A Critical Corpus-based Study of Translation Universals: A Comparison of Translational and Original Persian

One of the crucial topics discussed in descriptive translation studies is that of Translation Universals (TUs), which addresses typical, salient features of translational language that make it distinguished from other linguistic variants. Taking into consideration the differences between languages, the key question here is whether the purported universal features (mainly articulated based on examining European languages) exist in non-European, less- or uninvestigated languages. Employing Chesterman’s categorization of universals into ‘S-universals’ and ‘T-universals’, the present study aimed at examining the latter, less investigated group of universals. A comparable corpus was made of original and translated Persian expository texts to investigate two T-universals, namely simplification and explicitation. In the light of linguistic features of translational Persian obtained, the present study challenges the purported universals as none of the extracted features were in line with the previous studies’ prepositions.