Sattar Izwaini  Dept of Arabic and Translation Studies American University of Sharjah, uae hafsa Al-Omar

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The Translation of Substitution and Ellipsis 
in Arabic Subtitling 
 Sattar Izwaini
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Dept. of Arabic and Translation Studies 
American University of Sharjah, UAE 
Hafsa Al-Omar
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Urban Planning Sector 
Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities, UAE 
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Abstract 
This paper investigates the trends in translating cohesive devices while 
subtitling English-speaking films into Arabic through examining a corpus 
of 20 films. It looks at how translators deal in particular with 
substitution and ellipsis and how their approaches serve the 
cohesiveness of the subtitles. The paper also looks at the translation 
shifts resulting from those approaches. The study is based on Halliday 
and Hasan's model of cohesion (1976). The analysis has found 
a considerable number of shifts occurring while dealing with the 
cohesion of the target texts. Repetition stands to be the most dominant 
cohesive tie that is used as a counterpart of substitution and ellipsis 
in the English originals, making explicitation the main strategy 
in translating such ties in Arabic subtitles. Substitution comes second 
while ellipsis and reference are found to be marginal. In their 
tendency to avoid ellipsis, translators opt for repetition or substitution 
as cohesive devices in Arabic subtitles. 
Key words: 
Arabic subtitling, cohesion, ellipsis, substitution, 
translation shifts.
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[e-mail], 
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1656-4321
 
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[e-mail] 
Citation: Izwaini, S. & Al-Omar, H. (2019). 
The translation of substitution and 
ellipsis in Arabic subtitling. Journal of 
Audiovisual Translation, 2(1), 126–151.