CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background of the Study Semantics is a
subfield of linguistics that is traditionally defined as the study of meaning of (part of) words, phrases,
sentences, and texts. Semantics can be
approached from a theoretical as well as an empirical point of view. The decompositional perspective towards meaning
holds that the meaning of words can be
analyzed by defining meaning atoms or primitives, which establish a language of thought. An area of study is the
meaning of compounds, another is the
study of relations between differentlinguistics expression (homonymy, synonymy, antonymy, etc). Semantic includes
the study of thematic roles and its link
to syntax. Semantics deals withsense and reference, truth conditions, and discourse analysis
(www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/semantic).
Grystal, (1991:310) states that
semantics is one of the branches of linguistics studying about the meaning and considered asa
major branch of linguistics devoted to
study of meaning in language. According to what has long been the most widely accepted as theory of semantic, meanings are
ideas or concepts that can be transferred
from the mind of the speaker to the mind of the hearer by embodying them , as it were, in the forms of one
language or another (Lyon, 1984:136).
Meaning is also found on language
ofthe translation of Holy Qur’an.
Al-qur’an as the revelation from
Allah to Prophet Muhammad S.A.W that consists
of 77.439 words and 323.015 letter (Shihab, 1997:4) which has beautiful language, carefulness of editorial
and balance of words used. But we have
to be careful in reading and undestanding the meaning and message stated in the Al-qur’an, because if we do nothave any
experience and knowledge we will
misunderstand and misinterpret of meaning in the Al-qur’an. There are 114 surahs on the Holy Qur’an. The researcher
chooses surah Al-Hadid as his research
object, as it has some uniqueness orsuperiorities. From the title of this surah “the iron” it has special thing stated
in this surah about the creation of heavens
and earth that created in six days only, and the creation of iron with special useful qualities in peace time and in
war. Moreover, there are some words or
sentences that are ambiguities or general and needed to be analyzed using semantic theory that consists oftwo
kinds of meaning: Lexical meaning and
Lexical cohesion. For instance, the word heavensand earth (verse 1) and the word lifeand death(verse 2) and the word
firstand last(verse 3) can be categorized
as lexical meaning since the words are antonym. Also the words word “Lord"and “Allah” (verse 8) can be
categorized as lexical meaning because
those words are synonymy. Surah Al-Hadid is the fifty seventh Surah of Holy Qur’an that has twenty nine verses,
surah Al-Hadid is categorized as madinah
surah that contains; The Establishment of the Kingdom of God, Allah’s Knowledge, Power and Kingdom are
limitless, The
Light and Life given by the Prophet, The Truth shall be established and The Double Reward for Believers. Generally, the
theme of this Surah is to exhort the
Muslims to spend in the cause of Allah. At the most critical juncture of the history of Islam when it was engaged in a life
and death struggle against Arab paganism,
this Surah was revealed to persuade the Muslim's to make monetary sacrifices in particular, and to make them
realize that Islam did not merely consist
in verbal affirmation and someoutward practices but its essence and spirit is sincerity towards Allah and His
Religion. The faith of the one who was devoid
of this spirit and who regarded his own self and wealth as dearer to himself than Allah and His Religion, was
hollow and therefore of little worth in the
sight of Allah.
The researcher does not research
in Arabic language but he analyzes the English
translation of surah Al-Hadidby Taqi-ud-Din and Muhsin Khan using semantic theory, because their explanatory
translation considered one of the best
commentaries and explanation based on Shahih Al-bukhary, Shahih Muslim, and other books with comment forTafsir
At-Tabd, Tafsir Al-Qurtubi and Tafsir
Ibn Kathir,where necessary to elaborate upon the Qur’anic verse.
Also there are many English
translators that have been popular such as: Taqiud-Din and Muhsin Khan,
Pickthall, Shakir, and Yusuf Ali. They have sometimes favored archaic English words and
contraction over their modern or conventional
equivalents; thus, for example, two wide-read translators, Pickthall and Yusuf Ali use “ye” and “thou”
instead of the more common “you”.
Another common stylistic decision has been to refrain from translating “Allah’’-in Arabic, literally, “The God”- into
the common English word “God”.
These choices may differ in more
recent translations. Nonetheless, the most accurate English translation found today is
from The Noble Qur’an,tanslated by
Taqi-ud-Din and Muhsin Khan. And their work is recognized, approved and widely attributed throughout the world as the
most accurate, exact, authentic, real
and original interpretation of the Noble Qur’an and the Arabic text is taken from Mushaf al-Madinah. For the first time
they use word for word English translation
to increase the awareness of the Arabic verses. To understand the Qur’an it is necessary that one should know
the translation of every word of the verse.
Therefore, to convey to the people, the more accurate meaning of the Qur’anic verses, the word for word translation
of the meanings of the noble Qur’an is
produced, because mere word for word translation itself does not lead to the complete understanding, the idiomatic
translation is also produced on the same
page to facilitate for the complete awareness.
Some previous study have already
conducted similar in the same field, such as Laily Nur (2002) in her research entitled
“Semantic Analysis on the Lyrics of Jon Bon
Jovi’s Songs”. The result of her discussion shows that Bon Jovi’s Songs frequently uses lexical meaning, sentential
meaning, and discourse meaning. Fauzi H
Habib (2008), in her research entitled “A Semantic Analysis of the English Translation of “Surah Al Ra’d by Marmaduke
Pickthall” researched the kinds of meaning
used on the language on the English translation of “Surah Al Ra’d by marmaduke Pickthall.
Ahmadin Dimjati (2008), discussed
the lexical, sentential, discoursal and speech
act meaning, the language styles and methods of translation used by A.
Yusuf Ali, T.B. Irving and N.J.
Dawood follow in interpreting or translating the Holy Qur’an from Arabic into English.
Based on the previous
explanation, the researcher finds another area that is not researched yet by the previous study namely “
A Semantic Analysis on The English
Translation of Surah Al-Hadid”.The present study focuses on the kinds of lexical meanings, denotation, connotation,
synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, homophony,
and ambiguity. In addition the researcher investigates about the kinds of lexical cohesion, theyare reiteration
and collocation 1.2 Statement of the problem The problems of the study are formulated as
follow; 1. What kinds of lexical meaning found in the
English translations of “Surah AlHadid” by Taqi-ud-Din and Muhsin Khan? 2. What
kinds of lexical cohesion found in the English translation of “Surah AlHadid”
by Taqi-ud-Din and Muhsin Khan? 1.3
Objectives of the Study This study is
intended to describe; 1. Lexical
meanings which are found in the English translation of “Surah AlHadid” by
Taqi-ud-Din and Muhsin Khan.
2. Lexical cohesions which are found in the
English translation of “Surah AlHadid” by Taqi-ud-Din and Muhsin Khan.
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