translating idiomatic english phrasal verbs into arabic

498 Pages·2013·1.93 MB·English

TRANSLATING IDIOMATIC ENGLISH
PHRASAL VERBS INTO ARABIC

By
Ali Yunis Aldahesh

A thesis
presented to the
University of Western Sydney
In fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

February, 2008

© A Y Aldahesh February 2008
ii

DEDICATION

To my beloved kids: Jaafar, Ahmad and Ielaf
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I should like to express my sincere indebtedness to all those who, without their
generous assistance, this work would not exist. I should like in particular to thank my
chair supervisor Dr. Raymond Chakhachiro for his expert help, insightful comments,
and supportive encouragement, my co-supervisor Professor Stuart Campbell for his
invaluable feedback and his constructive criticism in various stages of completion of
this thesis, and my co-supervisor Dr Rosemary Suliman for going into a number of
issues of this study with me and bringing some great ideas to my attention.

I am profoundly grateful to my colleagues and my dear students who expressed their
interest and agreed to take part in the empirical part of the study. Their responses were
of optimal benefit and are deeply appreciated.

I also warmly thank my colleague Dr. Paul White for his proofreading of the thesis
and for the professional comments and corrections he made.

I owe special dept of gratitude to my colleague Dr. Abbas Brashi for many hours of
invaluable discussions about my plan and proposal from the very beginning of my
candidature.

Finally, I am particularly indebted to my lovely family for their support,
encouragement and patience throughout my long journey. They imparted me with the
most creative environment. Without them, it is true, I would not make it.
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STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION

The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original
except as acknowledged in the text. I herby declare that I have not submitted this
material, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution.

………………………………………………..
Ali Yunis Aldahesh
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................xiiiii
LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................xv
KEY TO TRANSLITERATION SYSTEM............................................................xvi
KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS.................................................................................xix
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................xx
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION........................................................................1
1.1 Historical background of PVs in English..........................................................2
1.2 Justification of the study..................................................................................7
1.3 Purpose of the study.........................................................................................8
1.4 Layout of the study........................................................................................11
1.5 Limitations of the study.................................................................................12

CHAPTER TWO:(cid:2)REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE................................14
2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................14
2.2 Idioms and idiomaticity in English and Arabic...............................................14
2.2.1 Idioms and idiomaticity in English..........................................................15
2.2.2 Idioms and idiomaticity in Arabic...........................................................19
2.3 Definition of PVs in English..........................................................................23
2.4 Syntactic properties of EPVs..........................................................................27
2.4.1 Word class of EPVs................................................................................27
2.4.1.1 Verbs...................................................................................................28
2.4.1.2 Particles...............................................................................................29
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2.4.1.2.1 Adverbs.............................................................................................30
2.4.1.2.2 Prepositions.......................................................................................33
2.4.2 Syntactic categories of EPVs...................................................................37
2.4.2.1 Verb + adverb combinations.................................................................39
2.4.2.1.1 Intransitive PVs.................................................................................39
2.4.2.1.2 Transitive PVs...................................................................................40
2.4.2.2 Verb + preposition combinations..........................................................41
2.4.2.2.1 Intransitive prepositional verbs..........................................................41
2.4.2.2.2 Transitive prepositional verbs............................................................41
2.4.2.3 Verb + adverb + preposition combinations...........................................42
2.4.2.3.1 Intransitive phrasal-prepositional verbs.............................................43
2.4.2.3.2 Transitive phrasal-prepositional verbs...............................................43
2.4.3 Word order of EPVs................................................................................44
2.5 Semantic properties of EPVs..........................................................................49
2.5.1 EPVs' criteria..........................................................................................50
2.5.2 Semantic categories of EPVs...................................................................53
2.5.3 Cohesion of PVs' elements......................................................................62
2.5.4 British and American dialects.................................................................63
2.5.5 Register variations of EPVs....................................................................65
2.6 PVs in Arabic................................................................................................70
2.6.1 Lentzner..................................................................................................71
2.6.2 Abboud and McCarus.............................................................................78
2.6.3 Heliel......................................................................................................79
2.6.4 Alkhuli....................................................................................................82
2.6.5 Najiib......................................................................................................82
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2.6.6 Siinii, Hussein and Al-ddoush.................................................................82
2.6.7 Summary of section 2.6...........................................................................86
2.7 Derivation of PVs in English and Arabic.......................................................90
2.7.1 Derivation in English..............................................................................91
2.7.2 Derivation in Arabic................................................................................94
2.7.3 Derivation of PVs in English...................................................................99
2.7.3.1 Deriving PVs from adjectives..............................................................100
2.7.3.2 Deriving PVs from nouns....................................................................100
2.7.3.3 Deriving PVs from Latinate verbs.......................................................101
2.7.3.4 Deriving nouns from PVs....................................................................102
2.7.4 Productivity...........................................................................................104
2.7.4.1 Productivity in English........................................................................105
2.7.4.2 Productivity in Arabic.........................................................................107
2.8 PVs in English lexicography.........................................................................110
2.8.1 PVs in general English-English dictionaries...........................................111
2.8.2 PVs in specialized English-English dictionaries.....................................113
2.8.2.1 An Analysis and Dictionary of Two-Word Verbs in English
Illustrated in Sentences...................................................................................113
2.8.2.2 Dictionary of English Phrasal Verbs and their Idioms..........................115
2.8.2.3 Time-Chambers Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs......................................119
2.8.2.4 Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.................................................122
2.8.2.5 The Student's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs...........................................125
2.8.2.6 Collins COBUILD Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs..................................127
2.8.2.7 NTC's Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Other Idiomatic Verbal Phrases
.......................................................................................................................131
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2.8.2.8 Oxford Dictionary of phrasal verbs.....................................................133
2.8.2.9 Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs..........................137
2.8.2.10 Oxford Phrasal Verbs Dictionary for Learners of English..................141
2.8.2.11 Summary of section 2.8.2..................................................................143
2.9 PVs in bilingual English-Arabic dictionaries.................................................147
2.9.1 PVs in general English-Arabic dictionaries............................................148
2.9.1.1 Al-Mawrid..........................................................................................148
2.9.1.2 Al-Mughni Al-Akbar..........................................................................149
2.9.1.3 The Oxford English-Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage....................150
2.9.2 PVs in specialized English-Arabic dictionaries.......................................151
2.9.2.1 English Phrasal Verbs in Arabic..........................................................151
2.9.2.2 York Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs and Their Idioms............................154
2.9.2.3 Summary of section 2.9.......................................................................157
2.10 Teaching IEPVs..........................................................................................158
2.10.1 Teaching IPVs to learners of English...................................................158
2.10.1.1 Tom McArthur's method...................................................................159
1.10.1.2 Colin Mortimer's method...................................................................161
2.10.1.3 Alan Cornell's method.......................................................................162
2.10.1.4 Richard Side's method.......................................................................165
1.10.1.5 Peter Dainty's method........................................................................168
2.10.1.6 Martin Shovel's method.....................................................................169
2.10.1.7 Malcolm Goodale's method...............................................................171
2.10.1.8 Berman and Kirstein's method...........................................................172
2.10.1.9 Peter Hannan's method......................................................................173
2.10.1.10 Darwin and Gray's method..............................................................176
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2.10.1.11 Joan Sawyer's method.....................................................................180
2.10.1.12 Ron Sheen's method........................................................................183
2.10.1.13 Rosemary Sansome's Method..........................................................185
2.10.1.14 John Flower's method......................................................................186
2.10.1.15 Summary of section 2.10.1..............................................................187
2.10.2 Teaching IEPVs to Arab students.........................................................189
2.11 PVs in translation studies............................................................................196
2.11.1 Translating EPVs into other languages.................................................196
2.11.2 Translating English idioms into other languages...................................201
2.12 Conclusion..................................................................................................209

CHAPTER THREE: LINGUISTIC CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS.........................211
3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................211
3.2 Contrastive analysis......................................................................................211
3.3 Contrastive analysis and translation..............................................................212
3.4 Review of contrastive analysis approaches....................................................215
3.4.1 Juliane House.........................................................................................215
3.4.2 Carl James.............................................................................................224
3.4.2.1 Microlinguistics..................................................................................224
3.4.2.2 Macrolinguistics..................................................................................225
3.4.3 Equivalence...........................................................................................229
3.4.4 Theory of sense (Interpretive Approach to Translation)..........................233
3.4.5 Theory of speech acts.............................................................................236
3.4.6 Communicative Competence..................................................................241
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3.5 A linguistic contrastive analysis model for the analysis and translation of IEPVs
into Arabic.........................................................................................................244
3.6 Conclusion....................................................................................................249

CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................251
4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................251
4.2 Research design............................................................................................251
4.2.1 Research questions.................................................................................251
4.3 Participants...................................................................................................253
4.3.1 Arabic professional translators...............................................................253
4.3.2 Arabic translation students.....................................................................255
4. 4 Data collection.............................................................................................256
4.4.1 Instrument..............................................................................................256
4.4.2 Data collection procedures.....................................................................259
4.5 Data analysis................................................................................................261

CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS OF THE TRANSLATION
TESTS...................................................................................................................265
5.1 Introduction..................................................................................................265
5.2 General overview of the results of the translation tests..................................265
5.2.1 General overview of the results of the Arabic professional translators' group
...........................................................................................................................266
5.2.2 General overview of the results of the Arabic translation students' group...269
5.2.3 Summary and comparison......................................................................270
5.3 Subjects' performance in light of the research questions................................274