The Translator as Communicator

Sample 7.1
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Then there came running from the farthest part of the city, a man,
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saying,
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(a) ‘O my people! Obey the apostles.
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(b) ‘Obey those who ask no reward of you and who have themselves received
guidance.
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(c) ‘It would not be reasonable in me if I did not serve him who created me, and to
whom you shall all be brought back.
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(d) ‘Shall I take other Gods beside him.
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(e) ‘If God most Gracious should intend some adversity for me, of no use whatever
would be their intercession for me,
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(f) ‘nor can they deliver me.
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(g) ‘I would indeed if I were to do so, be in manifest error.
Dealing with the sequence in a bottom-up direction and focusing on the segment
that displays reference switching (3c), we as readers normally react to what is
being said in sequence (i.e. syntagmatically) and in terms of what could have
been said but was not (i.e. paradigmatically). In the case of element (3c), the
paradigmatic alternatives open to the speaker include:
(a) ‘How is it possible for me to do otherwise than to serve him who created
me, and to whom I shall ultimately be brought back.’
(b) ‘How is it possible for you to do otherwise than to serve him who created
you, and to whom you shall all be brought back.’
Had either of these been the actual words of the source text, choices (a) and (b)
would certainly have failed in relaying the effect desired by the text producer.
The relevant institutions and processes (field) may be described in terms of the
stratification in Arabian society at the time. While the wealthy and influential
men in the city (the addressees in the narrative) were doubtful of God’s
providence, the truth was seen by a man from the ‘outskirts’ (the addresser in the
narrative), a man held in low esteem by the arrogant rich. It would not therefore
be appropriate for someone in this position to engage in what is akin to a personal
98 THE TRANSLATOR AS COMMUNICATOR

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‘introspective’ or internal monologue (choice (a)) nor to ‘sermonize’ or steer the
receiver (choice (b)). Neither of these ideational structures would adequately
achieve the desired effect. Something else had to be done and the utterance as
actually produced, we suggest, came as close as possible to bringing together
personal introspection and sermonizing, inimitably dealing with the social forces
at work.
This brings us to the issue of social distance and the relations of power and