Untranslatability in translation studies: The visibility of the concept of untranslatability through multicase studies

Untranslatability, coterminous with translatability, as a translation phenomenon has been the keyword for translation impossible since Ancient times. The discussion in Western tradition was initiated by Humboldt. Equivalence seeking attempts regarding the sound image-concept relationship has been shifted towards philosophical approaches, viz. Universalist, Monadist and Deconstructivist, which is interlocated on the continuum that runs the gamut of the discussion that everything/nothing can be translated. Saussüre's principle of arbitrariness of the linguistic sign and Catford's distinction between linguistic and cultural untranslatability form the linguistic leg of the study. Quine's untranslatability thesis and Derrida's theory of the sign form the philosophical leg. "Is nothing translatable" - "Is everything translatable?" are the research questions. We aim to define and classify untranslatability, studying the term comprehensively. Suitable for multiple case study, "purposeful sampling" strategy as part of a qualitative research method has been applied for multiple perspectives. Written-visual texts classified according to their types fall under 4 types. Linguistic untranslatability is composed of 4 sub-sections. Phonological untranslatability was examined through language rhetorics namely onomatopoeia, portmanteaus, paromasis and paronomasia. Lexical untranslatability covers the relationship between the arbitrariness and historicity of translated words. Syntactic untranslatability studies translation difficulties caused by the intersection of two grammatical sequences on the surface structure. Textual untranslatability examines textuality conditions devoid of a meta language. Cultural untranslatability studies language impact on behaviour. Absolute untranslatability reflects translation's ideological dimension, claiming that translation cannot cover the difference in feelings between a traumatic world and reality. Literary untranslatability displays the difficulty transferring the works interwoven with surface-deep structure patterns. Throughout the analysis, deductive-inductive approaches were used. Bearing two distinct meanings based on the quality and the fact, unranslatability is a translation strategy. Its definition encompasses the discrepancy in between. Absolute untranslatability was added as a new framework.