A Corpus-based Study of Conjunction Devices in English International Law Texts and its Farsi Translation

Abstract

Cohesion as an indispensable linguistic feature in discourse analysis and translation has aroused many researchers’ interest. To explore the regularity in shifting conjunction devices from English into Farsi our study was designed to analyze the similarities and differences of cohesive device of conjunction between English International Law texts (ELTs) and their Farsi translation texts (FTTs). Based on cohesion theory proposed by Halliday and Hasan (1976), our study was designed to analyze and compare cohesive devices in four English international law textbooks and their Farsi translations. A parallel corpus consisting of 40 ELTs and 40 FTTs was established. All the identified cohesive devices in the sample texts were categorized and the occurrence frequencies of cohesive devices were counted manually, recorded and compared. The results revealed that both ELTs and FTTS share more similarities than differences in the use of cohesive device of conjunction because of the informative function and stylistic features of law texts. The majority of cohesive devices are maintained in Farsi translation for precision, clarity and logicality. Our study will not only help international law students and law workers but also shed light on teaching and research of cohesive devices in English - Farsi translation.