A Semantic-Frame Analysis of the Translation of Cultural Elements in Sonallah Ibrahim's Zaat, Bahaa' Taher's Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery, and Khaled Alkhamisi's Taxi

Abstract

The present research examines the manner in which cognitive linguistics may be utilized to account for (un)translatability, namely that of cultural elements in literary texts. It is concerned with how a translator would, knowingly or otherwise, employ cognitive processes related to frame reference in the process of translation. Whether the TT frame corresponds to the ST frame plays an integral role in defining the closeness of the translation to the original. The study should, therefore, help in defining the choices made by the translators in translating such items as products of cognitive processes rather than idiosyncratic decisions. The hypothesis is based on the researcher's assumption that a translated text should evoke a similar semantic frame in the mind of the TL reader to the one that the original evokes in the mind of the SL reader, even if the SL frame in non-existent in the TL, in which case reading the TL text either becomes a learning experience involving adding new frames to the TL reader's linguistic and encyclopedic repertoires, a departure from the prevalent post-colonialist trend of domestication and translator’s invisibility, or otherwise use a frame that already exists in the SL, thus domesticating the TT. The study, in the cognitive semantic sense, examines the problems that may arise from the fact that the frames involved in the two languages are essentially different. In addition, it assumes the stance that, due to the fact that each SL unit is represented by layers of frames rather than simply one single frame, it is expected that, more often than not, some of these frames may be more problematic than the others, which could be used to account for the different degrees of untranslatability exhibited by certain terms.