Problems of Translating Definiteness and Indefiniteness from Russian Into English and Arabic

Lubna M Khoshaba ,Marharyta Alsultan

doi:10.25212/lfu.qzj.6.3.37

Abstract

This research paper is devoted to studying of the definiteness and indefiniteness phenomenon in three genetically and structurally unrelated languages, namely: Russian, English and Arabic. No doubt, definiteness and indefiniteness have been studied by different grammarians in different languages. It is well-known that a noun phrase may contain an element to show definiteness and indefiniteness. This element is represented differently according to the language used. It can be lexical such as “the” or “a, an” in English, while in Arabic, a prefix “al” which expresses definiteness and a prefix (-n) expresses indefiniteness. This study aims at: (1) translating the definiteness and indefiniteness phenomenon from Russian into English and Arabic to find out the areas of similarity and difference between the languages in question, (2) attempting to arriving at solutions for the problems of translating the articles in question from Russian into the languages under discussion in case of existing differences. The present study hypothesizes that definiteness and indefiniteness in Russian, English and Arabic languages are language-universal, but in very few cases, are language-specific, definite and indefinite articles exist in Russian and English languages, whereas definite article exists, but the indefinite article is represented by (nunation) "التنوين" in Arabic

Highlights

The phenomenon of definiteness/indefiniteness is a conceptual category that exists in any language
Kobozeva notes that “In the Russian language, the category of definiteness/indefiniteness is not grammatical, the pronouns can serve as actualizers of the corresponding reference statuses”
In English, for instance, the indefinite article may indicate a rhyme in the sentence, thereby showing what word order is needed when translating

Summary

Introduction

The phenomenon of definiteness/indefiniteness is a conceptual category that exists in any language It serves to give a noun a shade of certainty/uncertainty using various linguistic (article, pronouns, word order, numbers, etc.) and non-linguistic (facial expressions, gestures) means. This element is represented differently according to the language used It can be lexical such as “the” or “a, an” in English, while in Arabic, a prefix “al” expresses definiteness and a prefix (-n) expresses indefiniteness. Kobozeva notes that “In the Russian language, the category of definiteness/indefiniteness is not grammatical, the pronouns can serve as actualizers of the corresponding reference statuses” In English, for instance, the indefinite article may indicate a rhyme in the sentence, thereby showing what word order is needed when translating. In modern Russian, the category of definiteness/indefiniteness is expressed by a whole complex of interacting means belonging to different language levels. It can be used with mass nouns and plural countable nouns for example, some milk, houses etc. (Al-Sualimaan & Alsinjari, 2018:1078)

Definiteness and Indefiniteness in Arabic

Translation

Data Analysis

Conclusions