From complement to adjunct: An integrated SFL–relevance approach to rhetorical loss in translating the cognate object in the Holy Quran

This study examines the rhetorical and cognitive effects of translating the Quranic al-mafu:l al-muṭlaq (cognate object) into English. Ten selected verses are analyzed across the translations of Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Marmaduke Pickthall, and Safi Kaskas using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Relevance Theory (RT). The analysis shows that the Arabic cognate object functions as a process-internal experiential reinforcer, treated in this study as a Range element within the Transitivity system (ideational metafunction), while also being potentially realizable as Complement in Mood structure at the interpersonal level. English translations, however, systematically reconfigure it as circumstantial expressions such as adverbials or prepositional phrases, indicating a shift from process-internal reinforcement to Circumstantial realization. From an RT perspective, this restructuring increases inferential effort and reduces communicative immediacy. The study concludes, within the analyzed dataset, that compensatory strategies such as repetition and parallelism may help preserve rhetorical force in translation.