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Denotative Meaning & Translation Issues. Amal Al-Sayyar Amani Al- Kahtani. Meaning? . Translation is concerned with meaning. “Meaning” is indeterminate and elastic when applied to a whole text. Denotative Meaning:. ‘Cognitive’, ‘propositional’, or ‘literal’ meaning.
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Denotative Meaning & Translation Issues Amal Al-Sayyar Amani Al-Kahtani
Meaning? • Translation is concerned with meaning. • “Meaning” is indeterminate and elastic when applied to a whole text.
Denotative Meaning: • ‘Cognitive’, ‘propositional’, or ‘literal’ meaning. • It is the dictionary meaning. • The denotative meaning is rigid, but once the words are put into a context, the denotative meaning becomes flexible, and here is the source of difficulty.
Denotative Meaning: • Denotative meaning? • We should specify a ‘range’ covered by a word to know what is included in that range and what is excluded.
The 3 Degrees of Semantic Equivalence • Synonymy, Hyperonymy, and Hyponymy • Generalization and Particularization • Partial Overlap
Synonymy: • Comparisons of denotative meanings can be made between words or expressions from two or more different languages. • Example! • ‘maternal uncle’ is ‘خال’ in Arabic.
Synonymy: • Unfortunately, Full synonymy is exceptional; both intralingually and interlingually. • Example! • ‘uncle’ in English can mean ‘عم’ or ‘خال’ in Arabic.
Hyperonymy- Hyponymy • ‘ Uncle’ in English lacks technical associations of ‘ paternal uncle’ and ‘maternal uncle’. • ‘uncle’ is hyperonym or superordinate. • ‘عم’ and ‘خال’ are hyponyms of ‘uncle’
Particularizing Translation & Generalizing Translation: • Taking the previous example ‘Uncle’ • it can be particularized and translated into ‘عم’ or ‘خال’. • And ‘عم’ or ‘خال’ can be generalized and translated into ‘uncle’.
Particularizing Translation & Generalizing Translation: • SO: • Particularization is adding particulars not present in the SL. • Generalization is omitting particulars given by the SL. • These processes are acceptable when there is no suitable alternative in the TL.
Partial Overlap: • Example! Illustrating the concept: • ‘أستاذة’ is translated as ‘lecturer’, NOT ‘teacher’.
Partial Overlap: • The overlap in ‘lecturer’ • The target text (TT) keeps reference to someone who instructs. But it also particularizes, because it adds the specific detail that she works at a university not in a school; and at the same time it generalizes, because it omits the detail of her gender.
