Word Order Errors in English-Arabic Translation.

Interlingual data, examined in the present study, consisted of advanced students' deviant use of VSO and SVO structures in the translation of expository texts from English into Arabic. Although English is an SVO language and Arabic has two word orders: VSO (verbal sentences) and SVO (nominal sentences), students seemed to translate imitatively rather than discriminately. Analysis of the syntactic context showed that VSO structures were avoided and SVO structures were overgeneralized in long NP's, when the verb is passive, where a parallel structure is required, and after certain particles. Avoidance strategies employed by the students were identified.

Prof. Reima Al-jarf
King Saud University
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/aljarf