TRANSLATION GAP: A VARIATIONIST PERSPECTIVE OF LINGUISTIC HYBRIDIZATION ACROSS PAKISTANI ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

The socio cultural diversification squarely inculcated the tint of adaptations and innovations in the language of its users and has triggered the researchers to explore the lexico-semantic categories within the bounteous soil of Pakistani English. This research aims at unearthing and tracing the norm developing variety of English and the surged response of glocalization in the world Englishes specifically Pakistani English thus adding to development and evolution of English with its essence in non-native contexts. The study grails to partake the investigation and exploration of translation gap being prevalent and why the near translatable approximants are not used, instead of using hybridized language i.e. innovations and borrowings from Urdu (acculturation). Lexico-semantic variations and innovations in the Pakistani newspapers due to translation gap, in light of Stuart Halls’ theory of representation are being put to inspection. The study was exclusively carried on different sections of The News, Dawn, Express Tribune and Pakistan Observer to acknowledge the sociolinguistic profile of Pinglish in a plurilingual context. Findings of this research culminates the modifications in English by putting it in social and cultural fertile frame of context of Pakistan and the vocabulary used in Pakistani English newspapers imbuing diverse colors of local aroma in the multifaceted Pakistani context. This paper preserves lexical diversity, bringing empowerment to Pakistani English and documents the phenomena; and provides insights into the practices of lexical hybridization due to the lexical gap. This study widens and broadens the horizon for carrying out further works on phrasal and sentential level and by employing various strategies.

Keywords: Glocalization, Translation Gap, Lexical Innovations, Content Analysis.