International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 3, No. 2; 2013 ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 129 Translation Assessment of Arabic Implicit Negation into English Mehdi Falih al-Ghazalli 1 1 Translation Department, Al-Mustansiriyia University, Baghdad, Iraq Correspondence: Mehdi Falih al-Ghazalli, Translation Department, Al-Mustansiriyia University, Baghdad, Iraq. E-mail: mehdi_falih2000@yahoo.com Received: January 26, 2013 Accepted: February 26, 2013 Online Published: March 25, 2013 doi:10.5539/ijel.v3n2p129 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v3n2p129 Abstract Unlike explicit negation, which is grammatically or morphologically signalled, implicit negation is a syntactico-semantic concept referring to those sentences that are semantically negated by the presence of some adverbials, quantifiers, conjunctions, particles, etc. The present study is concerned with assessing the English translations of implicit negatives as found in Qura’nic ayas and Arabic literary texts to uncover whether or not the translations of this type of negation are accurately produced. It is hypothesized that inaccuracies in the translation of implicit negation seem to be more recurrent than the accurate renditions as far as the linguistic area under study is concerned. The assessment of the translated texts has proved that translation of implicit negatives is difficult to process and convey from Arabic into English due basically to the linguistic differences between both languages. This sometimes has led to translate Arabic implicit negatives into English explicit negatives. Keywords: ayas, explicit, implicit, negation, particles, quantifiers and shortening 1. Implicit Negation in Arabic: A Preliminary (Note 1) As defined by Arab grammarians (e.g., al-Makh zumi, 2005, p. 265), negation is a linguistic category which is opposite to affirmation and intended to disprove or deny the truth value of a proposition. Negation is of two types: explicit and implicit. The former is signalled by particles such as: lan ﻟﻦmȃ ﻣﺎ,la ﻻ, lam ﻢ ﻟetc., and it is possible to negate the whole sentence (whether nominal or verbal) by placing the particle at its beginning. Some particles are exclusively used to negate sentences whose tense is past and the same holds true of those sentences whose tense is present (cf. Nahr, 2004, p. 267-302). 1.  ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﻣﺎﺣﻀﺮMȃ ḥadara Muhammadun (Note 2). Muhammad did not attend. 2.  ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﻳﺤﻀﺮ ﻟﻦLen yaḥdar Muhammadun (Note 3). Muhammad does not/shall not attend. As for implicit negation, it is one of the subtypes of negation that is not referred to by negative particles but it can be understood from the linguistic context of the sentence or the context of situation. It can be carried out by interrogatives and conditionals that imply the negative sense. Moreover, this type of negation expresses some sense of brevity in the Arabic sentence without which verbosity may come to the fore. (Nahr, 2004, p. 303) 3. ﻣﻌﺼﻮم؟ اﻷﻧﺴﺎن ان ﻗﺎل ﻣﻦMan qȃla inna alinsȃna ma’suum. Who said that Man is perfect? Definitely, such a sayer is absent. The interrogative sentence above carries the sense that no one has said so. 4. ﻷآﺮﻣﺘﻪ ﻣﺤﻤﺪ ﻟﻮزارﻧﻲLaw zȃrani Muhammad la?kramtuh. Had Muhammad visited me, I would have rewarded him. The conditional sentence above expresses the sense that Mohammad did not pay a visit to me and accordingly I did not reward him (Atyia, 2007, p. 211f). 1.1 Grammatical Devices of Implicit Negation As mentioned in 1 above, implicit negation can be signalled by interrogative particles, conditionals, adverbials and shortening. Such devices will be introduced below. 1.1.1 Interrogative Particles Implying Negation Arab grammarians hold a consensus that there are four interrogative particles that can be used in disaffirming the truth value of a sentence. Firstly, besides its primary use for forming yes-no questions, the interrogative particle