Problems of Translating Taha Hussein’s ʽalā Hāmeš Al-Sīrah: A Cognitive-Pragmatic Approach

Abstract

The hypothesis of the study is that cognitive-pragmatic aspects, and context-based utterances in literary texts can be problematic issues in translation due to differences between cultures and languages which can affect the quality of translation. On the basis of Gutt's (2000) cognitive-pragmatic theoretical framework of translation and Pedersen’s (2011) model of translation strategies, this thesis attempts to present a cognitive-pragmatic analysis of the translation of the Arabic novel ʽalā Hāmeš Al-Sīrah by Taha Hussein (1933) and its English translation entitled Marginalia on the Prophet’s Biograpgy by Mohamed Enani (2021). Gutt's cognitive-pragmatic model of translation has been built upon Relevance Theory of Sperber and Wilson (1995). According to Sperber and Wilson (1995), Relevance Theory is the main theoretical framework in the area of cognitive pragmatics and, according to Sperber and Wilson (1995), the only cognitive-pragmatic approach within translation studies. The results of the study show that the translation strategies that have been most applied to the selected data are generalization, specification and substitution. Due to the different cognitive environments of the source and target audiences, the indirect translation approach proved to be the appropriate method of translating the selected data. It enabled the translator to convey the intended message as much as possible without causing distortion or loss of meaning.