This study explores the use of conjunctive markers in English-to-Arabic translation, using a corpus-based approach to analyze two registers: creative fictional narratives and legal texts. The research focuses on four features proposed as universal traits of translated language: explicitation, normalization, levelling out, and cross-linguistic influence. Findings indicate distinct patterns of conjunction use, with original Arabic texts displaying higher conjunction frequency than translated texts, counter to the expected explicitation trend. This deviation is attributed to English’s preference for less conjunctive language, suggesting cross-linguistic influence where English patterns subtly impact Arabic translations.
Register differences also emerged: fictional narratives used more conjunctions than legal texts, with the conjunction “wa” (and) showing variability based on register and translation status. Legal translations tended toward higher explicitness with “wa” than non-translated texts, while narrative translations had fewer conjunctions. These findings emphasize the importance of register in translated language features and suggest that explicitation and cross-linguistic influence are strongly conditioned by register and language-specific usage patterns. The study advocates for further research across more registers and using parallel corpora to better isolate these translation features.