضلك‬
Lit. If you don’t mind, is it possible to leave the office?
Although all of them share the same core denotative meaning of go out of the
office, the boss’ attitude to you may produce a different affective impact in
each case: very rude in the first, rude in the second and polite in the third.
10.2.4 Allusive meaning
Allusive meaning is that part of meaning that is attached to a referring

expression in addition to its denotative meaning by virtue of intertextuality,
that is, “an expression evokes an associated saying or quotation in such a
way that the meaning of that saying or quotation becomes part of overall
meaning of the expression” (Dickins et al. 2002: 70). As an illustration,
the following example quoted from Mahfouz’s novel (1971/1977: 23)

‫( بداية ونهاية‬The Beginning and the End) may be considered here:
.‫معذرة يا بني إن بعض الظن إثم‬
Here, the writer opts for building an intertextual relation with a Quranic
verse, namely verse 12 from ‫( سورة الحجرات‬Sūrāt Al-Hujrāt):
.‫يا أيها الذين آمنوا اجتنبوا كثيرا من الظن إن بعض الظن إثم‬
The sentence ‫إن بعض الظن إثم‬, along with its lexical items in addition to its
basic, straightforward meaning, contains an allusive meaning.
10.2.5 Collocative meaning
Collocative meaning is that part of meaning that is attached to a referring

expression in addition to its denotative meaning by virtue of the meaning
of other words that collocate well with it, thus forming commonly used
expressions. Arabic readers, for instance, tend to say:
‫• ليل نهار‬
‫• أبر ودبابيس‬
‫• ذهابًا وإيابًا‬
‫• أخذ وعطاء‬
‫• أبيض وأسود‬
‫• بـالشوكة والسكين‬
ً
‫عاجل‬ ‫• آجالً أم‬
However, English native speakers tend to use them the other way round:
• day and night

• pins and needles
• come and go
• giving and taking
• black and white
• with knife and fork
• sooner or later
160 Chapter 10
To make this point clear, the following example extracted from Muhsin
ّ ‫( البحث عن قلب ح‬Search for a Live Heart) can
Al-Ramlī’s story (2009: 37) ‫ي‬
be given serious consideration:
‫أمي التي تسمرّت عند النافذة ليل نهار … ترضع السجائر وعيناها الدامعتان ترقبان‬
.‫يترجل عن كل السّيارات المارقة‬. ‫الطريق … تراه‬
A number of collocated expressions can be identified in the original text, such

as ‫تسمرّت عن النافذة‬, ‫ليل نهار‬, ‫عيناها الدامعتان‬, ‫عيناها ترقبان‬, ‫يترجل عن السيارات‬,
and ‫السيارات المارقة‬. All these are examples of unmarked collocations, that
is, they are natural combinations for native speakers of Arabic. As such, it
is essential that translators while translating collocation pay extra attention
to the degree of predictability of lexical co-occurrence, that is, the degree
of its markedness, as opposed to unmarkedness. Further, as stated above
in Arabic when expressions involving day and night are used, the word ‫ليل‬
(night) preferably comes before ‫( نهار‬day) while in English it should be the
other way round (cf. Almanna 2016: 218–219). Giving full consideration to
these issues, a professional translator may well suggest a translation like this:
My mother who remained pinned to the window day and night, puffing on cigarettes,
her tearful eyes checking the road to see if he’s getting out of a passing car …
As can be seen, the lexical item ‫( سيارات‬cars) lends itself to a car, thus
resulting in an intra-system shift to use Catford’s (1965) terminology. Intra-
system shifts occur when the translators, for any reason, ignore the formal
equivalent, that is, a term, expression or structure that formally corresponds
to that of the original text, and, alternatively, opt for a noncorresponding
term, expression or structure in the target language (p. 80).
10.2.6 Reflected meaning
Reflected meaning is that part of meaning that is attached to a referring

expression in a certain context in addition, of course, to its basic, straight-
forward meaning. Here, there is a referring expression that refers to a refer-
ent in the real world and another referent or an idea, concept, and so on.
Consider, for instance, the word ‫ ِحمار‬in Arabic. The word ‫ ِحمار‬, in addition
to its denotative meaning that refers to an animal like a small horse with long
ears (i.e., donkey) in the real world (referent 1), is used to describe people’s
stupidity (referent 2) in the Arab culture. Another interesting example is
the word ‫بومة‬, which, in addition to its denotative meaning that refers to a
bird that flies at night and lives on catching and eating small animals (i.e.,
owl), is used as a symbol of a bad omen in Arabic and wisdom in English.
The question that may be raised here is: how would translators deal with
such a cultural clash in which the word owl is used differently between the
interfacing culguages. Try to ponder over this sentence:
He is as wise as an owl.
In addition to these six types of connotative meaning that translators need

to give full consideration while translating from one language into another,
we can add another type. We will call it “stylistic meaning”.
10.2.7 Stylistic meaning
Stylistic meaning is that part of meaning that distinguishes referring expres-

sions from one another in terms of their degree of formality, their literary
status, their degree of politeness and euphemism, and so on. As an illustra-
tion, the following referring expressions may be discussed:
‫ لم يحالفه الحظ‬،‫ أخفق‬،‫ رسب‬،‫• سقط‬
Although all of them share the same core denotative meaning of to fail,
they differ in their stylistic meaning (connotation), thus producing a dif-
ferent impact in each case:
• ‫سقط‬: dialectal (in Iraq and some gulf countries), informal, and having
no literary status.
• ‫رسب‬: standard, formal, and neutral.
• ‫أخفق‬: standard, formal, neutral, and having literary status.
• ‫لم يحالفه الحظ‬: standard, formal, and having both literary status and
euphemism.
162 Chapter 10
10.3 Semiotics
The most common definition of “semiotics” is that it is the study of signs.

It is defined by Stam et al. (1992: 1) as “the study of signs, signification and
signifying systems”. The subject of semiotics is divided by Charles Morris
(1972: 15 cited in Nöth 1990: 50; see also Al-Shehari 2001: 104) into three
branches:
• semantic branch, focusing on the meaning of signs and their relation-

ship with what they stand for.
• syntactic branch, dealing with the structural relations between signs.
• pragmatic branch, studying the ways in which signs are used and
interpreted.
On the other hand, the subject of semiotics is divided by Fiske (1990: 40)
into three main areas:
• the “sign” itself, that is, the study of signs and their different varieties in
different contexts.
• the “codes” into which signs are constructed and organized.
• the “culture” within which these codes and signs operate.
It is worth noting that there is no single or comprehensive theory of

semiotics. However, two semiotic models, originated in the nineteenth
century, are widely used as the basis for the study of semiotics. Semiotic
analysis as a field of research was established by two scholars adopting
two different models: the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–
1913) adopting a model known as “structural semiotics” and the American
philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) adopting a model known
as “interpretive semiotics” (for more details, see Faiq and Sabry 2013: 47;
Farghal and Almanna 2015: 155; Grutman 2009: 260). In what follows,
particular attention will be paid to de Saussure’s structural semiotics and
the importance of giving full consideration to paradigmatic and syntagmatic
axes in testing the sign’s significance and the accuracy of the mental image.
10.4 Paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes
According to de Saussure, there are two ways in which signs are organized
into codes: syntagmatic and paradigmatic (for more details, see Al-Shehari
2001: 159–161; Fiske 1990: 56). The two ways of organizing signs into codes
are described as two axes: the vertical axis is paradigmatic and the hori-
zontal one is syntagmatic. While the main concern of paradigms is the
selection of some signs and the exclusion of others, syntagms focus on the
combination of the selected signs. Further, these two ways can be used
as an approach to testing the sign’s significance on the one hand, and the
translation accuracy/mental image on the other. To elaborate, the following
example extracted from Mary Ali’s text titled Women’s Liberation through
Islam, published on 24 June 2013 (<http://www.islamreligion.com>) along
with the translation produced by one of the BA translation students at the
University of Nizwa may be given careful consideration:
ST:
Muslim women wear the head-covering (hijab) in fulfilment of God’s decree to dress
modestly.
TT:
.‫المرأة المسلمة ملزمة بلبس الحجاب استجابةً ألمر هللا باالحتشام‬
To begin with, examining the original text shows how syntagmatic and
paradigmatic axes constitute the micro signs that form a mental image in
the mind of the hearer/reader. As stated above, a paradigm is a set of signs
from which the one used is chosen. To elaborate, in the original text, the
sign wear in simple aspect is chosen from a set of possible signs, such as
can wear, must wear, should wear, need to wear, and so on. The same holds
true for other signs used, such as
• Muslim instead of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, etc.

• women instead of girls, ladies, or men.
164 Chapter 10
• the head-covering instead of scarf, veil, hat, cap, etc.

• in fulfilment of instead of in accordance with, according to, in line with,
etc.
• God instead of Allah, prophet, etc.
• decree instead of regulation, rule, instruction, etc.
• modesty instead of chastity, decency, bashfulness, etc.
A syntagm, on the other hand, is the linear arrangement into which the
signs, which are chosen from paradigms, are combined. So the paradig-
matic signs:
Muslim – women – wear – the head-covering (hijab) – in fulfilment of – God – ’s –

decree – to – dress – modestly
are combined to formulate the syntagm:
Muslim women wear the head-covering (hijab) in fulfilment of God’s decree to dress
modestly.
While translating, translators normally rely on the syntagmatic and para-

digmatic axes to produce the final shape of the target text. Any change
in these two axes will undoubtedly create a different mental image. For
instance, had the translator opted for signs, such as
• ‫( فتاة‬girl) instead of ‫( امرأة‬woman).

• ‫( بإمكانها اِرتداء‬can wear) instead of ‫( ُملزمة بلبس‬must wear).
• ‫( لِفاع‬scarf) instead of ‫( ِحجاب‬the head-covering [hijab]).
• ‫( مرضاة‬to satisfy) instead of ‫( استجابة‬in response to).
• ‫( هللا والرسول‬Allah and the Messenger) instead of ‫( هللا‬Allah).
• ‫( تأ ّدب‬politeness) instead of ‫( اِحتشام‬modesty).
she would have produced a completely different mental image and an inac-
curate translation, as in:
.‫بإمكان الفتاة اِرتداء اللِفاع مرضاة ألوامر هللا والرسول بالتأ ّدب‬
It might seem reasonable to argue that not taking into account the sign’s
functions would affect both the translation accuracy and image resolution.
To reinforce this point, the following example quoted from Mahfuz’s

(1961/1973: 40) novel ‫( اللص والكالب‬The Thief and the Dogs) and translated
by Adel Ata Elyas (1987: 118) can be discussed:
.‫وثمة رائحة سحرية ال تصدر إال من دم أزرق رغم أنفه المائل إلى الفطس‬
He felt a magic scent in the air, something he couldn’t identify in spite of his long sharp
nose. It was the smell of aristocracy.
Here, the sign that functions iconically is ‫( دم أزرق‬lit. blue blood).

In Arabic, this expression recalls another signifier, a person of aristo-
cratic or wealthy ancestry, which refers to the same signified. In other
words, the expression ‫ دم أزرق‬in this context refers to a physical referent
in the real world (blue blood) as well as invoking in the mind of the hearer/
reader the image of a person of aristocratic or wealthy ancestry, thus creat-
ing a relationship (interpretant) between blue blood and a person of aris-
tocratic or wealthy ancestry. It so happens that English people map and
conceptualize such a world experience in a similar way, that is, blue blood.
However, for no obvious reason the translator has given the iconic function
of such a sign a back seat, thus preserving partially the sign’s functions. Had
he opted for the expression blue blood, he would have reflected the original
sign’s functions, thus achieving an optimal equivalent. Optimal equivalent
refers to the possibility of conceptualizing the world experience linguisti-
cally in a similar way in both languages, thus giving rise to full equivalence
where both formal and functional equivalents coincide (for more details,
see Baker 1992: 72; Farghal 2012: 47), as in:
ST:
ِ ‫إن الحاجةَ أم‬

.‫االختراع‬ َّ
TT:
Necessity is the mother of invention.
To further demonstrate how being content with the denotational equiva-

lent of the source language sign may lead to a different sign in the target
language, thereby affecting the overall meaning of the text, the following
166 Chapter 10
Quranic verse, along with Ali’s translation (1934/2006: 48) may be given
adequate consideration:
ST:
َّ ‫صلَ ٰوةَ َو َءاتُوا ال َّز َكاةَ َو َما تُقَ ِّد ُموا ِلَنفُ ِس ُكم ِّم ْن َخي ٍْر ت َِجدُوهُ ِعن َد‬
َّ ‫ٱللِ إِ َّن‬
‫ٱللَ بِ َما‬ َّ ‫َوأَقِي ُموا ٱل‬
‫صي ٌر‬ ِ َ‫تَ ْع َملُونَ ب‬
(The Cow, ‫ البقرة‬, 110)
TT:
And be steadfast in prayer and regular in charity: And wherever good ye send forth for
your souls before you, ye shall find it with Allah. For Allah sees well at that ye do. (110)
Here, the lexical term that needs special treatment is ‫( زكاة‬zakāt); it is a

religious term referring generally to “a certain amount of money gathered
from the well-to-do and paid to the poor; it is also obligatory and constitutes
the third of the five pillars of Islam” (Farghal and Bloushi 2012: 3). The
translator has opted for the lexical item charity whose denotative meaning
is wider and less specific than the Arabic word ‫ زكاة‬as the former is voluntary
while the latter is obligatory. So, the missing information in terms of
intentionality and status as a sign is that the term ‫ زكاة‬is associated with
obligatory giving. Giving full consideration to the differences between the
source language and target language signifying systems, Pickthall, another
translator of the Holy Quran, has opted for the lexical item due, that is, a
regular payment that you make to be a member of an organization, thus
specifying the denotative meaning of the concept to include the missing
information, that is, being obligatory:
Establish worship, and pay the poor-due; and whatever of good you send before (you) for
your souls, you will find it with Allah. Lo! Allah is Seer of what you do. (110) (Pickthall,
1930/2006: 18).
Finally, the following example quoted from Mahfuz’s (1959/2006: 219)

novel ‫( أوالد حارتنا‬Children of the Alley) and translated by Theroux (1996:
180) may be considered:
‫بخير ياعم جواد سألت عليك العافية‬
“Fine, Gawad”, said Abda. I hope you are well”.
Here, the sign that functions iconically is ‫( سألت عليك العافية‬lit. health asked
about you). In this context, it recalls another signifier, that is, the act of
wishing ‫( كن بخير‬be fine) or ‫( اتمنى أن تكون بخير‬I hope you are fine), which
refers to the same signified. To put this differently, the expression ‫سألت عليك‬
‫ العافية‬in this context refers to a metaphorical material process to borrow
terms from Halliday (1976): [actor ‫ العافية‬+ process of doing ‫( سألت على‬past
tense with an emphasis on the frequency of the action as a matter of routine,
i.e., ‫ )تسأل عليك‬+ goal ‫ ]ك‬as well as invoking in the mind of the hearer/reader
the act of wishing. So, the relationship between the metaphorical material
process and the act of wishing: be fine or I hope you are fine conjured up
in the mind of the hearer/reader is what Peirce calls “interpretant”, which
works as a sign. As it is difficult to find a sign in the target language with
the same iconic function, the indexical and symbolic functions of this
micro sign have been given a front seat. His translation: I hope you are well
reflects closely the original expression’s function, thus preserving partially
the sign’s functions, i.e., indexical and symbolic only.
Further reading
Al-Rubai’i, A. (2005). Translation Criticism. Durham: Durham Modern Languages

Series.
Al-Shehari, K. (2001). The Semiotics and Translation Advertising Texts: Conventions,
Constraints and Translation Strategies with Particular Reference to English and
Arabic, unpublished PhD thesis: University of Manchester.
Dickins, J., Hervey, S., and Higgins, I. (2002). Thinking Arabic Translation. London/
Faiq, S., and Sabry, R. (2013). “Altered Semiotics through Translation”, Sayyab Trans-
lation Journal, Vol. 5, pp. 45–56.
Grutman, R. (2009). “Multilingualism”. In M. Baker and G. Saldanha (eds), Rout-
ledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd edn), pp. 182–185. London/New
York: Routledge.
Hatim, B., and Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the Translator. London: Longman.
Pertilli, S. (1992). “Translation, Semiotics and Ideology”, TTR: Traduction, Termi-
nologie, Redaction, Vol. 5 (1), pp. 233–264.
168 Chapter 10
Saussure, F. de (1916/1983). Cours de linguistique générale, Paris: Editions Payot. Trans-

lated (1983) by Harris, R. as Course in General Linguistics. London: Duckworth.
Questions
1. What is the difference between “denotation” and “connotation”? Discuss

2. There are many types of connotative meanings. What are they? Mention
them with illustrative examples.
3. What is the difference between “paradigmatic axis” and “syntagmatic
axis”?
4. How would you define “semiotics”?
5. What is a “sign” in semiotics, and how would you test its significance?
Exercises
Exercise 1: How do the following words in each pair differ in connotation?

‫بصير‬ vs ‫أعمى‬
‫عامل نظافة‬ vs ‫زبّال‬
‫شريكة حياتي‬ vs ‫زوجتي‬
‫يتس ّكع‬ vs ‫يتجوّل‬
‫يتس ّمم‬ vs ‫يأكل‬
Exercise 2: How do the following words in each pair differ in connotation?
a stupid student vs a less able student

the police vs the filth
fat vs overweight
slim vs skinny
strong-minded vs stubborn
statesman vs politician
Exercise 3: The following text is extracted from John Ruskin’s fairy tale
The King of the Golden River. Comment on the following translation pro-
duced by one of the translation students, paying particular attention to
the denotative and connotative meanings (cited in Al-Khanjarī 2014: 18):
ST:
In a secluded and mountainous part of Stiria there was in old time a valley of the most
surprising and luxuriant fertility. It was surrounded on all sides by steep and rocky
mountains rising into peaks which were always covered with snow and from which a
number of torrents descended in constant cataracts.
TT:
‫ كان هناك في قديم الزمان وا ٍد يثير الدهشة لكثرة‬،» ‫في جزء منعزل وجبلي من « ستيريا‬
‫ وكانت تحيط به من كل جانب جبال شاهقة وصخرية عالية القمم ودائما ما‬.‫خصوبته‬
.‫ وتنبع منها شالالت كثيرة ودائمة الجريان‬،‫تغطيها الثلوج‬
www.islamreligion.com>), paying particular attention to levels of meaning:
ST:
Today people think that women are liberated in the West and that the women’s liberation
movement began in the 20th century. Actually, the women’s liberation movement was
not begun by women, but was revealed by God to a man in the seventh century by the
name of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, the last Prophet
of God. The Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet are the sources from which every
Muslim woman derives her rights and duties.
Chapter 11
Pragmatics
Key terms
• Assertive verbs
• Commissive verbs
• Conditional speech-act verbs
• Cooperative principle
• Declarative verbs
• Direct speech acts
• Directive verbs
• Expressive verbs
• Implicature
• Indirect speech acts
• Maxim of manner
• Maxim of quality
• Maxim of quantity
• Maxim of relevance
• Speech acts
• Unconditional speech-act verbs
The previous chapter considered the different types of meaning and the
importance of giving full consideration to paradigmatic and syntagmatic
axes in testing the sign’s significance and translation accuracy. This chap-
ter examines some pragmatic issues, such as speech acts, the cooperative
principle and its supportive maxims, and implicature in a direct link with
the actual act of translating a text.
172 Chapter 11
11.1 Pragmatics: Definition
So far in this book, we have looked into the meaning of lexical items and
their semantic relations, roles, and principles. However, at times, the mean-
ing of a certain lexical item depends on the context in which it is used.
As such, the study of what is not explicitly said and the role of context in
interpreting the speaker/writer’s intended meaning is called pragmatics.
According to Crystal (1997: 301; emphasis in the original), pragmatics is
the study of LANGUAGE from the point of view of users, especially of the choices
they make, the CONSTRAINTS they encounter in using language in social inter-
action, and the effects their use of language has on the other participants in an act
of communication.
Pragmatics is also the study of language use. According to Rowe and Levine
(2006/2009: 174), pragmatics
includes the study of how people use language to establish their identities through
social meaning, to express their emotions through affective meaning, to perform
speech acts with performative sentences, and to carry on conversations with others.
In what follows, pragmatic issues, such as speech acts, the cooperative

principle and its supportive maxims, and conversational implicature will
be introduced and discussed in a direct link with translation.
11.2 Speech acts
Generally speaking, people use language for a certain purpose, such as for
informing or persuading others, expressing their own feelings, and so on. At
times, what is explicitly said or written is different from what is meant by
the speaker/writer. In such cases, there might be two functions of language:
one at the surface level, which is of use to state something, for example It
is cold in here, and the other hidden, yet signifying doing something, for
Pragmatics 173
instance Could you please close the window?. In many cases, however, the
underlying function (i.e., Could you please close the window?) overrides the
superficial function (i.e., It is cold in here), thus relaying “added effects, such
as those associated with, say, a request or admonition” (Hatim and Mason
1990: 179). Further, when people try their hands at stating something,
they normally have in their minds a function of doing something – they
do not create an utterance “without intending it to have an effect” (ibid.).
To conclude, in a natural practice of communication, there is an utterance
that has three dimensions: literal (explicit) meaning, pragmatic (implicit)
meaning, and the effect of the utterance on the addressee. In his investiga-
tion of the force of linguistic expressions, Austin (1962) distinguishes three
types of act that each utterance has. They are:
1. locutionary act, referring to the actual act of uttering something, as in

It is cold in here.
2. illocutionary act, referring to the act performed in uttering something,
i.e., the intended or pragmatic meaning, as in Could you please close the
window?
3. perlocutionary act, referring to the act of producing an effect on the
audience by uttering something, as in, for example, getting the window
closed.
As an explanation, the following example quoted from Mahfouz’s novel

(1973) ‫بين القصرين‬, translated by Hutchins and Kenny (1990) into Palace
Walk (cited in Farghal and Almanna 2015: 107) may be considered:
ST:
:‫وصاحت خديجة في سخرية‬

!‫– تتوظف دون الرابعة عشرة …! وماذا تصنع إذا بُلت على نفسك في الوظيفة؟‬
TT:
Khadija yelled sarcastically, “You want to get a job before you’re fourteen! What will
you do if you wet your pants at work?”
Here, in the original text, the interrogative form ‫وماذا تصنع لو بُلت على نفسك‬
‫( في الوظيفة‬literal meaning) performs an illocutionary force of disapproval
174 Chapter 11
(pragmatic meaning). This is an example of an indirect speech act where

there is an indirect relationship between the structure and function. In this
regard, Yule (1996: 54–55) states that “whenever there is a direct relationship
between a structure and a function, we have a direct speech act. Whenever
there is an indirect relationship between a structure and a function, we
have an indirect speech act”.
After Austin, another big name in speech-act theory emerged in 1969.
Among many attempts to classify illocutionary acts, J. Searle (1969) sets
up the following classification:
assertive verbs (representatives)
Assertive verbs are speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the
expressed proposition, e.g., statements of events, facts, descriptions, and so
on. They are “either true or false, and generally they can be verified or falsified
– not necessarily at the time of utterance or by those who hear them, but in a
general sense they are subject to empirical investigation” (Kreidler 1998: 184).
Assertive verbs can be also used in reported speech. While some
reported speech-act verbs focus on information, such as express, declare,
announce, report, mention, etc., or truth-value of utterance, such as affirm,
allege, assert, guarantee, claim, etc., others focus on speaker’s commitment or
involvement, such as deny, profess, protest, etc. or manner of communicating,
such as emphasize, stress, etc. (for more details, see Kreidler 1998: 183–185).
directive verbs
Directive verbs are speech acts by which the speaker tries to get the addressee
to take a particular action, for example, requesting, commanding, demand-
ing, advising, suggesting, warning, and the like. To illustrate, the following
examples may be discussed:
You must bring your ID to the exam.
Here, the speaker is in a high position, thus having some degree of control
over the actions of the addressees. Further, the action will happen in the
future. Therefore, it is an act of commanding.
I advise you to sleep early when you have an exam.
Pragmatics 175
Here, the speaker expresses his/her opinion about the addressee’s perfor-
mance; therefore, it is an act of advising. When the speaker does not have
an authority, the addressee has a choice of performance. However, when
the speaker has some sort of authority, then it becomes a combination of
both commanding and advising.
I warn you not to arrive late to work.
Here, the speaker expresses his/her opinion about the addressee’s perfor-
mance. As the speaker has some sort of authority, the act of warning is
accompanied by an implicit act of commanding.
commissive verbs
Commissive verbs are speech acts that commit a speaker to some future
actions, for example, promising, threatening, pledging, vowing, and so on.
Consider the following example:
I promise to bring your book tomorrow.
Here, the commissive verb promise commits the speaker to a course of action
in the future. It is assumed that the speaker, in normal circumstances, is
able to bring the addressee’s book tomorrow, and the addressee has some
faith in the speaker’s ability and intention to bring the book tomorrow.
declarative verbs
Declarative verbs (also known as “performative verbs”) are speech acts that
change the reality to be in line with the proposition of the declaration (e.g.,
baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty, or pronouncing someone husband
and wife). They are effective when they are “spoken by someone whose
right to make them is accepted and in circumstances which are accepted
as appropriate” (Kreidler 1998: 185). Consider the following examples:
I sentence you to two years in prison.

I hereby declare that Mr Peter Smith graduated from our university in 2000.
I announce you husband and wife.
176 Chapter 11
Here, in order for the performative acts, expressed by the verbs sentence,
declare, and announce respectively, to be valid, the speaker should have the
right to sentence somebody to prison, declare that somebody graduated
from that institution, or announce somebody husband and wife.
expressive verbs
Expressive verbs are speech acts that express the speaker’s attitudes and
emotions towards the proposition (e.g., congratulating, apologizing, excus-
ing, thanking, expressing states of joy, sorrow, and so on). Consider the
following examples:
I apologize for coming without an appointment.

I thank you for your tremendous effort to help my son.
I admit that it was my mistake not hers.
Here, the speaker tries to express three different attitudes or emotions, viz.
apologizing, thanking and admitting a mistake, towards his/her coming
without an appointment, the addressee’s help to his/her son and the mis-
take made respectively.
To discuss these speech acts in a direct link with translation, the fol-
lowing legal text quoted from Omani Labour Law (article 9) along with
its official translation may be given full consideration:
ST:
:‫على صاحب العمل في حالة تشغيله لحدث أو أكثر‬

‫ يضع في محل العمل نسخة من األحكام الخاصة بتشغيل األحداث المنصوص عليها‬-1
.‫في هذا الفصل والتي يصدر بها قرار من الوزير‬
TT:
If the employer employs one or more juveniles he:

1- shall keep in the workplace a copy of the rules related to the employment of juveniles
provided in this Chapter, and such rules as may be issued by a decision of the Minister.
Obligation in Arabic legislative writing is almost exclusively expressed by

a modalized verb, such as, ‫يجب‬, ‫يتوّجب‬, etc., a modalized preposition ‫على‬
Pragmatics 177
or just a simple present tense (for more details, see Chapter 6 in this
book). As can be observed, in the original text, the text producer opts
for the use of the modalized preposition ‫على‬. The modalized preposition
‫ على‬in Arabic is used to express the illocutionary force of an order, regula-
tion, etc. As such, this is an example of a directive act where the addresser
(here the parliament) issues a directive act in an attempt to exercise power
over the addressees (employers in the country), thus controlling their
behaviour.
To make this point clear, the following example quoted from Sabra
(2005: 36) in which a directive act has been changed into a commissive
one may be considered:
ST:
Tenant shall dispose from the dwelling unit all ashes, rubbish, garbage and other waste
in a clean and safe manner.
TT:
‫يتعهّد المستأجر بإزالة كل األتربة والمخلفات والقمامة وغيرها من الفضالت من الوحدة‬

.‫السكنية بطريقة نظيفة ومأمونة‬
In English legislative writing, obligation is almost expressed by the modal
verb shall, which has nothing to do with futurity. Shall is used here to
express the illocutionary force of an order. However, in the target text, the
directive verb has been changed into a commissive one ‫( يتعهد‬to undertake)
that commits one of the signed parties to some future actions before the
law. Had the translator given full consideration to the speech act used in
the original text along with its illocutionary force of commanding, s/he
could have suggested renderings like:
‫على المستأجر أن يزيل كل األتربة والمخلفات والقمامة وغيرها من الفضالت من الوحدة‬

Or
‫يلتزم المستأجر بإزالة كل األتربة والمخلفات والقمامة وغيرها من الفضالت من الوحدة‬

178 Chapter 11
To elaborate, these two Reuters news items on the same topic (one in
English and the other in Arabic; 7 April 2015) may be given careful
consideration:
ST:
The United States is speeding up arms supplies and bolstering intelligence sharing with a
Saudi-led alliance bombing a militia aligned with Iran in neighboring Yemen, a senior
U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday.
TT:
‫قال أنتوني بلينكين نائب وزير الخارجية األمريكي يوم الثالثاء إن الواليات المتحدة‬
‫تعجل بإمدادات األسلحة للتحالف الذي تقوده السعودية ضد المقاتلين الحوثيين‬
.‫المعارضين للرئيس اليمني عبد ربه منصور هادي‬
Here, in the original text, a direct speech act of assertion in the past is
used (i.e., said). This speech act of assertion is informative (i.e., announc-
ing or reporting an event). Giving full consideration to the type of
speech act and its function, the translator or trans-editor, when resort-
ing to ‫( قال‬said), has accurately rendered it into a speech act of asser-
tion in the past to announce or report an event (i.e., informative).
According to Leech (1983: 224), assertive verbs can be classified into
two types: (1) “informative” (i.e., to announce or report an event), and
(2) “argumentative” (i.e., to express the relationship “between the cur-
rent truth claim and other truth claims” made by the speaker and/or the
addressee).
To show how not paying extra attention to the type and function of the
speech act may change the overall meaning of the message, the following
example along with its translation (Farghal 2008: 3–4) can be used as an
illustration:
ST:
In an interview with Newsweek yesterday, the Israeli Defense Minister said that the
Palestinian suicide operations constitute the main cause for the Israeli troops’ entering
cities in the West Bank.
Pragmatics 179
TT:
‫ادعى وزير الحرب الصهيوني في مقابلة مع مجلة النيوزويك أمس أن العمليات‬
‫االستشهادية الفلسطينية هي السبب الرئيس في اجتياح قوات االحتالل اإلسرائيلي للمدن‬
.‫الفلسطينية في الضفة الغربية المحتلة‬
Here, in the original text, the news reporter opts for a direct speech act of
assertion in the past said to announce or report an event, i.e., informative.
However, the translator has resorted to a direct speech act of assertion
‫( ادعى‬to claim) in the past to express the relationship between the current
truth claim and other truth claims made by the speaker or the addressee
(i.e., argumentative).
In touching on speech acts, Leech (1983) distinguishes between two
types:
1. conditional speech-act verbs referring to verbs, such as to ask, to request,

to want to know, to inquire, and so on that give the addressee some sort
of freedom to cooperate or not.
2. unconditional speech-act verbs referring to verbs, such as to order, to
command, to insist, to urge, to press, and so on that leave the addressee
with no option other than complying unconditionally.
Much of what follows in this chapter is designed to illustrate implicature

and the cooperative principle in a direct link with translation.
11.3 Implicature and the cooperative principle
Unlike speech acts that focus on conventional forms used to express dif-
ferent illocutionary forces in a given language, conversational implicature
refers to language users’ ability to figure out what is not explicitly said. To
do so, language users rely on a number of “shared assumptions and expec-
tations” (Yule 1985/1996: 127). Conversational implicature is defined by
Griffiths (2006: 134) as
180 Chapter 11
inferences that depend on the existence of norms for the use of language, such as the
whispered agreement that communicators should aim to tell the truth […]. Speakers,
writers and addressees assume that everyone engaged in communication knows and
accepts the communicational norms. This general acceptance is an important starting
point for inferences, even if individuals are sometimes unable to meet the standards
or occasionally cheat (for instance, by telling lies).
H. Paul Grice (1975) states that when we communicate with people, we

unconsciously assume that we, and the people we are talking to, will coop-
erate to achieve mutual conversational ends. According to Grice, such a
conversational cooperation manifests itself in a number of conversational
maxims:
1. Maxim of Quality:
• do not say anything which you believe to be false.
• do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
2. Maxim of Quantity:
• make your contribution only as informative as is required for the
current purposes of the exchange.
• do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
3. Maxim of Relevance:
• be relevant.
4. Maxim of Manner:
• avoid obscurity and ambiguity.
• be brief.
• be orderly.
Giving full consideration to the contextual situation and the level of interac-
tional collaboration presented in a particular conversational exchange, trans-
lators need to make fundamental decisions with respect to the transfer of
perceived illocutionary force and perlocutionary effect of the original utter-
ances. To this end, they need to intrinsically manage the original utterances
to have them reflect effectively the cooperative principle and its maxims.
At times, language users opt to communicate with each other directly,
thus observing the cooperative principle along with its supportive maxims,
Pragmatics 181
viz. maxim of quality (speaking the truth), maxim of quantity (employing

the right amount of language), maxim of manner (expressing things clearly
and unambiguously), and maxim of relevance (being relevant). However,
at other times, they resort to communicating indirectly by flouting these
maxims. In this regard, Farghal and Almanna (2015: 111–112) comment:
Flouting or exploiting a maxim fits quite well within the assumption of “cooperation”
in human interaction. That is to say, the speaker is well aware of two things: first, the
fact she or he is flouting a maxim of conversation and, second, the assumption that
the hearer can figure out the conversational implicature in that utterance.
For instance, if you were at home, and your daughter told you:
Daughter: I went to the supermarket and lost my money.

Father: Wonderful.
Here, the lexical item wonderful in such a situation cannot be interpreted

out of its context by relying, for instance, on its denotative meaning only.
One of the interlocutors (father) flouts Grice’s cooperative principle and
its supportive maxims. However, “the process of communication continues
uninterrupted, thanks to human rationality and reasoning, which is based
on the cooperative principle between producer and receiver in communi-
cation” (Farghal and Almanna 2015: 112).
To elaborate, the following example extracted from Mahfouz’s novel
(2006: 473) ‫أوالد حارتنا‬, translated by Philip Stewart into Children of
Gebelaawi (1995: 301) and by Peter Theroux (1996: 368) into Children of
the Alley may be used as an illustration:
ST:
‫ وبعدها فإما ترضى عن محسوبك‬،‫قمحة منه قبل فنجان شاي قبل «ال مواخذة» بساعتين‬
.‫ أو تطرده من الحارة مشفوعا باللعنات‬،‫عرفه‬
TT 1:
A grain of that in a cup of tea two hours before making love, and afterwards either you’ll
be pleased with Arafa or you can chase him away with your curse.
Philip Stewart (1995: 301)
182 Chapter 11
TT 2:
A grain of that in a cup of tea two hours before, well, you know, no offence, and after
that, either you will be happy with your servant Arafa or you can kick him out of the
alley with every curse you know.
Peter Theroux (1996: 368)
Here, in an attempt to inject his text with vividness, the author, in the
mouth of one of the in-text characters, tries his hand at expressing his
message implicitly, thus leaving the addressee along with the text readers
to try to complete the missing part of the message. In the original text,
in place of referring to the act of having sexual intercourse explicitly, the
author opts for the phrase ‫( ال مواخذة‬pardon me), thereby flouting Grice’s
maxim of quality by referring to sexual intercourse implicitly. As can be
noticed, the translators (Stewart and Theroux) have resorted to different
local strategies. While the first translator has opted for changing an implicit
message, expressed by ‫ ال مواخذة‬to an explicit one, expressed by making
love, the second translator has resorted to maintaining the conversational
implicature by using well, you know, no offence, thus leaving his readers to
reflect on it and complete the missing part of the message by relying on
their encyclopaedic knowledge and socio-cultural experiences.
Perhaps an appropriate way of concluding this chapter is to consider
the following example extracted from Edward Said’s book (1987/2003: 59)
Orientalism, translated by Mohammed Enani (2006: 124):
ST:
After Mohammed’s death in 632, the military and later the cultural and religious hegem-
ony of Islam grew enormously. First Persia, Syria and Egypt, then Turkey, then North
Africa fell to the Muslim armies; in the eighth and ninth centuries Spain, Sicily and
parts of France were conquered.
TT:
‫ ازدادت هيمنة اإلسالم‬،632 ‫فبعد وفاة محمد – صلى هللا عليه وسلم – في عام‬
‫ فقد فتحت جيوش‬.‫ وازدادت في وقت الحق هيمنته الثقافية والدينية زيادة هائلة‬،‫العسكرية‬
‫ كما فتحت في‬،‫ ومصر ثم تركيا ثم شمال إفريقيا‬،‫ وسوريا‬،‫المسلمين أوالً بالد فارس‬
.‫القرنين الثامن والتاسع إسبانيا وجزيرة صقلية وأجزاء من فرنسا‬
Pragmatics 183
As can be observed, the translator, being influenced by his accumulated

value system or motivated by his desire to live up to the target readers’
expectations, has extrinsically managed the text when opting for the
verb (‫ فتحت (الجيوش‬as an equivalent to to fall. The verb to fall, when it is
followed by nouns, such as force, army, and troop, has a negative overtone.
Therefore, translating it into ‫فتح‬, which has a positive overtone, has flouted
Grice’s (1975) maxim of quality (i.e., to speak the truth). In a direct link
with translation, Chesterman (1997/2000: 68–69), in his classification of
translation norms, states that one of the norms that places some pressure
on the part of the translator, thus shaping, along with other factors, the
target text, is “communication norm”. Communication norm in the sense
that Chesterman uses the term refers to communicative maxims proposed
by Grice (ibid.) in terms of quality, quantity, relevance, and manner.
Further reading
Al-Rubai’i, A. (2005). Translation Criticism. Durham: Durham Modern Languages

Series.
Grice, H. P. (1975). “Logic and Conversation”. In P. Cole and J. L. Morgan (eds),
Syntax and Semantics, 3: Speech Acts, pp. 41–58. New York: Academic Press.
Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Searle, J. (1969). Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Questions
1. What are the main differences between “semantics” and “pragmatics”?

2. What is the difference between “conditional speech-act verbs” and
“unconditional speech-act verbs”?
184 Chapter 11
3. How would you define the “cooperative principle” and its supportive
maxims?
4. In the natural practice of communication, writers, for different reasons,
sometimes express just some parts of their messages, leaving the read-
ers to complete the missing parts. Could you think of some of these
reasons?
5. Among many attempts to classify speech acts, J. Searle (1969) has classi-
fied speech acts into several types. What are they? Discuss with illustra-
tive examples.
Exercises
Exercise 1: Write sentences in which you perform the act of:
1. requesting
2. promising
3. apologizing
4. threatening
5. congratulating
6. advising
7. thanking
Exercise 2: Try to identify the kind of speech acts in the following sentences,
and then translate them into Arabic:
1. I apologize for being late in responding to your e-mails.

2. I declare this meeting adjourned.
3. I hereby acknowledge the safe receipt of your contract.
4. I announce you guilty.
5. I advise you to apply for the post as quickly as you can.
6. Wait here. I’ll be with you within ten minutes.
Pragmatics 185
7. I promise that I’ll give her the book tomorrow.

8. You must appear in court next Tuesday at 11 a.m.
Exercise 3: The following example is extracted from Edward Said’s

(1987/2003: 80) book Orientalism, translated by Mohammed Enani (2006:
153). Comment on the translation in terms of cooperative principle and its
supportive maxims, paying special attention to the phrase the conquering
West and its translation ‫الغرب الغازي‬.
ST:
For at the crucial instant when an Orientalist had to decide whether his loyalties and
sympathies lay with the Orient or with the conquering West, he always chose the latter.
TT:
‫ففي اللحظة الحاسمة التي كان على المستشرق أن يقرر إن كان يضمر الوالء والتعاطف‬
.‫ كان يختار الجانب األخير‬،‫مع الشرق أم مع الغرب الغازي‬
Exercise 4: Evaluate the two translations produced by two student trans-

lators, paying extra attention to the pragmatic meaning of to go out and
to come out.
.‫لم يخرجْ إلى المظاهرة يوم أمس ال أصدقائي وال أقاربي‬
TT 1:
Neither my friends nor my relatives went out to demonstrate yesterday.
TT 2:
Neither my friends nor my relatives came out to demonstrate yesterday.
Exercise 5: Translate the following text extracted from ‘Abdul-Sattār Nāsir’s

‫( ثالث قصص ليست للنشر‬Three Short Stories not for Publishing), paying par-
ticular attention to speech acts used in the text:
‫ ‪186‬‬ ‫‪Chapter 11‬‬
‫‪ST:‬‬
‫دخل الملك على زوجته‪ ،‬فرآها عارية تماماً‪ ،‬وما أن اقترب منها‪ ،‬حتى تأكد له أنها ليست‬
‫بمفردها‪ ،‬وأن حارسه «األمين» ينام هانئا ً معها … ‏‬
‫خرج الحارس من غرفة «الملك» وفي بطنه أكثر من جرح عريض عميق‪ ،‬وعند الباب‪،‬‬
‫كان الحارس قد مات … ‪.‬‏‬
‫في آخر الليل‪ ،‬قال الملك لوزير المال‪:‬‏‬
‫– اذهب إلى زوجتي‪ ،‬واقتلها … وخذ لك نصف الخزينة …‏‬
‫أجاب الوزير‪:‬‏‬
‫– أمرك يا موالي …‏‬
Chapter 12
Annotating Semantic Issues
The previous chapters examined different semantic aspects. This chapter

links these semantic issues discussed throughout the book to the actual act of
translating by consolidating theoretical claims with authentic translational
data, thus helping translation students annotate their own translations
from a semantic perspective. To this end, a text (386 words) is translated
and annotated from a semantic perspective. Before the text is translated,
the following introduction presents this source text along with its author.
12.1 Introduction
This text was written by the Syrian writer and editor, Lubna Mahmūd
Yāsīn, who studied painting and sculpture in Damascus. Among her writ-
ings are (1) ‫( أنثى في قفص‬A Female in a Cage), a collection of short stories
published by ‫ دار وهج الحياة‬Dār Wahaj Al-Hayyāt for Publication and Media,
Riyadh, (2) ‫شة‬ ّ ‫( طقوس متوح‬Wild Traditions), a collection of short stories
published by ‫ دار وجوه‬Dār Wujūh for Publication and Media, Riyadh, and
(3) ً ‫الموت صمتّا‬
ُ (Dying Silently), a collection of short stories.
The story ‫( بصمة مواطن‬A Citizen’s Fingerprint) unfolds in an unnamed
Arab country and the writer does not locate the main character in any par-
ticular place or time. This is to evoke in the mind of the reader a range of
memories and images. This character, who undergoes no change or devel-
opment throughout the story, symbolizes the great number of people in
the Arab world who suffer from the injustice, tyranny and oppression of
the various regimes. These people do not have the right to choose, accept
or object. When they say “no”, they may find themselves in prison, just like
the main character in the story. When he uttered a single word reflecting
188 Chapter 12
the difficulty he had in accepting what had been imposed on him, he found
himself surrounded by thousands of armed personnel in military uniforms,
accompanied by menacing police dogs. They covered his eyes with a hand-
kerchief, tied it so tight that he could not see anything and took him “there”.
This deictic word, used deliberately by the writer, refers to an assumed loca-
tion that the memories and imagination of the reader can picture.
In composing her story, the writer pays particular attention to the
message, the language and stylistic elements. A wide variety of stylistic
features are used in the story, such as rhetorical questions, parallelism,
syntactic formality associated with archaic lexical items, lexical repetition,
exaggeration, figurative language in the form of simile, passive versus active
voice and so on. This resulting poetic flavour requires special treatment
from the translator.
12.2 Translation
In order to translate the text into English, a global strategy, one that stands
somewhere between a semantic translation and a communicative transla-
tion, will be adopted. An attempt will be made to strike a balance between
a rendering that tries “to render, as closely as the semantic and syntactic
structures of the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of
the original”, and a rendering that produces on the target reader the same
effect that the original text produced on its readers (Newmark 1981: 39).
Target text Source text

A Citizen’s Fingerprint ‫بصمة مواطن‬
The night swallows him so he delves ever ‫يبتلعه المساء … فيوغل في أحشاء‬
deeper into the heart of silence. Who can, ً‫الصمت … ومن ذا الذي يستطيع فرارا‬
then, escape if the pain is densely settled
inside the self and sadness penetrates the
‫إذا عسعس األلم داخل النفس … وتوغلت‬
depths of the heart? … His heart erodes; his … ‫األحزان في حنايا الفؤاد … يتآكل قلبه‬
limbs fall off; his voice gets torn away at the ‫تتساقط أشالؤه … يتمزق صوته‬
boundaries of time, yet no response comes. … ‫على حدود الزمان وال من مجيب‬
The ignorance of the twenty-first century is ‫تقوم جاهلية القرن الحادي والعشرين بوأد‬
burying alive his feelings and dignity while ‫مشاعره وكرامته … بينما يتجمد القوم‬
people stand frozen, observing the rituals
that crucify the remains of his humanity.
.‫متفرجين على طقوس صلب بقايا إنسانيته‬
Is there another death after this? ‫أبعد هذا الموت موت آخر؟‬
Where is the refuge? He wants to spread his ‫أين المالذ؟؟ يريد أن يفتح جناحيه ويهرب‬
wings and escape from his thirst, from the ‫من ظمئه … ومن حدود مشاعره … من‬
boundaries of his feelings, from the rawness
of his pains. He wants to soar where nobody
‫عري أوجاعه … يريد أن يحلق حيث ال‬
is, nobody at all. .‫أحد … ال أحد أبدا‬
In the midst of the disorder that had come ‫ووسط كل تلك البعثرة التي تنتابه … لم‬
over him, he had not felt himself until a red- ‫يشعر بنفسه إال وقضيب من النار الملتهبة‬
hot fire burst forth out of his belly. All of a
sudden, he opened his mouth so wide that
‫يندفع من جوفه … فإذا به يفتح فاه حد‬
it got torn, shouting at the top of his mouth, ‫التمزق ويصرخ ملء صوته متقيّا ً بكلمة‬
vomiting out the single word: “NO”. « … ‫ « ال‬:‫واحدة‬
No sooner had he closed his mouth and ‫وما كاد يغلق فمه ويبتلع الفضاء‬
the void swallowed his voice than he found ً ‫… حتى وجد نفسه محاطا‬ ‫صوته‬
himself surrounded by thousands of armed ‫بآالف المسلحين … ببدالتهم العسكرية‬
personnel in military uniforms whose fea- … ‫ومالمحهم الجافة جفاف الصحارى‬
tures were as arid as those of the desert. In ‫ترافقهم في هذا الحصار الكالب البوليسية‬
this siege, they were accompanied by menac- .(‫(هناك‬ ‫الضخمة … تمهيدا القتياده إلى‬
ing police dogs leading the way to take him
“there”.
They covered his eyes with a handkerchief – ‫وضعوا على عينيه منديالً احكموه جيدا‬
they tied it so tight that he couldn’t see
ِ ُ‫لكي ال يرى … وقُيّد معصماه … وا‬
‫لصق‬
anything. His wrists were shackled, and his
mouth was covered with a wide piece of tape –
‫شريط عريض فوق فمه … ومضوا به‬
and then they took him “there”. .(‫إلى (هناك‬
And “there” one of them removed the ‫القيود التي كانت‬ ‫و(هناك) قام أحدهم بنزع‬
restraints which had covered his senses. He ‫على حواسه … فتح عينيه ليجد نفسه في‬
opened his eyes to find himself in a luxu-
rious office occupied by an officer whose
‫مكتب فاخر يشغله ضابط … تتشاجر‬
stripes were fighting to find a place for … ‫الشرائط على كتفه لتجد مكانا كافيا لها‬
themselves on his shoulder. And “there” ‫وهنالك من هو مثله انتزعت قيوده قبل‬
was someone else like him whose restraints … ‫صاحبنا بدقائق فقط‬
had been removed just minutes before our
friend’s.
190 Chapter 12
One of them dipped our friend’s thumb in ‫قام أحدهم بطلي إبهامه بسائل قاتم لزج ثم‬
a dark sticky liquid, then took out his hand ‫نزع يده وألصقها على ورقة بيضاء وأخذ‬
and stuck it on a blank piece of paper. He
started pressing on it moving it to the right
‫يضغط عليها ويحركها يمينا ً ويساراً حتى‬
and left until he got a complete image of his … ‫حصل على صورة كاملة لبصمته‬
fingerprint.
Meanwhile, the officer with a multitude ‫في هذه األثناء كان الضابط ذو الشرائط‬
of stripes was comparing the fingerprint of ‫الكثيرة … يطابق بصمة المواطن الذي‬
the citizen, who had preceded our friend
“there”, to a huge fingerprint that, by itself,
‫سبق صاحبنا إلى (هناك) مع بصمة‬
took up an entire piece of cardboard. It had ‫كبيرة تحتّل وحدها … صفحة من الورق‬
been magnified until all of its features had ‫المقوّى وقد ُكبّرت حتى أضحت واضحة‬
been rendered completely clear. The officer ‫بكل تضاريسها … صاح الضابط‬ ‫تماما‬
shouted at one of the enlisted men, pointing … ‫بأحد … العساكر مشيرا إلى المواطن‬
to the citizen “It’s him, it’s the insubordinate, .« ‫» انه هو المتمرد … خذوه‬
take him away”.
Then, the officer turned to our friend and ‫ثم التفت إلى صاحبنا … وسحب رسم‬
pulled up the depiction of his fingerprint ‫بصمته الذي كان قد جف … وطابقه مع‬
which had dried and compared it to the mag-
nified fingerprint. Once again, he stated: “It’s
:‫نفس البصمة ال ُمكبّرة … وعاد يقول‬
him, it’s the insubordinate, take him away”. « … ‫» إنه هو … المتمرد … خذوه‬
Suddenly, the soldier rushed headlong ‫ضا ً … كما‬ّ ‫وإذا بالعسكري يندفع إليه منق‬
upon him as if our friend had just slapped ‫سبق وصفعه … انتابته‬ ‫لو أن صاحبنا‬
him. Our friend’s feelings were a mixture of
amazement and confusion all at once.
… ‫الدهشة والحيرة في آن واحد معا‬
He said to the officer with forced politeness: ‫يا سيدي‬ ً‫عفوا‬ :‫قال للضابط بتأدب مفتعل‬
“Pardon me sir. Isn’t that the same finger- ‫… ألم تتطابق ذات البصمة مع المواطن‬
print that matched the citizen who went in
front of me?”
… ‫الذي سبقني‬
The officer answered, wearing a smile with ‫أجاب الضابط وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع‬
a trace of both arrogance and sarcasm: “Yes, ‫ وماذا‬... ‫ نعم‬:‫بين … التعالي والسخرية‬
what about it? It exactly matched his finger-
print, as he too is insubordinate”.
… ‫في ذلك بالتأكيد تطابقت مع بصمته‬
.‫فهو اآلخر متمرد‬
12.3 Annotation
In this section, to make the task of analysis easier and enable the reader
to follow the thread of argumentation more easily, the source text along
with its translation is divided into smaller parts containing a sentence, or
a group of related sentences, reflecting a complete idea. Then, each part
will be annotated from different semantic aspects.
Exercise 1
ST:
‫يبتلعه المساء … فيوغل في أحشاء الصمت … ومن ذا الذي يستطيع فراراً إذا عسعس‬
‫األلم داخل النفس … وتوغلت األحزان في حنايا الفؤاد … يتآكل قلبه … تتساقط أشالؤه‬
… ‫… يتمزق صوته على حدود الزمان وال من مجيب‬
TT:
The night swallows him so he delves ever deeper into the heart of silence. Who can, then,
escape if the pain is densely settled inside the self and sadness penetrates the depths of the
heart? … His heart erodes; his limbs fall off; his voice gets torn away at the boundaries
of time, yet no response comes.
Annotation:
i. Here, attention is paid to verb tenses and aspects. In the source text,
a series of verbs in the simple present form is used, expressed by
‫يبتلع‬, ‫يوغل‬, ‫تو ّغل‬, ‫يتآكل‬, ‫ تتساقط‬and ‫يتم ّزق‬. Although they are in the
present form, the emphasis is on the completion of the described actions
in a specific period of time in the past. However, in such a literary genre
“where the world is created autonomously through imaginative texts
sharing certain characteristics, such as containing features of expression,
192 Chapter 12
and having to a certain degree a weak relationship with the real world”,
the simple present tense is frequently used (Almanna 2016: 43).
ii. An attempt is made here to resist the temptation of opting for an
unmarked collocation, viz. wall of silence or a vow of silence, and so on
in the translation of the marked collocation in ‫( أحشاء الصمت‬the intes-
tines of silence). Actually, translating between two different languages and
cultures requires the translator to give full consideration to “invariance
in the markedness of collocates, rather than replacing abnormal usage
in an original with normal usage in translation” (Trotter 2000: 351).
iii. Here, there is an example of parallelism in
… ‫يتآكل قلبه‬
… ‫تتساقط أشالؤه‬
… ‫يتم ّزق صوته‬
Parallelism, according to Al-Jabr (1987: 173), “involves the use of particu-

lar syntactic and semantic configuration more than once, in rapid succes-
sion”. Placing these parallel structures in juxtaposition is not determined
arbitrarily, but rather it is a result of choice. This accords well with Shen’s
(1987: 213) comments:
In fictional translation, that is to say, one needs to bear in mind that deviant syn-
tactic sequence, particularly in a well-formed text, may be associated with desirable
literary effects. And if such is the case, the deviation should be preserved rather
than “normalized”.
Here, the writer deliberately produces her above parallel structures with-
out connectors, thereby creating an example of “asyndeton”. Asyndeton,
according to Corbett (1971: 469) is the “deliberate omission of connective
particles between series of related clauses”. Al-Rubai’i (1996: 111) distin-
guishes between schemes of construction which depend upon similarity of
sound, viz. alliteration and assonance and other schemes of construction
that do not rely on sound, such as asyndeton and climax. She adds that the
former “are very frequently untranslatable”, while the latter “can sometimes
be retained through translation”. Thus, to maintain parallelism as well as
asyndeton in the target text, parallel structures like his heart erodes; his
limbs fall off; his voice gets torn away may be used.
iv. Further, undivided attention is paid to the formal structure in

‫ ومن ذا الذي‬which is supported by an archaic lexical item ‫ عسعس‬that
has a religious connotation. Here, the writer resorts to building
an intertextual relation with a Quranic verse, namely verse 17 from
‫( سورة التكوير‬Sūrāt Al-Takwīr):
َ َّ‫تّنّف‬ ‫إِ َذا‬ ‫ْح‬
�‫س‬ َ ‫إِ َذا َع ْس َع‬ ‫َوالَّي ِْل‬
ِ ‫– َوالصُّ ب‬ ‫س‬
As such, the lexical item ‫ عسعس‬acquires an allusive meaning in addition
to its denotative meaning by virtue of intertextuality, thus invoking in the
mind of the text reader or hearer an associated verse in such a way that the
meaning of that verse becomes part of the meaning of the lexical item ‫عسعس‬.
Exercise 2
ST:
‫تقوم جاهلية القرن الحادي والعشرين بوأد مشاعره وكرامته … بينما يتجمد القوم‬
.‫متفرجين على طقوس صلب بقايا إنسانيته‬
‫أبعد هذا الموت موت آخر؟‬
TT:
The ignorance of the twenty-first century is burying alive his feelings and dignity while
people stand frozen, observing the rituals that crucify the remains of his humanity.
Is there another death after this?
Annotation:
i. In the original text, a present continuous tense, expressed by ‫ تقوم بوأد‬is

used, thereby emphasizing the continuity of the action rather than its
frequency and/or duration. As such paying no attention to verb aspect
will definitely produce a change in time reference, thus affecting the
pragmatic communicative effect.
ii. Further, the denotative meaning of the word ‫ وأد‬means to bury some-
body or something alive. In addition to its denotative meaning, the
194 Chapter 12
word ‫ وأد‬invokes in the mind of the reader the practice of infanticide

committed in the pre-Islamic era. In the pre-Islamic era, when a female
baby was born, she was considered a disgrace to the family, and, thus,
female infanticide was a common response, i.e., she was buried alive. To
convey the intertextuality in the original author’s motivated use of the
word ‫جاهلية‬, to bury alive may be used. Burying alive is a more dramatic
image or concept than burying a deceased body.
iii. The striking feature in the above example is that the original writer
steers a middle course between personalization and impersonaliza-
tion. Personalization can be detected in the above example via the use
of the rhetorical question ‫أبعد هذا الموت موت آخر‬. However, the original
writer impersonalizes her rhetorical question when she does not use
any reference to the writer/reader’s presence. This has been taken into
account. The rhetorical question ‫ أبعد هذا الموت موت آخر‬therefore lends
itself to Is there another death after this?
Exercise 3
ST:
‫أين المالذ؟؟ يريد أن يفتح جناحيه ويهرب من ظمئه … ومن حدود مشاعره … من‬
.‫عري أوجاعه … يريد أن يحلق حيث ال أحد … ال أحد أبدا‬
TT:
Where is the refuge? He wants to spread his wings and escape from his thirst, from the
boundaries of his feelings, from the rawness of his pains. He wants to soar where nobody
is, nobody at all.
Annotation:
i. Special attention is paid to the parallel structures in ‫من ظمئه‬, ‫من حدود مشاعره‬
and ‫من عري أوجاعه‬. Such parallelism lends itself to from his thirst, from
the boundaries of his feelings, from the rawness of his pains.
ii. In the original text, the lexical item ‫( أراد‬to want) is repeated in spite of
the variety of verbs available, hence the importance of reflecting such
a characteristic in the target text.
iii. In the original text, a circumstantial element of location in space in the
form of an adverbial clause ‫ حيث ال أحد‬is used. It refers to an assumed
location that invokes different memories and/or imaginations in
the mind of the reader. To reflect such an invitation achieved by the
adverbial clause, something like where nobody is may be used.
Exercise 4
ST:
‫ووسط كل تلك البعثرة التي تنتابه … لم يشعر بنفسه إال وقضيب من النار الملتهبة يندفع‬
… ‫ ال‬:‫من جوفه … فإذا به يفتح فاه حد التمزق ويصرخ ملء صوته متقيّا ً بكلمة واحدة‬
TT:
In the midst of the disorder that had come over him, he had not felt himself until a red-
hot fire burst forth out of his belly. All of a sudden, he opened his mouth so wide that it
got torn, shouting at the top of his mouth, vomiting one word: “NO”.
Annotation:
i. Full consideration is given here to verb aspects. In the original text,

perfect aspects, expressed by ‫ تنتابه‬and ‫لم يشعر‬, are used. To begin with
‫تنتاب‬, although it is used in the present, the emphasis is placed on (1)
the continuity of the described state of affairs in a specific period of
time in the past as there is an implicit ‫( كان‬was/were), and (2) the
duration of the described state of affairs. To reflect this, the past per-
fect continuous tense, that is, had been + verb + ing may be used. Or
alternatively, the phrasal verb to come over, which is iterative in this
context, can be employed here to emphasize the repetition of the
described action or state of affairs. The emphasis in ‫ لم يشعر‬is put on
the duration of the described state of affairs that began in the past and
196 Chapter 12
is seen relevant to another act, that is, a red-hot fire burst forth out
of his belly. As such, it lends itself to being rendered by a past perfect
tense, that is, he hadn’t felt …, in place of a simple past tense, that is,
he did not feel ….
Exercise 5
ST:
… ‫… حتى وجد نفسه محاطا ً بآالف المسلحين‬ ‫وما كاد يغلق فمه ويبتلع الفضاء صوته‬
‫ببدالتهم العسكرية ومالمحهم الجافة جفاف الصحارى … ترافقهم في هذا الحصار الكالب‬
.(‫(هناك‬ ‫البوليسية الضخمة … تمهيدا القتياده إلى‬
TT:
No sooner had he closed his mouth and the void swallowed his voice than he found himself
surrounded by thousands of armed personnel in military uniforms whose features were
as arid as those of the desert. In this siege, they were accompanied by menacing police
dogs leading the way to take him “there”.
Annotation:
i. In the original text, the author uses a correlative conjunction, i.e.,

… ‫ ما كاد … حتى‬to lay emphasis on finding himself surrounded by thou-
sands of armed personnel in military uniforms. This suggests that there
is no time span between the two acts or events. Such a correlative con-
junction can be translated into no sooner … than …, hardly … when …,
scarcely … when …, rarely … when …, and so forth. Further, extra atten-
tion needs to be paid to tenses and aspects used. The act of closing his
mouth occurred shortly before the act of being surrounded by thousands
of armed personnel in military uniforms, thus lending themselves to a
past perfect tense had closed and a simple past tense found respectively.
ii. Here, it is worth noting that the simile in the above example is an empha-
sizing simile tashbīh mū’akkad which is presented without a comparison
marker (i.e., the article used to draw a comparison between the topic
and vehicle). In English, however, apart from the “compressed simile”
(i.e., a simile in which the information is condensed into a two-word
lexeme, such as U-shaped movement), the simile should have a compari-

son marker, such as like, as, etc. Taking into account the target language’s
stylistic preferences when dealing with the simile in the original text
‫( مالمحهم الجافة جفاف الصحارى‬lit. their dry features [are like] the dryness
of the desert), a professional translator can opt for a translation like
this: whose features were as arid as those of the desert or any idiomatic
expression that would reflect the same mental image on the one hand,
and would be stylistically accepted by the target language readers on
the other.
iii. Further, the word (‫ جاف(ـة‬lends itself to arid as it collocates well with
the word features on the one hand, and it is a stronger, more expressive
word, literally and figuratively, than the word dry on the other.
Exercise 6
ST:
ِ ُ‫وضعوا على عينيه منديالً احكموه جيدا لكي ال يرى … وقُيّد معصماه … وا‬
‫لصق‬
.(‫شريط عريض فوق فمه … ومضوا به إلى (هناك‬
TT:
They covered his eyes with a handkerchief – they tied it so tight that he couldn’t see
anything. His wrists were shackled, and his mouth was covered with a wide piece of
tape – they took him “there”.
Annotation:
i. In the above example, the original writer, in an attempt to invoke dif-

ferent imaginations in the mind of the reader on the one hand, and to
adopt a neutral tone, on the other, opts for a circular pattern of active
and passive, which is supported by parallel structures as well as the
deictic word ‫( هناك‬there). As a deictic word, there refers to an assumed
location in the mind of the speaker/writer, which is different from
there in the mind of the hearer/reader on the one hand, and invokes
different memories and/or imaginations on the other. So, it is “an open
198 Chapter 12
invitation to every reader in every location on the earth to enliven this

moment of [there-ness]” (Ghazala 2011: 59).
ii. Further, the actors of the material processes in the third clause and fourth
clause, viz. ‫ قُيد معصماه‬and ‫ اُلصق شريط عريض على فمه‬can be anyone, so it
is another invitation sent out by the original writer to invoke different
images and memories in the mind of the hearer/reader.
Exercise 7
ST:
‫القيود التي كانت على حواسه … فتح عينيه ليجد نفسه في‬ ‫و(هناك) قام أحدهم بنزع‬
‫مكتب فاخر يشغله ضابط … تتشاجر الشرائط على كتفه لتجد مكانا كافيا لها … وهنالك‬
.‫من هو مثله انتزعت قيوده قبل صاحبنا بدقائق فقط‬
TT:
And “there” one of them removed the restraints which had covered his senses. He opened
his eyes to find himself in a luxurious office occupied by an officer whose stripes were
fighting to find a place for themselves on his shoulder. And “there” was someone else like
him whose restraints had been removed just minutes before our friend’s.
Annotation:
i. Here, the original writer, in an attempt to express the mental image that
she has of the world around her, decides to opt for certain processes
and participants, and has determined in advance which participant
will act and which one will be acted on. As can be noticed, a number
of processes are used, as in:
• a material process ‫القيود‬ ‫( و(هناك) قام أحدهم بنزع‬and “there” one of them
removed the restraints): the actor is unknown, ‫قام بنزع‬, which simply
means ‫( نزع‬lit. to take off), is the process of doing, ‫ القيود‬is the goal
of the process, and ‫( وهناك‬and “there”) is an adverb of place.
• a material process ‫( فتح عينيه‬he opened his eyes): the implicit pronoun
‫( هو‬he) is the actor of the process, ‫( فتح‬to open) is the process of doing,
and ‫( عينيه‬his eyes) is the goal of the process.
• a material process ‫( وجد نفسه في مكتب فاخر‬he found himself in a luxuri-

ous office): the implicit pronoun ‫( هو‬he) is the actor of the process, ‫وجد‬
(to find) is the process of doing, and ‫( في مكتب فاخر‬in a a luxurious
office) is an adverb of place. However, this material process func-
tions as an existential process to indicate that in no time he was in
a luxurious office.
• a material process ‫( تتشاجر الشرائط على كتفه‬lit. the stripes are fight-
ing on his shoulder): ‫( الشرائط‬the stripes) is the actor of the process,
‫( تتشاجر‬to fight) is the process of doing, and the implicit expres-
sion ‫( بعضها البعض‬each other) is the goal of the process. It is used
metaphorically to mean there are a lot of stripes on his shoulders.
So, it functions as an existential process: an existent ‫( الشرائط‬the
stripes), a process of existing ‫( توجد‬there are), and an adverb of
place ‫( على كتفه‬on his shoulder).
• a material process … ‫وهنالك من هو مثله انتزعت قيوده قبل صاحبنا بدقائق فقط‬
(and there was someone else like him whose restraints had been removed
just minutes before our friend’s): the actor is unknown referring to
anybody, thus evoking different memories and imaginations in the
mind of the reader, ‫ انتزع‬derived from the verb ‫( نزع‬lit. to take off)
is the process of doing, ‫( القيود‬the restraints) is the goal of the pro-
cess, ‫( وهناك‬and there) is an adverb of place, and ‫( قبل … بدقائق فقط‬just
minutes before …) is an adverb of time.
ii. Further, through the nexus of translation, extra attention is paid to verb
tenses. The relative clause … ‫ التي كانت على حواسه‬indicates that first the
restraints had covered his senses, and then one of them removed the
restraints. Similarly, … ‫ انتزعت قيوده‬indicates that first the restraints of
someone else had been removed, and then the restraints of the main
character were removed.
iii. Here ‫ليجد نفسه في مكتب فاخر يشغله ضابط‬, which is in the active form,
lends itself to passive to find himself in a luxurious office occupied by an
officer. The main reason behind this is to make the text read smoothly
and cogently. This is an example of a structure shift, to borrow Catford’s
(1965) term. Structure shift occurs when there is a grammatical
change between the structure of the source text and that of the target
text.
200 Chapter 12
Exercise 8
ST:
‫قام أحدهم بطلي إبهامه بسائل قاتم لزج ثم نزع يده وألصقها على ورقة بيضاء وأخذ‬
… ‫يضغط عليها ويحركها يمينا ً ويساراً حتى حصل على صورة كاملة لبصمته‬
TT:
One of them dipped our friend’s thumb in a dark sticky liquid, then took out his hand
and stuck it on a blank piece of paper. He started pressing on it moving it to the right
and left until he got a complete image of his fingerprint.
Annotation:
i. The verb ‫( قام‬to stand) when it is followed by a prepositional phrase,

such as ‫ بطلي‬simply means ‫طلى‬, that is, to paint. However, the verb ‫طلى‬
in such a context lends itself to to dip as this is what is meant by the
original writer.
ii. What is meant by the verb ‫( نزع‬to take off) here is that one of the soldiers,
having dipped the defendant’s thumb into a dark sticky liquid, took
it out of the liquid to stick it on a piece of paper. As such, rendering it
literally will produce an inaccurate and misleading mental image.
iii. To reflect singularity/plurality of the noncountable noun, viz. paper,
words like piece, item, article, etc. can be employed.
iv. The denotative meaning of ‫( أخذ‬to take) is to carry somebody or some-
thing, or to go with somebody from one place to another. However,
when it is followed by a verb in the present tense, such as ‫( يضغط‬to
press), the emphasis is placed on the continuity of the act of pressing
in a specific period of time in the past, and thus it is best rendered as
to begin or to start in the past.
Exercise 9
ST:
‫في هذه األثناء كان الضابط ذو الشرائط الكثيرة … يطابق بصمة المواطن الذي سبق صاحبنا‬
‫إلى (هناك) مع بصمة كبيرة تحتّل وحدها … صفحة من الورق المقوّى وقد ُكبّرت حتى‬
‫بكل تضاريسها … صاح الضابط بأحد العساكر مشيرا إلى المواطن‬ ‫أضحت واضحة تماما‬

.« ‫… » انه هو … المتمرد … خذوه‬
TT:
Meanwhile, the officer with a multitude of stripes was comparing the fingerprint of the
citizen, who had preceded our friend “there”, to a huge fingerprint that, by itself, took
up an entire piece of cardboard. It had been magnified until all of its features had been
rendered completely clear. The officer shouted at one of the enlisted men, pointing to the
citizen “It’s him, it’s the insubordinate, take him away”.
Annotation:
i. As can be observed, in the original text, a combination of both past

ْ ‫ ) ُكب‬and present (expressed by ‫ )تحتل‬is used. To
(expressed by ‫ كان‬and ‫ِّرت‬
begin with the first instance ‫كان يطابق‬, the emphasis is placed on the
continuity of the described action in a specific period of time in the
past. Semantically speaking, the act of comparing the two fingerprints
is durative (occupying time), dynamic (not static) and atelic (having no
natural finishing point, but the actor has to decide to stop comparing
the two fingerprints for a particular reason). It therefore lends itself to
a simple continuous tense in English, that is, was comparing. However,
the emphasis in the second example ‫ِّرت‬ ْ ‫ ُكب‬is placed on the duration of
the described action that began in the past and is seen relevant to the act
of comparing the two fingerprints, thereby suggesting a past perfect
tense, that is, had been magnified. With respect to the verb ‫تحتل‬, there is
an implicit ‫كان‬. However, the emphasis is put on the completion of the
described state of affairs, thus lending itself well to the translation took up.
ii. Here, it is worth noting that there is a difference in meaning between
‫صاح بـ‬, i.e., with a view to scolding somebody, and ‫صاح لـ‬, i.e., with a
view to drawing somebody’s attention. As such, shouted at is used in
place of shouted to.
Exercise 10
ST:
‫ثم التفت إلى صاحبنا … وسحب رسم بصمته الذي كان قد جف … وطابقه مع نفس‬
… « ‫ « إنه هو … المتمرد … خذوه‬:‫البصمة ال ُمكبّرة … وعاد يقول‬
202 Chapter 12
TT:
Then, the officer turned to our friend and pulled up the depiction of his fingerprint which
had dried and compared it to the magnified fingerprint. Once again, he stated: “It’s him,
it’s the insubordinate, take him away”.
Annotation:
i. In the original text, there are four processes, namely process of doing
ّ ‫سحب رسم بصمته الذي كان قد‬, process
‫اِلتفت إلى صاحبنا‬, process of doing ‫جف‬
of doing ‫ طابقه مع نفس الصورة المكبّرة‬and process of saying ‫وعاد يقول‬. It
is worth noting that the second and third processes are conjoined by
the additive connector ‫( و‬and), thus indicating that there is no time
span between the two processes ‫( سحب رسم بصمته … وطابقه‬he pulled up
the depiction of his fingerprint … and compared it). As such, an attempt
is made here to avoid translating it into something like to or in order
to. Resorting to connectors, such as to or in order to, for instance, will
safeguard acceptability, readability and naturalness. However, it will
create a time gap that slows down the the psychological speed of events.
ii. Further, the emphasis in the original relative clause ‫جف‬ ّ ‫ الذي كان قد‬is
placed on the duration of the action that began in the past and is seen
as relevant to the act of pulling up the depiction of his fingerprint. It
therefore lends itself to a past perfect tense had dried. The change in
aspect from perfect aspect to simple aspect will definitely produce a
change in time reference, thereby affecting the pragmatic communica-
tive effect.
Exercise 11
ST:
‫سبق وصفعه … انتابته الدهشة‬ ‫ضا ً … كما لو أن صاحبنا‬

ّ ‫وإذا بالعسكري يندفع إليه منق‬
… ‫والحيرة في آن واحد معا‬
TT:
Suddenly, the soldier rushed headlong into him as if our friend had just slapped him.
Our friend’s feelings were a mixture of amazement and confusion all at once.
Annotation:
i. Here, although the verb ‫( يندفع‬to rush) is used in the present, the empha-
sis is on the completion of the described act, thus lending itself to a
simple past tense rushed. This is an example of “intra-system shift” to
use Catford’s (1965) terminology. Intra-system shifts occur when a
noncorresponding term, expression or structure in the target language
is opted for. To round it off, intra-system shifts occur when the formal
equivalent, that is, a term, expression or structure that formally cor-
responds to that of the original text is ignored (p. 80).
ii. Further, the author, in an attempt to create a clear mental image in the
mind of her readers regarding the soldier’s way of rushing to him, opts
to use the adverb of manner ً ‫ضا‬ ّ ‫منق‬. To reflect the same mental image
conjured up in the mind of the source-language reader, a professional
translator may well use headlong upon/at/down/into as they collocate
well with the verb to rush. Alternatively, the following could be used:
He suddenly bore down on him … as to bear down on someone means
to move towards them quickly and threateningly.
iii. In the source text, two semantically related words, viz. ‫ دهشة‬and ‫حيرة‬,
are used. To render such semantically related words, the translators may
opt for merging the two words used in the source text into one word
in the target text. Or, they may resort to changing the part of speech of
one of the words used in the source text. Alternatively, they may well
maintain them, in particular when there is a slight difference between
their meanings. As there is a semantic difference between the two words
‫( دهشة‬referring to the state of being surprised) and ‫( حيرة‬referring to
the state of not being able to think clearly or to know what to do), an
attempt has been made to maintain the distinction between them in
the target text.
Exercise 12
ST:
‫يا سيدي … ألم تتطابق ذات البصمة مع المواطن‬ ً‫عفوا‬ :‫قال للضابط بتأدب مفتعل‬
… ‫الذي سبقني‬
204 Chapter 12
TT:
He said to the officer with forced politeness: “Pardon me sir. Isn’t that the same finger-
print that matched the citizen who went in front of me?”
Annotation:
i. The emphasis in the process of saying ‫ قال للضابط بتأدب مفتعل‬is placed on
the completion of the act of saying, thus lending itself to a simple past
tense, that is, he said….
ii. Here, the original writer, in an attempt to indicate the main char-
acter’s way of speaking with the officer in her written mode of dis-
course, resorts to the use of an adverb of manner, that is, ‫بتأدب مفتعل‬.
To reflect this mode of discourse that indicates the main character’s
way of speaking with the officer on the one hand, and produce an
accurate mental image in the mind of the target reader on the other,
the translators may well resort to expressions, such as with forced
politeness.
Exercise 13
ST:
‫ نعم … وماذا في ذلك‬:‫أجاب الضابط وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع بين التعالي والسخرية‬
.‫… بالتأكيد تطابقت مع بصمته … فهو اآلخر متمرد‬
TT:
The officer answered, wearing a smile with a trace of both arrogance and sarcasm: “Yes,
what about it? It exactly matched his fingerprint, as he too is insubordinate”.
Annotation:
i. The emphasis in the source text is placed on the completion of the
actions, namely ‫( أجاب‬to answer or to reply) and ‫( تطابقت‬to match). To
reflect the emphasis, a simple past tense may be used.
ii. In discussing the semantic roles of the arguments in the above example,
the source text can be divided into three main parts:
… ‫ نعم … وماذا في ذلك‬:‫• أجاب الضابط وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع بين التعالي والسخرية‬
… ‫• بالتأكيد تطابقت مع بصمته‬
.‫• فهو اآلخر متمرد‬
To begin with the first part, there are four arguments, namely ‫الضابط‬
(the officer) filling the role of actor, the clause ‫وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع‬
‫( بين التعالي والسخرية‬while he was wearing a smile with a trace of both arro-
gance and sarcasm) filling the role of manner, and two themes ‫( نعم‬yes)
and ‫( وماذا في ذلك‬and what about that). Further, the clause of manner
‫( وهو يرتدي ابتسامة تجمع بين التعالي والسخرية‬while he was wearing a smile
with a trace of both arrogance and sarcasm) can be further broken down
into two main arguments (i.e., ‫( هو‬he) filling the role of actor and ‫ابتسامة‬
(a smile) filling the role of theme) that have an underlying relation with
the verb ‫( يرتدي‬to wear).
As for the second part ‫( هتمصب عم تقباطت ديكأتلاب‬Surely, it
matched his fingerprint), there are two referents, viz. ‫( كتمصب‬your fin-
gerprint) expressed by the letter ‫ ت‬attached to the verb ‫( قباطت‬to match)
filling the role of actor and ‫( هتمصب‬his fingerprint) filling the role of theme.
In the third part ‫( درمتم رخآلا وه‬he too is insubordinate), there are three
referring expressions, viz. ‫( وه‬he), ‫( رخآلا‬the other), and ‫( درمتم‬insubordi-
nate), which refer to the same referent. It is a nominal sentence that lacks
the copula verb be. As such, the argument ‫( وه‬he) fills the role of theme
and ‫( درمتم‬insubordinate) fills the role of associate or predicate as it tells
the status of the first argument.
Full consideration has been given here to the verbs used along with
their arguments to produce an accurate mental image.
iii. The denotative meaning of the verb ‫( يرتدي‬to wear) is narrower and
more specific than its counterpart in the target text as the verb to wear
in English collocates well with a number of nouns, as in to wear shoes, to
wear one’s hair up, to wear one’s beard, to wear perfume, to wear a smile,
etc. As such, translating the verb ‫ يرتدي‬into to wear is an example of
generalizing translation.
206 Chapter 12
iv. Attention is paid to the particle ‫ فــ‬in Arabic as a wide range of func-
tions can be performed by it. It can be used (1) to show immediate suc-
cession, (2) to connect two clauses having a cause-effect relationship,
(3) to demarcate the sentence borders, (4) in a conditional clause in
certain cases, and (5) with some articles, such as ... ‫ فـ‬،... ‫على الرغم من‬,
… ‫ فـ‬،... ‫أما‬, and so forth. Here, it is used to connect two clauses having
a cause-effect relationship, thus lending itself to connectors, such as so,
as, and the like.
v. Translating the word ‫ متمرّد‬into insubordinate is an example of modu-
lation, to use Vinay and Darbelnet’s (1958/1995: 89) term. According
to them, modulation refers to “a variation of the form of the mes-
sage, obtained by changing point of view”. Here, the addition of the
prefix in- (meaning not) changes the meaning of the word subordi-
nate (referring to a person who is of lower rank or position, that is,
‫ ُمنصاع‬/‫تابع‬/‫ )مرؤوس‬to refer to a person who does not want to be con-
sidered of lower rank or position, that is, ‫متمرّد‬.
Bibliography
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Index
Abelson, R. P. 27 progressive 65, 66, 69, 70, 72

ability 8, 21, 81, 82, 86, 91–92, 175, 179 simple 65, 66–69, 73, 163, 202
accent 6 zero see simple aspect
acoustic phonetics 4 aspectual phrasal verbs 136, 147–148
actor 44, 46, 47, 113, 122–126, 130, assertive verbs 174, 178
131, 132, 138, 149, 167, 198, 199, associate 124, 126, 128, 205
201, 205 associative meaning 153, 157, 158
advisability 82, 88–89, 94 assonance 192
affected participant 124, 125, 126, 132 asyndeton 192
affecting participant 126, 127 atelic 67, 68, 69, 71, 78, 201
affective meaning 153, 157, 158, 172 atelicity see atelic
affix(ation) 40, 49–63 attitudinal meaning 153, 157
agent 122–128, 129, 130, 3132, 133, 134 attribute 24, 25, 32
alliteration 193 auditory phonetics 4
allusive meaning 153, 157, 158–159, 193 Austin, J. L. 173, 174
analytic causative(s) 40
anthropology 7 benefactive see benefactor
antonym(s) 19, 20, 99, 101, 103, 105–107, benefactor 124, 125, 126, 128, 129
115, 117 bilingual 2, 10
antonymy 19, 20, 99, 105, 106, 117 bound morpheme(s) 37
applied linguistics vii, viii, 9, 11
approach Catford, J. C. 43, 59, 68, 71, 74, 160, 199,
cognitive 12, 85 203
general 11 causativity 35, 36, 40–43, 48, 49, 81
generative 3 causer 124, 125, 128, 133, 134
synchronic 6 chameleon prefix(es) 57–58, 61, 62
traditional 3 Chomsky, N. 3, 4
transformational 3 cognitive approach 12, 85
argument(s) 54, 113, 122–132, 133, 134, 205 cognitive school 8
articulatory phonetics 4 coherence 7
aspect 43, 65–80, 131, 136, 138, 147, 163, cohesion 7
191, 193, 195, 196, 202 collocation(al) 103, 113, 141, 142–144,
perfect 65, 66, 71–72, 195, 202 150, 152, 159, 160, 192, 197, 203, 205
perfect progressive 65, 71, 72 collocative meaning 153, 157, 159–160
216 Index
commissive verb(s) 175 feature analysis see componential analysis

componential analysis vii, 12, 14–19, 31 field of discourse 7
compositionality 138, 147, 150 Fillmore, C. 22, 23, 29, 30
conditional speech-act verb(s) 179, 183 Fiske, J. 162, 163
connotation vii, 154–162, 168, 169, 193 forensic linguistics 9
context(ual) 7, 17, 26, 27, 28, 68, 84, 101, formal linguistics 2–6, 10
102, 103, 105, 114, 142, 154, 157, frame vii, 14, 22, 23, 24–26, 27, 28, 29,
160, 162, 165, 167, 172, 180, 181, 30, 31, 32
188, 195, 200 frame semantics 12, 22–24, 29, 30, 31, 32
contrastive linguistics 9 free morpheme(s) 37
conversation analysis 9 futurity 92–93, 95, 177
converse 19, 106
converseness 106 general approach 11
cooperative principle, the vii, 171, 172, generative approach 3
179–183, 184, 185 goal (as a semantic role) 44, 45, 46, 47,
correlative conjunction 196 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 133, 167,
Crystal, D. 3, 172 198, 199
gradable antonym(s) 105–106, 117
Darbelnet, J. 107, 206 grammar 2, 3, 4, 8, 22, 37–38, 43, 68,
declarative verb(s) 175–176 71, 146
decomposition(al) 14, 19 grammatical morpheme(s) 38
deep structure 3 Grice, H. P. 180, 181, 182, 183
deictic 137, 188, 197
denotation vii, 154–157, 165, 168 Halliday, M. A. K. 43, 44, 47, 84, 167
deontic modality 84 homonym(y) 61, 99, 197, 108, 110–111, 117
derivational morpheme(s) 37 homonymous affixes 57
diagnostic component 15, 16, 17, 18 homophone(s) 111–112, 118
diagnostic features see diagnostic homophony 99, 106
component hyperonymy 12, 99, 101
dialect 4, 5, 6, 102, 112, 133, 154, 155, 161 hyponym(y) 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 31, 99, 101,
direct speech act(s) 174, 178, 179 102, 103, 114, 115
directive verb(s) 174–175
discourse analysis 6, 7, 9 idiolect 6
distinctive component see diagnostic idiom(atic) 136, 140, 141, 145, 146, 147,
component 148, 150, 151, 152, 197
idiom principle, the vii, 135, 136, 139–141,
effect (as a semantic role) 124, 125, 128 142, 150
epistemic modality 84, 86 idiomatic phrasal verb(s) 136, 148
ethnography of communication 6 illocutionary act(s) 173, 174
expectation(s) 82, 84, 88–89 imitation hypothesis 8
experiencer 113, 123–124, 126, 127 impersonalization 193
expressive verb(s) 176 implicature vii, 171, 172, 179, 181, 182
Index 217
incompatibility 16 associative 153, 157, 158

indirect speech act(s) 174 attitudinal 153, 157
infix(es) 49, 50, 61 collocative 153, 157, 159–160
inflectional morpheme(s) 37 reflected 153, 157, 160
innateness hypothesis 8 stylistic 153, 161
instrument(s) 50, 122, 124, 127, 133 meaning postulates see postulates
interpretant 154, 165, 167 modal verb(s) 83, 84, 95, 96
interpretive semiotics 162 modality 81–97
intertextuality 158, 193, 194 mode of discourse 7
intransitive (verb(s)) 42, 43, 61 morpheme(s) 5, 36, 37, 47, 48, 51, 138
intra-system shift 74, 160, 203 bound 37
derivational 37
lack of ability see ability free 37
lack of necessity see necessity grammatical 38
language variation 6 inflectional 37
Leech, G. 178, 179 lexical 37
level shift 68, 71 morphological causatives 40, 41
lexeme 15, 25, 101, 107, 108, 197 morphology vii, 3, 5, 10, 35, 36–39, 47,
lexical causative(s) 40 48, 51, 138
lexical decomposition see componential Morris, C. 162
analysis multilingual 2, 10, 63
lexical morpheme(s) 37
lexical semantics 99–119 naming theory 100, 117
lexicography 9 necessity 82, 84, 85, 88, 87, 88
lexicon 3 Newmark, P. 14, 15, 188
likelihood 90 Nida, E. A. 15, 31
linguist 2 nongradable antonym(s) 20, 105, 106, 117
linguistics 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 14
literal phrasal verb(s) 136, 147 obligation 82, 84, 85, 87, 88
location (as a semantic role) 123, 124, 127, open choice principle, the vii, 135,
130, 131, 133 136–139, 142, 150
locutionary act 173
lost opportunities 83, 89, 95 paradigmatic axis vii, 13, 154, 162,
163–167, 168
maxim(s) paradigmatic relation(s) see paradigmatic
of manner 180, 181 axis
of quality 180, 181, 182, 183 parallel structure(s) see parallelism
of quantity 180, 181 parallelism 115, 188, 192, 194, 197
of relevance 180, 181 particularizing translation 18, 114, 115, 156
meaning patient (as a semantic role) 121, 124, 125,
affective 153, 157, 158, 172 126, 133
allusive 153, 157, 158–159, 193 Peirce, C. S. 154, 162, 167
218 Index
perfect aspect 65, 66, 71–72, 195, 202 referent 17, 18, 19, 100, 122, 154, 160, 161,
perfect progressive aspect 65, 71, 72 165, 205
perlocutionary act 173 referring expression 100, 158, 159, 160,
permission 82, 84, 91 161, 205
personalization 194 reflected meaning 153, 157, 160
phone(s) 4 register 7, 74, 103
phonetics 4, 5, 10 relational antonym(s) 20, 105, 106
phonology 3, 4, 5, 10, 52 resultant 124, 125, 126, 128, 133
phrasal verb(s) 3, 136, 146–149, 150
phraseological feature(s) 135, 136 Saussure, F. de 3, 162, 163
phraseological tendency 135, 136 Schank, R. C. 27
polite request 28, 93 schema 7
polysemous affix(es) 56 script vii, 27–28
polysemous phrasal verb(s) 148 Searle, J. 174, 184
polysemy 56, 61, 99, 107–109, semantic case see semantic role
110, 117 semantic domain see semantic field
positioner 131 semantic features 106, 114
possibility see likelihood semantic field vii, 11, 12–14, 15, 140
postulates, meaning vii, 12, 19–22, 31 semantic role vii, 113, 121–134, 205
pragmatics vii, 6, 7, 9, 10, 171–186 semiotics vii, 162–167, 168
predicate 70, 71, 124, 126, 128, 205 sense vii, 14, 16, 21, 100–102, 107, 117,
preference 83, 93, 94, 95 142, 155, 174
prefix(ation) 37, 49, 50, 51, 52–53, 56, 57, shift 4, 43, 59, 60, 68, 71, 74, 133, 160,
58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 206 199, 203
primitive 16 sign 5, 154, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168
principle signified 5, 165, 167
cooperative, the vii, 171, 172, 179–183, signifier 5, 154, 165, 167
184, 185 simile 188, 196, 197
idiom, the vii, 135, 136, 139–141, 142, simple aspect 65, 66–69, 73, 163, 202
150 slot-and-filler principle, the 140
open choice, the vii, 135, 136–139, social interaction 6, 7, 174
142, 150 sociolinguistics 6, 9, 10
slot-and-filler, the 140 source (as a semantic role) 124, 125, 126,
progressive aspect 65, 66, 69, 70, 72 127, 129, 133
prohibition 82, 87, 88 speech acts 171, 172, 174, 175, 176, 179,
prototype 25, 29–30 184, 185
psycholinguistics 8, 10 stimulus 124, 126, 127, 133
structural linguistics 3
recipient 124, 125, 126, 127, 129, 133 structural semiotics 162
reference vii, 14, 75, 77, 100–102, 117, 131, structuralism 3
193, 194, 202 stylistic meaning 153, 161
Index 219
suffix(ation) 3, 38, 39, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53–55, transitive (verb(s)) 41, 42, 43, 61, 129
56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 69, 106 transitivity 35, 36, 40, 41, 42, 43–47, 48
supplementary component 15, 16, 18 translating by a hyponym see
supplementary feature see supplementary particularizing translation
component Trier, J. 12
surface structure 3
synchronic approach 6 unconditional speech-act verb(s) 179, 183
synonym(s) 12, 19, 20, 99, 101, 102–104, universal grammar 4
115, 117, 142, 143
synonymy 12, 19, 20, 99, 102–104 verb(s)
syntactic structure 3, 36, 188 assertive 174, 178
syntagmatic axis vii, 13, 154, 162, 163, commissive 175
164, 168 conditional speech-act 179, 183
syntagmatic relation(s) see syntagmatic declarative 175–176
axis directive 174–175
syntax vii, 3, 5, 10, 35, 36, 48, 52, 136, 138 expressive 176
intransitive 42, 43, 61
telic 67, 70, 71, 78 modal 83, 84, 95, 96
telicity see telic phrasal 3, 136, 146–149, 150
tenor of discourse 7 aspectual 136, 147–148
tense(s) 37, 42, 44, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, idiomatic 136, 148
72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, literal 136, 147
92, 129, 131, 137, 138, 167, 177, 191, polysemous 148
192, 193, 195, 196, 199, 200, 201, transitive 41, 42, 43, 61, 129
202, 203, 204 verbal processing 8, 9
terminological tendency 135, 136 Vinay, J. P. 107, 206
thematic role see semantic role
theme 113, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 129, 130, word field see semantic field
131, 132, 132, 205
theta role see semantic role Yule, G. 5, 6, 180, 123, 174, 179
traditional approach 3
transformational approach 3 zero aspect see simple aspect
Contemporary Studies
in Descriptive Linguistics
Edited by
Professor Graeme Davis, School of Humanities, University of
Buckingham.
Karl A. Bernhardt, Research Fellow in the Department of English,

University of Buckingham, UK, and English Language Consultant with
Trinity College, London.
This series provides an outlet for academic monographs which offer a

recent and original contribution to linguistics and which are within the
descriptive tradition.
While the monographs demonstrate their debt to contemporary linguistic

thought, the series does not impose limitations in terms of methodology
or genre, and does not support a particular linguistic school. Rather the
series welcomes new and innovative research that contributes to furthering
the understanding of the description of language.
The topics of the monographs are scholarly and represent the cutting edge
for their particular fields, but are also accessible to researchers outside
the specific disciplines.
Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics is based at the Department

of English, University of Buckingham.
Vol. 1 Mark Garner: Language: An Ecological View.

260 pages, 2004.
ISBN 3-03910-054-8 / US-ISBN 0-8204-6295-0
Vol. 2 T. Nyan: Meanings at the Text Level: A Co-Evolutionary Approach.

194 pages, 2004.
ISBN 3-03910-250-8 / US-ISBN 0-8204-7179-8
Vol. 3 Breffni O’Rourke and Lorna Carson (eds): Language Learner Autonomy:
Policy, Curriculum, Classroom.
439 pages, 2010.
ISBN 978-3-03911-980-6
Vol. 4 Dimitra Koutsantoni: Developing Academic Literacies: Understanding

Disciplinary Communities’ Culture and Rhetoric.
302 pages, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-03910-575-5
Vol. 5 Emmanuelle Labeau: Beyond the Aspect Hypothesis: Tense-Aspect

Development in Advanced L2 French.
259 pages, 2005.
ISBN 3-03910-281-8 / US-ISBN 0-8204-7208-5
Vol. 6 Maria Stambolieva: Building Up Aspect. A Study of Aspect and Related

Categories in Bulgarian, with Parallels in English and French.
243 pages, 2008.
ISBN 978-3-03910-558-8
Vol. 7 Stavroula Varella: Language Contact and the Lexicon in the History
of Cypriot Greek.
283 pages, 2006.
ISBN 3-03910-526-4 / US-ISBN 0-8204-7531-9
Vol. 8 Alan J. E. Wolf: Subjectivity in a Second Language:

Conveying the Expression of Self.
246 pages. 2006.
ISBN 3-03910-518-3 / US-ISBN 0-8204-7524-6
Vol. 9 Bettina Braun: Production and Perception of Thematic Contrast

in German.
280 pages, 2005.
ISBN 3-03910-566-3 / US-ISBN 0-8204-7593-9
Vol. 10 Jean-Paul Kouega: A Dictionary of Cameroon English Usage.

202 pages, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-03911-027-8
Vol. 11 Sebastian M. Rasinger: Bengali-English in East London. A Study in

Urban Multilingualism.
270 pages, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-03911-036-0
Vol. 12 Emmanuelle Labeau and Florence Myles (eds): The Advanced Learner
Variety: The Case of French.
298 pages, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-03911-072-8
Vol. 13 Miyoko Kobayashi: Hitting the Mark: How Can Text Organisation and
Response Format Affect Reading Test Performance?
322 pages, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-03911-083-4
Vol. 14 Dingfang Shu and Ken Turner (eds): Contrasting Meaning in

Languages of the East and West.
634 pages, 2010.
ISBN 978-3-03911-886-1
Vol. 15 Ana Rojo: Step by Step: A Course in Contrastive Linguistics

and Translation.
418 pages, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-03911-133-6
Vol. 16 Jinan Fedhil Al-Hajaj and Graeme Davis (eds): University of Basrah
Studies in English.
304 pages, 2008.
ISBN 978-3-03911-325-5
Vol. 17 Paolo Coluzzi: Minority Language Planning and Micronationalism

in Italy.
348 pages, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-03911-041-4
Vol. 18 Iwan Wmffre: Breton Orthographies and Dialects: The

Twentieth-Century Orthography War in Brittany. Vol 1.
499 pages, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-03911-364-4
Vol. 19 Iwan Wmffre: Breton Orthographies and Dialects: The

Twentieth-Century Orthography War in Brittany. Vol 2.
281 pages, 2007.
ISBN 978-3-03911-365-1
Vol. 20 Fanny Forsberg: Le langage préfabriqué: Formes, fonctions et

fréquences en français parlé L2 et L1.
293 pages, 2008.
ISBN 978-3-03911-369-9
Vol. 21 Kathy Pitt: Sourcing the Self: Debating the Relations between
Language and Consciousness.
220 pages, 2008.
ISBN 978-3-03911-398-9
Vol. 22 Peiling Xing: Chinese Learners and the Lexis Learning Rainbow.
273 pages, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-03911-407-8
Vol. 23 Yufang Qian: Discursive Constructions around Terrorism in the People’s

Daily (China) and The Sun (UK) Before and After 9.11: A Corpus-based
Contrastive Critical Discourse Analysis.
284 pages, 2010.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0186-2
Vol. 24 Ian Walkinshaw: Learning Politeness: Disagreement in a

Second Language.
297 pages, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-03911-527-3
Vol. 25 Stephen Bax: Researching Intertextual Reading.

371 pages, 2013.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0769-7
Vol. 26 Shahela Hamid: Language Use and Identity: The Sylheti Bangladeshis
in Leeds.
225 pages, 2011.
ISBN 978-3-03911-559-4
Vol. 27 Magdalena Karolak: The Past Tense in Polish and French: A Semantic
Approach to Translation.
217 pages, 2013.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0968-4
Vol. 28 Iwan Wmffre: Dynamic Linguistics: Labov, Martinet, Jakobson and Other
Precursors of the Dynamic Approach to Language Description.
615 pages, 2013.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1705-4
Vol. 29 Razaul Karim Faquire: Modality and Its Learner Variety in Japanese.
237 pages, 2012.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0103-9
Vol. 30 Francisca Suau-Jiménez and Barry Pennock-Speck (eds):
Interdisciplinarity and Languages: Current Issues in Research, Teaching,
Professional Applications and ICT.
234 pages, 2011.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0283-8
Vol. 31 Ahmad Al-Issa and Laila S. Dahan (eds): Global English and Arabic:
Issues of Language, Culture, and Identity.
379 pages, 2011.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0293-7
Vol. 32 Xosé Rosales Sequeiros: Linguistic Meaning and Non-Truth-Conditionality.

266 pages, 2012.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0705-5
Vol. 33 Yu Hou: A Corpus-Based Study of Nominalization in Translations of

Chinese Literary Prose: Three Versions of Dream of the Red Chamber.
230 pages. 2014.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1815-0
Vol. 34 Christopher Beedham, Warwick Danks and Ether Soselia (eds): Rules
and Exceptions: Using Exceptions for Empirical Research in Theoretical
Linguistics.
289 pages, 2014.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0782-6
Vol. 35 Bettina Beinhoff: Perceiving Identity through Accent: Attitudes towards

Non-Native Speakers and their Accents in English.
292 pages, 2013.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0819-9
Vol. 36 Tahir Wood: Elements of Hermeneutic Pragmatics: Agency and

Interpretation.
219 pages, 2015.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1883-9
Vol. 37 Stephen Pax Leonard: Some Ethnolinguistic Notes on Polar Eskimo.

292 pages, 2015.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1947-8
Vol. 38 Chiara Semplicini: One Word, Two Genders: Categorization and
Agreement in Dutch Double Gender Nouns.
409 pages, 2016.
ISBN 978-3-0343-0927-1
Vol. 39 Forthcoming.
Vol. 40 Ali Almanna: Semantics for Translation Students:

Arabic–English–Arabic.
226 pages, 2016.
ISBN 978-1-906165-58-1
Vol. 41 Pablo Kirtchuk: A Unified and Integrative Theory of Language.

262 pages, 2016.
ISBN 978-3-0343-2250-8

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‘This is an extremely useful, well organised, clearly written, pedagogically

Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics

Semantics for Translation Students

Ali Almanna has a PhD in Translation Studies from the University

Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics

Semantics for Translation Students

Ali Almanna has a PhD in Translation Studies from the University

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Almanna, Ali, author.

© Peter Lang AG 2016

Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers,

All rights reserved.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

Note on Transliteration xiii

This book provides an engaging and accessible introduction to semantics

• Carter, R. (1998). Vocabulary: Applied Linguistic Perspectives. London/

The key features of the book

• it provides readers (whether translation students or translation research-

• it links grammar, semantics, pragmatics, and semiotics to the actual

My sincere appreciation goes to to Juan José Martínez-Sierra of the

The following Arabic transliteration system has been consistently employed

1.1 Linguistics and linguists

Linguistics is the study of language; it is concerned with “the nature of lan-

1.2 Formal linguistics

Formal linguistics focuses on studying the structures and processes of lan-

the available structures under consideration in an attempt to discover the

• the traditional approach focuses on what is correct and what is not, what

linguistic features (universals), Chomsky (1960s) produced his theory

Phonology involves analysing how sounds function in a given language or

Differences between phonetics and phonology

Morphology is the study of the structure of words. Morphologists study

Syntax is the study of the structure of sentences. Syntacticians describe how

Semantics is the study of the meaning of linguistic units, such as mor-

Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and

1.3.1 Language variation

Language variation is examined through studying the relationship between

1.3.2 Language and social interaction

There is a strong relationship between language and society. Studying the

Pragmatics looks at how context affects meaning. As such, pragmatics is

Discourse analysis covers a wide range of different approaches. It exam-

Closely related to discourse analysis is ethnography of communication (also

assumptions and beliefs of the members of the society on the other. A

Psycholinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and

1.4.1 Language acquisition

1.4.2 Verbal processing

1.5 Applied linguistics

Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of linguistics. Its ultimate

Aitchison, J. (1999). Linguistics (5th edn). London: Teach Yourself Series.

1. How would you define “linguistics”, “phonetics”, “semantics”, “morphol-

Approaches to Word Meaning

1. general approaches, such as semantic fields (also known as “word fields”).

2. formal approaches, such as componential analysis and the use of meaning

2.1 Semantic fields

A semantic field is defined as a set of lexical items teamed up semantically

1. the meaning of a lexical item is dependent on the meaning of other lexi-

2.2 Formal approaches

2.2.1 Componential analysis

Componential analysis (also known as “feature analysis” or “lexical decom-

a. supplementary components refer to the additional features that a lexeme

Lexeme human male adult

As can be observed, to distinguish them from one another, their sup-

child would be [+HUMAN], [–ADULT], but neither [MALE] nor [FEMALE].

Primitives like [MALE], [HUMAN], [ADULT] or [MARRIED] are believed to