Deploying Heritage Terminology in Translating Pragmatics Terms: An Applied Review of Hisham al-Khalefah’s Translationof the Oxford Dictionary of Pragmatics

Abstract

This study examines the methodological and epistemological problems associated with drawing on the Arabic heritage term (Muṣṭalaḥ Turāthī) in translating pragmatics terminology derived from disciplines that intersect with certain areas of inquiry within this modern linguistic science, such as grammar, rhetoric, the principles of jurisprudence (Uṣūl al-Fiqh), and theology (Kalām). The study addresses this issue through an examination of Hisham al-Khalefah’s translation of the Oxford Dictionary of Pragmatics, with the aim of identifying and evaluating the methodological and epistemological problems associated with this practice, and of investigating the patterns by which heritage terminology is deployed in translation. The study concludes that the translator employed heritage terms in rendering pragmatics terminology within a methodology predicated on mediating between conceptual (intentional) translation and referential (extensional) translation, while adopting a range of translation mechanisms and strategies aimed at reconciling the heritage term with its pragmatic counterpart.