Discourse connectives in translation : a relevance-theoretic account with special reference to translation from and into Arabic

Lounis, H

Abstract

The present study investigates how Discourse Connectives are handled in
translation. It starts by reviewing available published studies on DCs with a
particular focus on how these impacted on the field of translation studies and
translation practice. DCs in English are mainly looked at from two different
angles as the study shows: coherence/cohesion theory or from a relevance
theory perspective. In Arabic, they are mainly grammatical structures.
The study provides arguments which explain why looking at these linguistic
structures from a relevance theory standpoint provide a better basis for
understanding their role and the discourse in which they occur.
The aim of the present research is to investigate how Discourse Connectives
(DCs)- the structures used to provide the reader/hearer with clues as to what
direction the writer/speaker wants them to focus on- are handled in
translation.
The research attempts to shed light on choices translators make when
encountering DCs, and endeavours to put these choices to scrutiny by
drawing on relevance theory. Thus, the main hypothesis adopted is that each
instance a DCs is utilised, it is assumed that it bears a degree of relevance to
the reader/hearer or in other words assist them to a less costly process - in
terms of time and mental processing effort - in reaching the intended
communication. To provide evidence for this view an empirical investigation
was carried out. The corpus studied was published by the American geo-
political studies think-tank (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
were selected together with their professionally translated and published
versions. An investigation of DCs and their translation was carried out on
carefully selected corpora. The basis of this discussion is the application of
the Principle of Relevance as suggested by proponents of Relevance Theory in
reaching the intended meaning in the source text through contextual effects
(knowledge of the world, to use relevance theory proponents terms) and the
notion of 'clues7, provided by discourse connectives, which facilitate a
successful rendering.

Citation

Lounis, H. Discourse connectives in translation : a relevance-theoretic account with special reference to translation from and into Arabic. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2010