When Punctuation Marks are not so 'Punctual': Translating al-waqf Marks at the Prosodic-Orthographic Interface

Abstract

In this paper I argue for a consistent equivalent punctuating pattern for translating al-waqf marks (pause marks) in the Holy Qur'an, based on the prosodic features of pauses as the Holy Qur'an is originally oral not written. The aim of this study is to examine how it is prosody that is rendered when translating al-waqf marks. I suggest that without the aid of a speech recognition tool, punctuation marks would be used inaccurately in conveying the meaning into English. This is done through scrutinising a parallel corpus of seven translations of the Holy Qurʾan provided in the Qurʾanic Corpus (Dukes, 2017), together with a speech analysis of the pauses at al-waqf marks using Praat Version 6.0.32 (Paul Boersma and David Weenink, 2017). The results of the study shed light on some linguistic aspects of the translation of phrase junctures in the Holy Qurʾan. These insights are of importance both to the field of linguistics, in general, and to translation studies, in particular