ISSN: 2306-5737E-ISSN: 2658-4069
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies
ISSN: 2306-5737E-ISSN: 2658-4069
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies 

A contrastive study of the connotative meanings of "dog-related" expressions in English and Jordanian proverbs: Implications for translators and language teachers

DOI:10.30842/alp2306573719166101
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Kayed Murad Al, Alkayid Majd, Essa Lama Bani. A contrastive study of the connotative meanings of "dog-related" expressions in English and Jordanian proverbs: Implications for translators and language teachers. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 2023. 19(1): 66–101.

The study aims to investigate the connotative meaning of dog-related expressions found in English and Jordanian proverbs. The data for the current study consisted of 33 English and 46 Jordanian proverbs, gleaned from reliable dictionaries or books on English and Jordanian proverbs. The study revealed similarities and differences between Arabic and English with respect to the connotative meaning of dog-related expressions. In both languages, these expressions mostly have negative connotations such as ‘inferiority’ or ‘ingratitude’. The study also found differences in the connotative meaning of dog-related expressions between the two languages. For example, in Arabic only, a dog has the connotative meanings of ‘laziness’, ‘cowardice’, ‘failure’, ‘self-destruction’, and ‘cleverness’. On the other hand, the connotative meanings of ‘persistence’ and ‘misery’ were found only in English proverbs. The study also investigated the importance of being aware of the connotative meaning for correct translation of English and Arabic proverbs. The researchers selected four Arabic and four English proverbs containing dog-related expressions and asked 40 students to translate them. The students were fourth-year undergraduates enrolled in a translation course at the Al-Balqa Applied University in the first semester of 2021/2022. The analysis of the results showed that 49.5% of the students failed to translate the proverbs appropriately, as they translated them literally and missed the connotative meanings of the dog-related expressions. Another reason for students’ failure with some proverbs is that these proverbs are culturally bound. It is very important to know the source and target culture in order to translate the proverbs into the target language correctly. The findings of the study also revealed that the most commonly used strategy in translating the proverbs was paraphrasing. The study recommends that teachers and translators pay attention to differences in connotative meaning between languages, since their understanding is crucial for translating proverbs accurately.

Keywords
connotation, contrastive analysis, dog-related expressions, proverbs, translation
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Keywords
connotation, contrastive analysis, dog-related expressions, proverbs, translation
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