TRANSLATING THE UNSEEN: METAFUNCTION, NARRATIVE FRAMING, AND SEMANTIC LOSS IN ESCHATOLOGICAL DISCOURSE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMOE.831128Keywords:
Arabic–English Translation, Eschatological Discourse, Metafunction (Systemic Functional Linguistics), Narrative Framing, Semantic NormalizationAbstract
This study aims to examine how eschatological monologues are reconfigured in Arabic–English translation while preserving rhetorical force and epistemic authority. It develops an interdisciplinary framework integrating Muqtada al-Hal from Ilmu Ma’ani with Systemic Functional Linguistics by M. A. K. Halliday and Narrative Theory in Translation Studies by Mona Baker. Drawing on Qur’anic texts such as Surah Al-Waqi'ah and monologues from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the study proposes a Corrective Mapping Model to trace metafunctional shifts and narrative reframing, focusing on mood, modality, and framing strategies to analyze how authority and the unseen (al-ghaib) are reconstructed in translation. The findings reveal a pattern of semantic normalization, whereby culturally dense terms such as Sa‘ir, Saqar, and Laza are rendered as “fire” or “Hell,” thereby reducing rhetorical intensity and theological specificity, and the study ultimately offers a transferable model for analyzing metaphysical discourse in translation.
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