Problems of Translating the Embedded Meanings of Some Axiomatic Expressions in the Glorious Qur'ân: A Semantic Pragmatic Study (original) (raw)

The current thesis is an investigation of the problems of translating the embedded meanings of some of the axiomatic structures in the Glorious Qur'ân from a pragmatic and semantic perspectives. The axiomatic expressions are self-evident phrases that need no explanation to be comprehended. They are considered the initiative introductory notions of other concepts and the least mental effort to work them out is not needed. Instances of axiomatics are like when someone says, "I see with my eyes" and "I write with my hands". It is normal and axiomatic that people see with their eyes and write with their hands. Such expressions may seem in everyday language as redundant and aimless, however in the Glorious Qur'ân they have hidden purposes and underlying intentions delivered by Allah to all the human beings and this thesis attempts to show that. The significance and objective of this study are to present an overall investigation of the problem of translating the embedded meanings of the axiomatic structures in the Glorious Qur'ân. So, this study is an attempt to fill in a lacuna in the field of Qur'ân translation. Also, the present study is supposed to attract the attention of future Qur'ân translators to this phenomenon from different views; rhetorical, pragmatic, semantic, exegetical, and translational. Without the least doubt, Allah's words have elevated aims but this type of expressions occurs in a large number in the Glorious Qur'ân and they deserve to be studied in a single study to delve into their aims and purposes. This study follows a qualitative method of research. Modern theories of linguistics and translation are utilized in the current study to test the validity of the research which are Speech Act Theory, Skopos Theory, and semantic analysis. The samples of the study are taken from four translations of the Glorious Qur'ân by Ghâlî's (2003) Towards Understanding The Ever-Glorious Qur'ân, Muhammad Abdel Haleem’s (2004) The Qur'ân: A New Translation, Ahmad Zakî Hammâd (2007) The Gracious Qur'ân: A Modern Phrased Interpretation in English and Muhammad Taqî-ud-Dîn Hilâlî and Muhammad Muhsin Khân (1996) The Noble Qur'ân: English Translation of the Meanings and commentary. It has been found out that axiomatic structures are employed in the Glorious Qur'ân for some purposes such as confirmation, averting any misunderstanding about the intended meaning of a certain expression, lexical accuracy, and restricting (limiting) the speaker's utterance to only one meaning. Keywords: The Axiomatic Expressions - Translation – The Glorious Qur'ân – Pragmatics – Skopos Theory – Semantics

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