BETWEEN THE LINES: TRANSLATING IMPLICATURE IN ‘BURI AURAT KI KATHA’ AND ‘A BAD WOMAN’S STORY’

Abstract

This research explores Paul Grice’s concept of implicature through the lens of translation. The cooperative principles and the process of translation enable the researcher to observe implicature in a way that facilitates the transfer of meaning within conversational contexts. The data for this study comprises selected extracts from the Urdu autobiography Buri Aurat Ki Katha by Kishwar Naheed and its English translation A Bad Woman’s Story by Dardaana Somroo. The study examines translation procedures with reference to the notion of implicature, highlighting the patriarchal system, male dominance, and the strategies used in constructing women's identities through implied meanings and cooperative principles. A qualitative approach, specifically comparative content analysis, is adopted. Dialogues from both the source text (ST) and target text (TT) are analyzed using a comparative model. Grice’s (1975) theory of implicature provides the theoretical framework for data selection, development, and analysis. The findings reveal that the translator employs various translation procedures proposed by Molina and Albir (2002)—such as linguistic compression, linguistic amplification, modulation, variation, adaptation, and established equivalence—to convey implicature. The study concludes that contextual inferences play a crucial role in communicating implicit meanings from a translation perspective. It further affirms the relevance of Grice’s theory, particularly the flouting of maxims, in understanding how implicature functions in both the ST and TT within the domain of translation studies.