The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts

This study deals with the translation of speech acts in legal documents from Arabic into English. It aims at describing the translatability of speech acts to determine whether there are meaning loss or meaning gain and the reasons behind that. In doing so, the study follows Searle’s speech acts conc...

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Main Authors: Khalaf, Camellia, Moindjie, Mohamed Abdou, Ilangko Subramaniam
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/1/62218%20210185%202%20PB%20The%20Translation%20of%20Speech%20Acts%20in%20Arabic%20Legal%20Documents.pdf
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author Khalaf, Camellia
Moindjie, Mohamed Abdou
Ilangko Subramaniam,
author_facet Khalaf, Camellia
Moindjie, Mohamed Abdou
Ilangko Subramaniam,
author_sort Khalaf, Camellia
collection UKM
description This study deals with the translation of speech acts in legal documents from Arabic into English. It aims at describing the translatability of speech acts to determine whether there are meaning loss or meaning gain and the reasons behind that. In doing so, the study follows Searle’s speech acts concept and taxonomy since Searle’s taxonomy is based on the illocutionary force of the speech act. Being a qualitative study, samples of translated divorce contracts have been collected from Palestinian sworn translators and translation certified offices. Speech acts have been identified, categorized, and analyzed based on Searle taxonomy. Then, the translation of the speech acts is analyzed in terms of the meaning of the illocutionary force of the different speech acts. The study has revealed that the illocutionary force is conveyed completely in some cases. In other cases, it is affected by the translators’ choices in using active voices instead of passive voices, present perfect and simple past instead of simple present, mistranslation of some verbs expressing directive force, probability modals instead of prohibition modals, style shift from direct speech into indirect speech, and omission of introducing verbs of speech act force. It is concluded that both sematic and pragmatic norms should be taken into consideration in translating speech acts of legal documents, which optimize Arabic - English legal translation.
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spelling ukm.eprints-218402023-07-10T07:06:54Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/ The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts Khalaf, Camellia Moindjie, Mohamed Abdou Ilangko Subramaniam, This study deals with the translation of speech acts in legal documents from Arabic into English. It aims at describing the translatability of speech acts to determine whether there are meaning loss or meaning gain and the reasons behind that. In doing so, the study follows Searle’s speech acts concept and taxonomy since Searle’s taxonomy is based on the illocutionary force of the speech act. Being a qualitative study, samples of translated divorce contracts have been collected from Palestinian sworn translators and translation certified offices. Speech acts have been identified, categorized, and analyzed based on Searle taxonomy. Then, the translation of the speech acts is analyzed in terms of the meaning of the illocutionary force of the different speech acts. The study has revealed that the illocutionary force is conveyed completely in some cases. In other cases, it is affected by the translators’ choices in using active voices instead of passive voices, present perfect and simple past instead of simple present, mistranslation of some verbs expressing directive force, probability modals instead of prohibition modals, style shift from direct speech into indirect speech, and omission of introducing verbs of speech act force. It is concluded that both sematic and pragmatic norms should be taken into consideration in translating speech acts of legal documents, which optimize Arabic - English legal translation. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/1/62218%20210185%202%20PB%20The%20Translation%20of%20Speech%20Acts%20in%20Arabic%20Legal%20Documents.pdf Khalaf, Camellia and Moindjie, Mohamed Abdou and Ilangko Subramaniam, (2023) The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts. e-Bangi Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 20 (2). pp. 188-197. ISSN 1823-884x https://ejournal.ukm.my/ebangi/index
spellingShingle Khalaf, Camellia
Moindjie, Mohamed Abdou
Ilangko Subramaniam,
The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts
title The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts
title_full The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts
title_fullStr The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts
title_full_unstemmed The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts
title_short The translation of speech acts in Arabic legal documents: a case study of Palestine divorce contracts
title_sort translation of speech acts in arabic legal documents a case study of palestine divorce contracts
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/1/62218%20210185%202%20PB%20The%20Translation%20of%20Speech%20Acts%20in%20Arabic%20Legal%20Documents.pdf
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