Assessing the Essence: An Appraisal Analysis of English Translations of Saraiki Short Stories

Abstract

The present study aimed to explicate the loss of essence in the English versions of Saraiki short stories. Source language (SL) may lose its essence during the translation process when meanings are rendered from one language (SL) to the target language (TL). This study employed a qualitative design for the investigation of the loss of meanings in English versions of Saraiki short stories. The extracts from both English and Saraiki texts of the two short stories namely, “پانی کا‏‏ئناں پیساں” and "اندرلیکھ دا سیکھ" and their translations in the English language “Now, I Won’t Drink Water” and “The Hell Awakes” were selected as sample of for the analysis using the technique of purposive sampling. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics, particularly Appraisal Theory (Martin & White, 2005), the sample extracts were analyzed to examine the aspects of attitude, graduation, and engagement. Then, the significance of certain aspects of loss of meaning was highlighted after comparing the findings. The results of the study revealed that the target texts manifested loss of meanings suggesting socio-cultural environment and subjectivity as important factors influencing translations.