Ideology in the lexical choices of Mahir Nassim's translation of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Abstract

This study explores the important role of ideology in the translation process, highlighting the perspective of culture that translation studies have embraced in recent years to unveil how ideology interplays and influences the decisions of the translator. This paper focuses on the Arabic translation of Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn', using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as an assisting analytical model. The main focus of the study was on the lexical choices used in the translation, highlighting how meanings are manipulated. A qualitative methodology was used in view of the depth of insight into the translation practices employed. The underlying ideology was revealed using a quantitative analysis of 60 instances. Scrutiny of Mahir's translation revealed that ideological influences could pretty much change the text meaning. In a few cases, the translation was adapted to comply with the cultural expectations of the target language addressee. The outcomes imply that the translator manipulated the Arabic version of the novel by introducing distortion, over-lexicalization, under-lexicalization, euphemisms, addition, and ideologically charged language. In other words, this is the translation that Nassim is giving to sound with the preferential, tasteful, valuable, and belief-based elements of the Arab readership.

Keywords

• Ideology
• culture
• lexical choices
• Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)
• Maria del Mar Sanchez Ramos, University of Alcala de Henares: Universidad de Alcala de Henares, Spain
• Language & Linguistics