InterlingualInterlingualInterlingualInterlingualPronoun Pronoun Errors Errors in in Pronoun Pronoun Errors Errors in in
EnglishEnglish--Arabic TranslationArabic TranslationEnglishEnglish Arabic TranslationArabic Translation
Prof. Reima Al-JarfKing Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
[email protected]@http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf
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Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies (UCCTS) Conference. Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK. July 27-29, 2010
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Arabic Pronouns
Unlike Eng, Standard Arabic (SA) has two forms of subject pronouns: j p
Independent detached form
Attached form (clitic pronouns) =Attached form (clitic pronouns) = pronominal affixes attached to the verb.
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Independent Subject Pronouns in SA?na (I) Huwa (he)
Nahnu (we) Hiya (she)( ) y ( )
?nta (you – mas –sing) Huma (they – dual)
?anti (you fem sing) Hum (they mas pl)?anti (you – fem – sing) Hum (they – mas –pl)
?ntuma (you – dual ) Hunna (they – fem – pl)
?amtum (you – mas - pl)
?antunna (you –fem – sing)
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Pronominal Affixes (Clitic Pronouns)With Past Tense verbs With Present Tense VerbsWith Past Tense verbs With Present Tense Verbs
katab + tu (wrote ‐ I) ?a + ktub (I ‐write)
katab + na (wrote ‐ we) na + ktub (we ‐write)
kataba + ta (wrote –you‐sing) ta‐ktubu (you‐write‐sing)
kataba + tum (wrote –you‐pl) ta‐ktubu ‐uwn (you‐write ‐pl)
kataba (wrote –he) ya‐ktubu (he writes)kataba (wrote he) ya‐ktubu (he writes)
kataba + t (wrote ‐ she) ta‐ktubu (She‐ writes)
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katab + uw (wrote ‐they‐pl) ya‐ktub ‐uwn (they‐write‐ pl)
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F ti f I d d t PFunctions of Independent Pronouns
To emphasize the subject of a verbTo emphasize the subject of a verbهو الذي فعل ذلك. أنا من فعل ذلك
Subject of an equational sentence هو خبير في شئون الشرق االوسط
Predicate of an equational sentence ه هذا هو هذا
As a copula
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As a copula ونهر الراين هو أهم نهر في اوروبا
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Pragmatic & discoursal functions
Ar is a “pro‐drop” language. This feature l i h b i fl i l diresults in the verb inflectional paradigm
distinguishing all persons uniquely.
Pro‐drop is applied in discourse‐neutralword order.
Independent pronouns give emphasis to the subject.
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j
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Pragmatic, discoursal, stylistic, syntactic factors that affect the use of independent pronouns include implied contrast and new information, introducing a discourse topic, discourse structure and organization of information.
Subject, theme and agent do not tend to coincide in expository, descriptive or instructional discourse.
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Aims of StudyTo explore translation students’ awareness of the syntactic, pragmatic and discoursal restrictions that determine the use of Ar subject pronouns when translating connected discourse from Eng. into Ar.
d ib h f iblTo describe the nature, frequency, possible sourcesof deviant use of independent pronouns in Eng‐Ar translationtranslation.
To examine the syntactic environments in which faulty uses of independent pronouns occur
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faulty uses of independent pronouns occur.
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Subjects
46 senior female students majoring in translation at (COLT). ( )
Native speakers of Ar.
They completed courses in EFL (66 hours)They completed courses in EFL (66 hours), linguistics (11 hours), interpreting (15 hours), written translation in 18 subject areas (36written translation in 18 subject areas (36 hours), target culture (7 hours), and Ar Syntax and morphology (18 hours)
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Syntax and morphology (18 hours).
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Data Collection & Analysis
A corpus of 400 faulty uses of independent pronounspronouns.
collected from the translation projects of d ti igraduating seniors.
Errors were collected from the first translation of the source text.
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Judgments of deviations were based on syntactic, stylistic and pragmatic criteria. y , y p g
Deviant use of independent pronouns were submitted to a panel of 3 professors of Ar tosubmitted to a panel of 3 professors of Ar to verify the error data.
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Results
All faulty independent pronouns occurred in statements & in expository, descriptive discourse.
No pragmatic or discoursal reasons for using independent pronouns.
No contrast, no emphasis and new information, introducing a discourse topic, discourse structure
d i ti f i f tiand organization of information.
Student tended to use third person singular pronouns (huwa & hiya) but not other independent
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pronouns (huwa & hiya) but not other independent pronouns.
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Faulty independent pronouns occurred in longstretches of discourse, containing compound sentences.
Parallel structure between the 2 clauses was not d b h l f h dnoted; both clauses of the compound sentence
should contain a (verb + pronominal affix). (verb + pronominal affix) was used in the first clause butpronominal affix) was used in the first clause but (particle + independent pronoun + verb + pronominal affix) was used in the second clause.
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p )
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Avoidance strategy (avoided pro‐drop). Each incorrectly used independent pronoun was y p ppreceded by particle (wa, fa).
intralingual source of errors = they do notintralingual source of errors they do not pay attention to the structure of Ar sentences. Pay attention to compoundsentences. Pay attention to compound sentences whether both clauses should have (verb + pronominal affix).
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(verb + pronominal affix).
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Interlingual = transfer from L2 to L1Students translate imitatively rather than discriminately. Since Eng sentences begin with a subject pronoun
h h h h h d dsuch as he, she, they, the students used an independent pronoun followed by a verb + pronominal affix in declarative affirmativepronominal affix in declarative, affirmative statement, without realizing that the subject is contained in the verb, and use of huwa or hiya is
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, yredundant.
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Error Sample
ا ا ف ن ا ا ال االلهن ال من جبال االلب ينبعوهو.ونهر الراين اهم نهر في اوروبا.العالية في وسط سويسرا
الق ا ان ال غ اق ف قع ثالث قل وهناك حقل ثالث يقع في اقصى غرب المانيا بالقرب من هناك وهو. في هولندا وبلجيكا وشمال فرنسا ويمتدمدينة آخن،
ايضايحتوي الصنف جيد انتراسيت فحم .علي .علي فحم انتراسيت جيد الصنف ايضايحتوي وهوانتخاب مجلس النواب بتصويت عام حر مباشر ، ويتم.عضوًا لبرلين الغربية بدون مباشر22عضوًا ، منهم 874يضم م همي رو ب و ب ربي ين بر وضغط النفط يتمالنفط الي صخور المستودع والتي يدفع
في نفس المنطقة التي توجد فيها تتواجدوهيداخلها
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يه يهوو و ي س ي.صخور المنشأ
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Recommendations
The syntactic functions of Ar pronouns.
The pragmatic and stylistic uses ofThe pragmatic and stylistic uses of independent pronouns should be part of the Ar language grammar courses that theAr language grammar courses that the students take.
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Focus on a contrastive analysis of Eng & Ar pronoun usage, when Ar pronouns should be p g , pdropped, with examples of similarities and differences.
Increasing students’ awareness of pragmatic, discoursal and syntactic constraints indiscoursal and syntactic constraints in translating Eng pronouns into Ar.
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