Metaphor and translation

Zahri, M

Abstract

In the first chapter, the aims of the study are set and the methodology
of research adopted in conducting and organizing this study is explained.
In the second chapter, major studies on translation are reviewed and
trends in research activities are identified and evaluated.
-Further,
main contributions made to the discipline by the reviewed writers as well
as areas of weakness are touched upon.
In the-third chapter, the problems of metaphor and how to translate it
are formulated. The nature of metaphor, its traditional classifications
and. Leech's (1985) method of analyzing"it are described. Then major
theories about the function of metaphor as well as major traditional
schools of how to approach its translation are reviewed with the
necessary evaluation. Lastly, an approach of deep-versus surface meaning
is suggested and its implications for the division of texts into the
Factual and the Fictitious are considered.
The fourth chapter represents the application-of the approach to data of
five different translations of Ouranic metaphors. The application is
carried out as follows:
Firstly the Quranic metaphors are classified according to common
characteristics in order to establish major areas of metaphoric use in the
Quran. Secondly, metaphor is defined as a text using de-Beaugrande and
Dressler's(1981) definition of text characteristics.
Thirdly, by modifying and incorporating House's (1981) and Crystal and
Davy's in House (1981) models, a new model is devised to analyze, compare
and assess adequacy of the translations of the Quranic metaphors
identified earlier as texts in their own right. Fourthly, surface and
deep meanings of every Quranic metaphor as well as its five translations
are separated according to Leech's (1985) method described earlier in
Chapter Three. The purpose of the separation of deep and surface
meanings is to establish the non-figurative meaning of the metaphors and
the translations divorced from
their specific wording. Fifthly, the
devised model is applied to the aforementioned data of translations of
Quranic metaphors. Consequently, a profile of every translation of each
of the Quranic metaphors is achieved. The profiles of the translations
are then compared with the profiles of the original. As a result,
inaccuracies of the translations and deviations from the original on the
basis of the dimensions of the model and general approach are described
to provide assessment of the quality of those translations.
Chapter five deals with the consequences of applying the approach of deep
versus surface meaning. These consequences are methods of metaphor
translating derived from the five Ouranic translations. Those methods
are further tested by applying them to random data of media metaphors and
are then suggested as flexible rules of how to translate metaphors in
general.
The sixth chapter deals with the implications of the deep versus surface
meaning approach for devising a second model to assess adequacy of longer
and other types of translation texts. As a result, a second model is
devised on the basis of disentangling form from content and then
assessing the reproduction of content in the second language using the
criteria of surface versus deep meaning, as well as the focus of the
text.
Chapter seven represents the consequences of the general approach as well
as the two proposed models and their applications. These consequences
crystalize as guidelines suggested to help translators in the HOW of
translating.
In the eighth chapter, as a conclusion, a summary of the proposed
approach and its implications are presented as well as suggestions for
future research.

Citation

Zahri, M. Metaphor and translation. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Sep 22, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1990