The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists AUTUMN 2026 The Linguist 13 FEATURES 'jog', 'trot', 'gallop' and 'sprint' share the feature '+rapid movement', although some refer more to horses than to humans. What is particularly useful here for translators is the reminder that meaning is rarely carried by a single unit. Looking at the individual semantic features of a word often reveals why an apparently obvious equivalent does not quite work in translation. Interestingly, the sense relationship of synonymy is not interchangeable. In other words, if X is a synonym of Y, Y is not necessarily a synonym of X. One example comes from A Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms: 'kill' is a synonym of 'murder' but 'murder' is not a synonym of 'kill'. 4 Synonymy across languages Despite Bryson's bold statement that "In English, in short, there are words for almost everything", 5 the language still falls short of providing exact designations for a plethora of Arabic words. A revealing example concerns the expression of absence. English commonly relies on general terms such as 'empty', 'barren' and 'devoid of', often supplemented by a phrase specifying what is absent. Arabic offers more specialised lexical designations according to both the entity being described and the particular thing it lacks. Classical Arabic describes a land without vegetation as ﻣ ﻮ ا ت (mawāt), an uninhabited land as ﻗ ﻔْ ﺮ (qafr) and barren land without cultivation as ﺟ ﺮ ز (juruz). An uninhabited dwelling is د ا ر ﺧ ﺎ و ﻳ ﺔ (dārun khāwiyah), a rainless cloud is ﻏ 1 م ﺟ ﻬ ﺎ م (ghamāmun jahām), while a tree without leaves is ﺷَ ﺠ ﺮ ةٌ ﺳ ﻠ ﺐ (shajaratun sulub). Similar lexical precision appears in descriptions of containers and bodily states: a well without water is ﺑ ﱤ ﻧ ﺰ ح (biʾrun nazḥ), a stomach without food is ﺑ ﻄ ﻦ ﻃ ﺎ و (baṭnun ṭāwin) and a cheek without hair is ﺧ ﺪ أ ﻣ ﺮ د (khaddun amrad). Arabic lexical richness is particularly evident in the terminology for the white markings on a horse's face, with distinct lexical items according to the size, shape, position and extent. Examples include ا ﻟ ﻌ ﺼ ﻔُ ﻮ ر (al-ʿuṣfūr; a narrow marking from the forehead to the eyes), ا ﻟ ﺸﱠ ﺎ د ﺧ ﺔ (al-shādikhah; whiteness across the forehead but not the eyes) and ا ﻟ ﻐ ﺮ ة (al- ghurrah; a large mark on the forehead). To me, examples of this kind demonstrate why claims that one language is 'richer' than another need to be treated with caution. The more revealing question is not which language has more words, but which distinctions each language chooses to encode directly in its vocabulary. What appears to be a lexical gap may just reflect a different way of organising experience. English is not incapable of expressing these distinctions; it often conveys them descriptively rather than assigning each one an independent lexical item. Whereas Arabic often indicates subtle distinctions through individual words, English tends to rely on broader terms or descriptive phrases. From a translation perspective, this creates a lexical asymmetry whereby various Arabic hyponyms may need to be rendered through a single English hypernym with extra descriptive modification. Also referred to as superordinate or umbrella terms, hypernyms encompass a range of more specific items or concepts – for example, 'vegetable' is the superordinate term to 'cauliflower'. When it comes to synonym selection, speakers must navigate a web of contextual elements (sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic and discourse-pragmatic) to communicate effectively. The intricate nature of synonymy involves both lexical overlap and semantic congruence, with considerations for register, contextual appropriateness and pragmatic factors. Translation between English and Arabic requires sensitivity not only to what words denote, but also to the distinctions that each linguistic system chooses to encode within individual lexical items. Notes 1 Bryson, B (2009) Mother Tongue, Penguin Books 2 Cruse, DA (1986) Lexical Semantics, CUP 3 Nida, EA (1964) Toward a Science of Translating: With special reference to principles and procedures involved in Bible translating, EJ Brill 4 Spooner, A (2005) A Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms (2nd ed.), OUP 5 Op. Cit. Bryson MISSING THE MARK English lacks Arabic's specific terminology for the white markings on a horse's face IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK

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