The translation of English comment clauses in Shakespeare's Othello into Arabic

• Published in: al-Ustādh Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 41 - 52
• Main Author: Muhammad, Layth Nawfal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Arabic; English
• Published: Baghdad, Iraq University of Baghdad, College of Education for Human Science / Ibn Rushd 15-06-2020
• Subjects: الترجمة; اللغة الإنجليزية; اللغة العربية; النحو
• ISSN: 0552-265X; 2518-9263
• DOI: 10.36473/ujhss.v59i2.1094

Comment clauses (or parentheticals) are a type of clauses which are syntactically disconnected from the clause to which they are attached and which are syntactically incomplete (lack complementation).They show a reflection of the main clause,commentary or assessment on the main clause and hence show more spatial flexibility, lower tone, and semantic independence . The present study focuses on comment clauses as pragmatic markers and the implicit meaning carried by these clauses .The problem is that most translators overlook this type of clauses because of their unawareness of the implied meaning carried by such clauses,especially when they translate them.It is hypothesized that the interpretation of comment clauses is situational.To prove this hypothesis, ten texts have been arbitrarily selected from Shakespeare's Othello translated into Arabic by four well- known translators, namely: Jabra Ibrahim Jabra Muhammed Mustafa Badawi, Ghazi Gamal and Khalil Mutran. The study concludes that the interpretation of comment clauses depends largely on the situation in which they are used.The study also discloses that the failure in translating such clauses is due to the unawareness of the implicit meaning that the comment clauses carry (whether in spoken or written). Finally,the study recommends that translators should carefully deal with comment clauses wherever they come across them,for such a type of clauses could form a slippery area.