The translation of Arabic metadiscourse in a handful of dates” into English

• Published in: Ādāb al-Rāfidayn (Online) Vol. 2019; no. 77; pp. 17 - 44
• Main Author: Fathi, Salim Yahya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Arabic; English
• Published: Mosul, Iraq University of Mosul, College of Arts 2019
• ISSN: 0378-2867; 2664-2506
• DOI: 10.33899/radab.2019.164848

This paper investigates the problem of multifunctionality of metadiscourse.It is still a fuzzy concept and its taxonomies contain many disparate elements . Linguistic and conventional differences between Arabic and English would make the problem more complicated when translation is involved. It is hypothesized that there is a similarity between Arabic and English metadiscourse items ;and failing to grasp the function of these items leads to inappropriate renditions. The aim of this paper is of two folds : (1) proposing a classification system for Arabic metadiscourse and identifying the metadiscourse items in the source language(SL)and their renditions into the target language(TL) ,(2) analyzing the linguistic and rhetorical functions of metadiscourse items used in (SL) and to what extent that the translator successfully managed to render them into the (TL) . The source text on which the study draws is taken from a short story entitled “A handful of dates” written by Tayb Salih and translated into English by Denys Jobnson-Davies(1981. To make judgment on the appropriateness of metadiscourse renditions in the (TL) ,Nida's (1964) model is adopted. The paper revealed that Arabic makes use of metadiscourse as English does, though the classification system for metadiscourse in both languages are somehow different..