The Translation of Iltifat Verses: An Analysis of Translation Ideology
Mohamad Zaka Al Farisi
Department of Arabic Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia
zaka@upi.edu
Keywords: Person deixis, translation ideology, iltifat.
Abstract: The Holy Qur’an has iltifat (reference switching) stylistics containing the transition of a person deixis
to another person deixis that refers to the same entity. This kind of stylistics becomes a specific issue
in translation because it has the potential to present an unacceptable translation. This research is
oriented towards translation as a cognitive product with content analysis design. The research data was
chosen purposively in the form of Qur’anic verses containing the variation of person deixis transition
in iltifat stylistics and their translations. The findings of the study report that the translations of the
verses in the UMT’s translation are oriented to TL (target language) such as transposition,
amplification, linguistic amplification, reduction, etc. This means that the UMT’s translation has a
strong domestication tendency in handling the iltifat verses.
1 INTRODUCTION
The word deixis, etymologically, is derived from the
Greek, deiktikos, which means to show or to point
out or to indicate (see Huang, 2014). Later, the term
is used to refer to a word that has alternate
references, depending on when or where the word is
spoken. Deixis is a universal linguistic phenomenon.
Every language has a unique deixis system. This
happens because every language has its own rules
with diverse cultural backgrounds. This distinction
has certainly created a separate issue in translation.
It can be said that a precise understanding of the
deixis of a language in some way determines the
success of the translator in understanding a text.
In Arabic, words such as
(he),
(you),
(me), and the like are deictic because the references
can be alternated. For example, the reference
(he)
contained in the sentence (He is a dean) can
be known certainty once it is known who, where,
and when the sentence is spoken. He refers to John
if it is John; he refers to Rudy if the sentence rferes
to Rudy; and so on. Thus, the reference of a deictic
word can be identified, among other things, by
looking at the situation of speech.
Second person deixis (you) in Arabic, for
example, can produce various counterparts in the
Indonesian language. For example the sentence
, among others can be translated (1) Apa yang
kamu baca? (What do you read); (2) Apa yang Anda
baca? (What do you [more polite] read); (3) Apa
yang Bapak baca? (What do mister read). The verb
(read) covers second person deixis (you).
However, the realization of the translation in
Indonesian may vary, depending on the position of
the spokesperson. If the speech partner has a power
continuum (see Eggins, 2004) equal to the speaker,
then kamu (you) is the proper diction; if the speech
partner is a newly known speaker, anda
(you, more
polite form) is more proper; if the speech partner is
higher than the speaker, Bapak (Sir) is certainly
more appropriate. The choice of the word Bapak in
the example (3) occurs because of the consideration
of the modesty maxim with the social deixis aspec.
According to Huang (2014), there are generally
three categories of deixis. One of them is person
deixis that is associated with the understanding of
the partner of speech about the category of person or
role assignment in a speech event. The person
category is then classified into first person, second
person, and third person. In Arabic, there are 14
person deixis that are grouped according to the
aspect of the genders ( ); numerals ()
including single (), dual (), and plural ();
and syntactic functions ( ). Based on its
syntactic function, the person deixis is divided into
three categories: (1) , the person
deixis that occupies the accusative position, (2)
, that occupies the nominative position, (3)
, that occupies a genitive position
because of idlafat –is coupled with a noun, and (4)
260
Farisi, M.
The Translation of Iltifat Verses: An Analysis of Translation Ideology.
DOI: 10.5220/0007165602600265
In Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference
on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017) - Literacy, Culture, and Technology in Language Pedagogy and Use, pages 260-265
ISBN: 978-989-758-332-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
, that occupies a genitive position due
to the existence of certain prepositions.
The categorization of person deixis in some
levels helps the translator in identifying the
reference of a person deixis. The person deixis ,
for example, refers to third person, female, singular,
and occupies a nominative syntactic function;
refers to second person, female, singular, and
occupies a nominative syntactic function; refers
to first person, male/female, plural, and occupies a
nominative syntactic function; and so on.
Each language has its own uniqueness because
of the existence of cultural concepts (see Al
Farisi, 2017). The language of the Qur’an is
unique and is characterized by many language
styles. One of the stylistics of the Qur’an is the
existence of iltifat. The realization of iltifat in the
Qur’an can be the transition of a person deixis to
another person deixis occurring in one or more
verses of the Qur’an in which these two persons
deixis refer to the same entity. Normally, the
person deixis shift in iltifat has a specific purpose.
According to Al-Badani et al. (2015a), the
transition from a third to a first person deixis in
the Qur’an presents a pragmatic glorification.
Mirdehghan et al. (2012) report that the use of
iltifat in the Qur’an aims to present exaggeration,
reproach, reminding majesty and power,
upbraiding, and annunciation.
In translation, the shift of a person deixis
element in an iltifat verse is a complex issue, not
only for target audience but also for translator
(see Al-Badani et al., 2015b). The complexity is
due to the existence of two different persons
deixis referring to the same entity in one or more
verses of the Qur’an. Yusuf Ali, the translator of
The Holy Quran, for example, ignores the
reference shift that occurs in the translation of the
iltifat verses (Al-Badani et al., 2014). Yusuf Ali
translates the person deixis element in the iltifat
verses by using literal technique. The abundance
of literal technique often results inadequate
translations because of the differences of SL and
TL, both in language and cultural aspects. Hence,
translations of iltifat verses must fulfill aspects of
accuracy, clarity, and naturalness (Larson, 1984).
1.1 Iltifat Stylistics in the Qur’an
One of the style, which directly or indirectly,
influences a translator’s point of view in
understanding the Quran messages is iltifat. Among
the Arabs, iltifat is nothing new. Many Arabic poets,
both classical and contemporary, use the iltifat in
their works. A classical Arabic poet, Umruul Qais,
for example, relies heavily on the use of iltifat in his
poetry.
In the tradition of Arabic literature, iltifat is
seen as a style that has a literary value. It is even
seen as the courage of the Arabs in speaking (see
Al-Atsir, n.d.: 4). This is due to the emotional
rhyme categorization of risk, and therefore
potentially cause misunderstanding in the
utterance. Not surprisingly, the Qur’an also
contains many verses with iltifat style. The
realization of the Qur’an style is among others in
the form of shifting from a person deixis to
another’s person deixis. These two persons deixis
commonly refer to a same entity that is already
mentioned in the verse. The shift of person deixis
in the iltifat verses must have a certain purpose.
The shifting of person deixis, for example from
first person deiksis to second person deixis or vice
versa, aims to attract reader attention or to
eliminate the saturation that might occur due to
the use of the same person deixis (Al-Akhdhari,
2013; Hidayat, 2009). According to Hubal (2015:
23-25), the iltifat style of the Qur’an generally
aims to beautify a speech by bringing shifts from
one speech style to another speech style. The
intention is, among others, to honor, to criticize,
or to attract interlocutor. Accordingly, the deixis
system in the iltifat is unique because it presents
two persons deixis that refer to one entity in a
speech with a particular aim and purpose.
Iltifat has certainly become a complex issue in
translation. Related to this, in facing a text, a
translator must ponder the following three questions:
(1) What does the SL text writer say? (2) What does
the SL text writer mean? (3) How did the SL text
writer reveal it? This implies that translating a text
does not simply transfer word for word from SL into
TL, but it also diverts the intention of the SL text
writer. For that purpose, a translator need to look at
the SL stylistics in conveying the writer’s messages.
It may be, for example, that the SL text writer
reveals his messages in iltifat.
2 RESEARCH METHOD
This study is a descriptive study with content
analysis design. It is oriented to translation as a
cognitive product. The focus of the study is on the
elements of the person deixis contained in the
Qur’anic verses. The translation unit revolves
around the levels of words, phrases, clauses, and
sentences contained in the iltifat verses along with
The Translation of Iltifat Verses: An Analysis of Translation Ideology
261
its translation in Al-Qur’anul Karim Tarjamah
Tafsiriyah by UMT (Ustad Muhammad Thalib) in
handling Qur’anic iltifat verses. The data was
collected based on the book Uslubul Iltifat fil
Balaghatil Qur’aniyyah and researcher’s
encyclopedic knowledge of the Qur’anic iltifat
verses. The sampling was done purposively based
on the criteria of the verses that contain the shift
from a person deixis to another person deixis. The
object of research is related to the translation
ideology tendency of Al-Qur’anul Karim
Tarjamah Tafsiriyah.
3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1 Tendency of Translation Ideology
The term translation techniques refers to practical
steps in handling translation units on a micro-
level, whether in words, phrases, clauses, or
sentences. In practice, the handling of a
translation unit may require more than one
translation technique. Therefore, sometimes,
translators use a couplet procedure that combines
two translation techniques, a triplet that combines
three translation techniques, and a quartet that
combines four translation techniques at once. On
the translations of the iltifat verses, the UMT’s
translation exposes various translation techniques
in various translation procedures. The following
table shows the various translation techniques
used in the UMT’s translation of the iltifat verses.
Table 1: The Use of Translation Techniques.
Nr
Translation
Techniques
Freq
Translation
Ideology
1
SL Orientation
1. Literal
2. Borrowing
138
16
Total 154
Percent (%) 38.2 Foreigniza-
tion
2
TL Orientation
1. Transposition
2. Amplification
3. Linguistic
amplification
3. Reduction
4. Modulation
6. Generalization
7. Particularization
64
54
48
47
22
10
4
Total 249
Percent
(
%
)
61.8
D
omestica-tion
In a translation process, the proper use of
translation techniques is intended, for example, to
present the correspondence of the translated texts
and the source text. The problem is, as Osimo
(2013) says, presenting comparability often leaves
the issue to (un)translatability. The
(un)translatability is repeated with the problem of
ease and luxury that often occurs in translation. In
translation, there is a ‘mandate’ that must be
conveyed (read: translated) to the target reader.
The occurrence of discrepancies and luxuries may
be intended to present the subtlety and the textual
nature of the text (see Al Farisi, 2017b).
The issue of (un)translatability is common
because of different lingual and cultural aspects
present in SL and TL, including those related to
style in the SL that do not have equivalent in the
TL. The (un)translatability dictates the difference
parameters of two languages and cultures for a
certain period of time and in a certain point of
view. Therefore, the main problem in translation
is the difficulty of bringing SL and TL
equivalence on the micro level, either at the level
of words, phrases, clauses, or sentences.
If equivalence can be presented, every element
of language that has been aligned is still open to
bring up various interpretations. Therefore, once
again the process of matching is actually the main
activity in translation. It is in this connection that
Larson (in Esfandiari and Jamshid, 2012) says
that translating means (1) studying lexicon,
grammatical structure, communication situation,
and cultural context of the SL text; (2) analyzing
the SL text to find its meaning; (3) revealing the
equivalent meaning by using lexicon, grammatical
structure, and appropriate cultural context within
the TL.
Although SL and TL are different, the
universal nature of language and cultural
convergence allows the correspondence of bias to
materialize in translation. However, in the
practice of translation, bringing the equivalence of
the SL message in TL is not an easy matter. It is
often difficult for translators to find a
correspondingly acceptable equivalent in TL. The
difficulties of presenting correspondence are
reflected in the aspects of the gaps between SL
and TL, both in language and cultural dimensions.
In practice, gaps necessitate adjustment, while
adjustment requires a strategy that, among other
things, manifests in the application of various
translation techniques. According to Molina and
Albir (2002), translation techniques are the steps
applied to analyze and to classify the presence of
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
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correspondences in translated text. The
application of translation techniques must
naturally be logical, functional, and contextual,
since the application of translation techniques will
have an impact on the micro unit of a text and
translation result.
There is no doubt that the acceptability of
translation is, among other things, determined by
the translation techniques applied in dealing with
micro-translation units. The application of
translation techniques was conducted by
comparing the micro units of SL text and TL text.
Furthermore, Molina and Albir (2002) suggest
that translation techniques refer to “actual steps
taken by the translators in each textual unit”.
Thus, translation techniques can be interpreted as
the functional steps chosen in analyzing the
translation units, which further becomes the basis
for diverting SL messages into TL on a micro
level that includes words, phrases, clauses, or
sentences. Molina and Albir (2002) describe a
number of translation techniques: literal,
borrowing, generalization, particularization,
amplification, reduction, common equivalent,
linguistic amplification, linguistic compression,
transposition, modulation, description, adaptation,
compensation, substitution, discursive creation,
and variation techniques.
The table above shows that the UMT’s
translation used only two translation techniques
oriented to the SL, namely literal technique and
borrowing technique. Overall, the UMT’s
translation used the SL-oriented translation
techniques up to 154 times (38.2%). The use of
translation techniques that are oriented to the SL
with relatively significant frequency shows that
the translations of the iltifat verses in the UMT’s
translation relatively have equivalence to the
source text.
Interestingly, of the 16 borrowing techniques,
there are 13 naturalized borrowing techniques, in
which the borrowed words have been adjusted to
the phonotactic and morphotactic rules applicable
in Indonesian language. The remainder is three
pure borrowing techniques where the words are
borrowed in the translation have not been adjusted
to the applicable phonotactic and morphotactic
rules. For example, the word Masjidil Haram is
contained in the translation of Chapter Al-Isra’
[17] verse 1 should be written Masjidilharam (see
KBBI, 2016). The reason is that the word is a
bound form and is therefore written into a word,
Masjidilharam, not the Masjidil Haram.
From the table above it also appears that the
UMT’s translation mostly uses the TL-oriented
translation techniques, especially transposition
technique (64 times), amplification (54 times),
linguistic amplification (48 times), reduction (47
times), modulation (22 times), generalization (10
times), and particularization (4 times). Overall,
there are 249 the TL-oriented translation
techniques. This amounts to 61.8% of all
translation techniques used by the UMT’s
translation in translating the iltifat verses. The
number of the TL-oriented translation techniques
indicates that the UMT’s translation has a strong
domestication tendency in translating the iltifat
verses. Ni (n.d.) explains that the tendency of
domestication is related to the target-culture-oriented
translation. In practice, unusual expressions to the
target culture are usually turned into some familiar
ones in TL so that the translated text become easier
for target readers. This finding confirms that the
UMT’s translation, according to its name Al-
Qur’anul Karim Tarjamah Tafsiriyah, has an
interpretive tendency to translate the iltifat verses.
This tendency is characterized by the number of
additional linguistic elements in the TL, which are
not actual, in the SL as the realization of linguistic
amplification technique (48 times). In addition,
the use of transposition technique (64 times)
shows the number of shifts in TL, at the terms of
structure, category, and level.
In practice, the use of the TL-oriented
translation techniques such as transposition,
amplification, linguistic amplification, and
reduction can improve the acceptability of the
iltifat verses translations. The use of transposition
technique is done by making a shift in the terms
of category, level, or structure. The amplification
technique is performed by generating or
explicating linguistic elements implicitly
contained in the SL. The linguistic amplification
technique is performed by presenting additional
linguistic elements that are not actually contained
in the SL. The reduction technique is performed
by dissolving one or more linguistic elements
within TL (see Molina and Albir, 2002).
The abundance of transposition techniques
confirms that Arabic and Indonesian are different
in both language and culture, especially since the
two languages come from different language
families (Al Farisi, 2015). In addition to the depth
of the Qur’anic vocabulary meaning, Al-Ghazalli
(2012) reports that grammatical inequality often
leads to redundancy in the translation of Qur’anic
verses. To avoid the redundancy of translation,
The Translation of Iltifat Verses: An Analysis of Translation Ideology
263
the adjustment in the iltifat verses translation
becomes necessary. Therefore, the use of
transposition technique often becomes inevitable
in translation. In practice, the structural
differences between Arabic and Indonesian
necessitate a shift in grammatical categories and
syntactic functions. The use of transposition
technique is necessary, among others, to present
readers easy-to-understand translations (see
Molina and Albir, 2002). The transposition
technique is also required to avoid the
interference of the Arabic structure against
Indonesian.
According to Haleem (1992), there are
approximately 60 styles in the Qur’an containing
the transition from the third person deixis to the
second person deixis. This number may differ
from one expert to another. For example, there are
cross-references in the translation of the verse
illustrated in Chapter ‘Abasa [80] verses 1-3. In
these verses, according to the majority of
translators, there is a shift from the single third
person deixis (him) to the single second person
deixis (you) as follows.
It is known that in those verses cited above
there are verb (literal: he frowned) and
(literal: he turned) containing the person deixis
(he). The person deixis he then undergoes a shift
to the person deixis (you) as contained in the
phrase (literal: what makes you know).
The research findings show that the UMT’s
translation consider the Chapter ‘Abasa [80],
verses 1-3, in the iltifat stylistic corridor as shown
in the following translation.
Muhammad bermuka masam dan memalingkan
wajahnya, ketika ada seorang laki-laki buta
datang untuk menemuinya. Wahai Muhammad,
apakah engkau tahu maksud kedatangan laki-
laki buta itu? Barangkali dia datang dengan
hati bersih.
(Literal: Muhammad frowned and turned his
face, when a blind man came to meet him. O
Muhammad, do you know the purpose of the
coming of the blind man? Perhaps he came
with a clean heart.)
This means the person deixis contained in the
verbs and and the person deixis you
contained in the phrase refers to the same
person, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In the
UMT’s translation, the verb is translated by
using couplet procedure that combines
transposition and literal techniques.
The existence of linguistic element
Muhammad is the realization of transposition
technique, which leads to the shift of person
deixis (he) in the SL into the linguistic element
Muhammad in the TL, and the linguistic element
bermuka masam (frowned) is the realization of
literal technique in translating verb. The
existence of the linguistic element Muhammad in
translation is seen to facilitate the reader in
understanding the translation of the verse, because
the reader does not have to search for the
antecedent of the person deixis (he) contained
in the verb .
In the next verse, the phrase contains
person deixis (you) which syntactically serves
as maf’ul bih (object). However, the syntactic
function as object undergoes a shift into fa’il
(subject) in the TL. In this case, the shifting of the
structure occurs because of the use of
transposition technique in translating the phrase.
Translation readability is also reinforced by the
presence of additional linguistic element maksud
kedatangan laki-laki buta itu (the purpose of the
coming of the blind man), although the existence
of this linguistic element, as already mentioned in
the previous verse translations, causes the
translated text to be redundant. This additional
linguistic element is present in the translation as
the realization of linguistic amplification
technique.
4 CONCLUSION
Theoretically, the translation of the iltifat style
can be categorized as risky because the existence
of two persons deixis in one (series of) verse(s)
refers to a same entity. The use of literal
technique has a potential to cause
misunderstandings among readers. The UMT’s
translation has precisely been correct to translate
the elements of person deixis in these verses by
using the amplification and transposition
techniques. Handling the person deixis by using
the transposition technique creates a shifting in
function and category of syntax in translation.
Shifting of function and category of syntax is seen
to facilitate readers to understand the translation
of iltifat verses.
CONAPLIN and ICOLLITE 2017 - Tenth Conference on Applied Linguistics and the Second English Language Teaching and Technology
Conference in collaboration with the First International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education
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