Ambiguity in Literary Translation: A Semantic Approach of “Ibn Arabi's Small Death” by Mohamed Hasan Alwan

Abstract

The study focuses on semantic ambiguity in translating “Mawt Sa8er” موت صغير by Mohamed Hasan Alwan (2016) translated by William M. Hutchins (2022) into ‘Ibn Arabi's Small Death”. The study adopts connotation and denotation as the theoretical framework for the analysis using Newmark’s (1988) division of ambiguity in translation into seven types: grammatical, lexical, pragmatic, cultural, idiolectal, referential, and metaphorical. The study attempts to utilize the challenges of ambiguity faced by the translator and to what extent he/she manages to overcome them. This study looks into ambiguity by defining its sources and types, and translation decision-making patterns as well as trying to answer the following research questions: How the translator overcomes the challenges of language ambiguity in the source text? To what extent he/she manages to deliver the cultural context of the ST to the target audience? The study points out the ambiguity intended by the author and how the translator deals with it to convey the same stylistic effect.