پژوهشهای ترجمه در زبان و ادبیات عربی (Sep 2023)
Examining the Equivalence of Words in “To Turn Green from Love” (Translation of Excerpts from Nizar Qabbani’s Poems into Persian) Based on the Principle of Synonymy
Abstract
The poem's phrases possess significant semantic depth, with each one conveying numerous concealed and enigmatic connotations. Therefore, comprehending its meaning necessitates a meticulous analysis of the poetry. An effective approach to comprehending word meanings is to analyze them through the lens of the theory of conceptual relations. In this theory, we aim to comprehend the precise significance of each word by analyzing the correlation between words. Synonymy is a relationship between words in which they have the same or similar meanings. When analyzing meaning through synonymy, the goal is to gather and compare terms that have the same meaning. This process helps to refine and clarify the semantic boundaries of each word by considering additional synonymous words. Synonymy can be applied in the translation of poetry and its criticism. This article critiques the equivalence of terms in the book "To turn green from love" by utilizing the notion of synonymy. This book features a compilation of Nizar Qabbani's love poems that have been translated from Arabic to Persian by Musa Aswar. During the analysis of equivalences, the initial step involved extracting the denotations of the words under discussion from the dictionary. Subsequently, the extra-lexical meanings of these words, such as their emotional and stylistic connotations, were decoded by taking into account the context of the poem. In the following, the process of selecting the most similar equivalent to the source text by gathering counterparts with the same meaning is described. Additionally, the translator's equivalence is evaluated and criticized. The research findings indicate that in certain instances, translation equivalents do not align with other terms within the context of the poem. Furthermore, many counterparts in the translation exhibit reduced emotional intensity compared to the words in the original text, while others possess a broader and more encompassing significance than the words found in Nizar's poems. Additionally, certain equivalents have caused the translated text to be unclear or open to interpretation.Keywords: Synonymy, Conceptual Relationships, Poetry Translation, Nizar Qabbani, Musa Aswar.IntroductionAn effective approach to comprehending the significance of language words is to analyze them through the lens of structural linguistics. According to this perspective, linguistic units are not discrete signs with fixed meanings, but rather they are interconnected and have a systematic relationship with one another. Hence, words should not be regarded as self-contained vessels that possess a fixed and unchanging content. Instead, they resemble fragments of a visual jigsaw, where the significance of each piece is illuminated when placed adjacent to others. Hence, to comprehend the significance and precise connotation of any word, one must verify its correlation with other components.One of the connections between words is through synonyms, or words that have the same or similar meanings. Across all languages, there exist words that have highly similar meanings. These terms are referred to as synonyms. Words that are considered synonymous are not entirely interchangeable in any language, as each term carries its own distinct and specific meaning. The distinction between these synonyms may lie in their respective usage categories. For instance, certain synonyms may be considered official, while others may be deemed unofficial. Additionally, certain synonyms may be classified as literary, while others fall into the non-literary category. For instance, the term "woman" is more formal than "wife." Occasionally, synonyms possess distinct contextual associations. For instance, the adjectives "big" and "large" are synonymous when describing a "big house" or a "large house," but they differ when applied to a "big sister" or a "large sister." (Rambaud, 2012: 125). Two words with synonymous meanings may exhibit a relationship of inclusion, where one word encompasses the other. As an illustration, we can provide a car as an example. The term "car" is used twice in this context, and while in some instances these two occurrences can be interchangeable, there are occasions when substituting one "car" with another is not feasible. For example, in the sentence "I cut my beard with a car," it is not conceivable to substitute "car" with another "car" (Safavi, 1379: 106). Additionally, it is plausible that synonyms may vary in their emotional connotations. An illustrative instance of this distinction can be observed in "please have a seat," "Sit down," and "sit." The reference is taken from the same source and page number as the previous citation (Ibid., 108).By conducting a comparison of synonyms, one can gain a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between them and discern the precise meaning of each term. Comparing synonyms is widely employed in the fields of translation equivalence and translation critique. To broaden the options for selecting appropriate equivalents in the target language, translators or translation critics can gather various equivalents with similar meanings for a word and then compare them to determine the most closely matching equivalent.Literature ReviewIn "Research on the Structure of Synonymy of Verbs in the Arabic Language and the Role of Conjugation in Determining the Meaning," Youssef Nazari (1400) has analyzed the five types of Arabic synonyms. This article specifies the meaning of each verb by examining its similarities to other linguistic elements.Farzdouhi and Safari (2019) conducted a study titled "Evaluation of Synonymy (Taba, Khatm, Ghalf, and Safar) in the Translations of Behbodhi, Sadeghi Tehrani, Mojtbavi, and Makarem Shirazi." The study focused on analyzing the four verbs mentioned in the title and their compatibility with the word "heart" in various translations. The researchers criticized the translations of these verbs based on their ability to coexist with the word "heart."In their publication, "Synonyms in the Words of the Qur'an and the Problems of Their Translation," Raisian and Kordloui (2013) researched and analyzed several perspectives on synonyms in the Qur'an. Specifically, they focused on the concepts of dread, sadness, grief, avarice, and greed, as explored by multiple translators of the Qur'an.The indicated papers differ from the previous article in terms of their substance and methodology. The original article is connected to the current article solely in terms of its theoretical foundation. While both articles share the same underlying meaning, they diverge in terms of research methodology, content, and textual presentation of the issue. Furthermore, the current article serves as a critique of the translation, whereas the aforementioned piece does not share this characteristic. In contrast to the previous article, the other two papers employ synonyms in their critique of the translation. However, they differ in terms of their study methodology and the content of their research topic. This article focuses on examining the synonymy between equivalent words in the target language. In contrast, the previous research explored the synonymy among source words in the Arabic language.Research MethodologyThis article aims to analyze the Persian translations of the poetry collection "To turn green from love," which consists of selected passages from Nizar Qabbani's poems. The analysis focuses on identifying and exploring the synonyms used in the translations. The equivalents will be assessed using three different methods. Initially, the user consults dictionaries to obtain the primary or inherent definition of the term, along with some synonyms that convey the same idea. Subsequently, through contextual analysis and the examination of word co-occurrences, the meanings of the term are deciphered and elucidated. Simultaneously, the chosen translation equivalent is scrutinized, and a more appropriate alternative is proposed.ConclusionThe research findings indicate that certain equivalents were selected in the translation process without taking into account the principle of cohabitation or closeness of terms. Occasionally, other terms have been used that differ from the primary word of the poem in terms of both usage and style. In certain locations, alternative terms have been selected that possess a greater depth of significance compared to the primary word. These equivalents express the meanings of the destination words in a broad manner; therefore, the translations do not possess the gracefulness of the phrases in the original poem. Among the similar terms in Farsi, certain examples have been chosen where the emotional intensity is lower compared to the Arabic word in the source text. However, it should be noted that there are instances in Persian where the emotional intensity is higher. The translator frequently employed literary counterparts that failed to capture the full meaning and emotional depth of the Arabic words, resulting in a challenging reading experience for the poem.
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