Textualizing Propositions Through The Nexus of Translation Between Arabic and English

Languages differ in the way in which they organize their texts as every language has its own stylistic conventions and preferences as regards certain textual patterns, i.e. cohesive devices, thematic patterns and parallel structures. As such, how would translators handle such textual mismatches? The present paper aims to show through the discussion of authentic literary excerpts that textual aspects, including reference, repetition, and conjunction need special attention when translating between Arabic and English. In particular, textual preferences involving referential vs. lexical elements, lexical repetition vs. pronominal reference, parataxis vs. hypotaxis and finite vs. non-finite clauses will be shown to affect the textualization of propositions between the two languages. Data analysis shows that textual mismatches relating to reference, repetition and conjunction need to be given undivided attention by the translators. These textual mismatches between the interfacing languages require the translators, after having taken into account the demands of genre, text type and desired level of naturalness vs. accuracy, to strike a balance between the textual constraints imposed on them and the selection of the most appropriate local strategy.