MEANING EXTRACTION OF SYNONYMS AMONG ADVANCED ARAB-ENGLISH TRANSLATORS: A PILOT STUDY

Abstract

This pilot study examined the semantic extraction process of L2 English synonyms during the dictionary consultations and the associated challenges involved in the process among four Arabic-English translators, and whether such a process is influenced by the mother tongue. Participants were provided with dictionary definition excerpts of synonym pairs, one pair at a time, to examine and write down any differences in meaning, to report on any meaning extraction challenges, and to provide translation equivalents. The results indicated that participants did not demonstrate any distinctions between the target synonyms which suggests that dictionary definitions did not provide enough disambiguation criteria for synonyms and that is exactly what was expressed in the interview data. Finally, cross-linguistic effects were not found in the data. However, participants produced more accurate responses than the semantic English task which suggests that translators link L2 synonyms to their Arabic translations rather than their L2 definitions.  Article visualizations: