Lexical, exegetical, and frequency-based analyses of the translations of the Qur’anic collocations
Translating collocations is one of the problematic areas in translation studies, which becomes even more
complicated when translating Qur’anic text is involved. The uniqueness of Qur’anic linguistic features, special context of the Qur’anic
text, and stylistic differences between English and Arabic are barriers to accurate and natural rendition. Along these veins, this
study attempts to investigate seven translations of the Qur’anic noun-noun collocations (Sarwar 1981; Al-Hilali and Khan 1996;
Arberry 1996; Pickthall 1997; Sahih International 1997; Shakir 1999; Ali 2001) to unfold the degree of accuracy and naturalness of
their translations. The present article follows the approach of corpus-based research to study seven prominent translations of the
Noble Qur’an taken from
The Qur’anic Arabic Corpus
, using lexical,
exegetical, and frequency-based analyses, which reveal that integrated lexical and exegetical analyses are perquisites for
adequate rendition and prevent deviation in meaning and translation loss. Frequency-based approach in translation of collocations
could assist in maintaining naturalness of rendition to some extent.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Problematicity of translating collocations
- 3.Lexical, exegetical and frequency-based analyses of collocations
- 4.Strategies for translating collocations
- 5.Research objectives
- 6.Approaches of the Noble Qur’an’s commentators
- 7.Methods
- 8.Data analysis
- 8.1
(Ajal musama)
- 8.1.1Lexical analysis
- 8.1.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.1.3Translation analysis
- 8.1.4Frequency-based analysis
- 8.2
(AL-Ardh AL-Juruz)
- 8.2.1Lexical analysis
- 8.2.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.2.3Translation analysis
- 8.2.4Frequency-based analysis
- 8.3
(Alardh Almukaddasah)
- 8.3.1Lexical analysis
- 8.3.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.3.3Translation analysis
- 8.3.4Frequency-based analysis
- 8.4
(Albaqayat alsalehat)
- 8.4.1Lexical analysis
- 8.4.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.4.3Translation analysis
- 8.4.4Frequency-based analysis
- 8.5
(Alkhait Alabyadh min Alkhait
Alaswad)
- 8.5.1Lexical analysis
- 8.5.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.5.3Translation analysis
- 8.5.4Frequency-based analysis
- 8.6
Alshahr Alharam
- 8.6.1Lexical analysis
- 8.6.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.6.3Translation analysis
- 8.6.4Frequency-based analysis
- 8.7
(Qalb saleem)
- 8.7.1Lexical analysis
- 8.7.2Exegetical analysis
- 8.7.3Translation analysis
- 8.7.4Frequency-based analysis
- 9.Discussion of results
- 9.1Differences between literal and functional meanings of collocations in the Noble Qur’an
- 9.2Reliance on lexical analysis of the Qur’anic collocations
- 9.3Lack of reliance on exegetical knowledge in translating Qur’anic collocations
- 9.4Assessment of naturalness through frequency-based approach
- 9.5(Un-)Lexicalization of some Qur’anic collocations in English
- 9.6Use of translation procedures
- 10.Conclusion
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
-
References