Shifting Stance Perspective: Investigating Positionality in English to Arabic Translation of Modern Political Discourse

Abstract

This study conducts a thorough investigation into how the expression of stance or positionality changes in examples of modern political discourse when translated from English to Arabic. Focusing on expressions of attitudinal meaning in speeches by US Presidents Trump and Biden, and a key opinion piece by leading political scientist Francis Fukuyama, the study analyses translation ‘shifts’, as conceptualised by Catford (1965) and their impact on ideological representation. The thesis adopts the Systemic Functional model of research in descriptive translation studies, namely the system of Appraisal (Martin and Rose, 2005), which expresses the writer’s (and the translator’s) attitude and perspective. The analysis explores linguistic elements associated with appraisal meanings, including attitude, graduation, and engagement systems. The findings bespeak varying degrees of discrepancy at the lexicogrammatical stratum (i.e., interpersonal meanings) between the STs and their translations, and four major patterns of shift in translation: (1) neutralisation, (2) intensification, (3) de-intensification, and (4) intersubjective shifts, are identified. These shifts, in turn, highlight how translators' choices shape their positionality and ideologies in translated political discourse.