Translation and the Language of Argumentation

by Said M. Shiyab

Translation and the Language of Argumentation Said M. Shiyab University of Geneva This book is written to introduce students of linguistics and translation and their faculty members to all main elements of argumentative discourse in both Arabic and English. Students and faculty begin by discovering the value and fascination of studying argumentation and examining topics such as argument, pro-argument vs. counter-argument, clause and lexical relations, repetition, parallelism, thematization, among other issues in both Arabic and English. To this effect, this book investigates the structure of Arabic argumentative discourse and the problems it raises for translators. This includes the identification of argumentative text’s main constituents, the types of clause relations typical of this form of argumentation, and their contribution to meaning continuity. Samples were taken from four different Arabic and English newspapers to show how the structure of these texts gives rise to ambiguity when translated (literally) into English. A semantic, structural, and pragma-semio-textual approach was used to analyze and then translate the texts. This textual analysis has shown that argumentative texts have their own generic structure, dominated by semantic causal relations. Argumentative texts favor the cohesive type of lexical repetition for both cohesion and persuasive functions. Last but not least, argumentative texts use many parallel constructions, and have semantic and stylistic features that cause problems for the English reader. ISBN 9783862884490. LINCOM Studies in Translation 05. 207pp. 2013.

Paperback

Published January 1, 2013