Connotative meaning and translation issues

Connotative meaning and translation issues “the communicative value an expression has by virtue ofwhat it refers to, over and above its purely conceptual content” (Leech, 1974: 14)

For example, the word ‘woman’ is defined conceptually by three properties ‘human’, ‘female’, ‘adult’. In addition, the word includes other psychological and social properties such as ‘gregarious’, ‘subject to maternal instinct’. Leech maintains that ‘woman’ has the putative properties of being frail, prone to tears, and emotional

Based on Leech’s classification of meaning (1974: 26), Dickins et al (2002: 66-74) distinguish six major types of connotative as follows:

1. Attitudinal meaning • The expression does not merely denote the referent in a neutral way, but also hints at some attitude to it. • For instance, ‘the police’, ‘the filth’ and ‘the boys in blue’ have the same denotative meaning. However, the expressions have different connotative meanings. ‘The police’ is a neutral expression, ‘the filth’ has pejorative overtones while ‘the boys in blue’ has affectionate ones.

Example 1: • In the following example, the translator has used the term ‘lady’ rather than ‘woman’ since ‘lady’ has overtones of respect. • آه يا بيروت..... يا أنثاي من بين ملايين النساء • Ah Beirut….my lady amongst millions of women.

2 Example و قد راحوا يقتحمون البيوت بيتاً بيتاً “They have raided homes one by one” Here the word “homes” can be contrasted with its near –synonym “houses’. “Houses” is a neutral word in English, whereas “homes” has warm emotional connotations.

2. Associative meaning • It may consist of expectations wrongly associated with the referent that are rightly or of the expression

For example, the term ‘Crusade’ has strongly positive associations in English, whereas its Arabic equivalent حملة صليبيةhas negative associations, since the word is associated with the Crusades to Palestine in the Middle Ages

Conversely, the term جهاد in Arabic has positive associations, since the word is associated with one of the five pillars of Islam, and those who are killed in the cause of Allah are rewarded with heaven on the Day of Judgement

On the contrary, the term جهادhas negative associations in the West, since the word is connected with international extremist organizations, especially after the September 11 attacks.

ثم شد الغطاء على جسمها الهرم • Then he pulled the cover over her frail body هرمThe translator has taken the association of and has accordingly used the denotative meaning ‘frail; to render this associative meaning of هرم

3. Affective meaning • It is related to the emotive effect worked on the addressee by the choice of expression. • For instance, the two expressions ‘silence please’, and ‘shut up’, or الرجاء الصمت andأسكت in Arabic share the same denotative meaning of ‘be quiet’.

However, the speaker’s attitude to the listener produces a different affective impact, with the first utterance producing a polite effect and the second one producing an impolite one.

The translator should choose a suitable lexical item that produces the same effect on the TL reader as that intended by the author of the original text on the SL reader.

4. Allusive meaning • It occurs when an expression evokes an associated saying or quotation in such a way that the meaning of that saying or quotation becomes part of the overall meaning of the expression

For example, the oath الالتزام التام بالإخلاص و الثقة والسمع والطاعة في العسر و اليسر والمنشط و المكره . which members of the Muslim Brotherhood swore to their leader, Hassan Al Banna, alludes to the Quranic verses: إن مع العسر يسراً. إن مع العسر يسراً

5. Reflected meaning • The meaning given to the expression over and above the denotative meaning which it has in that context by the fact that it also calls to mind another meaning of the same word or phrase.

For example, the word ‘rat’ in ‘John was a rat’ has two meanings: • The first denotative meaning is: someone who deserts his friends. • The second connotative reflected meaning is the animal ‘rat’. • In Arabic to call someone حمار means denotatively ‘stupid’. The word حمار also refers to the animal ‘donkey’, which in this context provides a connotative reflected meaning

6. Collocative meaning • “the associations a word acquires on account of the meaning of words which tend to occur in its environment

‘Pretty’ and ‘handsome’share the common grounds of ‘good looking’, but they are differentiated by the range of nouns with which they are likely to co-occur. ‘Pretty’ collocates with ‘girl’, ‘boy’, woman’, ‘flower’, while ‘handsome’ collocates with ‘boy’, ‘man’, ‘vessel’, etc

Baker says that the propositional (denotative) meaning of a word does not always determine the collocational patterning.

For example, English speakers typically ‘pay a visit’ but less typically ‘make a visit’ and they do not ‘perform a visit’. Another example of collocation in English is ‘rancid’ and ‘addled’. Though the two words have the same denotative meaning, they have different collocational patterning. ‘Addled’ collocates with ‘eggs’, while ‘rancid’ collocates with ‘butter’

Collocations differ from one language into another. According to Baker (1992: 49) English and Arabic use different collocational patterns that reflect the preferences of each community for certain modes of expression and certain linguistic configurations

English Collocation • Arabic equivalent • deliver a letter/telegram • يسلم خطابا \ تلغرافاً • deliver a speech/lecture • يلقي خطبة\ محاضرة • deliver news • ينقل أخبارًا • deliver a blow • يوجه ضربة • deliver a verdict • يصدر حكماً • deliver a baby • يولد امرأة

English Collocation • Arabic equivalent • catch a fish • سمكة يصطاد • catch a cold • بردبنزلة يصاب • catch a train • بالقطار يلحق • catch fire • النار فيه تشتعل

According to Dickins et al (2002: 71) the two languages also have different collocations in the use of conjoined phrases.

For instance, the English equivalent of أصحاب النفوذ و أهل الود would be ‘the rich and powerful’, rather than ‘the powerful and rich”, while the collocation من دمه ولحمه is equivalent to ‘his own flesh and blood “, rather than ‘his own blood and flesh’. Other examples include ‘life and death’ الموت والحياة and ‘day and night’ليل نهار

Collocations constitute a major problem for translators. As Newmark (1988:180) maintains “The translator will be caught every time, not by his grammar, which is probably suspiciously ‘better’ than an educated native’s, not by his vocabulary, which may well be wider, but by his unacceptable or improbable collocations”.

In translating from English into Arabic or vice versa the translator faces the difficult task of finding appropriate collocations in the target language, as he is dealing with two languages that are linguistically and culturally distinct. Therefore, the translator should pay considerable attention to the collocational differences between the two languages in order to choose the appropriate collocation in the target language.

A translator who renders ‘shake hands’ as يهزالأيديwould give an erroneous translation. The Arabic equivalent for the English collocation ‘shake hands’ is يصافح, which is not a collocation in Arabic

Connotative meaning and translation issues