Componential Analysis of Meaning as an Instrument of English-Hausa Lexical Translation

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the impossibility of the existence of lexical equivalence in all languages. This is done by demonstratingthe arbitrariness of the of feature selection process with which componential analysis is normally undertaken, to prove this, we analysed and translated the paradigms of the colours red and blue using the binary scale taxonomy under the theory of Componential Analysis of meaning as an instrument of lexical translation from English into Hausa. From the analysis, the paper discovers that though linguistic relativity cannot be ruled out in lexical translation, componential analysis is an invaluable tool for lexicographers to determine the best option for the translation of lexical items.