The Implicature of Reference Switching (iltifāt) from Second Person to Third Person in the Translation of Sūrat Al-Baqarah

Abstract:

The notion of iltifāt or reference switching from second person pronoun to third person pronoun is one of the remarkable styles of the Holy Qur’ān. Reference switching from second to third person pronoun is part of pronominal/personal reference switching (iltifāt). There are other kinds of reference switching such as number, tense, gender and case but personal reference switching is the most commonly known. Reference switching from second person to third person has a tremendous effect as with other types of reference switching and is used in the Holy Qur’ān to serve various pragmatic functions. Reference switching in the Holy Qur’ān does not occur haphazardly or randomly. Rather, it creates some special effect that encourages the reader to search for some kind of implicature. This study attempts to uncover the pragmatic functions or implicatures of reference switching from second person to third person in the source text chapter of the Holy Qur’ān called sūrat al-Baqarah with reference to a number of Qur’ānic exegeses. Specifically, how implicatures that are obvious in sūrat al-Baqarah are presented to the target readers in Yūsuf Ali’s translation (1998). The analysis reveals that there are a number of implicatures of reference switching from second person to third person that are elicited from exegeses. However, these implicatures are not shown to the target readers in Yūsuf Ali’s translation. Translating implicature in reference switching requires intertextual cross checking from exegeses in order to attain the meaning of reference switching lost in translation.