EXPLICITATION IN OTHERS’ TRANSLATIONS: A CORPUS BASED STUDY OF PAKISTANI LITERARY TEXT

Abstract

This research presents a corpus-based analysis of explicitation in Pakistani English literary texts. It aims to assess how explicitation influences the quality of the translated text, its communicative meaning,moreover the style of translator why he explicates the text. The study utilizes a corpus of two Urdu novels along with their English translations, analyzed according to explicitation classifications. It also aims to annotate data from two corpora using TagAnt and UAM software to measure frequency differences. The selected texts include two contemporary novels, each around 50,000 words: La Hasil, translated as Hollow Pursuits, by YasmeenQureshi and Aks’ by ItratShehzad. These parallel corpora are designed to be comparable in genre and written format. Findings reveal that among the three types of explicitation—obligatory, optional, and pragmatic—obligatory explicitation is the most prevalent. Optional explicitation appears less frequently, while pragmatic explicitation is the least common. Obligatory explicitation significantly enhances the clarity and coherence of the target text, whereas optional explicitation can yield both positive and negative effects by adding stylistic flair. Pragmatic explicitation, in contrast, tends to be neutral in its impact.