J J. Edu. Sci., Vol. (19) No. (5) 2012 K

The Semantic View of Translating from English into Arabic

Dhuha Ghanim Mohammed Mohammed Nihad Ahmed College of Pharmacy College of Dentistry University of Mosul University of Mosul

Received Accepted 09 / 05 / 2011 05 / 10 / 2011

ﺍﻟﺨﻼﺼﺔ ﻴﻌﻨﻰ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﺤﻠﻴل ﺍﻟﺩﻻﻟﻲ ﻟﺘﺭﺠﻤﺔ ﺃﺴﻠﻭﺏ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﻠﻴل ، ﻜﺼﻴﻐﺔ ﺒﻼﻏﻴﺔ . ﻓﻔـﻲ ﺃﺴـﻠﻭﺏ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﻠﻴل، ﻴﺅﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﻕ ﺩﻭﺭﺍ ﺭﺌﻴﺴﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺄﺜﻴﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻹﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻲ ﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺘﻌﺎﺒﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﻠﻴـل . ﻜﻤـﺎ ﻭﺘﺭﻯ ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﺘﺄﺨﺫ ﺩﻭﺭﻫﺎ ﺃﻴﻀﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻲ ﻟﺴﻴﺎﻕ ﺍﻟﻨﺹ . ﻜﻤﺎ ﻭﻴﻬﺘﻡ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﺒﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺤﺎﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺯﺩﻭﺝ ﻋﻨﺩﻤﺎ ﻴﺘﻡ ﺍﺴﺘﺨﺩﺍﻡ ﺼﻴﻐﺘﻴﻥ ﻟﻠﻨﻔﻲ ﻓـﻲ ﻋﺒـﺎﺭﺓ ﻭﺍﺤﺩﺓ. ﻓﻔﻲ ﻤﻨﻁﻕ ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺎﺕ ، ﻴﻠﻐﻲ ﻜل ﻤﻥ ﺼﻴﻐﺘﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﻲ ﺇﺤﺩ ﺍﻫﻤﺎ ﺍﻵﺨﺭ ﻟﺘﻘﺩﻴﻡ ﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﻤﺜﺒﺘﺎ . ﻭﻓﻲ ﻟﻐﺎﺕ ﺃﺨﺭﻯ ﻴﺅﻜﺩ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﻴﺎﻥ ﺒﻌﻀ ﻴﻬﻤﺎ ﺍﻟﺒﻌﺽ . ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﺍﻟﺒﻼﻏﻲ ﻟﻬﺫﺍ ﺍﻷﺜﺭ ﻋﻨﺩﻤﺎ ﻴـﺅﺩﻱ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻓﻬﻡ ﺍﻹﺜﺒﺎﺕ، ﻫﻭ ﺃﺴﻠﻭﺏ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﻠﻴل.

Abstract This study deals with the semantic analysis of translating litotes, the rhetorical . In litotes, context plays an essential role in determining the overall understanding of the meaning of litotes expressions. The study hypothesizes that the cultural manifestation also plays an essential role to discriminate the meaning of the overall context of the text. Also the paper deals with the case of double negation when two forms of negation are used in the same . In some logics and some languages, double negatives cancel each other out and produce an affirmative sense. In other languages, double negatives intensify the negation. The rhetorical term for this effect, when it leads to understand affirmation, is litotes.

1. Litotes: The Rationale Litotes is a rhetorical figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary. Semantically speaking, this phenomenon is explained in the following examples:

1 The Semantic View of Translating Litotes from English into Arabic.

1) He is a not an unhappy man. The above example is semantically pertinent to the figurative tropes that have an impact on the contextual meaning. The meaning of the expression containing a double negation is not completely equivalent to the one without negation. There is a possibility or somehow (vagueness) in the semantic content of the example. On the basis that if the sentence (he is a happy man), means that (he is a happy man) but it is somewhat vague as regards the subject position on the happiness scale, it may be anywhere between reasonably happy and absolutely ecstatic. That means, if it is rendered as (he is a happy man), it can be inferred that there is no space for being unhappy, he is absolutely happy. On the other hand, the sentence means (he is not a sad man), this type of logical vagueness seems to be an essential feature of litotes. This usage actually cannot be the only one to be found in the literature. The term litotes is also used for logical double negation as in: 2) It is not impossible that we will visit you tomorrow. This means that: 3) It is possible that we will visit you tomorrow. The second example is fully equivalent to "it is possible", as there exist no degrees of possibilities in standard modal logic-although people may tend to try and interpret the double negation as a litotes construction after all. Litotes does not itself intensify, but it affects intensification when no lexical is present, the effect is to open the door to intensification nuanced by the context. The denial of the negative leaves the entire positive range open to whatever degree is appropriate. The litotes in fact calls attention to this gradient- the hearer is invited to consider the degree to which the facts point, a positive statement like.

2. Logic and Negative Ambiguity: The typology of litotes has its own relation to the typology of negation. So, this may be included in the study of logic, puzzles, concerning the ambiguity of constructions. Logically, if we say: 4) The present king of France is not bald. Sentence (4), has readings discriminating between the implicit negation (there is a present king of France and he is not bald) and external negation (the present king of France is not bald because there exists no present king of France) which can be probably understood along the lines of prototypes as proposed contextually determined readings. The prototype reading has non-specific scope of negation, while the context will constrain its sense either to implicit or external interpretation. The semantic interpretation may correspond to the default reading of the sense of a given context. There is always a possibility of finer conceptual

2 Dhuha Ghanim Mohammed & Mohammed Nihad Ahmed elaboration, if necessary. Hence, the elaboration depends on the contextual factors (Tomaszczyk, 1996:42; Sampson and Kang, 2006: 56). Langacker (1991:132) characterizes the scope of negation in terms of conceptualization. He argues that the relationship of semantic scope reflects the correspondence established between two predictions and the nature of their integration within some composite conceptualization that subsumes them both. Another example can be seen here about the use of negation: 5) You are wrong: she is not unmarried. This sentence means that she may be a widow or divorced and not a bachelor. The unmarked interpretation of this example is an explicit denial of an implicit and external statement that the subject might unmarried. Langacker (1991:132) refers to the distinction between implicit and external negation, where differences in scope can still be observed; he noted that the implicit negation requires no special context, while external negation refers in fact to the conception of a well-formed discourse in which each utterance in reality being just one aspect of appropriateness.

3. Double Negation: A structure is a syntactic construction, often considered ungrammatical in standard modern English. It is used when two or more ways to express negation are used in the same context. In some languages, a double negative resolves to a negative, while in others it resolves to a positive. In particular, double negatives do not "cancel each other out". They are used in some languages and considered erroneous on others. In today's , double negatives are not used; for example, the standard English equivalent of "I don’t want nothing" is: "I dot want anything". It should, however, be noted that in standard English, one cannot say: "I don’t want nothing!" to express the meaning "I want something!" unless there is a very heavy on "don’t". An with negative force is often used with a negative in order to express a nuance of somewhere between the positive and the negative: - He was not infrequent visitor. Two negatives are also found together where they reinforce each other than conflict. e.g.: - He never went back, not even to collect his belongings. These two uses of what is technically a double negatives are acceptable. Double negatives were considered emphatic, but today. They are considered grammar mistake. The usage of double negatives is not considered proper or standard in English. On some occasions; mostly when speaking, the use of double negatives is

3 The Semantic View of Translating Litotes from English into Arabic.

accepted; however, one must remember that the meaning of these expressions will always be positive. (The Free Dictionary: 2011. www.google.com)

4. The Semantic View: The semantic part is an interpretation of litotes involving the distinction between contradictory and contrary opposition. This sort of explanation can be seen in the following distinctive properties: A: contradictory opposition is governed by the law of contradiction and the law of excluded middle can be contrary opposite and not mutually exhausting their domain such as: 6) It is not unwise to take precautions. The cooperative listener will reason as follows: The translator may render it into (not not wise) to take precautions. This is equivalent to saying that it is wise to take precautions. Accordingly, the use of longer, marked expressions in lieu a shorter expression involving less effort on the part of speaker tends to signal that the speaker was not in a position to employ the simpler version felicitously (Horn, 1991: 24). Evidently, the sentence referred to does not claim that it is unwise to take precautions either given the fact that statement is externally denied. So, this structure can be recognized as somewhere between (wise) and (unwise) comparable to the expressions such as (it is rather wise) to take precautions, it is pretty wise to take precautions, It is neither wise not unwise to take precautions.

5. The Meanings of Litotic Expressions: The rhetorical tradition of litotes has been explained by many scholars in the field of semantics, pragmatics and cognition. Lausberg (1973: 112) states that the litotes construction is strongly positive, whereas (Bolinger:1972: 120) hypothesizes that the doubly negated expression is somewhat weaker that the straight forwardly positive one. 7) It is not impossible that I will attend the meeting. In order to be able to make sense of the above sentence, the translator must construct a non-logical scale of possibilities in which “not impossible” is somewhat less possible than “possible”. That is to say, impossible does not have its logical meaning here but it rather refers to a certain degree of “improbability”. So this statement can be inferred as "there is much possibility for the speaker to attend the meeting". The analysis of litotes as is adopted here tends to the direction of the correctness and accuracy in treating the expression, the translator deals with the referential factors (semantic structure) to refer to the correct and accurate meaning of the expression. The independent

4 Dhuha Ghanim Mohammed & Mohammed Nihad Ahmed mechanism of understatement must be held responsible for the fact that litotes constructions may be used occasionally express strong positive statements. Thus, via understatement weakly positive expressions such as (nice) and (not bad) can be used to express a very positive attitude of the speaker. Understatement is a form of in which a point is delebrately expressed as less, in magnitude, value, or importance, than it actually is, either for ironic emphasis or for politeness and tact. Understatement is used for rhetorical effect, especially by using negation with a term in a place of using antonym of that term, as in: 8) She was not a little upset. Means: she was extremely upset.

To get clear view on the way litotes and understatement interact, consider the following example: 9) It is not nothing. This sentence is either equivalent to “it is something” or “it is everything”. There are several interpretations to express them. The reading can be “at least something” and “it is quite a lot”. Understatement is used when the speakers audience can be expected to know the true nature of a fact which might be rather difficult to describe adequately in a brief space, the writer may choose to understate the fact as a means of employing the readers own powers of description.(Harris:2009:16). Litotes is a particular form of understatement, is generated by denying the opposite or contrary of the word which otherwise could be used. Depending on the context of the usage, litotes either retains the effect of understatement, or becomes an intensifying expression. as in : 10) Heat waves are common in the summer. 11) Heat waves are not rare in the summer. In (11), litotes is used to make a modest assertion by using (not rare). We can say that litotes is a stylistic device, while understatement is a . Occasionally, a litotic construction conveys an ironic sentiment by its understatement, as in : 12) We saw him throw the buckets of paint at his canvas in disgust, and the result did not perfectly present his subject, Mrs. Jittery. (Harris:2009:118). Irony, is the use of the word in a way that conveys a meaning opposite to its usual meaning, as in : 13) Where are their gods, their rock, in whom they trusted? The word "rock" (indicating strength and stability) is used here with the opposite intention; Their gods lack stability and are not dependable.

5 The Semantic View of Translating Litotes from English into Arabic.

On the other hand, hyperbole also is a case of degree nouns, which functions on the contrary of litotes. Hyperbole is the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis and intensification or heightened effect; more is said than is literally meant (Harris:2009:43), as in : 14) The play was terribly successful. 15) He is a crafty fox. Both (14 and 15) are hyperbolic expressions (Bolinger :1972:242). Absoluteness and extremity are the most eminent cores of hyperbole because the use of hyperbole metaphorically refers to extremes. Hyperbole means overstate a thing by using intensification which in its role involves intensifier words and nouns, e.g. (huge, hearty, surprising, wild, clear –cut, exceptional, dense, ghastly, ………….etc) and many other intensifying nouns whose usage produce hyperbole. We can say that hyperbole is a stylistic feature and overstatement is a rhetorical device (Bolinger :1972:242).

6. Stimulus Meaning Meanings of the sentences with culture specific contexts have their own uniqueness in the conceptual structure, and the translator seeks the best to realize the maximal reduction of meaning loss. Meanwhile, the gap between some languages is significantly higher, and each population has a deep-rooted tradition with society. This should be recognized by the translator himself. Translation between languages is aided by resemblance of cognate word forms. Translation between unrelated languages may be aided by traditional equations that have evolved in step with a shared culture. For shedding the light on the nature of meaning, thinking is rather radical in translation theory. Here it is, if anywhere, that stimulus meaning detaches itself from the words that have it. The texts should be first translated with observation conspicuously shared by the translator. The translator sometimes succeeds in the basic task of recognizing the sufficient numerous culture specific phenomena.

7. The Practical Templates of Translation Equivalence: The aim of translation in general is to achieve maximal equivalence between the source text and the target text. While the term 'maximal equivalence' might be self-explanatory, complete and total equivalence is virtually impossible some thing will always be lost in translation, basically because languages differ from each other formally and functionally, and languages are “rooted in” different cultures (Bar-on: 1993: 781). The process of translation is thus in itself a very dynamic one, and while there are certainly many methods to produce a bad or incorrect target text, there is admittedly no single correct translation of

6 Dhuha Ghanim Mohammed & Mohammed Nihad Ahmed any text (Bar-On, 1993: 781). There are simply too many factors at play in the translating process. In fact, Newmark (1989: 2) "lists no less than ten factors which create tension in the translating process, pulling the translation in different directions": 1) The style of the author of the source text should be preserved somehow in the target text or should be normalized as in: 16) The room is not quite warm. I am sorry (It is still rather cool). (Bolinger, 1972: 212). اﻟﻐﺮﻓﺔ ﻟﻴﺴﺖ داﻓﺌﺔ ﺗﻤﺎﻣﺎً، ﺁﺳﻒ، ﻣﺎزاﻟﺖ ﺑﺎردة ﻧ ﻮ ﻋ ﺎً ﻣﺎ. In some cases, the translator should keep the standards of the SL and confirm the norms of the original text as a form of fidelity to the author. These cases can be seen in the literary texts, specially the poetic ones. The translator has to accentuate the function of the original. 2) The norms of the source language are such as the syntactic and semantic spheres, norms of communication within the source language. 17) I don’t want anybody for this job “I want nobody”. (Bolinger, 1972: 212). ﻻ أرﻳﺪ أي ﺷﺨﺺ ﻟﻬﺬا اﻟﻌﻤﻞ "ﻻ أرﻳﺪ أ ﺣ ﺪ اً". The intonation of the semantic structure of the litotes may play a role in influencing the context of understanding of the TL. So, the translator has to keep the norms of recreating a communication between SL and TL, as in (10 and 11). 3) The culture of the source language actually covers two things, the elements of the SL text which specifically refer to the culture that the source text and the source language are embedded in: 18) We couldn’t find a trace of them “we couldn’t find anything of them” (Bolinger, 1972: 212). ﻟﻢ ﻧﻌﺜﺮ ﻋﻠﻰ أي أﺛﺮ ﻟﻬﻢ. It has been repeatedly stressed that one and the same situation can be rendered by two texts using completely different stylistic and structural methods. In such cases, the method which produces equivalent texts should be adopted. The example of equivalence is given by 19) She's not the unfriendliest person I know. Which means (she's an unfriendly person). ﻟﻴﺴﺕ ﺃﻜﺜﺭ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺱ ﻤﻭﺩﺓ. These simple examples illustrate a particular feature of equivalence: more often than not they are of a syntagmatic nature, and affect the whole of the message. As a result, most equivalences are fixed, and belong to a phrase repertoire. In general, litotes are examples of equivalence:

7 The Semantic View of Translating Litotes from English into Arabic.

20) He is not unhappy man. إﻧﻪ رﺟﻞ ﺳﻌﻴﺪ 21) He lifted his hat with respect, and not without gallantry. رﻓﻊ ﻗﺒﻌﺘﻪ ﺑﺎﺣﺘﺮام وﺗﻘﺪﻳﺮ, ﻻ ﻳﺨﻠﻮ ﻣﻦ آﻴﺎﺳﺔ. 22) She doesn't look too bad. ﻻ ﺗﺒﺪو ﺳﻴﺌﺔ ﻟﻠﻐﺎﻳﺔ. In each of the examples, the meaning of the expression contains a double negation; they are not completely equivalent to the one without negations. Sentence (20), does not precisely mean "he is a happy man), but is some what vague as regards the subject position on the happiness scale: It may be anywhere between reasonably happy and absolutely ecstatic. A comparable vagueness is found in the other examples: it is left unspecified as to the subject is rather gallant or extremely gallant. Finally, it can be used to describe a degree of happiness in (20). This type of vagueness seems to be an essential feature of litotes. For example, “To talk through one’s hat” can sometimes be translated by means of a cultural dimension. Yet this is exactly what happens amongst members of the so called bilingual populations, have permanent contact with two languages. It happens, nevertheless, that some of these expressions actually become accepted by the other language, especially if they relate to a new field which is likely to become established in the environment of the TL (Vinay and Darbelnet, 2000: 86).

8. Conclusions: The current study concludes the following: 1. Litotes is found in almost any downward entailing context. 2. Litotes is traditionally seen as an instance of double negation. 3. Sometimes the litotes may have the reference of weak negation in many cases where a normal negative is already effective. 4. The incompatibility of negative expression and the context of the expression. 5. Translating litotes is a highly sophisticated issue; the translator has to be well- versed with the eccentricities of both languages. 6. In litotes constructions, the two negations have to be associated with compatible scales. 7. The term litotes involves a type of vagueness which can be considered an essential feature.

8 Dhuha Ghanim Mohammed & Mohammed Nihad Ahmed

References 1) Bar-on, D. (1993). Indeterminacy of Translation: Theory and practice. Philosophy and phenomenological Research. LIII, 4(781- 810). 2) Bolinger, D. (1972).Mouton & Co. N. V., Publishers. The Hague. 3) Harris, A. (2009): a Handbook of Rhetorical Devices, University of Hamburg, www. Google.com. 4) Horn, L. (1991). Duplex negation affirmat……..The Economy of Double Negation.In CLS 27-11 papers from the parasession on negation, Chicago. Chicago Linguistic Society. 5) Langacker, R. (1991). Foundations of cognitive grammar, Vol. 2, descriptive applications. Standford: Standford University Press. 6) Lausberg, H. (1973): Handbuch der literarischen rhetorica: Ein Grund Legung der Litraturwissen schaft. Munchen: Max Hueber Verlag. Drunch einen Nachtrag verm. Aufl. 7) Newmark, P. (1989): Modern Translation Theory. International Journal of Translation, 1:1, 1:11. 8) Sampson, G. and Kang, H. (2006). Developmental, Cross-linguistic Perspectives on Visual Word Recognition. Language and Speech, 49: 1 (55-73). 9) The Free Dictionay. (2011). www.google.com. 10) Tomaszezyk, B. (1999). Depth of Negation: A Cognitive Semantics Study. Lodoz University Press. 11) Vinay J. and Darbelnet, J. (2000). The Translator Reader. Rutledge. London.

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