Texture in the Political Discourse of Arabic and English Translated Documents: A Contrastive Textology Approach

Abstract

Pushed by the highly controversial interpretations of the UN Resolution 242 (I967) and its use of indefinite reference in the expression 'territories', the present thesis attempts to produce a contrastive textology approach of some of the texture features encountered in Arabic and English translation of international political discourse. It argues that the features related to indefinite and definite reference, are not adequately accounted for at any of the levels of political discourse analysis traditionally recognized by linguistics, if.not at all. It is inappropriate to put such an analysis into a neat pigeonhole within the conventional linguistic schemes

Simply defined, reference is 'the relationship between expressions and those objects or situations in the world the expressions designate' (Beaugrande,l980:61) and reference items (in our case the indefinite and definite articles) as 'forms which instead of being interpreted on their own right.. make reference to something else for their interpretation' (Halliday and Hasan,!976:31 ). The study, therefore, contrasts two structures (Source Text ST and Target Text TT), decides whether they are equivalent or not on the basis of textual analysis, and then marks the difference between the STand TT. In so doing, it aspires to answer three main questions:

(l) Are indefinite and definite references crucial in the interpretation and translation of political documents? (2) What are some of the major problems encountered in the interpretation and translation of indefinite and definite reference? (3) What are the implications of misinterpretation and wrong translation of indefinite and definite reference on world peace?