"A Comparative Study on Translatability of Topicalisation in English Translations of the Holy Quran"

The present study attempted to scrutinize the problem of translating Topicalisation, which is syntactic rhetorical devices in widdowson (1975) taxonomy. The research question considered in the paper concentrates on the extent of translatability or untranslatability of Topicalisation and strategy applied by translators in the three English renderings of the Holy Quran. More specifically, the study examines how translators deal with Topicalisation in the process of translation of The Holy Quran into English. Whether the translators consider the issue of Topicalisation in the process of translation, i.e. whether the marked tropicalized verses are translated into a form of unmarked or marked in English. The researcher adopted Widdowsons (1975) classification of literary device, with taking into consideration of Topicalisation as a literary device which occupies one syntactic branch of widdwosons taxonomy. The samples were randomly selected from six Surahs of the Holy Quran and were analyzed with their three prominent English translations. The analysis of the results showed that the translation of the some topicalised cases from Arabic into English are not observed accurately in the process of translation. Finally, the results of the present paper suggests that tranlators should observe and pay more attention to Topicalisation in the process of translation in religious texts.