Traduisibilité et Équivalence

Abstract

Translatability and Equivalence

Translation Theory and Contrastive Linguistics are two areas of applied linguistics. The relationship between them has often been mentioned in several scientific works. Translation could thus be considered as an application of contrastive linguistics. Alongside other translation processes such as literal translation, adoption, and borrowing, among others, the problem of transposition and modification, equivalence, and class changes of words will be discussed here. Contrastive linguistics gives us the conditions for the discovery and presentation of the linguistic problems resulting from the theory of translation. Every translator is a linguist" (Mounin 1976,113). Contrastive Linguistics as a continuation of comparative linguistics deals with linguistic comparison. Only it differs from it by the fact that it renounces diachrony and value judgments. Many concepts relevant to these interrelated fields, namely contrastive linguistics and translation have been discussed with practical instances drawn from Arabic.