An-Najah National University Faculty of Graduate Studies The Strategy of Omission & its Significance in the Translation of Barghouti's “I Saw Ramallah” By Fatima Sameeh Hamed Abu Ghannam Supervisor Dr. Ekrema Shehab This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Master Degree of Applied Linguistics and Translation, Faculty of Graduate Studies, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine. 2019 iii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my superheroes mom and dad To my guardian angel.. my husband Khaldun To the greatest gift I‟ve ever gotten .. my daughter Reem To the backbone of my family .. my brothers Mohammad & Anas To the loveliest twins in the world .. my uncle & aunt Adel & Insaf To the ultimate supporter .. my aunt Iman To my beloved sister Anwaar Bani Shamseh. iv Acknowledgments In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful First and foremost, I would like to thank God Almighty for granting me the power, ability, and opportunity to undertake this study. Without God, nothing would be possible. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Dr. Ekrema, for the continuous support, for his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all levels of research and writing of my thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor. Last but not least, I should express my sincere appreciation to my parents, my husband, my brothers, my uncle Adel and my aunts Iman & Insaf, and my sister Anwaar for providing me with constant support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. I also acknowledge the support of my friends who have supported me throughout the period of writing this thesis. Thank you. vi Table of Contents Page Subject iii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Declaration vi Table of Contents viii List of Figures & Tables ix Abstract Chapter One: Introduction 1 1.1 Background 4 1.2 Statement of the Problem 5 1.3 Purpose of the Study 7 1.4 Questions of the study 7 1.5 Methodology 8 1.6 layout Chapter Two: Literature Review and Theoretical Origin 10 2.1 Translating Arabic literature into a European Language 10 2.2 Autobiography as a special case of literary texts 14 2.3 Autobiography Development in the Palestinian Literature 17 2.4 Palestinian Literature in the light of Postcolonialism and Orientalism 22 2.5 The Impact of the Nakba of 1948 and Exile on the Palestinian Literature 28 2.6 Understanding the Text Draws the Lines of its Translation 30 2.7 Repetition between Arabic & English 30 2.7.1 Repetition in Arabic 33 2.7.2 Repetition in English 34 2.7.3 Repetition Functions in English and Arabic Languages. 36 2.8 Translation Strategies in I Saw Ramallah 37 2.9 Omission in translation 39 2.10 The Difference between Omission and Deletion as Strategies in Literary Translation 44 Chapter Three: Methodology vii Page Subject Chapter Four: Data Analysis 47 4.1 Introduction 48 4.2 Data Analysis 48 4.2.1 Cases that entail deletion or omission in literary and informative texts 50 4.2.2 Data classification 54 4.2.3 Deletion due to Repetition 54 4.2.3.1 Word-Level Morphological Repetition 54 4.2.3.1.1 Root Repetition 55 4.2.3.1.1.1. Absolute accusative Repetition 56 4.2.3.1.2 Pattern Repetition 60 4.2.3.1.3 Suffix Repetition 61 4.2.3.2 Word-Level Lexical Repetition 62 4.2.3.2.1 Lexical Item Repetition 62 4.2.3.2.2 Couplet repetition/ lexical doublet 63 3.2.3.3 Above-word level deletion ‟paraphrase‟ 66 4.2.4 Deleting descriptions and details 72 4.2.5 Deleted\Omitted Content with Traces of Colonialism 96 4.2.6 Omission/Deletion of cultural content Chapter Five: Conclusions and Recommendations 109 5.1 Conclusions 112 5.2 Recommendations 114 References انًهخص ب viii List of Figures Figure No. Title Page Figure (2.1) Categories of omission 41 Figure (2.2) Categories of deletion 43 Figure (4.1) Reasons for omissio 44 Figure (4.2) Domestication v.s Foreignisation 79 ix The Strategy of Omission & its Significance in the Translation of Barghouti's “I Saw Ramallah” By Fatima Sameeh Hamed Abu Ghannam Supervisor Dr. Ekrema Shehab Abstract This study examines the controversial strategies applied in translating I Saw Ramallah into English. These strategies are omission and deletion, which were applied widely and repeatedly in translating I Saw Ramallah into English without a particular pattern. The data is gathered from the original Arabic autobiographical book I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti (2011), along with the English version translated by Ahdaf Soueif (2000) and forwarded by Edward W.Said. This is a comparative, contrastive, descriptive, and analytical study; it compares and contrasts the two books, describing omission and deletion strategies and analyzing them. The study analyzes the omitted and deleted content in the translated version and embraces it under four categories: Deletion due to Repetition (morphological and lexical), deleting descriptions and details, omission\deletion of content with traces of colonialism, and omission\deletion of cultural content. It also accounts for the colonial context of I Saw Ramallah and its impact on the translation of the book in terms of the deleted and omitted text. The study concludes that due consideration should be given to the concept of fidelity in translating I Saw Ramallah, and a lot of deletion and omission instances should be x reconsidered, taking into account that I Saw Ramallah is a non-fiction autobiographical text narrating the real story of Palestinians. Moreover, the novel is rich with traces of colonialism and resistance, and unfortunately, a considerable part of these instances of colonialism are disregarded via unjustified deletion and omission. Finally, the study maintains that Palestine-peculiar terms, whether they are related to the Palestinian cause or the Palestinian cultural heritage, have to be transliterated and added to the glossary. 1 Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Background Translation is very essential in various domains of life, as it proved its efficiency in a wide range of fields such as politics, science, education, literature, and many others. Moreover, translation is the only way of communication between people who speak different languages and do not have a lingua franca; it is a key factor of bridging the gap between all countries and making the world a tiny one. Translation is a complicated process, and “[a]ll translation remains a craft requiring a trained skill, continually renewed linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge and a deal of flair and imagination, as well as intelligence and above all common sense” (Newmark,1981, p.53). By the same token, literary texts are good representatives of their nations and countries; they are full of cultural aspects, values, ways of thinking, daily habits, feelings, names of places, religion and much more. They are characterized by unique language, expressive function, suggestive power, form, and timelessness and placelessness (Muslat, 2012, pp.43-45). Therefore, translating them should reflect all their specifications and characteristics. Thus, Hassan (2011) says that "literary translation must reflect the imaginative, intellectual and intuitive writing of the author. In fact, literature is distinguished by its aesthetics", which makes the task of translating literary texts a lot harder than the other types of translation. (p.2) http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/efficiency 2 The translation of Literary works has never been an easy task. It is very creative, and it takes much effort to produce a text of the same quality as the original. It involves employing the appropriate strategies to deal with a text, which targets a specific audience, and reproduces it in another language, challenging all obstacles and ending up with a text, which targets a totally different audience with a totally different background. All this requires creativity and applying the proper translation strategy for each situation as the “translator's basic job is to translate and then, if he finds his translation inadequate, to help the reader to move a little nearer to the meaning" (Newmark, 1988, p.101). However, needless to say that the full meaning “or significance whether of a word, sentence or text, can hardly ever be transferred”. (Newmark, 1981, p.68) Not to mention that it is very essential to account for the message and try to deliver it as it is, or at least as close as possible–taking in consideration how hard this task is. I Saw Ramallah is a very sensitive book, therefore, it should be translated carefully and creatively. The translator is like a messenger; s/he delivers a message from one language to another and from the writer of the original text to an audience different from his/her target audience. Besides, rendering the message is a very heavy burden for the translator, as it is “not simple or direct”, “but diffused through every part of the text”. (Newmark, 1981, p.69) I Saw Ramallah is an autobiographical book, in which Barghouti narrates his own life; he is the narrator and the protagonist of the book that 3 represents the lives of hundreds of thousands if not millions of Palestinians. It talks about Barghouti‟s return to Palestine after thirty years of exile, which represents a variety of mixed emotions full of happiness, sorrow, sadness, indignation, astonishment, and many others. It also narrates Barghouti‟s story of being forcibly far away from his wife Redwa, an Egyptian novelist- and his son Tamim who is an excellent poet nowadays- for 17 years due to political reasons. The book represents as well the suffering of all Palestinians with no Palestinian IDs or passports, who are always subject to sudden death and unexplainable disappearance. The book is significant as it clarifies the reality of what is happening in Palestine. Thus, it carries a deep crucial message for the whole world to help it understand the real case of Palestine. I Saw Ramallah is a very important narrative that represents a challenge for translators – especially non-Palestinians, which makes it pivotal for researchers to study and navigate. Omission and deletion strategies are the core of this study. Both strategies mean neglecting some content of the source text, whether lexically or semantically, and choosing not to deliver it, or part of it, to the target language due to specific considerations and purposes. These strategies are like a double-edged sword in that opting for them could be very useful, or it could deprive the source text of important content. The fact that translation is never a prescribed process, but rather a described one, in which various factors – be it personal or non-personal- determine 4 the overall product of translation, means that it is dependent upon the translator and his\her decisions. Translation entails decision-making from the beginning until the end, in which those decisions are built upon the way the translator digests the text and how his/her personal experience, linguistic experience, and many more factors interact to come up with a particular translation that would differ from another translator‟s translation. However, although omission and deletion should be the last resort for the translator, they would be a life-saver in certain contexts, for the translation product to be of high quality. Apparently, omission and deletion were applied heavily in the translation of I Saw Ramallah on various levels and for various purposes as it will be shown later. Thus, this study is to shed light on the omitted and deleted instances and to elucidate the reasons behind opting for those strategies, as well as clarifying whether omission or deletion was justified or not in each case. It is worth mentioning that this study does not underestimate Soueif‟s translation, but it is an analytical study that attempts to examine why some omissions and deletions in the translation of I Saw Ramallah are considered justified while others are not. 1.2 Statement of the problem In literary texts, every word matters. However, sometimes the translator would have to omit a word or even a sentence – most probably for cultural clashes, or due to the absence of the equivalence or the 5 principle\object in the target language\culture - but omission should be the last resort for the translator to opt for, after exhausting all other possible options. The problem is that in the English version of I Saw Ramallah, Soueif omitted and deleted words, sentences, and even paragraphs – which carry their own meanings, connotations, and messages- repeatedly. On the other hand, some content that is injected with important colonial and resistance aspects is deleted, and some crucial Palestinian- cause-specific terms are omitted too. Moreover, I Saw Ramallah is rich with cultural context and cultural terms that were treated differently in the translation of the book; Soueif has omitted some essential cultural terms that represent the Palestinian cultural heritage. Accordingly, this study will cite the omitted and deleted cases and will shed light on, examine and analyze the omitted and deleted parts, to figure out the reason behind each case, and the degree in which omission or deletion is justified or not, supported by evidence when possible. 1.3 Purpose of the Study The colonial context of I Saw Ramallah places it in a sensitive situation, especially that the book is an autobiographical, non-fiction literature. The book is heavily injected with historical events, culture, traces 6 of colonialism, and overwhelming emotions. However, This study aims at demonstrating the importance of some omitted and deleted parts, to prove the eligibility of preserving them via translation. On the other hand, some omissions and deletions proposed by the translator will be examined to explain and defend their deletion. An attempt has also been made to place the text in its colonial context to analyze it in depth , taking into consideration the overall message of the original book to serve the Palestinian cause and to spread the real story of what is happening in Palestine and break the image of an emotionless Palestinian, which is portrayed via the media. The study also aims at investigating the loss, which occurred in meaning, message and connotations when omission and deletion were applied, as well as clarifying the cases in which omission and deletion are preferred and justified in I Saw Ramallah. In addition, the factors that affect the need to apply or to avoid omission and translation are to be explored. Moreover, this study aims at improving the translation of I Saw Ramallah, with due consideration to the fact that Soueif did a great job in translating the book. A better translation could be provided, as there is never a perfect translation, especially when it comes to narratives. The study seeks to be a reference to guide translators –especially trainers- when they should apply the strategies of omission and deletion properly and when to avoid them. Finally, it aims to map the road for 7 translators who intend to translate any Palestinian literary text in the light of its peculiar context, especially in dealing with culture-specific terms, content with traces of colonialism or resistance, and repetitive content. 1.4 Questions of the study This study seeks answers to the following questions: 1. What are the losses that occurred in the meaning and the message when omission and deletion are applied? 2. What are the cases in which omission and deletion are preferred and justified in the I Saw Ramallah? 3. What are the factors that affect the justification of omission and deletion in I Saw Ramallah? 4. How does the unique situation of the Palestinian cause influence the way I Saw Ramallah should be translated? 5. How does colonialism affect the translator‟s choice of translation strategies? 6. What is the right way to deal with culture-specific terms in a Palestinian autobiographical text? 1.5 Methodology This is a descriptive analytical study of omission and deletion cases in the translation of I Saw Ramallah by Barghouti into English. It examines 8 fourty-three extracts from the Arabic original version and the English version – translated by Ahdaf Soueif - of I Saw Ramallah. These examples are classified based on the level of omission or deletion, as well as the category they belong to, and they are put in a table for ease of reference. Finally, suggested translations -proposed by the researcher- will be provided for some omitted or deleted cases that account for the peculiar context of I Saw Ramallah. 1.6 Layout This thesis is divided into four main chapters. The main focus is concerned with the two controversial strategies Soueif employed in translating I Saw Ramallah into English, namely omission and deletion. The first chapter is mainly introductory and grants the readers a glance of the study and enables them to have a preliminary conceptualization of the whole study with its underpinning concepts and arguments. More specifically, it introduces the whole study, states the problems, the purpose of the study, the aims intended to achieve, the main questions and the methodology adopted. The second chapter is primarily concerned with previous scholarly works related to the areas of the study. The third chapter is all about the methodology adopted in this research, alongside with the collected data. 9 The fourth chapter is the core of the study, and it presents the analysis of the sample. The data is classified into four main categories and put in a table for convenience‟s sake. A detailed discussion and deep analysis of the examples are given, and translations are suggested accordingly. Chapter five, the last one, is mainly about the findings, the conclusions, and the recommendations. 10 Chapter Two Literature Review 2.1 Translating Arabic literature into a European Language In her study entitled Cultural Consistency in Literary Translation of the Novel Awlaadu Haaratena, Daraghmeh (2016) found out that translating the Arabic literature into European languages proved that transferring literary texts from a culture into another is “a highly politicized activity, which touches not only on historical, political, and cultural relations but also on sensitive issues of cultural identifications and self-representation” (p.92). In our case, the translator is an Egyptian, which means that she has a different cultural background of the original author. It is undeniable that this difference led to some misrepresentations of some content that is injected with cultural and colonial aspects. The misrepresentation of such content is highlighted in this research in the field of omission or deletion supported by the needed justifications and evidence. 2.2 Autobiography as a special case of literary texts To begin with, the Cambridge dictionary defines autobiography as “a book about a person's life, written by that person” (www.dictionary. cambridge.org). The non-fiction state of autobiography made it controversial to embrace it under literature or other genres like history. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/book https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/life https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/person 11 However, “[m]ost theoreticians classify autobiography as literary non- fiction” (Singh, 2015, p.76), and Olney (1980) states that autobiography is “a kind of stepchild of history and literature, with neither of those disciplines granting it full recognition” (Wallach, 2006, p.446). In this study, the view that considers autobiography a literary text is adopted. Lejeune defines autobiography, cited in Linda Anderson‟s Autobiography (2001:2), as: A retrospective prose narrative produced by a real person concerning his own existence, focusing on his individual life, in particular on the development of his personality. Anderson (2001) stated that this definition was not satisfying for Lejeune because it did not distinguish clearly between autobiography and the other close genres such as biography and fiction (p.2). Nevertheless, the definition introduced four features that should exist in any autobiography in terms of “the form of language, the subject treated, the situation of the author and the position of the narrator” (Wille, 2014, para.10). By way of explanation, firstly, the form of language in an autobiography must be “narrative in prose” (ibid., para 10). Secondly, the subject treated is to be “the writer‟s individual life” (ibid). Thirdly, the situation of the author is that the name of the author and the name of the narrator should be the same. Finally, the position of the narrator is that the narrator is identical to the principal character, and the narrative is carried out from a retrospective point of view” (ibid., para 10). Moreover, Lejeune introduced the term 12 “autobiographical pact”, referring to “a silent agreement between the writer and the reader” (ibid., para 10). Thus, the autobiographical pact is like an agreement between the writer and the reader, in which the author gives the protagonist his\her name, s/he affirms that the story is the “true version” of his\her life (Wille, 2014, para. 10). “The reader accepts the declaration and approaches the text with trust” (ibid, para 10). Likewise, Segenbrecht (1998) “points to the expectations of the reader as a vital factor in research into autobiography” (Wille, 2014, para. 9), in which the reader of an autobiography takes the fact that the author is the narrator for granted, “even if actually the writer has styled, modified or possibly distorted their own history” (ibid., para 9). Autobiography is a kind of literary texts that should be dealt with carefully and differently, as it represents a true story of the author, in which every event and every word is important. In this case, the translator should pay good attention to the concept of fidelity to the original text, thus should employ convenient strategies to deliver a high quality accurate and faithful target text. By the same token, Lejeune observes that autobiographies mainly “focus on the private world of the autobiographical subject, revealing aspects of experience – thoughts, beliefs, and emotions – that are typically inaccessible for anyone other than the experiencer”(Marshall, 2013, p.41), which is a crucial point “when considering translation” (ibid). 13 Autobiography is a mine of emotions, identity, and cultural values and aspects, which maximizes the burden and the challenge for the translator. In autobiographies, the concept of fidelity-according to Paul Eakin - is related to “its truth-value/referentiality” (Taylor, 2014, p.4), which distinguishes autobiographies from other genres of literature and makes it important. Autobiographies are referential in nature in terms of that they convey real information and stories that took place in the author‟s life. However, no matter how hard a translator would try to be faithful, certain changes would occur, as the translator‟s personal experience will interfere and many other factors as it will be explained later (See chapter 2) referring to more than a theory. Thus, Gadamer (1960/2004) argues that the translated text “cannot be simply a re-awakening of the original process in the author‟s mind” (Marshall, 2013, p.31); this is why “inevitable distance” (ibid) would result. Yet, in terms of literary translation, Newmark adds an important criterion,besides having a thorough knowledge in both languages and cultures to produce a good translation, which is “more dependent on the translator‟s empathy with the writer‟s thought than an affinity of language and culture” (Newmark, 1981, p.54). Consequently, the translator of an autobiography would have to translate the text as if s\he is the one who wrote it. S\he will use the first-person pronoun “I” in translation and tells the original author‟s story as though it was his\her. 14 2.3 Autobiography Development in the Palestinian Literature Before delving into details, it is important to point out the lack of resources and studies about the Palestinian autobiographies. Nada al-Shib (2006) maintains that the period between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century witnessed the end of the Ottoman empire that was defeated in the First World War. Before the Palestinian people took their breath, they were surprised by the British colonization that implemented the Balfour Declaration of the World Zionist Movement, to establish a state for the Jews in Palestine. Despite this harsh shock, Palestinians were influenced by the cultural and literary renaissance in the neighboring Arab countries, and Palestinian writers showed commendable efforts during that period. However, due to the socio-economic conditions that prevailed in Palestine during the interwar period, and the relatively small size of the readership, it was not possible to publish long texts. Thus, intellectuals resorted to the newspaper column, pamphlet, and letters to express their suffering. Therefore, these bitter political conditions played a prominent role in the lack of autobiographical material in Palestinian literature between the First World War and the Second World War. However, the feeling of injustice strengthened this trend among the Palestinian personalities after the Nakba of 1948. Some of the literary and political figures have written down their experiences and events that they came through, which contains 15 a fair amount of history of the Palestinian reality, which the Zionists worked on blurring its features. Despite the richness of historical authorship, the writing movement in Palestine has not received the attention, traceability, and fairness it deserves. The Zionist enemy aims at - except for the rape of the land and the displacement of the people- tampering with the cultural heritage, and put the hand on cultural holdings, and seek to prove their right in what they do not belong, by misleading, distorting historical facts, and blurring the features of the Palestinian Arab heritage and impersonation. After 1948, there was a strong tendency of the characters to record some live experiences, facts, and incidents. Politicians, thinkers, literates started writing their memoirs and biographies to document the suffering, injustice, and events. Thus, there is a good number of biographies and memoirs published after the Nakba in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. By taking a careful look at the Palestinian autobiographies, each author would have his\her own motivation to write an autobiography, but they meet with one main common motive, which is talking about the Israeli-settler colonialism and the subsequent repression and arbitrary practices. However, the most important topics in the Palestinian autobiography can be summarized as follows: 16 1- Talking about occupation, exile and return, politics, and resistance, by highlighting the personal suffering of the writer and his\her people. 2- Highlighting the struggle of Palestinian women and their struggle alongside men in the Palestinian cause. 3- The exposure of the popular heritage, which roots belonging and identity because the occupation tried to dominate our heritage and attributed a lot of it to himself. 4- The anxiety and psychological pressures experienced by the Palestinian people under conditions imposed by force. 5- Mentioning the Palestinian legends to affirm the rootedness of Palestinians. 6- The multiple displacements and the notion of return. 7- Providing a vision and critiquing the statuesque as they think of themselves as the proper custodian of the Palestinian narrative Moreover, Palestinian autobiographers did not try to portray themselves as if they were talking about a hero who never makes a mistake. The Palestinian autobiographers were realistic in their dealings with the events and positions they underwent. They are human beings, they may make mistakes, they may fall, and they may love and hate. Besides, an important phenomenon that draws attention to several Palestinian 17 autobiographies is that narrators quote their poems or some traditional poems in their autobiographies. The Palestinian autobiographies are distinguished from other biographies in their uniqueness by talking about the general Palestinian concern, in addition to the concerns of the writer himself. There is hardly any Palestinian autobiography that does not talk about the occupation in all its aspects like injustice, suffering, and persecution. Alongside with what Palestinians are exposed to including oppression, destruction of the place, and ruthless displacement (see Nada Al Shib 2006). To sum up, the Palestinian autobiographies represent a documentation of historical events, and details of the occupation with all the resulted sufferings, resistance, heroic stands of Palestinians, traditions, culture... etc. This is why more concern should be paid upon this important genre of the Palestinian Literary heritage. 2.4 Palestinian Literature in the light of Postcolonialism and Orientalism Discussions about Palestine cannot be separated from its current condition being under occupation. Thus, Palestinian literature, in general, should be examined under the impact of colonialism, as the Palestinian issue “is one of the most important (if not the most important) ongoing anti-colonial struggles in our world today” (Hamdi, 2017, p.10). It is for granted for the Palestinian literature to include aspects of colonization and 18 resistance in numerous ways, as Palestine is still under occupation, and Palestinians‟ suffering is manifested in many forms whether they are inside or compulsorily outside Palestine. Examining Palestinian literature in the light of postcolonialism is an important matter, which was disregarded until recently. According to Hamdi (2017: 7): This theoretical silence on Palestine was, in fact, preceded by a historical, political, geographical, social and cultural contestation of all forms of Palestinian spaces that include not only dispossessing Palestinians of their land, but also building apartheid walls, destroying hundreds of thousands of olive trees, appropriating/stealing traditional Palestinian dishes and clothes, silencing Palestinian narratives and the Muslim call to prayer. Thus, a postcolonial study of the Palestinian literature is vital to stand for this silence, as it aims mainly to “expose and challenge colonial discourse, colonisation, and the violence perpetrated against colonised people” (Hamdi, 2017, p.10). Orientalism – on the other hand – shares a similar aim with postcolonialism in which it “attempts to examine and analyse the aftermath of colonization; that of restoring the identity of the Independent oriental nations by removing misconceptions about the orientals” (Praveen V., 2016, p.471). This kind of study will deliver the Palestinian message and reveal its real situation for the west to understand the Palestinian cause and neglect the false image that they have about the 19 orient in general, and Palestine in particular, which resulted from Orientalism. Orientalism is “a style of thought based upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between "the Orient" and (most of the time) "the Occident"” (Said, 1979, p.2). Besides, “Oriental is as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said, 1979, p.3). Orientalism is a weapon that was employed to justify colonialism over the east (orient), in portraying them as “primitive, uncivilized "other'” (Hamadi, 2014, p.1), in order for the west to be contrasted as superiors and civilized. Said‟s claim cited in Hamadi (2014) is that “such discourse has been used either in preparation to military campaigns and colonialism against the Orient, or as a justification for the occupations and horrors that accompany them” (p.1). Translators should take advantage of their job as messengers to break the typical stereotyped image the west has of the east. Tymoczko and Gentzler‟s (2002) claim cited in Chew and Richards (2010) is that “translators as much as politicians are key participants in the making and shaping of knowledge and culture” (p.84). This could be achieved by refusing to neglect and omit any content that reveals the real situation, cultural heritage, and identity elements in the text to be translated. That is because “cultures, histories, values, and languages of the Oriental peoples have been ignored and even distorted by the colonialists” (Hamadi, 2014, p.40). 20 By the same token, Gentzler (2002) explains that: Postcolonial translation does not mean some sort of return to an essentialist, precolonial state; rather, it involves complex encounters with new situations, and contemporary translators are increasingly open to mixing textures, beliefs, materials, and languages . . . hybrid sites of new meaning open up; new borders are encountered and crossed, often with surprisingly creative results (cited in Chew and Richards, 2010, p.94). That is exactly the case of I Saw Ramallah, which describes encounters that are unusual to the author – and even to the readers, that led to inventing a creative text of a great effect. Consequently, studying I Saw Ramallah cannot be decontextualized, as colonialism plays a vital role in writing it in the first place. It is the reason for preventing Barghouti from going back to Palestine for 30 years, which urged him to write the book. Moreover, colonialism has a great impact on the life of the author and his family as well, which is implicated in the whole book. Thus, a postcolonial study is crucial for the text as it aims at “breaking the silence on any kind of injustice” (Hamadi, 2014, p.13). Barghouti‟s statement discussing I Saw Ramallah, cited in Bernard‟s (2013) Rhetorics of Belonging: Nation, Relation, and Israel/Palestine (2013), which shows the impact of colonialism is that “[t]he Occupation has created generations of us that have to adore an unknown beloved: 21 distant, difficult, surrounded by guards, by walls, by nuclear missiles, by sheer terror” (p.72). Furthermore, there is a sense of resistance against occupation in the book, though the author does not take a manifest political stand, it appears in emotions, descriptions of people, buildings, roads, and many other things. According to Hamdi (2011), the Palestinian “personal stories, which would together constitute an archive of the Palestinian experience” (p.32) are vital in being “a challenge to the erasure of the memory of an entire nation‟” (ibid). She goes further and cites Akash‟s argument that “the survival of the Palestinian people is at stake, not simply their physical existence but even more importantly, their „sense of survival‟” (ibid). Such narratives represent a documentation for the Palestinian culture, history, and traditions, thus, it is very important to be fully rendered to the target language and culture to stand for any attempt to attribute them to the Zionist state. This is a heavy burden for the translators of such texts, but it is their duty at the same time. “[T]he ultimate goal of the Zionist state is obviously to silence and erase all Palestinian spaces” (Hamdi, 2017, p.21), which is very dangerous as silencing in this case embraces the “appropriation of the food and folk traditions of the Palestinian people” (Hamdi, 2017, p.21). This kind of practice is obvious in attributing many of our traditions to them such as dabka, Hummus and falafel, and many others, in order to “create for itself roots in” (Hamdi, 2017, p.21) Palestine. 22 Hamdi (2017:21) cited the statement of the editor of the Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah that: [T]hese appropriation efforts have targeted hummus, falafel, olive oil and knafeh. Even peasant dancing, or dabke has been marketed as „Israeli folk dancing‟. The traditional Palestinian woman‟s dress, the intricately embroidered thobe and the Palestinian man‟s headdress called keffiyeh, shemagh or hattah are undergoing a similar appropriation effort. It is a clear explanation for the “Zionist state‟s systematic policies of silencing the Palestinian narrative in Palestine and beyond” (Hamdi, 2017, p.21). Consequently, translating Palestinian literature is to be dealt with carefully, different from translating literature in general, because it represents the Palestinian cause, the resistance of colonization, the rootedness of Palestinians, and most importantly, the originality of the Palestinian nation manifested in their culture, identity, and traditions. That is why omission in such texts should not occur without due consideration to its probable contribution to the Palestinian cause. 2.5 The Impact of the Nakba of 1948 and Exile on the Palestinian Literature Al-Nakba, i.e. (The Catastrophe), refers to the war that occurred in 1948, which led to the “mass exodus of at least 750,000 Arabs from Palestine” (interactive.aljazeera.com). However, Nakba and its after-effects “did not end in 1948. The ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine is still 23 happening, and so too is Palestinian resistance”(ibid). Thus, there are other kinds of Palestinian displacement, “deportation and sometimes voluntary exile are still taking place due to the continuing occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the deteriorating political, social and economic situations of the Palestinians living in Gaza Strip, the West Bank and even in [the so called] Israel” (Saleh, 2013, para. 2). Nakba was a turning point in the lives of Palestinians and the Palestinian literature as well. The disastrous events starting with Nakba and beyond lead to the exile of a huge number of Palestinians. Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations cited the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) results of 2017, in which the exiled Palestinians were 8.49 million with a percent of 66.8% of Palestinians, which is the largest refugee-number in the whole world (www.alzaytouna.net). Nevertheless, whether Palestinians in Palestine or the diaspora, they are obliged, by virtue of their Palestinian identity, to live a life dominated by events and circumstances stemming from their rejection to lose their homeland. Besides, it should also be borne in mind that, despite these limits imposed on the Palestinian writers in terms of subjects, there is a precious material of literature in the current situation of the Palestinian crisis. The Palestinian Nakba carries many incidents that can turn into a tragic vision on the one hand, and a heroic vision on the other for resistance, hope, and belief in the eventual victory of justice. (Jayyusi, n.d.). Thus, exile became a general and common motif of writing for Palestinian writers, and “[t]here have been an innumerable number of writers that have represented the great https://en.qantara.de/authors/fakhri-saleh http://www.alzaytouna.net/ 24 impact of these events” (Korel, 2013, p.17), in which Palestinians represented “the exile or the diasporic creature in the contemporary world par excellence” (Saleh, 2013, para. 7). The Palestinian literature is of a special condition that makes it different from other types of literature. First of all, the Palestinian- literature‟s “affiliation is national rather than territorial” (Amit-Kochavi, 2000, p.53). Besides, literature, in general, is “territory-bound” by nature; that is, any literature named after its place is the one that is produced there. For example, Lebanese literature is the one written in Lebanon by a Lebanese and so on. However, the case differs when it comes to the Palestinian literature after Nakba, which Elad-Bouskila, cited in Amit- Kochavi (2000), states that it is "a literature written by Palestinians" (ibid, p.53) regardless of “their place of residence” (ibid, p.53), because of “the harsh historical and political circumstances that forced the Palestinians away from their land” (ibid p.53). In terms of exile, Dascalu‟s explanation, cited in Korel‟s research (2013: 11-12), is that: The exile lives in a foreign country, a culture that is not his or her own, one that is alien, „other‟. The exile‟s existence, therefore, is underpinned constantly by a sense of his or her geographical displacement. To fit in with the dominant culture, the exile most often appropriates expectations that are alien; the exile assimilates the roles and expectations of “the Other(s)” among whom they find themselves. In this process, the exiled displace who they are. 25 Furthermore, Mansson‟s statement cited in Hamzah (2015), concerning exilic literature is that it “may constitute a strategy for regaining something that has been lost, because exile involves first becoming detached from one‟s place and then a feeling of estrangement” (para. 2). In the exilic Palestinian literature, “words function as an ultimate means to preserve the lost home/land, the Palestinian identity in collective mind and memory”(Taha and Seigneurie, 2007, as cited in Hamzah, 2016, p.258). That makes it harder for the translator to deal with such texts. The catastrophic Palestinian situation has not ended yet; the Palestinians‟ right to return has not accomplished yet, and the effect of Nakba is still there. Consequently, “the relevance of narratives of al-Nakba continues to increase” (Saloul, 2009, p.2). Moreover, in his conclusion, Hamzah (2015: 264) characterizes the way exile was employed as a motif in the Palestinians writings as follows: The speaking ego is the collective self, and therefore the speaker in the text is the conscience of the group. The lexicon which the poets use is of a sensory nature, perhaps as compensation for the state of loss which they experience. This means that the poets use external phenomena as a means for expressing their own internal state. We note the use of accompanying motifs such as yearning for place and family, and a feeling of being away from home. By the same token, there is a new generation of exiled Palestinian writers who have not witnessed Nakba, but they are suffering from its 26 consequences. They are exposed to it through their parents‟ experiences and memories. This generation has also written and is still writing about exile and Palestine. Hirsch (n.d) proposed the term „postmemory‟ to account for such a phenomenon that is concerned with "the response of the second generation to the trauma of the first" (Uebel, 2014, p.11). Nevertheless, Uebel applied the term to the Palestinian situation; she argues that it is applicable on the generation who their parents have witnessed Nakba (1948) and Naksa (1967) “wherein the lived experiences of survivors would be passed on as memories to successive generations of Palestinians” (Uebel, 2014, p.12). The concentration is on the generation who lived outside Palestine, thus their “construct identities that are reliant upon inherited narratives, thereby preserving past tenets of Palestinian identity in a contemporary context” (ibid). Uebel (2014) sheds light on Tamim Barghouti and his father Mourid as an example of the „postmemory‟ generation in which Tamim is part of it. She argues that she chose them “to illustrate the implications of transgenerational transmission of trauma on the preservation of pre-Naksa "Palestinian identity" and the memory of mid-century Palestine” (Uebel, 2014, p.15). Likewise, Edward Said states that “every Palestinian today is therefore in an unusual position of knowing that there was once a Palestine and yet seeing that place with a new name, people, and identity that deny Palestine altogether" (Soueif, 2000, p.viii). 27 Mourid Barghouti passed his experience, memories, and passion to his son Tamim, who, in turn, carried the burden of the Palestinian cause, and tried to convey it in his writings. Tamim became a poet, following the leads of his parents; he “served… as the poetic voice of a generation” (Uebel, 2014, p.17). Tamim wrote the well-known poet “In Jerusalem”, in which he shares the theme of “confounding a larger, more symbolic return to the "roots" of his inherited memories” (ibid, p.17, 19) with his father. His writings, like his father, have a recurrent motif of “exile and displacement” (ibid, p.19). Uebel (2014) compares the writings of the father and the son in which she finds out that “Tamim's role as an influential contemporary Palestinian poet -serves in some ways to preserve the memory of his father's "Palestine," and in other ways to redefine it” (ibid, p.19). She also found out that Tamim “relies on the language of his father's poetics at the same time that it reconsiders the reality of contemporary encounters with Palestine by examining the homeland as more than a memory” (ibid, p.19). However, the writings of those „postmemory‟ generations are collective rather than individual. In other words, “the poetic "I" in Palestinian postmemory narratives is situated symbolically within a more collective "we": "The connotations of this '"we" may shift from one poem to another, thus widening the boundaries of collective identity" (Fadda Conrey 2007, as cited in Uebel, 2014, p.25). Likewise, most of Tamim‟s poetics “represent a more communal "cultural autobiography"(ibid, p.25) that are in the core of the Palestinians‟ experience, “and thusly purporting a new version of the Palestinian identity 28 which is perhaps more keen than ever before to acknowledge a collective- dimension to the Palestinian experience” (ibid). All the previous is proof that the impact of the nakba and exile is ongoing as long as Palestine is under occupation. It passes through generations, and it appears in literature as a means of expressing and preserving the Palestinian identity with all its aspects. 2.6 Understanding the Text Draws the Lines of its Translation A single text would be translated differently if translated by different translators, as every translator digests the text – especially literary texts - on his/her way. This affects their way of perceiving and understanding the text – thus determining which is important and which is not- and consequently influences the choice of strategies to apply. Two theories concentrate on understanding the text: The Hermeneutic Motion, and Deconstruction theory. Starting with the Hermeneutic Motion, Steiner argues that translation process goes through four stages, namely; Initiative trust, Aggression, Incorporation, and Compensation (Munday, 2001, p.165). In brief, the first stage is about believing that there‟s something worthy of translating in the ST. Aggression is about extracting meaning from the text based on the translator‟s understanding. This stage is the basis of any strategy and method that would be applied. Incorporation is taking the meaning extracted from the ST in the previous stage into the TL; in this 29 stage, there would be some struggle between the source and target language and culture. Then comes the Compensation in which a balance is required to resolve the struggle that occurred in Incorporation (Munday, 2001, p.165). All the factors – be it interior or personal and exterior or impersonal- which influence translation play a vital role in this stage, they all interact to determine translation path to achieve the balance between the ST & TC and the TT & TC. Thus, every translator looks at the text from a different angle – as the personal experience varies- this is why decisions in every phase of translation differ between translators, as translation process is a decision-making process. Hestetun argues that “according to hermeneutic interpretation, all reading stages an encounter with a “textual Other,” and this “textual Other” is known to the reader only as it is inserted into the reader‟s own horizon of interpretation” (Shands, 2008, p.44-45). In other words, the reader reads the text as understood by the translator. Likewise, in Deconstruction theory, a “deconstructionist begins textual analysis by assuming that a text has multiple interpretations and that a text allows itself to be reread and thus reinterpreted countless times”(E.Bressler, 2011, p.116). The translator is a reader of the text to be translated, s\he should deconstruct (understand) it first, then start translating it. Both theories in addition to many other factors assure that understanding the source text is the essence and the base of translation, 30 which helps differentiate translators and the quality of their translations in addition to other factors that affect translation in general. 2.7 Repetition between Arabic & English In nature, repetition is a binary form that is manifested in the night and day, sunrise sunset, and quadruple in the succession of the four seasons. Repetition is therefore everywhere and at all levels where nature follows a regenerated path from where it began in cycles of varying degrees (Al-Jaaf, 2012). However, in terms of literature, repetition is an aesthetic device that is used for multiple purposes that differ between Arabic and English languages. Nonetheless, “repetition is not often welcome in translation even if repetitions are highly effective in literary pieces” (Marbout, 2010, p.24). Thus, it is worth mentioning that one of the main reasons for applying omission and deletion in translating I Saw Ramallah was to avoid repetition that frequently occurred in the Arabic version. Therefore, it would be useful to explain how repetition functions in both languages. 2.7.1 Repetition in Arabic: Repetition is one of the most important forms of emphasis in Arabic, in addition to being a vital tool that is employed to understand any literary text. However, repetition is of two sides: one is repeating the word itself with its meaning, while the other is repeating the meaning without the word. For example, when you say „faster faster‟, you repeat the word and 31 its meaning, but when you say „obey me and do not rebel‟, in which obedience is not to rebel, you repeat the meaning without repeating the same word (Al-Jaaf, 2012). In the matter of translation, Hassan (2011) states that “[t]he translator has to determine the function of the repetition and find the functional equivalence in the TL” (p.7), affirming that repetition is to be preserved. However, Hassan (2011) classified repetition into two main categories (morphological & lexical), in which each has more subcategories. Starting briefly with the subcategories of the morphological repetition manifested in pattern, root, and suffix repetition. Pattern repetition It “involves repetition of the same pattern ( يفؼهخ-يفؼٕل-فبػم-فؼم )” (Hassan, 2014, p.56) in two or more adjacent words. According to Hassan, it happens regularly in the Arabic language “without any particular stylistic significance” (ibid) for example: انًكزت انصغٛش انمذٚى Root repetition It is repeating “the same morphological root in close proximity in a text. It is a stylistic feature which can be compensated in the TT” (Hassan, 2014, p.56). For example: كزجُذ ْزا انكزبة Another example is using the absolute accusative, which functions as an emphasis: ً ظشثزّ ظشثبً يجشزب 32 Suffix Repetition It is the least important repetition, which involves repeating “the same suffix at the end of words in close proximity” (Hassan, 2014, p.57). An example of this kind of repetition is: (ibid) "أسض انُجٕءاد ٔانشعبالد ٔانخشافبد ٔانًخبثشاد" This suffix-repetition functions as an emphatic tool. On the other hand, lexical repetition embraces two subcategories, namely lexical repetition, and lexical doublet or couplet repetition. Lexical Repetition This type is widespread in Arabic. It is a stylistic device as well as a “text-building device contributing to the cohesion of the text” (Hassan, 2014, p.57). For example” كهٓب زٕاس انثمبفبد، أٔ زٕاس انسعبساد، أٔ زٕاس األدٚبٌ .(ibid) ”ػُبٍٔٚ نًٕظٕع ٔازذ Lexical-doublet/couplet repetition It is a kind of pattern repetition, in which words of the same pattern – related in meaning - are connected with wa (and) used together. It is similar to collocation in the English language, which means: “(T)he combination of words formed when two or more words are often used together in a way that sounds correct” (dictionary.cambridge.org). It sounds correct to people who have spoken the language all their lives, but https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/combination https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/form https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sound https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/correct https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/people https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/spoken https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/language https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/their https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/lives 33 they may not seem appropriate to the target audience when translated together into their language. For example: (انسغت ٔانُغت) or (انصسخ ٔانؼبفٛخ). This kind of repetition is not “a structure in contemporary English writing as it once was” (Johnstone,1991, p.37), except for some idiomatic couplets. Consequently, it may be deleted when translated into English. It is of vital importance to note that Hassan‟s above classification is adopted in the data analysis chapter, in classifying the instances of deletion that were due to repetition. However, it is beneficial for this study to go through repetition in the English language after having discussed it in the Arabic language. 2.7.2 Repetition in English Repetition is not preferred in the English language, and that is why it is less common than it is in Arabic. Haiman (1995) argues that English “prefers not to use repetition too much or that it favours non-repetition. So, instead of using repetition, English opts to use variation” (Haiman, 1995, as cited in Najjar, 2014, p.12). Likewise, Williams claims that “English tries to avoid repetition while Arabic tends to employ it more” (ibid). Nonetheless, it is used in English sometimes as a cohesive device, especially in literary texts. Furthermore, repetition is classified into many categories by different scholars. The simplest one is done by Klaudy and Karoly (2000), cited in Najjar (2014), who argue that it has two forms: 34 Cohesive content: It includes the repetition of words, sentences, or phrases repeated in the same way. Information Content: In this case, repetition occurs “by using synonyms, hyponyms, superordinates, opposites, and metonyms” (Najjar, 2014, p. 14). 2.7.3 Repetition Functions in English and Arabic Languages. By the same token, repetition has different functions in both Arabic and English languages. Let‟s start with the Arabic language in which repetition is an important cohesive rhetorical device. Many scholars investigated its numerous functions, which shall be summarized starting with Koch (1981), cited in Najjar (20140, who argues that “[r]epetition is shown to provide far more than ornamental intensification in Arabic prose; rather, it is the key to the linguistic cohesion of the text and to the rhetorical effectiveness” (p.20). She goes further and argues that the Arabic language employs repetition heavily as it helps in developing and organizing the text (Najjar, 2014, p.21). Another role of repetition is what she calls “presentation”, which means asserting a certain idea or point of view (ibid). Moreover, Labidi (1992) argues that repetition has two main functions in Arabic discourse, namely linguistic and rhetorical. The linguistic function is manifested in providing a cohesive and coherent text, while the rhetorical one is that repetition is an important tool of “persuasion, assertion, assurance and emphasis” (Najjar, 2014, p.21). 35 An important scholar, Al-Khafaji (2005), summarizes the role of repetition in the Arabic discourse in six main functions in that it is a “playful, didactic, artistic, emotional, rhetorical, and textual” tool (Najjar, 2014, p.21). Al-Jabr (1987) adds exaggeration as a function of repetition (ibid). Similarly, Abdulall (2001) talks about a crucial role of repetition, which is the “persuasive and emotional effects” (ibid), and ElShiyab suggests the “musical effect”(Najjar, 2014, p.22) in addition to the previous. According to Jawad (2009), repetition has two functions, “textual and rhetorical” (Najjar, 2014, p.22). He goes further and states that the textual function is exemplified in connecting the text together “at the surface level” (ibid). The rhetorical function, on the other hand, is to equip the text with the “expressive meaning” (ibid). On the other hand, repetition has certain functions in English, although it is not preferred in English compared to Arabic. Yet, it is still used functionally, especially in literary texts. Summing up the main functions stated by many scholars is very useful for this research, to be able to distinguish between the justified omissions and deletions on the one hand and the unjustified ones on the other. Ben-Ari (1998) argues that repetition in literature has a “generic function” (Najjar, 2014, p.24), which means it acts “as thematic, musical, and symbolic device” (ibid). Tannen (2007) states that repetition has “a stylistic function as it makes literary texts sound like everyday situations” 36 (ibid). Leech (1969) describes repetition as a “device of intensification” (ibid), and Leech and Short (1988) say that repetition provides “emphasis or emotive heightening to the repeated meaning” (ibid). Furthermore, Hoey (1991) states repetition‟s function as a tool for connecting adjacent and separate sentences (Najjar, 2014, p.24). Halliday and Hassan (1976) explain that repetition can be used to express denial or rejection (Najjar, 2014, p.24,25). 2.8 Translation Strategies in I Saw Ramallah In her study entitled “Analysis of the Translation Strategies of Barghouti‟s Autobiography I Saw Ramallah, Shamasneh (2016) examined the way Soueif translated I Saw Ramallah, especially concerning “figurative language (metaphors and metonymy) and cultural bound expressions” (p.9). She employed a quantitative methodology with an “analytical and descriptive approach” (p.45) to figure out the strategies applied in the field under examination. In terms of metaphorical expression, Shamasneh (2016) found out that Soueif “tends to reproduce the same image in the TL” (p.89) in her translation, while “she replaces the image in the ST with a standard one in the TT which doesn‟t conflict in the TTC” (ibid).Moreover, Shamasneh (2016) argues that Soueif applied the semantic strategy mostly in dealing with metonymic expressions by “replacing the ST metonymy with the same TT metonymy” (ibid, p.89), while offering the “pragmatic equivalence” to some of them “to keep the sense and meaning of the ST” (ibid, p89). 37 Finally, culture-specific terms in I Saw Ramallah were translated by more than a strategy, including semantic and pragmatic equivalence, idiomatic translation strategy, cultural substitution and omission, in which “the significance of the ST in some examples” were preserved while in others were lost (ibid, p89). On the other hand, Shamasneh (2016) sheds light on the vital factors to affect translating autobiographies from Arabic into English. The cultural factors were on top of those factors, and “the themes, thoughts, beliefs, habits of the author of an autobiography” (p.91), as well as “figurative terms and cultural-bound expressions” (ibid). 2.9 Omission in translation Omission is defined as simply “deleting something from the TL which exists in the SL while describing it as the most obvious form of translation loss” (Dickins et al., p.23). There are many cases in which omission is a good or even a needed strategy to opt for, such as extra information or repetition -especially in text types in which repetition is not preferred like informative texts. Another case that obliges opting for omission is taboos – be it social, religious, or cultural. Not to mention that omission becomes necessary as Baker suggests in cases of “non- equivalence problems at and above the word level” (An Du, 2015, p.119). By the same token, Davies sees omission as an effective strategy to deal with the “untranslatable elements such as metalinguistic references or 38 context-specific or culture-specific contents; the content that is unacceptable to or leaves negative effects on the way it is received by the TL audience” (Hawamdeh, 2014, p.2), and the repeated or unneeded information. That happens a lot as translation is a process that occurs between two different languages and accordingly two different cultures. On the other hand, omission is an unfavorite and arguable strategy for some scholars. Nicholas von Wyle for example “demanded a total concordance, a matching of word to word, asserting that even errors must be transcribed and translated as they are an integral part of the original” (An Du, 2015, p.119). Thus, asserting the need to be faithful to the original, because the author inserts every word in his writing for a purpose; this is why everything should be delivered as possible. Other scholars like Delisle, Lee-Jahnke, and Cormier (2004) take a more strict perspective and define omission as “a translation error where the translator fails to render a necessary element of information from the source text in the target text” (An Du, 2015, p.119). Thus, adopting the same idea of fidelity to the original and neglecting omission in translation. Many scholars, like “Baker (1992), Nida (1964), Nida and Taber (1969) and Newmark (1988), are cautious about using the strategy of deletion” (Al-Daragi, 2016, p.68), because it may cause “negative effects or impact on the translation in terms of the meaning and the coherence of the text as part or as a whole” (ibid). 39 2.10 The Difference between Omission and Deletion as Strategies in Literary Translation The definition of omission in the Oxford dictionary is “[t]he action of excluding or leaving out someone or something” (oxforddictionaries. com). While the same dictionary defines deletion as “[t]he removal or obliteration of written or printed matter, especially by drawing a line through it” (ibid). It is notable that both terms are interrelated and similar to some extent. Thus, Ivacovoni‟s (2009) definition of omission as a translation strategy, cited in Sharma (2015), is “dropping a word or words from the SLT while doing translation” (p.6). Baker (1992), on the other hand, defined deletion as “omission of a lexical item due to grammatical or semantic patterns of the receptor language” (p.40). However, Al-Daragi (2016) makes an important distinction between the two terms, while pointing to the use of the “terms „deletion‟ and „omission‟ … interchangeably in a broad range of literature … without a clear distinction between them” (p.63). He argues that deletion “concerns actual textual or linguistic units that are deleted” (Al-Daragi, 2016, p.119), whilst omission is “the loss of meaning or semantic load of various aspects through the use of various translation procedures or strategies such as generalisation, standardisation, and transliteration” (ibid). He goes further and explains that deletion occurs “at the level of words, sentences, paragraphs and passages” (p.63). While he gives examples of omission, 40 such as “the rendering of characters‟ names, dialect, CSIs, and expressions in a general way or a way that is not how they are presented in the source text” (ibid., p.63), in which CSIs means culture-specific items. Al-Daragi (2016) cites Newmark, Vinay & Darbelnet, Toury and Nida to affirm that there are two levels of translation procedures, namely: the macro level and the micro level. He states that the micro level is concerned with “procedures that are carried out” (p.62) on “words, phrases and sentences” (ibid., p.62), while the macro level embraces the procedures that are carried out on “the whole text” (ibid., p.62). Thus, he places deletion and omission under micro-level procedures. In his study of omission and deletion in children literature, Al-Daragi (2016) cites the procedures embraced under each one of them. The following two figures, extracted from his research, show those procedures. Starting with figure 2.1, it clarifies the categories of omission including generalisation, transliteration, standardisation, omission of italics and capital letters, and direct discourse changed to commentary. 41 Figure (2.1): Categories of omission. In brief, generalisation means “to translate a term for a more general one” (Molina and Albir, 2002, p.500). Generalisation is embraced within domestication, in which it aims to “adapt the ST to the systems and norms” (Al-Daragi,2016, p.264) of the TT. However, applying this strategy has the consequence of losing the “associations and connotations or part of their meanings are not rendered in the TT” (ibid., p.264). An example from his study, of Harry Potter‟s translations into Arabic, is generalizing “large doughnut” into „ّغؼبي„(his food). Al-Daragi argues that there is an available equivalent in Arabic for the term, which is ( ّّلِيس كؼكخ ). While generalisation leads to a loss in meaning and connotations as “it fails to capture” (ibid., 272) the character‟s “strong appetite for food and particularly large sweets as presented” in the ST. Transliteration according to Wehmeier, McIntosh, Turnbull, & Ashby cited in Regmi et al. (2010) is “to write or describe 42 words or letters using letters of a different alphabet or language” (p.17). This strategy does not convey the meaning unless explained. Al-Daragi (2016) provides an example in transliterating the title of the newspaper „the Daily Prophet‟ that is translated as ( ثشٔفٛذ داٚهٙ ). However, “the allusion [to an existing newspaper (daily mail] and its gently humorous effect are lost” (p.70). On the other hand, omission of italics and capital letters is very clear in which the words in italic are not in the italic form in translation, while writing a word in capital letters in the source language is not in capital letters in the target language. Finally, the title of the strategy explains itself, which is direct discourse changed to commentary. Consider the following example extracted from the same study: ST „I‟ll announce dinner,‟ said Aunt Petunia. TT: َٕػٍ ثذء انؼؾبء بٛٔرؼهٍ ثز Back translation: and Petunia will announce dinner. (ibid, p.164) Al-Daragi (2016) argues that “[t]his change and shift alters the point of view of the text by reducing the character‟s dialogue or direct speech dialogue” (p.164). On the other hand, figure 2.2 shows the categories of deletion, which constitute “summarisation (large deletion), substitutions and economy (indirect deletion)” (Al-Daragi, 2016, p.131). 43 Figure (2.2): Categories of deletion. To illustrate more, summarisation is “actual textual or linguistic units that are deleted” (Al-Daragi, 2016, p. ix). Al-Daragi cites an example of a large paragraph that was reduced into a couple of lines in the TT (p.234- 235). However, Baker‟s explanation cited in Al-Daragi (2016) of Substitution is that “substitution‟ occurs when ST item/items is/are replaced by TT item/items” (p.118). He cites an example of replacing the word „Fawkes‟, an imaginary creature, in the ST into (ػُمبء), i.e. „Phoenix‟ in the TT, which leads to huge loss in semantics and connotations. Moreover, Al-Daragi (2016) cites Delisle to define economy as “concentrating or reducing elements in the TL text by using fewer words than the ST” (p.119), in which Al-Daragi considers an “indirect deletion” (p.136). An example is translating “three hundred and twenty per cent!” into „ ,ثزفٕق i.e. „with distinction‟ (ibid, p.170). It is important to note that the researcher will take advantage of employing this difference between omission and deletion, in general, in terms of deleting culture-specific terms. 44 Chapter Three Methodology In this study, as mentioned before, the researcher has adopted a descriptive analytical methodology. Collecting the data took almost ten weeks in which the sample is gathered via reading the Arabic and the English versions apart, then word by word and highlighting each deletion and omission case in both versions. Sample selection is based upon the researcher‟s judgment after studying about deletion and omission in translation alongside with their justifications. Not to mention that the insignificant deleted or omitted cases, according to the researcher‟s judgment, are not included, and the cases worthy of being studied and analyzed are the instances included in the research. Besides, the researcher intended to include both justified and unjustified omitted and deleted cases on a purpose in which the researcher tried to include some of the recurrent phenomena to be cleared. Moreover, a considerable number of the omitted and deleted cases were chosen upon their great importance for the text and most importantly, for the Palestinian cause. Thus, one of the primary references for analysis and supporting or disapproving the justification of deletion or omission is the Palestinian cause. In other words, if the omitted or deleted content would serve the Palestinian cause if preserved, it would be judged an unjustified deletion or omission. 45 The researcher found out that the deleted content alone of the Arabic version is about thirty-five pages, while the omitted content is difficult to measure as it represents the semantic loss. However, the sample included in this research is the most controversial and the most essential for the study, upon the researcher‟s judgment, after extensive research, and after reading both versions more than three times and reading about the author and his life and other writings. The researcher has noted that the data could be classified into four main categories with some subcategories embraced under some of them. Moreover, all the categories are examined under the word level and above word level. The four categories in brief are: deletion due to repetition, deleting descriptions and details, deleted\omitted content with traces of colonialism, and omission\deletion of cultural content. Starting with the first category,which is deletion due to repetition; it included examples of both justified and unjustified deletion in which the data is classified into two more subcategories namely morphological repetition and lexical repetition. The subcategory morphological repetition embraced three more subcategories that are root repetition, pattern repetition and suffix repetition. Finally the root repetition included one subcategory, which is the absolute accusative repetition. The second category, which is deleting descriptions and details, is discussed under above word level only, as the essential examples are manifested in the deletion of more than a word. 46 The third category, which is deleted\omitted content with traces of colonialism, examines crucial examples encapsulated with colonial aspects that are deleted. This category is of three pivots, which are Palestinian- cause-specific terms, colonial elements, and resistance manifistations. The last category, which is omission\deletion of cultural content, is concerned about three main pivots: the Palestinian-cause-specific terms, Palestinian cultural content, and Palestinian-village-peculiar cultural content. However, it is vital to note that Al-Daragi‟s differentiation between omission and deletion is adopted, in which the main distinctions are that deletion is concerned with the actual deletion of linguistic units of text, while omission is concerned with the semantic and meaning loss which occur when the strategies that undergo omission are employed such as generalization and standardization. 47 Chapter Four Data Analysis 4.1 Introduction In the process of translation, multiple strategies would arouse for the translator to apply, depending on the text itself, as well as the many factors that take place within the equation of translation. Some strategies would be controversial; others would have a consensus. However, opting for omission or deletion in certain contexts would be considered controversial, as it is agreed among translators that it is the last resort in translation. Bastin (1996) defines omission as “the elimination or reduction of part of the text, as one of the modes of adaptation” (An Du, 2015, p.120). Deciding to eliminate anything in translation should be based upon a strong justification, as it is inconsistent with the principle of fidelity. The controversiality of some omitted or deleted cases is emanating from the fact that they would be based on relative aspects, such as considering some information unimportant or unnecessary and therefore they are neglected. Another factor is the untranslatable words which is also a relative matter, for no word is completely untranslatable. Other cases may have a consensus opinion to be omitted or deleted like things that are considered taboos in the TL culture. However, omission and deletion occurred frequently in the English version of I Saw Ramallah, as it existed 48 in almost every page at the word level as well as above word level, and for different reasons. This chapter is discussed under four categories, namely deletion due to repetition, deleting descriptions and details, deletion and omission of content with traces of colonialism, and deletion and omission due to culture clash. An explanation for each case is provided along with a suggested translation for some unjustifiably omitted or deleted cases. Al-Daragi‟s differentiation between deletion and omission is also to be applied. 4.2 Data Analysis: 4.2.1 Cases that entail deletion or omission in literary and informative texts In literary texts, three main reasons would urge the translator to opt for omission or deletion strategies, as the figure below shows. Figure (4.1): Reasons for omission. 49 The first case is "untranslatable elements such as metalinguistic references or context-specific or culture-specific contents" (Hawamdeh, 2013, p.2). Likewise, Dickins (2000) states that "[c]ultural difference provides another area in which simple omission may be a reasonable strategy" (Dickins et al., 2000, as cited in Hassan, 2014, p.16). The second reason is issues that are considered taboos in the TL, in which omission or deletion “stands as a strategy where the translators may choose to eliminate the taboo nature of the source text by deleting taboo elements” (Kaya, 2015, p.30). The third case is when the information or the conveyed meaning is not important “enough to the development of the text to justify distracting the reader with lengthy explanations” (Baker, 1992, p.40). On the other hand, informative text is concerned with the “plain communication of facts” (Reiss, 1976, as cited in Darwish, 2018, p.150). However, if the text is to be considered informative, it should convey a piece of unexpected or unknown information (Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981, p.9). Thus, translating informative non-literary texts “should transmit the original information in full, but also without unnecessary redundancy” (ibid). We can infer that omission and deletion would occur on two main levels –for the text to be of high-quality, namely pointless repetition and unnecessary information. Starting with pointless repetition, it is considered a kind of wordiness in which “it can lead to demeaned importance and confusion. Whenever possible, you should focus on reducing wordiness in your writing” (Janovsky, n.d). Likewise, Newmark (1982) justifies deleting repetition in informational texts “provided it is not used for emphasis” (as 50 cited in Sharma, 2015, p.7). However, unnecessary information, including the known, expected and certain information, makes the text uninformative, in which “low informativity is likely to be disturbing, causing boredom or even rejection of the text” (Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981, p.9). Hence, unnecessary information is better to be deleted in informative texts. Remarkably, omission and deletion are not preferred strategies in literary texts, in which the aim is not merely conveying information. Newmark (1981) points out that "The translator has to account for every portion and aspect of cognitive and pragmatic sense in the SL text" (p.149). Therefore, omission and deletion should be the last resort, as "the strategy of omission effectively prevents target reader from having full access to the source text" (Bielsa and Bassnet, 2009, p.7,8). 4.2.2. Data classification Table (4.1) below is a classification of omission and deletion cases, and it will be a reference for analysis. The categories of omission and deletion and their level are shown in the table. 51 Table (4.1): Classification of omission and deletion cases Original sentence (ST) English translation (TT) No. Repetition Word Level اٌٜ. رؼشٙبأسال يؼُٗ نهشػؾخ انزٙ My tremor is meaningless now. 1 صيٛم أٔ َذ. ِؼبٍِخأػبيم رًٛى I treat Tamim as though he were a colleague or an equal. 2 ؟ الخئبً؟ يٕاغُبً؟ ظٛفبَ؟ ال أدس٘!ػبئذا ًصائشاً؟ A visitor? A refugee? A citizen? A guest? I do not know. 3 شائٛم ػهٗ انسشػ كهّ ٔػهٗ يغبزبد اعزٕنذ إع كجٛشح يٍ األساظٙ انًسٛطخ ثّ ٔثُذ انًغبكٍ ٔأزعشد انًغزٕغٍُٛ ٔاَزٓٗ األيش. ٚاٌّشافك Israel took over the wood and large tracts of the lands surrounding it. It built houses and brought in settlers. 4 ٚرزشىًأصبثؼٙ أزت انمصٛذح ْٔٙ رزخهك ثٍٛ صٕسح ثؼذ صٕسح. I love the poem as it forms under my fingers, image after image. 5 ٔيٍ سربثخ ثشد٘بػُذيب َززيش يٍ زّشْب ٔيٍ انجمبء فٛٓب غّٕٚلً، ػُذئز َكٌٕ لذ الزشثُب يُٓب زمّبً. when we grumble about the heat in Palestine and the dullness of staying there too long, then we will really have come close to it. 6 أخزد ألهجٓب ثسثبً ػٍ انمصٛذح. ٔ.. ٔخذرٓب! ... : "اػززاس إنٗ خُذ٘ ثؼٛذ"لص١ذحيشٚذ انجشغٕثٙ: and riffled through the pages looking for my poem and – I found it. Mourid Al-Barghouti: Apology to a Faraway Soldier 7 .ٚاٌٍذظخْٙ صيٍ خشاس انضٚذ انمبدو نهزٕ It is the time of the jar of olive oil that has arrived this minute. 8 Above-word level . نى ٚكذ لٍزٙبًإًٌٝاٌذاخً.ًٌٕفسٟال! لهزٓب رًزًخً. ٚغًؼٓب أزذ I said it in a whisper. Nobody heard it 9 ٚال٠ًسزأًً٘اإل٘زّبًَػًٍٝأٔ كؾخص ال لًٛخ نّ اإلطالق. Or as someone of absolutely no value. 10 Descriptions & Details Above-word Level دخهذ ساو هللا ثؼذ إٟٔٔ ٚصادًًِٓصؼٛثخًاألِش زهٕل انظّلو And I had arrived Ramallah after dark. 11 Deleted 12ًاٌؼبئذحًاًٌِٝصشًثؼذًأزٙبءًاٌّؤرّشًسوجٕبًاٌطبئشح ًِٓاٌذشجًإٌبجًُػًٓٔس١بًٟٔثؼضً جٕجبًٟٔوث١شاً ًاٌٛجًٖٛٚاألسّبء. Deleted 13 Deleted 14ًفٛجئذًثبٌّشٙذًاٌزًٞال٠ًُٕسٝ ًاإلث١ًٕٓ،إًٌٝأًْجبءًرٌهًا١ًٌَٛاٌش١٘تًاأل٠بًَِّشد 7690ًًدض٠شا5ًْ Deleted 15 ًآخش؟ًٚصِبًْآخشًِىبًْفًٟا٢ًْلجًً٘زاًلٍذًً٘ ًأسزؼ١ذًٌّٖبرا.ًسبثمب ًًلٍزًٗأًٚرٌهًوزجذًإًٟٔٔأروش ًأدسًٞالًا٢ْ؟ Deleted 16 ًث١زٙبًفًٟٚجٛدًٞإًٌٌٝإلٔزجبًٖاٌزفشؽًلشسدًٌمذ ًثًٌٟالدزفبءًاٌصبِزخًطش٠مزٙبًرٍهًوبٔذ Deleted 17 ًاٌفشاؽًسأ٠ذًراوشرًٟفًٟاٌّذفٛسًِٛضؼٙبًفٟ ًاٌفشاؽ٠ًشغً Deleted 18 52 Traces of Colonialism Word Level .اإلسرجبطخهغذ فٙ غشفخ I sit in the room. 19 . 1744ٙ ف إٌىجخٔأثُبء انًذٌ انعبئؼخ يُز and the sons of the cities that have been lost in 1948 20 .1744 ٔىجخفٙ In the disaster of 1948 21 زِ انجّلد؟فٙ ْ إٌىجخكى يْٕجخ اَكغشد يُز How many talents have been broken since ‟48 in these lands? 22 ُٛب " ًّ "ٔبصد١ٓٔصبس انؼبنى ٚغ They called us naziheen, the displaced ones 23 ؟ٚإٌبصد١ْٓٔم عأخشخّ يٍ عدّلد انّلخئٍٛ Shall I have him taken off the register of the Refugees and the Displaced? 24 ٔالؼٙ ٚاٌفذائ١١ٓٔاٌ دو انًُزفعٍٛ and that the blood of the freedom fighters and the young people of Intifada is also real. 25 فٙ اٌفذائ١١ٓػُذيب صاسد نطٛفخ انضٚبد لٕاػذ األسدٌ When Latifa al-Zayyat visited the Fedayeen bases in Jordan. 26 كبَذ انصٕسح لجم يُظًخ انزسشٚش ْٙ صٕسح . صٕسح انجطم/ انعسٛخ انزٙ رغزسك اٌفذائٟ رارّ )يكجّّلً اٌفذائٟانزؼبغف ٔانزًدٛذ. اٌٜ ْب ْٕ ثبؽزشاغبد أػذائّ( ًٚبسط عهطزّ انًجبؽشح ػهٗ انًٕاغٍ انؼبد٘ The image before the return of the PLO was the image of the freedom fighter, the image of hero\victim who deserves sympathy and admiration. Now here is the same freedom fighter (chained with the conditions of his enemies), exercising his direct authority on the ordinary citizen 27 Above-word Level ًٛ َسًُٖاإلػالًَاٌؼشثًٟأًٗشّؼًْٛث١ش٠ضًاٌزًَٞص ٌِٕبًٚوأًٔٗصالحًاٌذ٠ًٓاأل٠ٛثٟ،ًٌٕٚسبئٕبًوأًٔٗ ٌِشجب ًٓثًَٕٟ ِِ شًاٌشش٠فًٌٚجبِؼِخًاٌذٚيًاٌؼشث١خًوأًٔٗ َّ ُػ ! ْْ لْذطب Deleted. 28 أ٠ًْزذذسًاٌّزذذثًْٛػًٓاٌّسزٛطٕبدًشٟء،ً ٚأًْرشا٘بًثؼ١ٕ١هًشٌٟءًآخش. Deleted. 29 ث١ٕٕبًٚث١ُٕٙ.ِالِخًاٌٛجًٗٚدذ٘بًالًرىفًٌٍٟز١١ّضً Deleted. 30 أرزكش اٌٜ انفٛهى انزغدٛهٙ انز٘ أخشخّ انصذٚك سائؼخًأَٛظ انجشغٕثٙ )يٍ لشٚخ كٕثش( ػٍ فّلزخ يٍ ثهذْى اعًٓب فشزخ.ًِٓثطالدًاالٔزفبضخً ٠جذًٌٞٙبًاٌجٕذًٞاإلسشائ١ًٍٟد٘شزًًِٗٓأِشً ٚزكشس ثبنفؼم ػهٗ ايزذاد عُٕاد االَزفبظخ ْٕٔ ُغبء ؽبثبً يمجٕظب ػهّٛ يٍ لجم اَّ ػُذيب رشٖ ان خُٕد إعشائٛم ٚٓبخًٍ اندُذ٘ ٔرصٛر أكثش يٍ ٔازذح يٍُٓ: إثُٙ إثُٙ ارشكٕ اثُٙ! I remember now the documentary that was produced by Anis al-Barghouti (from the village of Aboud) about Farha, a peasant woman from their village: throughout the years of Intifada, when women saw a young man captured by Israeli soldier, they would attack the soldiers, all of them crying and screaming: “My son, my son – leave my son alone 31 وخبٌٟ.ًِؼًٕٝ ِٚزشذداً ػ١ٕذاً ًٌُأػشفًشخصبً ٠أِشًف١طبع.ًشؤًْٚث١زًًٗاٌذ١بحًثبٌٕسجخًًٌٗأْ ٠جتًأًْرذاسًػًٍٝطش٠مزًٗٚدذٖ.ًادزشاًَصٚجزًٗ ٚثٕبرًٗٚأٚالدًٌٖٗ،٠ًخزٍظًثبٌخٛفًًِٕٗٚاٌخش١خً Deleted. 32 53 ًِٓػمبثٗ.ًػصجًٟسش٠غًاالٔفؼبي،ًسغًُأًٔٗفًٟ أػّبلًِٗخٍٛقًػبطفًٟٚدْٕٛ.ًػٕذِبًسأ٠زًٗفًٟ رٌهًا١ًٌَٛاٌؼج١ت،ًاخزفذًوًًجٛأتًاٌمسٛحًفًٟ اٌٙشبشخ،ًاإلٔىسبس،ًًشخص١زٗ،٠ًًٌُجكًًِٕٗسٜٛ اٌز٘ٛي،ًٚاٌشغجخًفًٟاٌصشار. Deleted. 33 ٚأًْاٌٙٛاءًاٌّذ١ظًثبٌفٍسط١ًٕٟ٘ٛاءًِّٙذد! ثم يُؼّ يٍ ِٛر١ًٌٗسًً٘ٛاٌزًِٕٞؼًًِٗٓاٌؼٛدح، انؼٕدح ْٕ انز٘ أيبرّ فًٛب ثؼذ Being forbidden to return killed him 34 Cultural content Word Level " ٔال "خًم فبًٞاٌسجبطنى آد انٗ ُْب العزؼبدح " األثشػ I did not come here to reclaim al- Abrash‟s camel 35 ٔٔسػّ ثذطزًٗٚػمبٌٗٔنى رش ٔاػظ انمشٚخ ، فٙ االخزجبء فٙ ٠مٍذًاِشاًاٌم١ساألصْش٘، ”كٓف خبَجٙ نٛزهصص ػهٗ صجبٚب انمشٚخ َٔغبئٓب Never saw the village preacher in his headdress and Azhari piety hiding in a cave to spy on the girls and women of the village 36 اٌؼشٚثخ لّجبصٚشرذٌٔ لجّؼبد انكبٔثٕ٘ فٕق Wear cowboy hats over their Arab skull-caps 37 انجٛعبء ٚدّطبرُٙ ٚلٕبث١ضَُ٘ٓعٕا ثمبيبرٓى ٔٔخْٕٓى، ػهٗ انفٕس They stood up in front of me in their bodies, their clothes, their white headdresses, their faces 38 ًٓاٌجٍذٞ food 39 اٌّسخ اٌطبثْٛ our ovens mill hot bread 40 Above-word Level ًٛٔٗ"سٍجذ".ً ّّ اٌز٠ًٞزذذسًأ٠ًٚزذشنًثجظء٠ًس ًًاٌمبِخًلص١شًاٌمبِخ٠ًسًّٛٔٗاٌجشْ".ًاٌط٠ٛ غ١ظ".ًاألوٛي٠ًسًّٛٔٗ"أثًٛ ِْ ٠سًّٛٔٗ"أثًٛ ااٌثشا٠ذ".ًاٌٙب٠ًًِسًّٛٔٗ"طّضٚ"ًٚ٘ىز Deleted. 41 أِبًفخشًٞ)اثًٓخبًٌٟأثًٛفخشٞ(ًفًِٙٛسؤٚي،ً ٚدذٖ،ًػًٌٓصكًػششادًاألٌمبةًثأًً٘اٌجٍذ.ًًِٚٓ أٌمبثًٗاٌّأثٛسحً"اٌذُٚٔ"ًٌٍضخًُاٌجثخً صًٚ"اٌذثؼٟ"ًٌٍشذ٠ذًاٌسّٕخًٚ"ِس١ٍّخ"ًٌٍشخ اٌّؼشٚفًثىثشحًاٌىزةًٚ"اٌّسزط١ً"ًًٟٚ٘ ًِٓأ٠ًْمٛيًٌهً ٚاضذخًاٌّؼٕٝ.ًوبًْفخشًٞثذالً شذ٠ذًاٌٍؤَ،٠ًىزفًٟثبٌمٛيًإًٔٗ"د١ٍت"! إًْفالٔبً Deleted. 42 ُذًَٖجَجُذًٖػٍٝ انهٛهخ رهك فٙ أرُٛب لذ كُب َٙ ًَٚسَصُػًٗٚلَ ًَٚسًٌّّٔٗٚطًٌٗٚفًَُّٗٚسَُٕذًٖٚ٘فًّٗٚشفًّٗٚالُدٗ َ٘جَُذًٖٚصاُدًََٗٔذفًَُٗٚٚسفَمُٗ ًٚفَمَؼًٌُٗٚ ّخًَٗٚسَلؼًُٗٚ فُٗ َٙ ًٌَٚٗ َضُػًَٗٚطجُّ َِ ُطًٗٚ َّ ئثًٕٟإثًٕٟاٌخًٚٔبًٌَٚٗٚش ارشوًٛاثٕٟ! That night we got through jabaduh, qahaduh, raza‟uh, lahuh, shaffuh, haffu, sanaduh, laffuh, lattuh, rannuh, safaquh, nadafuh, zahuh, habaduh, raqa‟uh, lakhkhuh, faqa‟uh, lahafuh, tajjuh, maza‟uh, shamatuh, nawaluh 43 54 4.2.3 Deletion due to Repetition The redundant nature of the Arabic language urges the need, sometimes, for deletion or omission in translation into English. Writing in the English language, in general, has a common rule, which is “to avoid repetition in order to keep text interesting and make it more lively” (Foster and White, 2007, p.33). It is important to point out that in all repetitive cases to be discussed actual linguistic deletion occurred rather than omission; hence, the term deletion is to be used. This section deals with cases of deletion that were applied to avoid repetition on two levels; word level and above word level. The word-level is subdivided into morphological and lexical repetition, in which each of them also is subdivided into more categories. 4.2.3.1 Word-Level Morphological Repetition In linguistics, morphology is the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed (Aronoff and Fudeman, 2007, p.1-2). Thus, morphological repetition is the one that occurs on stems and suffixes. This section deals with the deletion that occurred due to morphological repetition, which embraces three types: root, pattern, and suffix repetition. 4.2.3.1.1 Root Repetition This type occurs when the root of the word is repeated with slight changes like adding suffixes. Next, example 1, is an instance of root 55 repetition, which occurred in the Arabic version while omitted in the English one. Example 1: ST: ” اٌٜ أسرؼشٙبال يؼُٗ نهشػؾخ انزٙ ” (p.85) TT: “My tremor … is meaningless now” (p.71) In example 1, the words (سػؾخ) and (أسرؼؾٓب) share the same root, i.e., This instance of deletion is justified, as the meaning is delivered .(سػؼ) while translating it would be awkward and would seem clumsy. The literal translation of the ST in the same example would be as follows: The tremor that is now trembling is meaningless now\ The tremor that I‟m having is meaningless now. Soueif‟s translation is subtle as it was precise and conveyed the whole meaning naturally without being redundant. 4.2.3.1.1.1 Absolute accusative Repetition This is a special case of root repetition. It means, “(An) accusative original noun derived from the same root of the verb” (www.madinaharabic.com), it comes after the verb “to confirm its meaning or to show its nature or number” (ibid). Moreover, the absolute accusative “functions as an adverbial in Arabic” (Najjar, 2014 p.68). The English language is very rich with adverbs, while “there are very few pure adverbs in Arabic” (Johnstone, 1991 p.63). The absolute accusative or cognate accusative has no equivalence in the English language, and “is semantically redundant; its meaning is indicated by the meaning of its binder (the verb in our case)” (Yasin, 2014, p.337). Therefore, as Yasin claims, the absolute http://www.madinaharabic.com),/ 56 accusative is lost in translation into English. To illustrate, let us consider the example 2 below: Example 2: ST: “ صيٛم أٔ َذ ِؼبٍِخأػبيم رًٛى ” (p.188) TT: “I treat Tamim … as though he were a colleague or an equal” (p.158) We notice that the absolute accusative (يؼبيهخ) is deleted in the TT in example 2. The absolute accusative (يؼبيهخ) functions here to show the nature of the treatment that Barghouti grants his son (Tamim). Soueif‟s translation is the best way to deal with the absolute accusative and to avoid redundancy. The function of the absolute accusative is compensated with adding “as though” to indicate the type of the treatment. Consequently, deleting the absolute accusative in the TT in example 2 is justified. 4.2.3.1.2 Pattern repetition: Example 3 below illustrates this type of repetition. This pattern repetition embraces repeating the form of the word; they all are of (فبػم) pattern. Omitting the word ( ًػبئذا) in the translation affected the message and the meaning to convey, as each word Barghouti mentioned in example 3(a) represents the status of Palestinians resulted from occupation. Barghouti includes sensitive expressions, which should be delivered because they are seen as part of the (overall) message of the book. Consider the following extracts: 57 Example 3(a) ST: “ !؟ الخئبً؟ يٕاغُبً؟ ظٛفبَ؟ ال أدس٘ػبئذا ًصائشاً؟ ” (p.16) TT: “A visitor? … A refugee? A citizen? A guest? I do not know” (p.11) In example 3(a), Barghouti describes his perplexed emotional status. He is on his way back to Palestine after 30 years of exile, but he is so confused concerning whether he is coming back as a visitor, a refugee, a returnee, a citizen, or as a guest. Soueif deleted an important word, which she considered unimportant, repetitive or redundant while she had to preserve it because it is a crucial description of some Palestinians suffering. The status of being a “returnee” going back to Palestine -his homeland- after being in a long compulsory exile is important to translate because it is the case of thousands of Palestinians who were forced to leave their country, and then they could come back to live in Palestine after having a reunion permit. People all over the world should understand these cases, which resulted from the occupation of Palestine. Palestinians need permissions – that are hard to get- in order to go back to their own homes! The deleted word (returnee) in the TT in example 3(a) represents an image of the ugly colonization in Palestine, in which the case of being returnee is a direct consequence of the Zionist occupation. If deletion is unavoidable here due to repetition, one of these two words (visitor, guest) is better to delete, for they describe almost the same 58 status of having a stranger-like feeling. They both implicate his emotions towards people and places, which resulted from his long exile with low communication means at that time. On the other hand, the next extract is another example of pattern repetition, which occurred just after example 3(a), but without deleting any part of it, although they are less important than example 3(a). Example 3(b) ST: “ ظخ ٔالؼٛخ؟ عٛشٚبنٛخ؟ أْٙ نسظخ عٛبعٛخ؟ أو ػبغفٛخ؟ أو اخزًبػٛخ؟ نس (p.16) ”نسظخ خغذٚخ؟ أو رُْٛخ؟ TT: “Is this a political moment? Or an emotional one? Or social? A practical moment? A surreal one? A moment of the body? Or of the mind?” (p.11) Example 3(b) is ideal for applying deletion due to pattern repetition in order to avoid wordiness. However, Soueif chose to preserve all those words while she decided to delete the word ( ً in example 3(a). The (ػبئذا point is that there is no certain pattern of deletion that is applied to avoid all redundant or pattern-repeated unimportant cases. Another example of pattern repetition is example 4 below: Example 4 ST: “ ٙاعزٕنذ إعشائٛم ػهٗ انسشػ كهّ ٔػهٗ يغبزبد كجٛشح يٍ األساظ ٔأزعشد انًغزٕغٍُٛ ٔاَزٓٗ األيش ٚاٌّشافكانًسٛطخ ثّ ٔثُذ انًغبكٍ ” (p.76) TT: “Israel took over the wood and large tracts of the lands surrounding it. It built houses … and brought in settlers” (p.44) 59 We notice that the words “انًغبكٍ ٔانًشافك” are translated into houses. Linguistically speaking, they are of the same pattern in Arabic, a plural- noun form of the same pattern, which is the broken Plural (خًغ ركغٛش). Deletion here is unjustified because it implicates the luxurious life granted for the Israeli settlers in the illegal settlements at the expense of Palestinians misery. The Occupation does not only build houses for the settlers there, but they also build facilities at a time they destroy Palestinians‟ houses and lives. It is vital – as a translator- to account for these implicated meanings and messages and deliver them for the target audience to experience the same feelings as experienced by the source audience. As a result, the translation should be (houses and facilities). However, there are many instances of justified deletion of pattern repetition. An example of this justified deletion is: Example 5 ST: “ صٕسح ثؼذ صٕسح ٚرزشىًأزت انمصٛذح ْٔٙ رزخهك ثٍٛ أصبثؼٙ ” (p.12) TT: “I love the poem as it forms…under my fingers, image after image”(p.7) Both (رزخهك) and (رزؾكم) are of the same pattern; verb forms of the stem (رزفؼّم). They have a similar meaning, which is conveyed by the word chosen from Soueif: (form). Thus, it will be a pointless repetition if translated word-for-word as follows: I love the poem as it forms and shapes under my fingers, image after image. We can notice that it became a wordy 60 low-quality translation. While Nida argues, cited in Sharma (2015), that “[t]here are cases where omission is required to avoid redundancy and awkwardness”(p.6), and example 5 is one of the cases that Nida argues about. Therefore, the translator's decision to delete (رزؾكم) could be totally justified. 4.2.3.1.3 Suffix Repetition Suffixes are “affixes which are attached at the end of words in Arabic” (Najjar, 2014, p. 20). Furthermore, suffixes are very useful in Arabic discourse, as they have many functions. For example, they “modify a word„s number into singular, plural, or dual, its gender, male or female, the case, nominative, accusative, or genitive, the tense, future, past, or present” (Najjar, 2014, p. 20). Moreover, Suffix repetition is functionally employed in texts. Dickens's argument, cited in Najjar (2014), is that “suffix and lexical items are tolerated or repeated to enable emphasis and text-building functions” (p.93). However, sometimes, deletion occurs in translating into English due to suffix repetition as the following example shows: Example 6 ST: “ ٔيٍ سربثخ انجمبء فٛٓب غّٕٚلً، ػُذئز َكٌٕ ًِٚٓثشد٘بػُذيب َززيش يٍ زّشْب ً (p.30) ”لذ الزشثُب يُٓب زمّب TT: “when we grumble about the heat … in Palestine and the dullness of staying there too long, then we will really have come close to it” (p.23) 61 The words (زّشْب) and (ثشدْب) are antonyms that share the same suffix, i.e. (ْب). This affix denotes gender (feminine), singularity, and possessiveness in addition to being an attached pronoun representing Palestine. The word (ثشدْب) is deleted In TT of example 6 that is about Palestine, and the omitted word is employed to emphasize the idea of Palestinians feeling close to Palestine. This would happen only when they get rid of the occupation and have the time to think naturally about the heat, cold, and staying long in Palestine and complain about them. It is important for the target reader to understand that the occupation has deprived Palestinians of the simplest rights to the extent that they do not have the chance to criticize the weather. Besides, the word is employed to arouse feelings and communicative effect. Nonetheless, the word (ثشدْب) is deleted to avoid redundancy and wordiness, but unfortunately, it was at the expense of the communicative effect. Consequently, the function of emphasis is lost in translation in addition to a part of the communicative effect and the message as well. Hence, deletion, in this case, is not justified. 4.2.3.2 Word-Level Lexical Repetition Lexical repetition is employed as a cohesive device, in which “[t]he relationship between a repetition item and its antecedent is textual rather than structural” (He, 2014, p.46). This part is concerned with deleting a word due to lexical repetition, which has two types: lexical item repetition, and couplet repetition. 62 4.2.3.2.1 Lexical Item Repetition This kind of repetition is simply repeating the same word, which is used so often in Arabic. Examine the following sentence: Example 7 ST: “ ً ػٍ انمصٛذح. ٔ.. ٔخذرٓب! ... يشٚذ انجشغٕثٙ: : لص١ذحأخزد ألهجٓب ثسثب (p.13) ”اػززاس إنٗ خُذ٘ ثؼٛذ TT: “and riffled through the pages looking for my poem and – I found it. Mourid Al-Barghouti: … Apology to a Faraway Soldier” (p.8) The word (لصٛذح) poem is repeated twice in the ST of example 7, while it is omitted in the TT to avoid wordiness. It is a justified deletion because it is clear that the subject is the “poem” without the need to repeat. Repeating the word “poem” twice as in the original will make the translation redundant with unnecessary excessive use of the word (poem). Thus, by deleting it, no semantic or connotative loss occurred, and the TT sentence is understandable. 4.2.3.2.2 Couplet repetition\ lexical doublet It is when two related-in-meaning words are regularly used together. In principle, it is similar to collocation in English, though it is not repetition. An important point to notice is that what is considered a couplet in a language is not necessarily a couplet in another language. Example 8 below includes a lexical doublet: Example 8 ST: “ ٚاٌٍذظخْٙ صيٍ خشاس انضٚذ انمبدو نهزٕ ” (p.105) 63 TT: “It is the time of the jar of olive oil that has arrived this minute…”(p.88) is a kind of lexical-couplet repetition. They both have a نهزٕ ٔانهسظخ similar meaning, but they do not come together in the English language; this is why Soueif de