Monitoring discourse in translation: Analysis of the Qur’anic elaborative discourse marker “wa” in parallel corpora

Abstract

Discourse is monitored through the employment of discourse markers in the process of human communication. The present article investigated two translations of the most frequent, complex, and ambiguous Qur’anic discourse marker wa into the Persian language. Two theories of coherence and translation spotting shaped the foundation of this research. Two Persian translations were selected based on purposive sampling. The analysis of the Persian parallel corpora revealed that the translation of this elaborative discourse marker was performed innovatively and dynamically by resorting to four categories of contrastive, elaborative, temporal, and inferential discourse markers and their various combinations. The creative, flexible, and dynamic approach observed in the analysis of the parallel corpora indicated that translation is complex pragmatic, culture-based, and discourse-oriented phenomenon. It is a dynamic discourse construction system underpinned by the invocation of different theoretical perspectives in discourse and the pragmatic enrichment of linguistic elements between languages, cultures, and discourses. As these creative and flexible approaches applied by translators are not put into practice in the areas of lexicography, curriculum development, and other areas of translation education, researchers, teachers, and other authorities are recommended to revise their approaches based on research findings and the relevant implications arising from parallel data analyses.

Keywords

• elaborative discourse marker
• monitoring discourse
• the qur’an
• translation
• qur’anic elaborative discourse marker »wa«