Transitivity Stability in Translation: Experiential Grammar in English renditions of Surah Zalzalah

Abstract

This study will investigate the transitivity pattern of Surah Al-Zalzalah and the stability of the translations of that surah to encounter another language (English) using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) with an emphasis on experiential meaning. The surah presents a very powerful image of resurrection and accountability before God on the Day of Judgment using grammatical images. The study will compare and evaluate both English translations of the Arabic source text (Muhsin Khan and Al-Hilal and A. J. Arberry) to determine how process types, participant roles and configurations of experience were transferred during this transfer across languages. The Arabic source text and each of the selected English translation exhibit a wide degree of consistency in the predominance of material processes in that both of the English translations indicate that there is an action-oriented, active representation of eschatological events based upon the Arabic source text. Based on this analysis, it appears that both of the English translations maintain a high degree of stability in transitivity in that the original process and participant roles have been largely retained. There are some lexical differences between the two English translations, which may account for differences in how the original Arabic surah will be interpreted; however, this does not have a significant impact on the overall experiential meaning of the surah. The study will conclude that both English translations were indeed successful in maintaining a similar level of experiential and theological significance as the Arabic source text.

Keywords: Surah Al-Zalzalah, Transitivity, Experiential Meaning, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Qur’anic Translation