The scope of interpretation : linguistic infinity and the translator’s perspectives

Abstract EN

The present paper explores the scope and nature interpretation showing how it works on a linguistic cline stretching from necessity to infinity.

In Interpretation and the Language of Translation (Al-Shahab 1996), translation was defined as the interpretation of a text in a language different from its own.

But there was no elaboration on the ' dimensions of interpretation.

This paper constitutes a part of a wider Interpretive frame which attempts to investigate interpretation in language and translation.

The paper demonstrates the linguistic mechanisms that embody linguistic infinity and touches on the relationship between infinity and creativity in language.

It describes three possible perspectives vis-a-vis interpretation: (1) the writer's perspective, (2) the interpreter's perspective and (3) the translator's perspective.

The last perspective shows the degree or "latitude" aimed اة by the translator.

this latitude of interpretation is held to be responsible for producing different translations of the same Source Text.

Hence the latitude adopted by the translator can explain difference in interpretation and consequently difference in translation.

The paper discusses an example form the translation of the Quran, the Muslims' Holy Book, into European languages.