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...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2023
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/1/62218%20210185%202%20PB%20The%20Translation%20of%20Speech%20Acts%20in%20Arabic%20Legal%20Documents.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848815450402586624 |
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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 |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| 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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:50:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:21840 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:50:10Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org: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/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/21840/1/62218%20210185%202%20PB%20The%20Translation%20of%20Speech%20Acts%20in%20Arabic%20Legal%20Documents.pdf |