Abstract
This paper investigates the trends in translating cohesive devices while subtitling English-speaking films into Arabic through examining a corpus of 20 films. It looks at how translators deal in particular with substitution and ellipsis and how their approaches serve the cohesiveness of the subtitles. The paper also looks at the translation shifts resulting from those approaches. The study is based on Halliday and Hasan's model of cohesion (1976). The analysis has found a considerable number of shifts occurring while dealing with the cohesion of the target texts. Repetition stands to be the most dominant cohesive tie that is used as a counterpart of substitution and ellipsis in the English originals, making explicitation the main strategy in translating such ties in Arabic subtitles. Substitution comes second while ellipsis and reference are found to be marginal. In their tendency to avoid ellipsis, translators opt for repetition or substitution as cohesive devices in Arabic subtitles.
Highlights
Cohesion refers to the overt inter-sentential relationships and it occurs when the text is connected together by means of linguistic and semantic markers
It provides an analysis of examples of substitution and ellipsis in the source text (ST) and the way translators deal with these cohesive devices in the target text (TT)
The main research questions are: how have substitution and ellipsis been changed in Arabic subtitling?; what are the translation strategies employed by translators in dealing with these two cohesive devices?; and what are the main trends of translating substitution and ellipsis in Arabic subtitling?
Summary
Cohesion refers to the overt inter-sentential relationships and it occurs when the text is connected together by means of linguistic and semantic markers. According to Halliday and Hasan, cohesion is a semantic relation realized through the lexicogrammatical system Their approach to cohesion is based greatly on the concept of tie. According to their model, cohesion is a relation that occurs between two lexical items referred to as members. Cohesion is a relation that occurs between two lexical items referred to as members This leads to the conclusion of the intricacy of cohesion, as any sentence may have more than one tie and the presupposed item can be identified through an immediate cohesive element. By investigating cohesion in subtitling, the study attempts to contribute to a less-researched area of audiovisual translation It provides an analysis of examples of substitution and ellipsis in the source text (ST) and the way translators deal with these cohesive devices in the target text (TT). The main research questions are: how have substitution and ellipsis been changed in Arabic subtitling?; what are the translation strategies employed by translators in dealing with these two cohesive devices?; and what are the main trends of translating substitution and ellipsis in Arabic subtitling?
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