Applications of Language Studies
A semiannual International Research Journal

Translation Procedures Used in the Rendition of Quranic Cognate Object Constructions into Persian

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Alireza Rasti

Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University/Department of Foreign Language Education, Faculty of Humanities, Salman Farsi University of Kazerun

10.22034/jals.2025.2067770.1098
Abstract
Cognate objects are verbal nouns that are morphologically related to their preceding verb by being derived from it. For all their widespread use in Arabic, such constructions are almost non-existent in Persian and their use in the language is considered deviation from the normal syntax of Persian. Given this, translating them into a language with no exact equivalents is likely to pose challenges in the way of translators. This language-related problem has been probed in this investigation through a descriptive – analytical research methodology. To see how translators of the Quran set about rendering them into Persian and what compensational syntactic devices they might resort to, a content analytic approach was applied to an aggregate of 53 instances of Cognate Object Constructions with their translations by five Persian translators of the holy book freely available on the website ParsQuran. It was found the translators had mostly resorted to deletion procedure rather than literal rendition probably to help render them more naturally in the target language. The deleted cases of COC had been supplemented by a range of minor procedures including transposition through using prepositional phrases and adverbs, the use of metaphors, amplification via absolute adverbs/adjectives and synonymy, and explicitation.

Keywords

Cognate Object Constructions (COCs)
the Quran
Translation Procedures
Persian translation

Subjects

Applications of Language Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 October 2025

  • Receive Date 03 August 2025
  • Revise Date 07 October 2025
  • Accept Date 10 October 2025

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