Investigating the Translation of Certain Features of Idiomaticity into English in Ahmed Mourad’s Novel Vertigo: A Cultural Approach

1. INTRODUCTION

The present study starts from the realization that translating idiomaticity is among prominent translation problems, especially when translation occurs between two distinct languages like English and Arabic which diverge both linguistically and culturally.  Various scholars have studied the issue of idiomaticity, but they have tackled it from different points of view.  On the one hand, idiomaticity is sometimes equated with the study of idioms in the sense of fixed, non-compositional expressions.  On the other hand, idiomaticity is regarded as a property that is not confined only to those expressions which are generally identified and classified as idioms, but as a property of various forms of expressions which reflect the idiomatic and natural usage of language among native speakers. 

The current study draws heavily upon the identification and characterization of idiomaticity as suggested by Warren (2005) who advocates the later viewpoint that idiomaticity is not a property limited to idioms proper.  Hence, idiomaticity, as also adopted within the scope of this study, is observed to comprise various features with varying degrees of their syntactic fixedness and semantic non-compositionality.  Starting from this point, the present study attempts to explore certain features of idiomaticity in in a translated work of art, namely Ahmed Mourad’s novel Vertigo (Mourad, 2011/2014), dealing with each feature as having its own characteristics that should be taken into account in the process of translation.¹ 

1.1 Objectives of the Study   

The main objective of the present study is to analyze the translation of certain features of idiomaticity into English in Ahmed Mourad’s novel Vertigo (2011/2014).  Drawing upon Warren’s classification of idiomaticity features (2005), the study investigates the usage of two distinct features of idiomaticity, namely idioms and collocations, in the source (Arabic) text, and how they have been retained or distorted in the target (English) text.  The study compares the selected idiomatic expressions in the source text along with their English translation in order to explore the various strategies adopted by the translator with special reference to Baker (1992).  In this way, the study also explores the similarities and dissimilarities between the meanings and cultural connotations conveyed by the source text idiomaticity features and their English translation as provided in the target text.  Moreover, the study aims to investigate cases where the translator has attempted to compensate for any idioms lost in the target text by utilizing target language idioms as translation of source text non-idioms.  

1.2 Research Questions

The present study addresses the following questions: 

1. To what extent is the usage of idioms and collocations as features of idiomaticity retained or distorted in the target text as compared with the source one? 
2. Which translation strategies has the translator adopted (as exemplified in Baker (1992)); and which is mostly adopted by him? 
3.  To what extent has the translator followed the compensation strategy, as suggested by Baker (1992), to deal with any idiomatic loss in his translation? 

1. LITERATURE REVIEW

This section provides a theoretical background to the topic of the study undertaken.  It presents Warren’s approach to idiomaticity (2005) since it is the one adopted within the scope of the study.  Then, it examines the distinctive characteristics of idioms and collocations from both syntactic and semantic viewpoints as well as discusses the main difficulties involved in rendering them from one language into another and the suggested strategies to overcome these difficulties, with special reference to Baker (1992). 

2.1 Defining Idiomaticity   

In her article “A Model of Idiomaticity”, Warren (2005) argues that idioms in the sense of opaque or non-compositional expressions “do not contribute to the idiomaticity of a text in any important way” (p. 35).  As she (2005) illustrates, presence of such idioms in a text does not necessarily make it idiomatic and their absence does not necessarily make it unidiomatic.  Therefore, inspired by Pawley and Syder’s discussion and identification of nativelike expressions of language (2013), Warren (2005) holds that idiomaticity “should be characterized as nativelike selection of expressions” (p. 51).   

Nativelike selection is explained by Pawley and Syder (2013) as the ability of native speakers to convey their meanings by expressions that are not only grammatical but also nativelike.  As they (2013) argue, it means how native speakers select expressions or sentences that are “natural and idiomatic from among the range of grammatically correct paraphrases” (p. 191).  For instance, Pawley and Syder (2013) illustrate that “English-time telling conventions do not allow expressions like It’s four and a third, though that would be the idiomatic Egyptian Arabic expression for 4.20” (p. 225).  According to this, it can be said that an expression is idiomatic if it is judged by native speakers as “usual, natural, and commonly acceptable” (Kavka & Zybert, 2004, p. 55). 

Based on this view of nativelike selection of expressions, Warren (2005) postulates that idiomaticity “involves knowing which particular combinations are conventional in a language community although other combinations are conceivable [emphasis in original]” (p. 40).  She (2005) thus considers expressions such as to get up in the morning, to brush teeth, and to polish shoes to be as idiomatic as idioms in the sense of fixed, non-compositional expressions.  Generally speaking, Warren does not reduce idiomaticity to idioms proper, but rather deals with idioms as a subcategory of multiword expressions that reflect idiomaticity within language.  Therefore, idioms in the sense of fixed, non-compositional expressions are regarded by her as equally idiomatic as other categories of idiomatic expressions which are more syntactically flexible and semantically analyzable. 

2.2 Features of Idiomaticity

            Warren (2005) observes that “features of idiomaticity can be found on different levels, ranging from discourse to phrase levels” (p. 51).  She (2005) proposes four categories of idiomaticity features within language.  She (2005) argues that the “very manner in which information is presented in a text may be language specific” (p. 37).  Hence, the first feature that reflects idiomaticity within language is termed by her (2005) preference for discourse structure.  These features of discourse structure include, for instance, the way in which each language handles direct and indirect discourse as well as the identification of participants, whether by nouns, pronouns, or substitute reference (Nida & Taber, 1982).   

The second feature of idiomaticity introduced by Warren (2005) is what she refers to as language-specific propositional expressions.  She includes in this category proverbs, clichés, allusions, and formal idioms.  As for the third idiomaticity feature, it is termed by her expressions in social interaction.  Those idiomatic expressions, according to her (2005), “are performative in that they are not used about particular situations but in particular situations [emphasis in original]” (p. 39).  Warren (2005) gives some examples of this category of idiomatic expressions such as excuse me, can I help you, and many happy returns. 

Warren (2005) observes that “knowing a word involves knowing what other words it can combine with to form syntactic units” (p. 40).  Hence, the last feature of idiomaticity is termed by her (2005) combinatory potentials of words.  Combinations of words, according to her, are divided into open combinations and restricted combinations.  By open combinations, she refers to those free combinations of words such as drink plus liquid, see plus visible phenomenon, and so forth, whereas she differentiates between two categories of restrictions.  On the one hand, there are words that require certain meanings such as commit plus immoral act or look forward to plus positive situation.  On the other hand, there are words which require certain lexical items as their collocates.  This later kind of restriction, according to Warren, represents fixed phrases which are in turn divided into transparent combinations and opaque combinations.  In her view, transparent combinations refer to what is traditionally termed collocations, while opaque combinations refer to idioms proper or as she terms bona fide idioms.  Thus, Warren considers open combinations of words to be as idiomatic as restricted word combinations including both transparent collocations and opaque idioms or bona fide idioms as termed by her. 

Based on Warren’s categorization (2005), the current study is mainly focused on analyzing the translator’s rendering of restricted combinations of words, with idioms and collocations being two distinct sets.  Since there are various types of idioms and collocations, and which have not been discussed in detail in Warren’s approach to idiomaticity, this study provides a short review on idioms and collocations with particular reference to English and Arabic. 

2.2.1 Idioms  

The term idiom is defined in A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics as

a sequence of words which is semantically and often syntactically restricted, so that they function as a single unit.  From a semantic viewpoint, the meanings of the individual words cannot be summed to produce the meaning of the idiomatic expression as a whole.  From a syntactic viewpoint, the words often do not permit the usual variability they display in other contexts [emphasis in original].  (Crystal, 2008, p. 236) 

It seems that the above definition more or less coincides with the definition put forth by Hossam al-Dein (1985) as part of his analysis of the features and characteristics of idioms in Arabic.  It needs be mentioned that he uses the Arabic term التعبير الاصطلاحي as an equivalent to the English term idiom.  He (1985) states that التعبير الاصطلاحي, an idiom, is

"نمط تعبيرى خاص بلغة ما يتميز بالثبات، ويتكون من كلمة أو أكثر، تحولت عن معناها الحرفى إلى معنى مغاير اصطلحت عليه الجماعة اللغوية" (ص. 34 ). 

A fixed expression peculiar to a language, and consists of one or more words whose literal meaning has changed to an idiomatic one shared by the language community (All translations from Arabic are my own). 

Hossam al-Dein (1985) further explains,

"يتميز التعبير الاصطلاحى بالثبات وعدم التغيير فى تركيبه من ناحية وفى دلالته من ناحية أخرى" (ص. 38). 

An idiom is characterized by fixedness and invariability in its syntactic as well as semantic structure.    

In his treatment of idioms in relation to translation, Enani (2000, 2012) illustrates that Arabic idioms show a great deal of correspondence to the categorization of idioms in English.  He classifies Arabic idioms into three main categories: (a) pure idioms, (b) semi idioms, and (c) metaphoric idioms.  He (2012) refers to pure idiom as المصطلح البحت, which is defined in his own words as:  

"المصطلح الذى لا يمكن تبريره منطقيًا، لأنه لا ينقسم ولا يتفتت إلى العناصر التى يتكون منها" (ص. 113( . 

An expression that cannot be understood logically because it is not divided into its component elements. 

As for semi idioms, Enani (2012) observes that they are closely related to pure idioms, but each semi idiom often includes a word that refers to the overall meaning of the idiom, whether explicitly or implicitly.  As he (2012) puts it,

"أما النوع الثانى فهو قريب الصلة بهذا النوع (البحت)، ولكنه قد يتضمن كلمة ما أو إشارة إلى المعنى العام الذى يرمى إليه" (ص. 113). 

The second type is related to this pure type, but it may contain a word or a hint that refers to its general, intended meaning.  

The last category proposed by Enani (2000, 2012) is that of metaphoric idioms which are based on metaphors, whether dead or live.  As far as the present study is concerned, it draws heavily upon Enani (2000, 2012) in order to identify the Arabic idioms in the source text. 

2.2.1.1 Translating Idioms.  The fact that idioms cannot be analyzed as consisting of the sum total of the parts, but must be treated as semantic units means it is not always possible to find an idiom in another language with equivalent meaning and form (Nida & Taber, 1982).  The form of an idiom, as argued by Larson (1998), is “natural to the language in which it occurs but would not sound natural if translated literally into the other language” (p. 157).  Baker (1992) highlights five main strategies for translating idioms as follows:

1. Using an idiom in the target language which not only conveys the same meaning as that of the source language idiom, but consists of equivalent lexical items as well. 
2. Using a target language idiom which has a meaning similar to that of the source language idiom, but consists of different lexical items. 
3. Paraphrasing which means to convey the general meaning intended by the idiom.
4. Omission which means that a source language idiom may sometimes be omitted altogether in the target text. 
5. Compensation.  By compensation, Baker (1992) means that “one may either omit or play down a feature such as idiomaticity at the point where it occurs in the source text and introduce it elsewhere in the target text” (p. 78). 

2.2.2 Collocations

A collocation is defined by O’Dell and McCarthy (2008) as “a pair or group of words that are often used together” (p. 6).  Similarly, Brashi (2005) describes a collocation, both in English and Arabic, as “the habitual co-occurrence of two or more words together in a language, the meaning of which can be deduced from at least one component of the combination” (p. 33).    In this respect, Baker (1992) illustrates that every word in a language has a different set of collocates, which is referred to as range or collocational range.  Range is defined by her (1992) as “the set of collocates, that is other words, which are typically associated with the word in question” (p. 49). 

Accordingly, collocations differ from language to language since different words are combined to indicate the same meaning.  As exemplified by Baker (1992), the English verb to deliver, whose Arabic dictionary equivalent is يُسلم, collocates with a number of nouns, for each of which Arabic uses a different verb as follows: (a) the English collocation to deliver a letter is equivalent to the Arabic collocation يُسلم خطابًا (literally: to deliver a letter), (b) to deliver a speech is equivalent to يُلقى خطبة  (literally: to throw a speech), and (c) to deliver news is equivalent to ينقل أخبارًا (literally: to transfer news). 

Moreover, Baker (1992) describes collocations as “flexible patterns of language which allow several variations in form” (p. 63).  As she (1992) explains, when two words collocate, “the relationship can hold between all or several of their forms, combined in any grammatically acceptable order” (p. 48).  For example, she (1992) illustrates that achieving aims, achievable aims, and the achievement of an aim are all acceptable in English.  However, Baker argues that words sometimes collocate with other words in some of their forms only.  For instance, she illustrates that although bend rules is an acceptable English collocation, unbendable rules is not acceptable, but rules are described as being inflexible.  On the above account, it seems that syntactic flexibility and semantic transparency are the two main criteria by which collocations and idioms are distinguished (Grimm, 2009).  It might be worth mentioning in this context that the two Arabic terms المتصاحبات (Hafiz, 2004) and المتلازمات اللفظية (Ghazala, 2007) are used interchangeably to refer to what is generally termed collocations in English. 

2.2.2.1 Translating Collocations.  Baker (1992) summarizes the common problems that collocations pose in the process of translation and discusses some of the actual strategies employed by translators to overcome these problems.  One of the common problems in translating collocations as examined by her is that translators may misinterpret a collocation in the source text due to interference from their native language, and, therefore communicate the wrong meaning in the target text.  To deal with this problem, Baker suggests that as long as a collocation can be found in the target language which conveys the same meaning or a similar meaning to that of the source language collocation, the translator should not be confused by differences in the surface patterning between the source and target collocations. 

Another problem faced by translators, as discussed by Baker (1992), is that of culture-specific collocations, that is, collocations which reflect the cultural setting in which they occur.  Therefore, Baker (1992) suggests that the translation of culture-specific collocations may involve increase in information since “unfamiliar associations of ideas cannot simply be introduced in a target text without giving the reader some hint as to how to interpret them” (p. 60).  In addition to the above problems, the translator, as argued by Baker (1992), may be encountered with the use of unusual combinations of words in the source text.  She suggests that this kind of collocation may be highlighted by means of an interjection from the translator in order to retain the wish of the source text author to communicate an unusual image. 

Briefly, the “combination which forms a semantically correct meaning in one language may not do so in another” (Larson, 1998, p. 159).  On that account, it is crucial for translators to take account of “collocational meaning rather than substituting individual words with their dictionary equivalents” (Baker, 1992, p. 53). 

1. METHODOLOGY

Methodologically speaking, the present study is mainly concerned with investigating the strategies adopted by the translator, Robin Moger, in rendering idioms and collocations into English in Mourad’s novel Vertigo (2011/2014).  The study is conducted within a comparative framework adopted to identify the similarities and dissimilarities between the source text idiomaticity features and their English translation as provided by Moger in the target text.  With a view to achieving this, the meanings of those source text idiomaticity features as well as their translation in the target text are investigated in both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries.    

As far as idioms are concerned, the study identifies the Arabic idioms according to the three types of idioms discussed by Enani (2000, 2012), namely pure idioms, semi idioms, and metaphoric idioms as mentioned before.  Then, they are compared with their English translation in order to identify the various strategies sought by the translator.  With regard to collocations, it goes without saying that Arabic is rich in various forms of collocation, which cannot be investigated fully in the space of a single study.  The scope of the present study is, thus, confined to investigating the translation of one collocation type, namely Arabic noun plus adjective collocations.  

It is noteworthy that the novel entails many examples of those idiomatic expressions, but citing all these examples is a massive task.  In this regard, the current study is aimed at a qualitative analysis of the corpus.  This means that the study is based on selected examples of the above mentioned idiomaticity features.  Those examples chosen for analysis are representative of the different difficulties faced by the translator in question and, therefore, show the various strategies adopted by him to overcome those translation difficulties.  For identifying the strategies followed by the translator, the study draws heavily on Baker (1992) as mentioned in the previous section.  The comparison of the source and target text expressions, thus, fulfills the purpose of the study of identifying whether the translator has maintained equivalent idiomaticity in the target text. 

1. SAMPLE ANALYSIS

The selected examples of idioms and collocations are analyzed in this section with a primary aim of investigating how their usage as features of idiomaticity in the source text has been maintained or lost in the target text.  For these patterns of idiomatic expressions, the following dictionaries have been consulted: A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (Wehr, 1976), A Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic: Arabic-English (Badawi & Hinds, 1986), Oxford Collocations Dictionary (2003), Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms (2004), Dar El-Ilm’s Dictionary of Collocations (Ghazala, 2007), and معجم التعابير الاصطلاحية فى العربية المعاصرة (فايد، 2007 ). 

4.1 Idioms  

Example 1 

لا ينام قبل السادسة صباحًا، ولا يخرج من الفرح إلا بذكرى فتاة جميلة يظن أنها تتبعه بنظراتها طوال الوقت، مكتفيًا بتصويرها بورتريه لعله يلقاها ثانيًا، يريها لزملائه ويضيف من عنده بعض الرتوش وكأنها من طلبت منه صورة ورقم تليفونه وماتت فى دباديبه.. (مراد، 201، ص. 8) 

He never got to sleep before six in the morning and never left a wedding without the memory of a beautiful young woman whose gaze, or so he thought, had followed him around all night. Taking a shot of the woman’s face in case he met her again, he would show it to his colleagues, with his own embellished commentary, hinting that it was she who had requested the photo and his telephone number and fallen head over heels in love.  (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 2) 

"(فلان) ميت في دباديب رجلي (فلانة): يهيم بها حبًا، ولهان" (فايد، 2007، ص. 484). 

(فلان) ميت في دباديب رجلي (فلانة): to be in love with, passionately in love. 

“Be head over heels (in love): to be in love with someone very much, especially at the beginning of a relationship.  It is obvious that they are head over heels in love with each other” (Cambridge, 2004, p. 181).   

In the above example, the translator is encountered with the Egyptian Arabic idiom ماتت في دباديبه.  As quoted above, it is a colloquial idiom which is used in the context of love to mean that someone is deeply in love.  It is, thus, evidently clear that this source language idiom, in its idiomatic sense, has nothing whatever to do with the meaning of either ماتت , literally died, or دباديبه, literally his teddy bears.  Accordingly, it represents a typical example of pure idioms defined before as idioms whose idiomatic senses cannot be understood from the literal senses of their separate components.   

Scrutinizing the translation in question, it turns out that the translator has utilized the target language idiom to fall head over heels in love, which conveys nearly the same meaning as the source language idiom, albeit with a different image.  Thus, he has resorted to Baker’s strategy (1992) of using an idiom in the target language that has a meaning similar to that of the source language idiom, but contains different lexical items. 

Example 2

أحمد: ما تشغلش بالك بي.. شوف انت حالك بس.. صحيح.. لسة مفيش حاجة كده ولا كده؟         

عمر: يا ابني البنات على قفا مين يشيل المهم النفس (مراد، 2014، ص. 125).   

You shouldn’t worry yourself over me.  Look after yourself.  Now then, have you got anything on the go yourself?

Plenty of girls, man.  But who’s up for it? That’s the question (Mourad, 2011, p. 110).    

قفا: nape; :على قفا مين يشيل plentiful, abundant (Badawi & Hinds, 1986, p. 712). 

"(كذا) على قفا من يشيل: كثير جدا، أكثر من المطلوب" (فايد، 2007، ص. 334).   

(كذا) على قفا من يشيل: very much, more than enough.   

In the example quoted above, the translator has dealt with the colloquial idiom على قفا مين يشيل, which is used in Egyptian Arabic, as illustrated above, to mean very much of something or more than enough.  Since syntactic fixedness and semantic non-compositionality are the basic criteria by which idioms are identified, this source text expression provides a typical example.  That is, in addition to its fixed form, its idiomatic sense is nothing to do with the literal meanings of its component words.  Due to this non-compositionality, it can be regarded as a pure idiom.   

In the novel under study, this pure idiom has been rendered as plenty of girls.  Thus, the translator has opted for the strategy of paraphrase as discussed by Baker (1992).  In this case, the translation expresses only the general meaning of the source text idiom and fails to match or reflect its idiomaticity.  In other words, the translator has given priority to meaning over form or idiomaticity, which results in cultural and idiomaticity losses. 

Example 3       

غسل وجهه، وغمس أصابعه في علبة الجل التى لا تفارقه.. صفف شعره وتأكد من لمعته.. لبس الحتة اللي على الحبل.. كتب ورقة لعمر.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 189).   

Washing his face, he dipped his fingers in the tub of gel that never left his side, combed through his hair and checked its sheen.  He threw on whatever clothes were clean and dry and wrote a note to Omar… (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 166).     

"لبس (فلان) الذي على الحبل: تأنق في ملبسه" (فايد، 2007، ص. 438). 

لبس (فلان) الذي على الحبل: elegantly dressed.   

The translator, in the above example, is faced with the idiom لابس اللي على الحبل , which is used in Arabic in order to tell that someone is wearing elegant and attractive clothes.  Despite its fixed form, this idiom can be included in the category of semi idioms since one of its components, the word لبس, is used in its literal sense.  As used in the novel, this Arabic idiom indicates that Ahmed, the character referred to, wears like this especially because he wants Ghada, his beloved, to notice him and be attracted to him. 

Scrutinizing the translation in question, it turns out that the translator has resorted to Baker’s strategy of paraphrase (1992).  But, it seems that the translator, maybe unacquainted with the source language idiom, has misinterpreted its meaning and therefore has communicated a literal, unintended meaning in the target text.  Accordingly, not only idiomaticity has been lost as a result of translating a source text idiom into a target text non-idiom, but also the intended meaning has been changed from wearing fashionable clothes or the best clothes someone has to just wearing clean and dry clothes. 

Example 4

أصبح انعزاليًا.. يرفض ويعدل أي مقال لا يعجبه بروح الديكتاتور، ولا يأبه برأي أحد.. يسهر في المكتب كثيرًا ويغيب عنه أيضا كثيرًا.. رحل عن جريدته كثيرون ممن لم يتحملوا سلوكه، وكان رأيه دائمًا أن الباب يفوت جملًا بهودج يحمل عروسًا. (مراد، 2014، ص. 234) 

He became a recluse, rejecting and amending any article that displeased him in the manner of a dictator, deaf to anyone else’s opinion.  He frequently worked late in his office and just as frequently was absent altogether.  Many left the paper, unable to bear this behavior, though he always said, “leave if you want! The door is wide enough for you all”.  (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 207)

السكة تفوت الجمل: (literally, the way permits the passage of the camel): no one is forcing (you) to stay! (Badawi & Hinds, 1986, p. 173).   

As quoted above, the Egyptian Arabic idiom الباب يفوت جملًا is used as an angry way to tell someone to leave a place as no one is forcing them to stay there.  It can be observed that this idiom involves a metaphor but one which is dead in the sense of being part of the lexicon of Arabic and, therefore, is common to native speakers without giving much attention to the comparison.  In addition to the difficulty of translating an idiom from a different culture, the translator here is faced with another difficulty resulted from the hyperbole created by the source text author.  That is, Mourad (2014) has extended the image of the idiom الباب يفوت جملًا into الباب يفوت جملًا بهودج يحمل عروسًا.  Accordingly, the translator has to tackle not only the problem of rendering an idiom into a totally different culture, but also the problem of preserving the humorous and exaggerated effect reflected by that hyperbole.   

The translator in question has paraphrased the meaning of this source language idiom as leave if you want! The door is wide enough for you all.  He has thus retained the image of the door and, at the same time, the general meaning can still be understandable to the target readers.  However, since a source text idiom has been translated into a target text non-idiom, a loss of idiomaticity has occurred in the target text.  In addition, there is a loss of the humorous and exaggerated effect created by the hyperbole of the source text idiom.     

Example 5  

تخللت هذين الأسبوعين أحداث كثيرة.. علم الكازينو بوفاة جودة المفاجئة.. لملموا من بعضهم حق الخارجة، وجاءت من صاحب الكازينو نفحة هزيلة لا تليق بالعشرة الطويلة.. تم دفن جودة في مقابر باب النصر.. لم يحضر الجنازة كثيرون.. جمع صغير من أهل الحي وبعض العاملين في الكازينو وصديق أو اثنان.. معارف بعدد شعر رأس جودة.. لأنه أصلع.. ذلك كان كل ما جمعه طوال سنين عمره التي تعدت الستين.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 180) 

The two weeks that followed were marked by many developments.  The casino found out about Gouda’s sudden death and some of the employees did a whip around for the cost of the funeral, including a derisory sum from the owner that was unworthy of their long acquaintance. 

Gouda was buried in the Bab el-Nasr cemetery.  Not many turned up to the funeral.  There was a small group from his neighborhood, a few employees from the casino and a friend or two.  No more than the hairs on Gouda’s head, and he was bald.  This was all he managed to gather around him in the course of a life that had lasted more than sixty years.  (Mourad, 2011/2014, pp. 157-158) 

The idiom in the above example is بعدد شعر رأس  which is used in Arabic to tell that someone has very many or much of something (El-Batal, 2013).  The researcher considers it a metaphoric idiom since it suggests some likeness or analogy between a large amount of something and someone’s hair.  This idiom is “often used to scold a person with little experiencing for pretending to be knowledgeable” (El-Batal, 2013, p. 23).  However, it can be observed that this is not the meaning intended by the author in the above context.  The change of meaning is evidently clear from the extension of the image of the idiom as introduced by the author.  In other words, Mourad (2014) has added the phrase لأنه أصلع, literally because he is bald, which gives the opposite meaning and, at the same time, creates an additional sense of humor which catches the reader’s attention as well.  This extension of image is, thus, very important not only due to its stylistic effect, but also since it results in a change of the meaning of the source language idiom altogether.   

Analyzing the translation in question, it turns out that the translator, Robin Moger, has preserved the metaphoric image of the source text idiom in the target text and the target readers can still get the intended meaning from the metaphor presented.  Hence, the translator has given the target readers a taste of the source culture and its language without distorting the meaning intended by the author.  On the other hand, there is a distortion of idiomaticity since this translation does not reflect the occurrence of a source text idiom. 

Example 6   

مش هيوافق .. الواد ده عنده ميول سياسية.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 55). 

He won’t play ball. The guy likes to play politics (Mourad, 2011, p. 43). 

وافق: to agree (with something or somebody); to be agreed, unanimous, of the same opinion, concur (Wehr, 1976, p. 1084).

Play ball: “to agree to do what someone asks you to do, or to agree to work with someone in order to achieve something together” (Cambridge, 2004, p. 21).    

Scrutinizing the translation in the above quoted example, it turns out that the translator has provided a target language idiom where there is no idiom in the source text.  That is to say, he has utilized the English idiom play ball which conveys more or less the intended meaning of the Arabic word يوافق .  Thus, he has attempted to compensate for the cultural and idiomaticity losses resulted from his opting for paraphrase when translating the majority of the source text idioms by preserving idiom usage as a feature of idiomaticity in his translation in general.  

Example 7 

ولثم خده بقبلة مبللة.. بس أنا يا حمادة عاتب عليك.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 150).   

He gave his cheek a damp kiss. But I am going to have to give you a piece of my mind… (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 130).  

:عاتب على to blame, censure, reprove, scold (somebody for) (Wehr, 1976, p. 589). 

Give somebody a piece of your mind: “to speak angrily to someone because they have done something wrong.  I have had enough of him coming home late. I am going to give him a piece of my mind when he gets in tonight” (Cambridge, 2004, p. 297). 

            In the above quoted example, the translator has utilized the target language idioms to give somebody a piece of your mind in a place where there is no idiom in the source text.  In other words, he has opted for this English idiom as a translation of the source text phrase عاتب عليك which literally means I blame you.  Accordingly, this example, like the previous one, shows that whereas the translator has lost a number of idioms in his translation, he has attempted to gain some.  His resorting to compensation, thus, helps maintain the stylistic effect of idiom usage as a feature of idiomaticity in the target text in general.   

4.2 Collocations

Example 1 

عرق غزير علا جبهته اختلط بشعره فعبث به في كل اتجاه.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 118). 

Thick sweat covered his brow, mingling with his hair and sending it sticking out in all directions (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 103).  

قطعة من اللافا البركانية سقطت على رأس أحمد أطفأها العرق الغزير.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 168).   

A dollop of lava fell onto Ahmed’s head and was extinguished by his copious sweat… (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 146).  

ضغطت على زر العذاب الذي يبعث تلك الموسيقى الرتيبة على سبيل تسلية المنتظر، في حين تصبب جبين أحمد بعرق غزير.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 121).   

She pressed the torture button that transmits monotonous music for the amusement of the waiting caller while Ahmed’s forehead dripped with sweat… (Mourad, 2011, p. 106).  

عرق: sweat, perspiration (Wehr, 1976, p. 607). 

:غزير much, plentiful, copious, abundant, ample (Wehr, 1976, p. 672). 

It is observed in the example right above that the Arabic noun عرق, literally sweat, collocates with the adjective غزير, literally abundant.  These literal meanings constitute the total meaning of the Arabic collocation عرق غزير.  This Arabic collocation is, thus, mainly characterized by transparency or compositionality of meaning.  However, it has an equivalent English collocation where the adjective is not translated literally.  That is, the equivalent English noun sweat collocates with the adjective heavy (Oxford Collocations, 2003).  In this case, though both source and target language collocations convey the same meaning, the English adjective is not a literal translation of the Arabic adjective.  This indicates that the collocational ranges of the Arabic and English equivalent nouns عرق and sweat are not identical.   

Analyzing the translation in question, it is evidently clear that the translator has not opted for this target language equivalent when handling the source text collocation, yet he has sought different renderings.  In the first statement, he has employed the adjective thick, literally كثيف or غليظ.  As for the second statement, the translator has opted for a literal translation of the source adjective; that is, he has employed the adjective copious as translation of the Arabic adjective غزير.  In these cases, despite not providing the target language equivalent collocation heavy sweat, the translator has preserved the collocation form in the target text while, at the same time, has conveyed more or less the intended meaning of the source text collocation.  As for the last case, the translator has utilized the English verb plus preposition plus noun collocation to drip with sweat as provided in Oxford Collocations (2003), which conveys more or less the same meaning as the source text collocation عرق غزير, albeit with a different image.  Thus, the source language collocation has been replaced by a target language collocation which is equivalent in meaning but not in form.  In this case, the stylistic effect of using collocation as a feature of idiomaticity has been maintained in the target text, yet with a different collocational pattern.   

Example 2 

كان بداخله شعور بزحزحة هم ثقيل من فوق صدره كاد يقصم ظهره.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 297).   

He had a sensation of some onerous care shifting off his chest after threatening to break his back (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 260).    

Example 3

كانت تغط في نوم ثقيل وتشخر في عمق.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 118).   

Sunk in sleep, she snored deeply (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 103).  

Example 4 

رد عليه الرجل بابتسامة صفراء: إنت سمعك تقيل؟ (مراد، 2014، ص. 139).   

The man gave an unpleasant smile.  Hard of hearing, are you? (Mourad, 2011, p. 121).  

هم: anxiety, concern, solicitude; worry, care; sorrow, grief, affliction, distress (Wehr, 1976, p. 1033). 

هم كبير/ثقيل: serious worry (Ghazala, 2007, p. 1515). 

ثقيل: heavy; weighty, momentous, grave, serious, important, burdensome, troublesome, cumbersome, oppressive; ثقيل السمع: hard of hearing (Wehr, 1976, p. 104). 

:نوم ثقيل/عميق heavy sleep (Ghazala, 2007, p. 1240).   

It is observed in the above quoted examples that the Arabic adjective ثقيل| ثقيلة, whose literal meaning is heavy, collocates with a number of nouns where it conveys different senses.  As quoted above, when it collocates with هم, it means serious; when it collocates with نوم, it means deep; and lastly when it collocates with سمع, it refers to someone who is hard of hearing.  Those collocations, thus, reflect partial compositionality because one of their components, that the adjective ثقيل/ة, conveys a figurative, non-literal sense. However, the meaning of the collocation can still be understood from the other component, that is, the noun which is used in its literal sense. 

On the above account, the source text adjective is translated into English using different adjectives depending on the noun with which it collocates.  When it collocates with هم, literally worry, it is translated into any of the adjectives big, considerable, great, major, and serious (Oxford Collocations, 2003).  Similarly, Ghazala (2007) utilizes the English collocation serious worry as equivalent to the Arabic هم ثقيل.  With regard to نوم ثقيل, it has an identical English collocation where the equivalent noun and adjective are collocated to convey the same meaning.  That is, the English adjective heavy collocates with the noun sleep to indicate a similar meaning to that of the Arabic نوم ثقيل (Ghazala, 2007, Oxford Collocations, 2003).  As for سمع ثقيل, it is translated by the English adjective hard of hearing as illustrated above.    

Scrutinizing the translation in question, it turns out that the translator has conveyed the intended sense in each case.  In the first example above, he has translated هم ثقيل as onerous care, which preserves the same meaning in the target text.  As for the second example, instead of translating the Arabic noun plus adjective collocation نوم ثقيل into its identical English collocation heavy sleep where both Arabic components are translated by their English dictionary equivalents, the translator has provided a different collocational pattern.  That is, he has utilized the verb plus preposition plus noun collocation to sink in sleep which is typical of the target language (Oxford Collocations, 2003) and, at the same time, conveys a meaning more or less similar to that of the source text collocation.  Accordingly, the stylistic effect of collocation usage as a feature of idiomaticity has been preserved in the target text, though with a non-equivalent form or, in other words, with a different image.  In the last statement, the translator has translated سمعك تقيل into the English adjective hard of hearing.  Therefore, he has communicated a similar meaning without preserving the collocation form in the target text. 

Example 5 

حتى أتى يوم تغيرت فيه رئاسة الجريدة..  قرار مفاجئ من رئيس التحرير أيده فيه سريعًا رئيس مجلس الإدارة: لقد اكتفيت بما صنعت..  سأخرج وصفحتي بيضاء.. (مراد، 2014، ص. 289).   

Then one day the position of editor changed hands; an unexpected decision by the editor, quickly endorsed by the head of the paper’s board of directors: I am happy with what I achieved.  I can leave with a spotless reputation…  (Mourad, 2011/2014, p. 253) 

صحيفته بيضاء: his reputation is good; he has noble deeds to his credit, he has a noble character (Wehr, 1976, p. 86). 

"صفحة (فلان) بيضاء: مشهور بحسن السمعة" (فايد، 2007، ص. 277 ). 

صفحة (فلان) بيضاء: he is famed for good reputation. 

As quoted above, the noun plus adjective collocation صفحة بيضاء, literally white page, is used in Arabic in order to refer to someone who has a good reputation.  In this regard, it is characterized by figuration since its meaning is not composed of the literal meanings of its separate components.  Analyzing the translation in question, it is clearly observed that the translator has provided the adjective plus noun collocation spotless reputation which is used in English to describe someone who has a good reputation (Cambridge, 2008).  In this target language collocation, the adjective spotless, which literally means perfectly or extremely clean, is used figuratively in the sense of being good in behavior (Cambridge, 2008).  In this case, providing this target language collocation, even though neither of its components is a literal translation of the component parts of the Arabic collocation صفحة بيضاء, conveys a meaning similar to that of the Arabic collocation as intended in this particular context.  Therefore, the translator has made up for the loss of the cultural-specific image of the Arabic collocation by providing an English metaphoric collocation of similar meaning. 

1. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

The findings of the study point to the translator’s use of the translation strategies suggested by Baker (1992) as far as idiomaticity features are concerned with the strategy of paraphrase being the mostly adopted one by him, which answers the second question of the study.  The extensive use of paraphrase has led to cultural and idiomaticity losses in the target text.  The translator has also made use of the strategy of compensation - which is suggested to make up for the idioms lost in translation- in order to gain some idioms in the target text.  This, therefore, answers the third question addressed in the study.  Consequently, these findings lead to the conclusion that the usage of idioms and collocations as features of idiomaticity has been maintained to some extent in the target text as compared with the source text, which provides the answer to the first and main question addressed in the present study. 

Hence, analyzing Moger’s translation of idioms, the present study concludes that although Arabic and English have different cultural traditions, it is possible to find equivalent idioms in both languages.  However, in most of the cases, the equivalent idioms do not consist of equivalent lexical items.  Yet, this indicates that although Arabic and English are linguistically and culturally different, the same meaning may be expressed in both languages by means of an idiom.  Concerning collocations, the study indicates that due to differences in the collocational ranges of equivalent source and target language words, Arabic noun plus adjective collocations can be translated by English adjective plus noun collocations whether the Arabic adjective is translated literally or not.  The study also reveals that Arabic noun plus adjective collocations may be translated by other collocational patterns in English without distortion in meaning.  It is, thus, hoped that the main objectives of the study have been achieved through the analytical exemplification of each of the translation strategies followed by the translator, Robin Moger, as far as the selected idiomaticity features are concerned.