Boase-Beier’s Cognitive Stylistics Approach to Human and Machine Translation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love”

1. Introduction

      Contemporary translation studies aim to find the latest translation perspectives that keep pace with technological developments. This research tends to compare human translation with machine translation to find out their Arabic rendering of Elizabeth Gilbert’s self-help memoir Eat, Pray, Love. Cognitive stylistics involves a deep understanding of both the source and target languages, as well as the cognitive processes involved in language comprehension and production to convey the meaning and stylistic features of the original text. A comparative study is conducted to examine both human translation and machine translation (ChatGPT) in the selected self-help memoir to find out which of them is suitable in the conveyance of the source text’s style.  It is hypothesized that MT (ChatGPT) cannot work professionally without the engagement of human mind. HT is more acceptable than MT in certain instances, MT may prove more suitable to non-literary texts; both HT and MT may complement each other effectively.

• A glance at the novel

    Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia is a memoir published by Elizabeth Gilbert in 2006, recounting her global journey following a painful divorce. Gilbert, aged thirty-four at that time, has a stable life with education, a home, a spouse, and a flourishing writing career. Despite this, she feels unfulfilled in her marriage and chose to end it. Following a failed rebound relationship, Gilbert finds herself heartbroken and alone. Determined to embark on a transformative journey; she spends a year traveling around the world. Her adventure begins in Italy, where she has experienced culinary delights and embraced life, the first word in the novel’s title ("Eat"). After that, she travels to India, where she searches for spiritual solace, which is the second word in the title ("Pray"). Finally, she explores Bali, Indonesia, in pursuit of harmony and balance between the two (eat and pray), and unexpectedly finds love with a Brazilian businessman, which is the third word in the title ("Love"), whom she later married and divorced.

  The novel is often categorized as a self-help memoir due to its combination of personal narrative and the author's journey of self-discovery. In the book, Gilbert shares her experiences and insights, which she gained during her travels through Italy, India, and Indonesia. Alongside her personal story, she explores themes of self-reflection, spirituality, and finding fulfillment. Many readers have found inspiration and guidance in Gilbert's journey, making it fitting for the self-help memoir genre.

• Memoir

Memoir is defined by Smith (2019) as what you know after something you have been through; its purpose is to inspire readers and teach them lessons by sharing personal experiences. Gilbert’s Eat, Love, Pray is considered a self-help memoir, a genre of autobiographical literature that combines elements of personal storytelling with advice and guidance remarks. It presents insights, which aimed at inspiring or assisting readers in their own personal growth or self-improvement journey. In these memoirs, authors typically share their own experiences, struggles, and triumphs, often offering reflections, lessons learned, and practical tips for overcoming obstacles or achieving certain goals. The aim of self-help memoir is to both entertain and empower readers by providing relatable narratives and advice that may resonate with their own life circumstances.

• Self-help Discourse

      McGee (2005, p. 11), defines self-help discourse as "books written with the intention to instruct readers on solving personal problems". They are “"books of popular nonfiction written with the aim of enlightening readers about some of the negative effects of modern culture and worldview and suggesting new attitudes and practices that might lead readers to more satisfying and more effective lives" as illustrated by (Dolby, 2005, p. 38). In translation, A large number of self-help books are translated annually, particularly from English. Gümü (2012) states that the target readers of self-help discourse are often ordinary people who thirst for ready, easy, and applicable solutions for modern life difficulties. self-help authors usually embrace "a friendly, easy-to understand and ‘reachable’ tone as if one was talking to a friend who lets you in on a secret", and they predominantly address the less-educated audience and play "the role of the psychologist, priest or counsellor" (Effing 2009, p. 133).

        Elizabeth Gilbert is an American journalist and author; she studied political science at New York University during the day, and wrote short stories at night. Her debut book, Pilgrims, was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Gilbert's first novel, Stern Men, was named a New York Times Notable Book in 2000. Her debut piece of nonfiction, The Last American Man, was released in 2002 and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award Gilbert (2022). Gilbert is famous for her memoir Eat Pray Love, which she published in 2006. The book was a worldwide bestseller, having been translated into over thirty languages and selling over 12 million copies (Sabry, 2012).

       In 2010, Eat Pray Love was adapted into a film; Gilbert released Committed in 2010 as a follow-up to Eat Pray Love. The book went on to become a no.1 New York Times bestseller and earned a lot of positive feedback from critics. Gilbert wrote Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear in 2015, and it soon became a no.1 New York Times bestseller. The book picks off where Eat Pray Love left off in terms of self-actualization and reflects Gilbert's happy attitude of adventure and permission in her work and life (Paskin, 2015).

• ChatGPT

        ChatGPT has burst onto the scene as an AI capable of writing, translating, making quizzes, answering questions about any subject, at a convincingly human level. It is created and relies on GPT-3.5 language technology, which was developed by Open AI,  and launched on November 30, 2022, and since that time, it has attracted a massive number of people. It allows people to create papers for school projects or similar tasks without actually writing them. Concerning the negative side, ChatGPT is not always accurate, so relying on it as a sole source of information can be risky. One benefit is that ChatGPT is a replacement for more traditional search engines. It can provide answers to questions or summaries of information without the need to go through long lists of search results.  ChatGPT has a two-way dialog with people, responding to questions as if the user and ChatGPT are having a conversation. In this paper, the selected excerpts are examined for their accuracy regarding stylistics tool against the human made translation’s accuracy.

• Aim and Significance

          This research tackles the translated Arabic text adopting a cognitive stylistics approach to translation. The analysis investigates how translators as readers, interpret texts and construct mental representations of meaning to give a target text that reads the cognitive style of the source one. The main objective of this study is to investigate the applicability of the cognitive stylistics’ strategies illustrated in Boase-Beier’s (2014) framework to find out how they are employed in human and machine translation. Based on this objective, the study evaluates the semantic reliability of both translations to read Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love’s mind. In other words, the study examines the cognitive processing involved in reading human and machine tasks, including: comprehension, interpretation and emotional response in the process of translation. (reflected in lexical choices, syntactic structure, and cultural adaptation, rhetorical devices etc.). Thus, how well each translation captures the intended meaning and style of the source text in the new rewritten translated made text is the purpose of this paper. To achieve this purpose, the following research questions are attempted to find answers by analyzing the data selected for the study.

• Research Questions

1. To what extent is Boase-Beier’s (2014) cognitive stylistics framework be applicable in the Arabic translation by Zeina Idris as HT and ChatGPT as MT?
2. How far do HT and MT accurately convey self-help themes presented in Eat, Pray, Love (read the mind of Gilbert)?
3. How do cognitive stylistic elements, such as ambiguity, lexical choices, syntactic structure, foregrounding, and iconicity etc., influence the process of translating Eat, Pray, Love into Arabic?
   • Methodology and Data

        This study conducts a qualitative analysis of the translated self-help memoir Eat, Pray, Love into Arabic, comparing HT to MT, in capturing the cognitive style of the source text. The HT is translated by Zeina Idris (2009), she is a freelance translator since 1996 for the Arab Scientific Publishers, while MT is acquired by ChatGPT.  Adopting a comparative approach for the study of HT versus MT in the context of literary texts provides a structured model for analyzing their linguistic, cultural, and stylistic differences and similarities. The research develops a comprehensive framework for analyzing the translated text of Eat, Pray, Love based on principles of Boas-Beier’s cognitive stylistics framework. It includes categories such as translating the mind style via linguistic features such as lexical choices, ambiguity and iconicity etc. as mentioned above.

Data are selected from Elizabeth Gilbert’s self-help memoir Eat, Pray, Love and its translated Arabic text. Twenty excerpts that reveal the three phases (eat, pray, love) through her three trips to (Italy, India, Indonesia) are analyzed according to the model of analysis below in figure one. They are selected to illustrate cognitive stylistic elements, such as ambiguity, lexical choices, syntactic structure, foregrounding, and iconicity etc. These elements influence the process of capturing the cognitive style in the translation of Eat, Pray, Love. Machine translation system (ChatGPT) is used to obtain machine-translated version against the human translated one.

Figure One shows the model of analysis in this study. The radial circle shows the relationship to a central idea, emphasizes both information in the center circle and how information in the outer ring of circles contributes to the central idea.

2. Review of Literature

        Huang (2011) conducts a thesis utilizing stylistics as an evaluative and analytical tool for assessing literary translation, with a particular focus on translations from English into Chinese. The research highlights the significance of applying stylistics in literary translation by employing corpus linguistics to analyze the extent to which the translator is able to preserve the author's original style in the translated work in terms of techniques, linguistic features, and their corresponding functions English short stories are translated into Chinese to examine the stylistic patterns of translated texts through corpus tools. The study concludes that literary texts possess unique lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic features that must be reproduced in the translated target text (TT). The study also emphasizes the use of corpus methods as a means of identifying prominent stylistic features in the source text (ST) and tracing their equivalents in the TT.

        Kadhim (2014) attempts to find the nature of the stylistic changes in English-Arabic translation texts of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) political news. The study has adopted the model proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) to show how the differences in the order of sentence constituents and the points of the grammar of the Source Texts (ST) and Target Texts (TT) contribute to the stylistic and the semantic changes. It deals with the sequences of the sentence constituents, some elements of grammar such as tenses, prepositions, and adverbs, and the semantic changes that have consequently taken place in the Arabic translation. The paper makes use of the stylistic ideas of Ghazala (1995) to capture the syntactic changes. It has examined twenty-five English ST; the structures of the English texts and their corresponding Arabic translations are compared using various techniques: phrase markers in tree configuration, in linear structures (label-bracketing), and some narrative descriptions. The findings indicate that semantic changes are attributable to the differences in points of grammar (tenses, prepositions, and adverbs) of the speakers of the ST and the TT arising from different cultural emphasis and differences in some socio-linguistics elements; the stylistic changes are essentially arising from differing language structures.

       Wu et al. (2016) provides a detailed description of the implementation of Google's Neural Machine Translation (GNMT) system, highlighting the techniques which are crucial for its accuracy, speed, and robustness. Sherif (2019) adopts Baker’s (re)framing scheme to examine the repositioning of the autobiographer, Elizabeth Gilbert, in the Arabic translation of Eat, pray, love: One woman’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia. The study identifies the (re)framing techniques capable of changing the autobiographer’s story. It sheds light upon the importance of the integration between the Narrative Theory of Baker (2006) exploring that the narrative type can cause change in the translation.

        Concerning MT, Karjo and Metta (2019) note that Google Translate requires improvement in translating collocations. According to King (2019), this improvement can only occur if engineering and computational linguistic departments understand and receive training in artificial intelligence technology, neural machine translation, algorithms, and their codes, which allows neural machine translation to advance.

            Vieira and Alonso (2020) reports that MT systems can often introduce misunderstandings and miscommunication in professional translations. They also identify several MT issues in English-Arabic collocations that hold linguistic and cultural significance.

      Tohamy (2021) attempts a simple comparison of two translations of an Arabic short story written by the Egyptian writer Yousef Idris. He compares human made to machine translation, using Google Translate. The study examines some cohesive devices in the two translated texts. Reference and conjunction are selected for the analysis as types of grammatical cohesion. Findings of the study show that cohesive types used vary according to the translation method for both human and machine translation. The results indicate the limitations of machine translation in conducting a reliable translation of a literary work. The human translator use of cohesive devices is more appropriate than Google Translate.

       Dorst et al. (2022) study an English novel and its Dutch translation using stylistics frameworks. She posits that micro-level choices in stylistics, such as transitivity, modality, or lexical choices, serve specific functions in the literary text and influence readers' perception. The study utilizes Leech and Short's (2007) checklist of stylistic categories, along with automated lexical analysis software like Word-Smith. The study investigated how these linguistic choices are rendered in the Dutch translation to determine the extent to which the TR is likely to have a reading experience similar to that of the original novel in the source language.

     Mohsin et al. (2023) aim to conduct a comprehensive stylistic analysis of Elif Shafak’s novel The Island of Missing Trees by investigating the various figures of speech adopted throughout the text. To analyze the text effectively, this study adopts the heuristic checklist of linguistic and stylistic categories proposed by Leech and Short (2007), enabling a critical assessment of linguistic descriptions. The findings of this study reveal that the author skillfully employs various figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, anaphora, personification, Onomatopoeia, and alliteration in order to vividly portray ideas and thoughts within the novel. By providing an in-depth analysis of these stylistic elements, this study sheds light on the literary techniques employed in The Island of Missing Trees and their impact on the reader's interpretation and engagement with the text.

Thus, none of the above review of related studies applies Boas-Beier’s cognitive stylistics framework, nor conducts a comparison between HT and MT(ChatGPT) to find out which is more appropriate to read the cognitive style of the source text.

3. Theoretical Framework

       According to Boase-Beier (2014) “A cognitive stylistic view of translation suggests that as readers we see style as a reflection of mind, and attempt to grasp that mind in reading and to recreate it in translation” (p.109). In her framework, she reviews theories of translation and style as the choice of the author who is the creator of the source text. Style as choice concerns the translator also, as a creator of the target text. Studies tackling the styles of translated texts (e.g. Dahlgren 2005) “see the style as the result of choice, and thus, ultimately, if not explicitly, of a cognitive state driving the choice” (Boase-Beier 2014, p. 79).

Malmkjar (2004, p.13) states that” such studies cannot ignore that a translation contains both the author’s and the translator’s choices. Boas-Beier (2014) states that

                    The notion of mind in the text can, then, be approached from the point

                    of view of the mind constructed as inhering in the source text and affecting

                    the reader in a particular way, or as being cognitive state suggested by the

                    interaction of inferred author mind style and translator mind style (p. 79).

         The main issues in cognitive stylistics in relation to translation are included in (p. 74) of her book Stylistic Approaches to Translation. They are summarized in six points; the first illustrates that meaning does not only depend on the words in the text, but it also relies on their implicatures, assumptions, and inferences in the reader’s mind. The second point says that reading is a cognitive process, and it is the main part of the translator’s job. The third one states that translators as readers of literature or other types of communication, try to read objectively (their reading is not merely personal). If they experience a changed mental state, in reading a text, which is enhanced by its linguistic elements, this change will be similar to the mental state of the original and the translated texts. The fourth assumption is that cognitive stylistics differentiates between reading literary and non-literary texts. The fifth point says that there are universal features of literary texts, and features of other types of communications; it adds that these features are both cultural and context specific. The sixth and last point hypothesises: if reading a text for translation means inferring an author and assuming meaning to act upon, then translators know what the author means and balance this meaning in their translation. It is noted that these points are interacted; they reveal a cognitive view of style which might help translators to retain what they find in reading the author’s mind.

 The notion of translating the mind in the text “is important both for stylistics and translation studies, and has been one of the aspects considered to a greater or lesser extent whenever style has been taken into account in translation (75). According to Cook (1994) literary discourse has an effect on the reader’s mind by refreshing or changing his mental representations of the world. For translation, this suggests an approach in which the style of the text both conveys and creates a cognitive state. If translation fails to capture such a cognitive state, the target text will have less effect on its readers’ minds. This is illustrated by Boas-Beier (2014) that “mind in the text carries an attitude conveyed by the style, and is particularly important in the translation of irony, where the attitude towards the subject matter, if lost, would alter the translation completely” (p. 80).

       Four aspects of cognitive stylistics are tackled in Boas-Beier’s framework, which are crucial for reading and translating the mind. They are listed in chapter four in her book as follows: ambiguity and textual gaps, foregrounding, salience and visibility, metaphor, mind and translation, and iconicity, mimesis and diegesis.

Ambiguity is “a principle of literary language; as a stylistic characteristic, it involves the presence of structures in a text which have multiple meaning” (Boase-Beier 1987, p. 130). In cognitive stylistics, ambiguity can be seen as expressing a cognitive state in which several different and possibly contradictory thoughts are entertained at the same time. It can be manifest in various forms, such as lexical ambiguity (multiple meanings of a word), syntactic ambiguity (multiple possible interpretations of a sentence structure), and semantic ambiguity (uncertainty about the intended meaning). Cognitive stylistics explores how readers or listeners navigate and resolve these ambiguities during comprehension. Cognitive stylistics emphasizes the active role of readers or interpreters in constructing meaning. Ambiguities in the source text may require readers to engage in cognitive processes such as inference, disambiguation, and context integration. Translators need to be aware of these cognitive processes and consider them when rendering the text in another language.

      Translators face decisions regarding whether to preserve or resolve ambiguity in the translation process. In some cases, maintaining a degree of ambiguity may be desirable to mimic the effect of the source text. In other situations, clarity may be required to ensure that the intended meaning is accurately conveyed in the target language. Ambiguity can be culture-specific, and what is considered ambiguous in one culture may not be perceived the same way in another. Translators must be aware of cultural differences, and ensure that the translated text aligns with the cultural expectations, regarding ambiguity. Pragmatic aspects of language use, such as implied meanings, indirect speech acts, and presuppositions contribute to ambiguity. Cognitive stylistics explores how readers infer pragmatic information from the context. Translators should be mindful of these pragmatic elements to capture the full communicative intent of the source text. Some texts employ ambiguity creatively, for literary or rhetorical effects. Translators face the challenge of preserving such creative ambiguity while ensuring that the target audience can engage with the text meaningfully. Ambiguity does not only arise out of words or structures which suggest two or more meanings. Some of the most striking instances arise from actual linguistic gaps in the text.

        Foregrounding in cognitive stylistics refers to the linguistic and stylistic devices that draw attention to certain elements in a text, making them stand out or appear more prominent. This concept is particularly relevant in translation as it involves decisions about how to convey these foregrounded elements in the target language. Visibility is a term much used by Venuti (1995) and is often assumed simply to refer to a text’s visibility as a translation, in the sense that the source text is visible in or behind the translated text. One of the cognitive effects of foregrounding is to make readers rethink their views of the world. It can serve to change the cognitive schemata of the reader. Cognitive stylistics examines various linguistic devices that contribute to foregrounding, such as repetition, deviation from normal syntactic structures, unusual word choices, and figurative language. Translators must recognize these devices in the source text to understand what elements are foregrounded. Repetition is not just a device for foregrounding; it can be seen as a reflection of a cognitive state. Thus, A translator has to consider both the cognitive state embodied by stylistic repetition and the cognitive effects on the reader of patterns which draw attention to particular points in the text; not all languages have equal possibilities for repetition, or indeed for other types of foregrounding.

  Metaphor plays a significant role in cognitive stylistics, and its translation involves capturing not only the literal meaning of words but also the underlying conceptual metaphorical mappings. Cognitive metaphor theory, developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980; 1999), posits that metaphor is not merely a linguistic phenomenon but a fundamental part of human thought and conceptualization. According to this theory, metaphor is a cognitive tool that helps people understand abstract concepts by mapping them onto more concrete, embodied experiences. In the context of translation, cognitive metaphor theory has several implications. In source texts, conceptual metaphors may shape the underlying ideas and expressions. Translators need to be sensitive to these conceptual metaphors to accurately convey the intended meaning. Metaphors are often culture-specific, and different cultures may employ distinct conceptual metaphors to understand and express similar concepts. When translating, it is essential to recognize and account for these cultural variations to ensure that the metaphorical meaning is faithfully conveyed in the target language. Some metaphors are deeply rooted in a language and may be used so commonly that they become part of everyday speech. Translators must decide whether to preserve the metaphorical language literally or find equivalent metaphors in the target language that carry similar cognitive weight. Understanding the cultural context is crucial when dealing with metaphor’s translation. Translators need to be aware of how certain metaphors are conventionally understood in both the source and target cultures to make informed decisions about adaptation.

Iconicity, in the context of cognitive stylistics, refers to the resemblance or similarity between linguistic expressions and the concepts they represent. It involves a direct or mimetic relationship between the form of a sign (such as a word or phrase) and its meaning. This concept is particularly relevant in translation, as it influences how the meaning of linguistic elements is conveyed across languages. The term iconicity is derived from Peirce’s description of a sign which represents its object mainly by its similarity (1960, p. 157) to what it represents, and is used of structures which echo in sound or shape that they stand for. In other words, iconicity suggests that the signifier (the form of the sign) bears a resemblance or similarity to the signified (the concept or meaning it represents). Iconicity is often culturally influenced, and symbols or representations may carry specific meanings in a given culture. Translators should consider the cultural connotations and adapt iconic elements to make them relevant and comprehensible to the target audience. Mimesis involves the imitation or representation of the real world in art, literature, or other forms of creative expression. Iconicity within diegesis could involve the use of symbols, visual elements, or linguistic representations that directly correspond to the imagined or fictional elements in the narrative. Iconicity can enhance the mimetic or diegesis aspects by providing a direct, recognizable link between the form of representation and its intended meaning, whether that meaning is drawn from the real world or the fictional world.

To sum up, translation is not different from any of other communicative situations to arrive at an interpretation for which there appears to be a reasonable amount of evidence. Much of what gives a literary text its special literary character lies in its style. A cognitive stylistic view of translation suggests that as readers, style is seen as a reflection of mind, and translators attempt to grasp that mind in reading and to recreate it in the target text. If a translator is a critical reader, a sense of how style works will be a useful tool. It is possible to convey the attitudes, emotions and interactional possibilities of the style of the source text. The analysis of the data selected for this study attempts to apply the above aspects of cognitive stylistics in Boas-Beier’s framework.

4. Analysis and Discussion

      As mentioned above in the methodology section, Boase-Beier’s (2014) framework is adopted for the analysis of the data selected. Each excerpt is included in a table, which contains the source text against HT and MT.

Table one, Excerpt 1

        The first excerpt illustrates the title’s translation of both human and machine made one. It is obvious that Zeina Idris manipulates the transposition strategy of translation, as proposed by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), and Chesterman (2016) which involves replacing a grammatical structure in the source language with a different structure in the target language, while maintaining the same meaning. “Eat” and “Pray” are classified for being verbs. She translates them as nouns in Arabic to suit the word “love.” In the context of transposition within cognitive stylistics, translators may employ this strategy to adjust linguistic structures to align with the cognitive and stylistic preferences of the target audience. It is also what Boase-Beier (2014) entitled translating the mind to show the cognitive processes that occur in her mind in conveying the meaning to the target reader’s mind. Likewise, ChatGPT uses the same strategy in turning the word “love” to be a verb like the other two verbs.

It is clear that HT is more appropriate because the title is better as a grammatical category of a noun; it conveys the three main ideas in her three trips and phases of the memoir seeking her self-discovery. The use of nouns is objective, and it is not restricted as the use of imperative verbs. Nouns indicate all about the three stages of the novel; eat indicates different Italian foods; pray reveals religion; finally, love is her new story of love.

       The cover page of Eat, Pray, Love has iconicity; it involves examining the signs and symbols presented to uncover the underlying meanings and messages conveyed to readers. Proni (2003) suggests that translation process is considered a sign involves a reference to an object and has the capability to generate another sign known as the interpretant. According to Boas-Beier, iconicity is often culturally influenced, and symbols or representations may carry specific meanings in a given culture. The cover may feature images or illustrations that symbolize the themes of the memoir. For example, images of food, spiritual symbols, or representations of love and relationships could be used to visually communicate the central ideas explored in the text. In English cover page, title typography expresses the three phases with signs that have interpretants. The word “Eat” is written with sauce to express food; “Pray” is written by beads to express spirituality; “love” is written with roses’ leave; rose is a symbol of love. On the other hand, iconicity in the Arabic cover page uses the same signs by including an image contains (a piece of cake, a bead, and red rose) as interpretant to evoke feelings of passion, spirituality, and vitality, aligning with the themes of the memoir.

The cover page in both languages has also mimesis which involves the imitation or representation of the real world in art, literature, or other forms of creative expression. Diegesis is included within iconicity too in the use of symbols, visual elements, or linguistic representations that directly correspond to the imagined or fictional elements in the narrative as Boas-Beier illustrates in her framework. Iconicity, mimesis, and diegesis cognitively, read the word “Eat” as embodied in a maximally saturated yellow pasta; “pray” is depicted by a string of pure brown beads which is used for prayers in India, and flower leaves picture “love” in a varied palette of red rose and pink. Thus, the cover signals the narrative representation of the memoir within the two cultures in a sense of universality as shown in figure two below (cover pages of HT Arabic and English copies).

MT of the cover page is not included in the analysis because when the image is given to the application, this message appears: I'm sorry, but I can't view or analyze images. However, you can describe the picture to me, and I can try to help or provide information based on that description.

      Zeina Idris’s translation retains all elements of the English cover page; the cognitive style of the source text’s cover page is revealed in target one. It is evident that iconicity, mimesis and diegesis express what the content is about. The subtitle of the original title is summed up as “ امرأة تبحث عن كل شئ” a woman searches for everything below the image, and the author’s name is written in red underneath it. Famous readers’ opinions on the memoir are written at the bottom of the cover to make it as the real. For translation, a cognitive view might suggest that what is universal will be more easily translated than what is culturally or linguistically diverse.

Table two, Excerpt 2 Gilbert, p.16, Idris, p. 5

According to the framework adopted, cognitive stylistic approaches are able to explore theories that relate linguistic choices to cognitive structures and processes. Ambiguity in language can be manifested in various forms, such as lexical ambiguity (multiple meanings of a word), syntactic ambiguity (multiple possible interpretations of a sentence structure). This excerpt illustrates choices of lexical and cultural- specific items’ ambiguity; ellipsis, or omission of some elements which are not suitable for the Arabic mind are employed by HT, while in MT they are retained, e.g., والنحيفين لليوجيين العراة, the underlined word is omitted in Idris’s translation. Syntactically, المزاولي رياضة اليوغا النحيلين is more appropriate; أعناقهم.  يضعون مسابح في retains the cognitive style of both the source and target text. Unlike, يرتدون الخرز حول أعناقهم. shows syntactic and semantic ambiguity, it does not give the intended religious meaning. Other examples are bolded in the table to illustrate this point.

   Three main lexical items are important to conduct a comparison between HT and MT concerning this point. The word “japa malas” is translated by HT and MT in a similar way. Translating "japa malas" as "جابا مالاس" without transliteration is a form of foreignization. Foreignization involves retaining foreign elements in the translation to maintain the cultural specificity of the source text as stated by Venuti (2004). In this case, keeping "جابا مالاس" untranslated preserves its original Indian cultural and religious context. The word “necklace” is translated by chatGPT as "القلادة"in a literal way. While HT conveys its meaning in the context as “المسبحة”. In cognitive stylistics, this shows how the translator’s mind is sensitive to the context to convey the meaning to the target text in an authentic way. The word "mantra" is translated as “المانترا” by HT and as "المنتا" by MT. Mantra is a culture-specific term used in various Eastern religious and spiritual practices, particularly in Hinduism and Buddhism. Translating mantra employs foreignization as a translation strategy; retaining "mantra" in the translation, the HT and MT preserve the cultural and religious significance of the term as it is understood in its original context.

      It is suggested that mantra may be translated into Arabic as "ترتيل", "تسبيح", "ذِكر" as a form of domestication. These Arabic terms convey the general concept of repetitive sacred utterances or recitations but may not fully capture the specific cultural and religious connotations of "mantra." It is notable that syntactic structures of HT are appropriately reading the mental state of Gilbert, and the Arabic reader as well.

Table Three, Excerpt 3 Gilbert, p. 19, Idris, p. 9                

Boas-Beier (2014) states that reading the mind of the source text’s author retains its cognitive style.  The above table presents excerpt three; it contains the title of the first phase of the memoir. It is obvious that HT is more expressive than MT’s literal rendering. It accurately, conveys the idea of pursuing inner happiness through storytelling about food. Syntactic and semantic choice of HT retains Gilbert’s thought and feeling: structures of Language!!both HT and MT follow the structure of the English structure (Italy in one line, or, say it like you eat it, or, 36 Tales About, the Pursuit of Pleasure). Say it like you eat it is rendered in Arabic as "قلها كما تأكلها which gives the semantic meaning of English. إلى السعادة الداخلية  السعي employs visibility as used by Venuti and is often assumed simply to refer to the translated text’s visibility, in the sense that the source text is visible in the translated text. Unlike مطاردة المتعة of ChatGPT translation, which is a literal translation. HT and MT pursue the cognitive style of Gilbert; metaphorical use in the underlined phrases brings about the visibility of the Arabic rendering in capturing the source text cognitive style.

 Table four, Excerpt 4 Gilbert, p. 25, Idris, p. 15

 Metaphor as a cognitive stylistic feature of self-help advices in the memoir is introduced in this excerpt. Boase-Beier believes that cognitive metaphor theory suggests that metaphors are not just linguistic ornaments but integral to how people structure and understand their experiences. According to Lakoff and Johnson (1999) metaphor is not merely a linguistic phenomenon but a fundamental part of human thought and conceptualization. This metaphor signifies the experience of having a baby to tattooing on your face, suggesting that both decisions require careful consideration and commitment because they are permanent and have significant consequences. The style of HT is more effective than MT because HT addresses a female audience directly ("تكوني"), using the feminine form of the verb to match the implied female subject. It maintains a formal and somewhat advisory tone, as indicated by the use of "عليك" (you should) and "واثقة" (confident). On the other hand, MT uses the masculine form of the verb ("تكون") and the corresponding masculine adjective ("متأكدًا"), suggesting a more general or neutral audience. It also uses the informal imperative form "عليك حقًا" (you really should) to convey a direct but less formal tone.

 The syntactic structure and the lexical choice of HT reads the cognitive style of Gilbert and retains the salience of the idea in the metaphorical employment. The mental state, figuratively, depicted in the protagonist’s voice is retained in the cognitive style of the Arabic translation.

Excerpt 5   Gilbert, p. 28    Idris, p. 18 (ch. 3 no translation)

 In excerpt five, ambiguity and textual gap in HT are illustrated; Zeina Idris does not translate this chapter from the memoir. She resorts to omission as a strategy to exclude taboos or unaccepted religious ideas in the Arab’s culture. As this excerpt is a long one including chapter three which Idris does not translate, and puts dots (…..) instead , it is inserted in an appendix at the end of the paper (see the text in the appendix). ChatGPT, on the other hand as machine made translation is generated to analyze the text. The ideas expressed in the translation are not specific to Arabic culture but rather reflect personal beliefs and perspectives on spirituality and religion. Translating this chapter conveys the inner struggle that Elizabeth Gilbert has experienced; she tries to reach God. The mind in the text can be seen as representing a cognitive state in all its aspects: it is influenced by ideology, it takes a particular attitude, or it embodies a particular feeling. The effect of ideology on mind style, is examined in critical approaches such as that of Fowler (1981) who shows meaning as inseparable from ideology, and dependent on social structures and attitudes. This ellipsis, though violates the illocutionary force of Gilbert’s thought, it is required to suit the target reader’s mind. Idreis could have noted this to her addressees instead of leaving the whole chapter off translation. She could have omitted the last paragraph only which is religiously, unacceptable metaphor to translate.

Table six, Excerpt, 6 Gilbert, p. 38 Idris, p. 25

Metaphor plays a significant role in cognitive stylistics; its translation must capture the literal meaning of words and the underlying conceptual metaphorical mappings as stated by Boas-Beier. The first sentence in the extract reads the state of Gilbert’s mind metaphorically; Idris’s rendering this metaphorical mind to the Arabic reader is stylistically acquired. Her lexical choice is more expressive than, not only ChatGPT translation, but also Gilbert’s own words. “I imagined my body parts flying off my torso in order to escape the volcanic core of unhappiness that had become me شعرت بأن أعضاء جسدي تطير من صدري هرباً من هوة الحزن التي أصبحت على شفيرها Idris’s translation agrees with the first point in Boas-Beier’s principles of her cognitive stylistic approach, mentioned above in the theoretical framework, and in p. (74) in her book: meaning is more than the words on the page, it relies on the words implicature etc.  Her body parts are depicted as birds flying; her choice of صدري for torso is more affective and expressive than جُذوري in MA translation; the same in هوة الحزن, على شفيرها . "Pound" in this context refers to a unit of weight, and translating it as "باوند" is a form of foreignization strategy for rendering culture-specific terms. In Arabic, the unit "كيلوغرام" (kilogram) is commonly used instead of "باوند" to represent weight. There is ambiguity in MT translation, the system misunderstands thirty pounds as weight and renders it as money, ثلاثين جنيهًا

Thus, as shown in table six both translations are acceptable, but HT affectively brings the stylistic mind of the source text. Idris enhances what Boas-Beier explains that it is the how the intended implicatures, assumptions and inferences of words on the page are translated. MT just translates words not implicatures, HT translates the mind and style. It is suggested that Idris might have translated "pound" as رطلاً which is known for the Arabic reader.

Table seven Excerpt 7    Gilbert, p. 40, Idris p. 26

As mentioned in excerpt six, Idris translates the cognitive style reflected in the use of metaphors. MT is a literal translation that retains the direct Arabic equivalents for English words "catnip" and "kryptonite."  Shown and underlined in the table, while Idris renders the implicatures and assumptions as inferenced in the contextual meaning.  The metaphorical use, simply expresses the idea of indispensability or essentiality, that Gilbert could not have lived without David.

Table 8 Excerpt 8     p. 59                                              p. 47

        The above excerpt employs foregrounding as a stylistic feature, examined by various linguistic devices such as repetition, deviation from normal syntactic structures, unusual word choices, and figurative language. Repetition of Rome in the provided text serves to emphasize Elizabeth Gilbert's admiration and affection for the city, making it stand out prominently in the text. Both HT and MT render the intended meaning, but Idris’s rendering of Pretty to الساحرة gives more extension to the meaning than الجميلة of ChatGPT translation.

Table 9, Excerpt 9    p. 84                                              p. 72

     This is another form of foregrounding in HT; it is a syntactic shift as the underlined phrases in the table illustrate. It emphasizes the speaker's hypothetical situation by explicitly stating that she likes staying in Rome. MT translates every word in the text, it gives سباغيتي which is the second name of Luca; this is missed in Idris’ translation.

Table ten, Excerpt 10   P. 152                          P. 147

     This is the title of the second phase of the memoir; the lexical choice of HT is more expressive than MT to render the word “devotion” to التأمل which expresses the spirituality that Elizabeth Gilbert has experienced in India. "تهاني بلقائك" is a direct expression of congratulations or well wishes specifically directed at the person being addressed. Thus, it is suitable to engage the reader rather than " تهانينا للقائك". Idris’s translation as human achieves Boas-Beier’s notion of cognitive stylistics translation approach that reads the mind of the source text. Idris arrives at the intended interpretation of Gilbert’s intention.

Table eleven, Excerpt 11 p. 153                       p. 150

In this excerpt, translation of the word Ashram is misleading in Idris’ rendering. ChatGPT translates it correctly as "الأشرم"which is a term used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism to denote a spiritual hermitage or a monastery. On the other hand, "المعتزل" refers to a specific school of Islamic theology known as Mu'tazilism. These are two distinct concepts from different cultural and religious contexts, and they should not be confused with each other in translation. She could have rendered it as it is in the source text to be accurate for the target reader’s mind.

Table twelve Excerpt 12   154-155                                 151

This excerpt above contains the difference between human and machine translations in rendering the mantra. As mentioned before, mantra can be translated as "ترتيل", "تسبيح", "ذِكر" as a form of domestication instead of HT’s المانترا or MT’s الشعار. The cognitive style of translating it syllable by syllable in both HT and MT preserve the source text’s meaning and flow. The ellipses (...) are used in the phrase "أجل ... التي تسكن بداخلي" by HT indicate textual gap of expressing acknowledgment or gratitude towards the divine presence within oneself. Idris adapts and manipulates the original text to suit the target culture; It is not against her religion to translate I honor the divinity into أقدر القوة الآلهية instead of omission strategy, which results ambiguity.

Table thirteen, Excerpt 13 p.168                           p. 165

The metaphorical expression in: swinging through the vines of thought is successfully retained in HT; it ensures that features in literary texts give different reading experience, which is interpreted in Idris’s translation as she preserves the metaphorical language literally. It infers Gilbert’s mind and feeling by giving a direct translation to vines to adhere the metaphorical meaning which is lost in MT.

HT conveys the intended meaning effectively in which it emphasizes the lengthening or stretching of thoughts. On the hand, MT renders metaphorical meaning too, but it is not suitable to the cognitive style of the source text. Idris’ translation agrees with Boas-Beier’s statement, that translators have to preserve the cognitive impact of metaphors in the target language, ensuring that the audience comprehends the underlying conceptual mapping intended by the author.

Table fourteen, Excerpt 14 p.182                              p.  176

This excerpt exhibits elements of both iconicity and sound symbolism that both HT and MT convey.: The choice of the mantra "Ham-sa" reflects iconicity as it directly relates to the meaning it represents. In Sanskrit, "Ham-sa" translates to "I am That," which aligns with the concept of self-awareness and unity with the divine. The sound of the mantra itself mirrors the act of breathing, with "Ham" representing the inhalation and "sa" representing the exhalation. This iconic relationship between the sounds of the mantra and the action of breathing enhances its effectiveness as a meditative tool. Sound Symbolism: Additionally, the pronunciation of the mantra and the explanation provided about its pronunciation ("Ham" pronounced softly, openly, like "hahhhm," and "sa" rhymes with "Ahhhh . . .") suggest a deliberate choice of sounds to evoke specific sensations or meanings. The repetition of the "ah" sound in both "Ham" and "sa" may symbolize a sense of openness, relaxation, or connection with the divine. This use of sound symbolism enhances the meditative experience and reinforces the intended meaning of the mantra.

"Ham-sa" or "هم - سا" can be considered a form of foreignization in translation; it is a translation strategy where the translator retains elements of the source language (in this case, Sanskrit) in the target language (in this case, English or Arabic) to preserve the cultural and linguistic authenticity of the original text. By keeping "Ham-sa" intact, the translator maintains the original Sanskrit mantra, allowing readers to connect with its cultural and spiritual significance.

Table fifteen Excerpt 15   p. 246                                  p. 235

Excerpt fifteen contains ambiguity in Idris’s translation; the difference between human and machine translations is shown in translating the word “Key”. ChatGPT translates it correctly as  ."الرئيسية"Top of FormIn the phrase "Key Hostess," "Key" is functioning as an adjective. It describes the type or role of the hostess, indicating that she holds a significant or important position as a hostess. Thus, HT creates a sort of ambiguity by translating it as "مضيفة المفتاح" .

Table 16, Excerpt 16   p.261                            p.  284

Iconicity, sound symbolism, and metaphorical expressions are retained in the translation of this excerpt. There is a difference between human and machine translations in translating the phrase “shippa-shippa-shippa-shippa”. HT ignores translating it, while ChatGPT retains the original sound symbolism or cultural significance by translating it as "شيبا-شيبا-شيبا-شيبا". Therefore, MT preserves cultural or linguistic elements of the source text to maintain its authenticity in the target language. In this case, the transliteration serves to convey the sound of footsteps on the grass to reveal the effect of yoga on Gilbert; this sound expresses the cognitive state of Gilbert which is ignored in HT. Idris’ rendering of metaphorical expression is more accurate as shown in the table, it holds the source text visibility in or behind the translated text. MT uses كانت with  صوت صندلي  which is grammatically, wrong, it is not feminine to have ت  with the verb كان.

Table seventeen Excerpt 17   p. 282                          p. 269

Translating idiomatic expression may be problematic to capture the cognitive meaning of the source text “This is such bad news it’s almost funny.” In HT, "شر البلية ما يضحك" is an idiomatic equivalent that captures the intended meaning effectively. It describes what Bassnet (2014) says that translation is a form of intercultural communication. The idiomatic expression in Arabic conveys a similar meaning to the original English phrase "This is such bad news it’s almost funny." On the other hand, MT seems to be more literal; it is a direct translation of the words rather than using an idiomatic equivalent in the target language.

Table eighteen, Excerpt 18   p.309                       p. 299

In this excerpt, the implied meaning and implicature of Liss is lost in HT. “Can’t, Liss.” It is translated as لا يمكنني يا ليز by HT instead of لا يمكن، ليس as in the case of MT. Human translator does not reach the intend (mind) meaning of the author using Liz, but Liss in the text indicates Ketut’s loss of teeth. /z/ sound is produced when the position of the tongue where against the alveolar ridge, which is the ridge just behind your upper front teeth; If there are no teeth, it is pronounced like /s/ sound. Another point in this excerpt is the phrase "ليس لديه ما يكفي من الأسنان للسفر بالطائرة" (He doesn't have enough teeth to travel by plane) In this context, it's a figurative expression used to imply that Ketut gets older to travel by plane. The lack of teeth symbolizes a lack of capability or capacity to undertake the journey.

Table nineteen Excerpt 19   p. 312                       p. 302    

This excerpt is reminiscent of a memory game or a repetitive chant often used as a children's activity. The repetition of the phrases "I'm going to Grandma's house" and "and I'm bringing" with the addition of new items each time is a form of foregrounding. Foregrounding refers to a stylistic device where certain elements or patterns are emphasized in a text to draw attention to them and create a specific effect. In this case, the repetition serves to create a rhythmic and cumulative effect, engaging the reader's attention and inviting them to participate in the unfolding narrative or game. Translating "apple" as "إجاصة" by HT is not accurate. "إجاصة" specifically refers to a "pear" in Arabic, not an "apple." The correct translation for "apple" in Arabic is "تفاحة" like in the case of MT.

Table twenty Excerpt 20    p.  404                        p.  389

In translating the idiomatic expression “Everybody has a different sense of urgency in this life.” HT,"كل يغنِّي على ليلاه" is an idiomatic equivalent that captures the intended meaning effectively. It's an idiomatic expression in Arabic that is typically used to refer to people ignoring other matters or trivialities and exaggerating them as if they were serious issues. This phrase demonstrates the idea of self-centered thinking or focusing on personal matters without considering more important issues in reality. On the contrary, MT seems to be more literal; it is a direct translation of the words rather than using an idiomatic equivalent in the target language.

5. Conclusion

Having compared HT to MT (‘ChatGPT’ in this study) in Elizabeth Gilbert’s self-help memoir Eat, Pray, Love, it is found out that both HT and MT have advantages and disadvantages. HT captures the cognitive stylistic elements, such as ambiguity, textual gap, translating the mind, foregrounding, metaphor, imagery, and iconicity. HT incorporates cultural aspects, idiomatic expressions, and stylistic choices, specific to the target language and audience; HT interprets the text creatively. In contrast, MT requires human post-editing. It seems to be more literal and a direct translation. In answering the research questions stated earlier, Boase-Beier’s cognitive stylistics framework is applicable on Idris’s translation. She pays attention to the intended implicatures, assumptions, and inferences of the source text, which are rendered in her translation. Cognitive stylistics elements such as ambiguity, lexical choices, metaphors foregrounding, and iconicity influence the process of translation to capture the cognitive style of Eat, Love, Pray; they are retained in HT. There are differences between HT and MT. The latter cannot read the mind and feeling of Gilbert, or replace HT completely, but both can work together, i.e. MT can be used with the intervention of HT/human mind.

In conclusion, MT (ChatGPT) cannot work professionally without the engagement of human mind. HT is tended to be more acceptable than MT in certain instances, although MT may prove more efficient with non-literary texts. The study suggests that both HT and MT can complement each other effectively, if used appropriately. For future research, it is recommended to explore various text types to better understand the differences between HT and MT, as this study is limited to literary text (self-help memoir). Further investigations are needed to assess the utility of MT in translating different types of texts between English and Arabic or vice versa.