Hyperonymy and hyponymy

Hyperonymy or superordination refers to an expression with a wider, less specific, range of denotative meaning. Hyponymy on the other hand refers to an expression with a narrow, more specific range of denotative meaning. Therefore خالor عم are both hyponyms of the English term ‘uncle

Translating by a hyponym Translating by a hyponym implies that the target language expression has a narrower and a more specific denotative meaning than the source language word. Dickins et al (2002: 56) call translation which involves the use of TT hyponym particularizing translation or particularization.

In translating from English to Arabic, the target word خال is more specific than the source word ‘uncle’, adding the particulars not present in the source language expression.

Another example which shows lexical differences between English and Arabic and may therefore create lexical translation problems is the lexical item ‘cousin’. In English ‘cousin’ can have eight different Arabic equivalents:

2. Cousin: ابنة العم ‘the daughter of the father’s brother’ . 1.Cousin: ابن العم ‘the son of the father’s brother’ 2. Cousin: ابنة العم ‘the daughter of the father’s brother’ 3. Cousin: ابن العمة ‘the son of the father’s sister’ 4. Cousin: ابنة العمة ‘the daughter of the father’s sister’ 5. Cousin: ابن الخال ‘the son of the mother’s brother’ 6. Cousin: ابنة الخال ‘the daughter of the mother’s brother’ 7. Cousin: الخالة ابن ‘the son of the mother’s sister’ 8. Cousin: ابنة الخالة ‘the daughter of the mother’s sister’  

All of the above eight Arabic terms are hyponyms of English ‘cousin’. The previous discussion has shown that there are semantic differences between English and Arabic that the translator should be familiar with. The translator should look for the appropriate target language hyperonym or hyponym when there is no full target language synonym for a certain language expression.  

Translating by a hyperonym This implies that the TT expression has a wider and less specific denotative meaning than the ST expression. In translating from Arabic to English, TT ‘uncle’ is more general than ST عم (or خال), omitting particulars given by the ST. We shall call this generalizing translation, or generalization for short.

In their semantic near-equivalence, particularization and generalization both entail a degree of translation loss: detail is either added to, or omitted from, the ST text. However, in the absence of plausible synonyms, translating by a hyponym or hyperonym is standard practice and entirely unremarkable.

3. Semantic overlap, and overlapping Translation ‘concert’ as a translation of حفلة غناء generalizes by going beyond the idea of singing to include the possibility of music without song; but at the same time it particularizes by excluding the non-organized form of ‘party’ which is a possible interpretation of حفلة.

If, in a given context, استاذة is translated as ‘lecturer’, not ‘teacher’, the TT certainly keeps the reference to someone who instructs. But it also particularizes, because it adds the specific detail that she works in a university and not in a school; and at the same time it generalizes, because it omits detail of her gender.