Anaphoric Reference Shifts in English Translations of the Quran: A Skopos- and SFL-Oriented Analysis of Communicative Function

Abstract

This article examines anaphoric reference shifts in selected English translations of the Quran by  Pickthall, Abdullah Ali, and Abdel Haleem, drawing on Skopos theory and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The study analyzes six purposively selected Quranic verses that contain significant shifts in vocative, personal, and audience references across the three English translations. It investigates shifts in vocative, personal, and audience references as communicative strategies for achieving communicative adequacy in translation while maintaining theological and rhetorical consistency in the translated text. The analysis shows that these shifts in anaphoric references are not merely random or stylistic variation but functionally motivated, constituting evidence of translators’ attempts to reconcile their loyalty to the source text with their perceptions of English readers’ cognitive, cultural, and interpretative needs. Drawing on key SFL concepts, including ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions, the study demonstrates that translators’ negotiation of meaning, interpersonal relations, and textual organization enhances the communicative adequacy, interpretive accessibility, and relevance of Quranic discourse for English readers who may otherwise be linguistically and culturally distant from the source text. The findings further suggest that anaphoric reference shifts serve as strategic translational resources that facilitate target-reader comprehension while preserving the core semantic and rhetorical functions of the source text.