A Comparative Analysis of Two English Translations of Ya Seen (Q.36): A Schema- Based Approach
Ebrahim Khodadady, Saeideh Alsadat Eslami

Abstract
The present study explored whether the schemata comprising Saffarzadeh (2007) and Sale’s (1979) translations of the thirty sixth chapter of the Quran, i.e., surah Ya Seen, differed significantly from each other. To this end, the schemata of the two translations were parsed and assigned to three semantic, syntactic and parasyntactic domains. The genera of the domains were also specified in terms of their tokens and types to test three hypotheses. The results showed that the two translations differed significantly in the number of 1) schema domain tokens, 2) common and different schema domain types and 3) common and different schema genus types. With the exception of few schemata, Saffarzadeh has secured the content validity of her translation by offering appropriate semantic, syntactic and parasyntactic equivalents for the Arabic schemata. Sale has, however, violated the content validity of his translation by deleting certain schemata and changing the domains of others to Christianize his translation. The findings are discussed and suggestions are made for future research.

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