Exploring the Construal of Ideational Meaning in “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” by Iqbal and its Translation by Ishrat: An SFL Perspective
Abstract
The study explores the transference of ideational meaning from The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (ST) by Allama Iqbal to Tajdeed-e-Fikryat-e-Islam (TT) by Waheed Ishrat. The study delineates how the equivalence in translation involves making functional choices from the available systems in the source text (ST) and the target text (TT). By applying the framework proposed in Systemic Functional Linguistics (henceforth, SFL), the current study focuses on the lexicogrammatical feature of transitivity to analyse the construal of ideational meaning in the ST and the TT. Quantitative analysis exhibits differential use of the processes for the TT and the ST. The findings show that the TT employs relational processes (47.20 %) more than that of the ST (39.90 %). On the other hand, results show that the TT uses existential processes (0.95 %) less than that of ST (2.72 %). These quantitative findings were further substantiated with the qualitative analysis of the textual examples that explain the differential use of relational and existential processes in the TT and the ST. It is envisaged that the study will help language students, researchers, and translators understand the significance of making functionally equivalent choices in translation.
Authors
Moazzam Ali Malik
Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan
Syed Tahir ul Amin
Assistant Lecturer, Department of English, University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan
Humayun Manzoor
Visiting Lecturer, Department of English, University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan
Keywords
Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Functional Translation, Ideational Meaning, SFL, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Transitivity