An Investigation of the Translation Strategies Used for Emphasis in the Qur’an

Abstract

This thesis investigates the translation strategies employed in English translations of the Qur’an to render Arabic single, double, and triple emphasis, conveyed through emphatic particles and/or independent pronouns, into English. The study aims to systematically examine how these three types of emphasis are translated, particularly given that the translation of multiple emphasisers has received limited scholarly attention and emphatic particles pose significant challenges in translation. Moreover, previous research has primarily focused on lexical emphasisers rather than on broader strategies used to convey emphasis. The research adopts a descriptive approach through qualitative text analysis of Qur’anic examples featuring the three types of emphasis, along with their corresponding eight English translations. It employs the theoretical frameworks of al- Zarkashī (1344–1392 CE) for Arabic emphasis, and Quirk et al. (1972/1985) and Taglicht (1984) for English emphasis. Each Qur’anic example is analysed in terms of the emphasiser/s, type and function of emphasis, while the translations are examined for the strategies employed and the extent to which the function of the original emphasis is preserved. For each emphasis type, the qualitative analysis is followed by quantitative analysis, which presents the number of emphasis variations observed and the frequency of the strategies applied. The analysis reveals a notable inconsistency in the treatment of each type of emphasis across the selected translations. With regard to translation strategies, the findings indicate that omission of emphasisers is the predominant strategy in the examined Qur’anic examples. The most frequently employed strategy for conveying emphasis is the direct translation strategy (lexical emphasis), followed by the structural emphasis strategy. Other strategies identified include typographical emphasis, in-text glosses, repetition, and the use of footnotes. This research contributes to the field of Translation Studies by proposing a model, adapted from Elimam (2023) and informed by the analysis of successful renditions, that outlines translation strategies suitable for rendering single, double, and triple emphasis from Arabic into English.