A Corpus-Based Analysis of Connotations in the English Translation of 20 Short Stories by Naguib Mahfouz (1962–1988)
Nermeen Mohammed Yousry Mohammed Fayez Mohammed Ibraheem;
Abstract
Connotation is a feeling that gives color to plain words. Unlike denotation, which is the explicit dictionary meaning, connotation is an implied meaning that differs according to contextual factors. The present study aims at exploring connotative differences between Arabic and English through answering the following questions: How far are the connotations of the source text retained in the target text? What are the most significant connotative differences between the source text and the target text? What is the reason behind connotative differences (e.g., a cultural pattern or a linguistic pattern)?
The English translation of 20 Arabic short stories by Naguib Mahfouz was chosen for the analysis. The stories were translated into English by Denys Johnson-Davies. The selection includes the following: The Conjurer Made Off with the Dish الحاوى خطف الطبق from a collection entitled Under the Shelter تحت المِظلّة; By a Person Unknown ضد مجهول from God’s World دنيَا الله; The Ditch الخندق and The Norwegian Rat الفأر النرويجى from The Secret Organization التنظِيم السِّرّى; and other stories (Mahfouz, 1995).
The stories are analyzed in light of Martin and White’s appraisal theory. The study makes use of the notion of attitude, together with graduation. Attitude is described as “a framework for mapping feelings as they are construed in English texts” (Martin & White, 2005, p. 42). However, this does not preclude its application to texts written in languages other than English, especially that the previous literature (Breit, 2014; Hong, 2012; Mansour, 2010; Xia, 2016; Qian, 2017) shows that it has already been utilized in studies involving other languages.
The study employs translation studies and corpus linguistics within this framework of attitude, for an integrated, interdisciplinary investigation of connotative meaning. A corpus-based, quantitative analysis will be conducted on the selected corpus. Afterward, a
The English translation of 20 Arabic short stories by Naguib Mahfouz was chosen for the analysis. The stories were translated into English by Denys Johnson-Davies. The selection includes the following: The Conjurer Made Off with the Dish الحاوى خطف الطبق from a collection entitled Under the Shelter تحت المِظلّة; By a Person Unknown ضد مجهول from God’s World دنيَا الله; The Ditch الخندق and The Norwegian Rat الفأر النرويجى from The Secret Organization التنظِيم السِّرّى; and other stories (Mahfouz, 1995).
The stories are analyzed in light of Martin and White’s appraisal theory. The study makes use of the notion of attitude, together with graduation. Attitude is described as “a framework for mapping feelings as they are construed in English texts” (Martin & White, 2005, p. 42). However, this does not preclude its application to texts written in languages other than English, especially that the previous literature (Breit, 2014; Hong, 2012; Mansour, 2010; Xia, 2016; Qian, 2017) shows that it has already been utilized in studies involving other languages.
The study employs translation studies and corpus linguistics within this framework of attitude, for an integrated, interdisciplinary investigation of connotative meaning. A corpus-based, quantitative analysis will be conducted on the selected corpus. Afterward, a
Other data
| Title | A Corpus-Based Analysis of Connotations in the English Translation of 20 Short Stories by Naguib Mahfouz (1962–1988) | Other Titles | تحليل في ضوء علم الذخائر اللغوية لظلال المعاني في الترجمة الإنجليزية لعشرين قصة قصيرة لنجيب محفوظ (١٩٦٢– ١٩٨٨) | Authors | Nermeen Mohammed Yousry Mohammed Fayez Mohammed Ibraheem | Issue Date | 2020 |
Attached Files
| File | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BB12532.pdf | 499.33 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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