Narrative Point of View in Translation: A Systemic Functional Analysis of the Arabic Translations of J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians Komail Hussain H Al Herz Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Languages, Cultures and Societies Centre for Translation Studies September 2016 i Declaration The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. ©2016 The University of Leeds and Komail Hussain H Al Herz ii Acknowledgements I owe a great debt of gratitude to Professor Jeremy Munday, who has always been an unfailing source of guidance, motivation and inspiration. Without his meticulous supervision and generous advice, I would not have been able to complete this thesis. Enormous gratitude is also due to Professor James Dickins for his insightful comments and invaluable suggestions. And last of all, I am deeply indebted to my wife, Eman Al Herz, who has been a source of unwavering support during my doctoral studies. iii Abstract Located within the framework of narratology, linguistics, stylistics and translation studies, the present thesis principally probes the nature of the translator’s voice/presence with the purpose of identifying its effects on translated narrative texts and uncovering his or her certain linguistic habits. The thesis adopts the Systemic Functional model of research in descriptive translation studies. That is, identifying translational shifts by mapping the lexicogrammatical systems (lower level) of the source text onto these of the target texts may result in shifts at the global level of translated narrative texts (point of view). The present study sets out to construct J. M. Coetzee’s systemic profiles in his novel Waiting for the Barbarians ([1980] 2004) and compare them against those of the two Arabic translators of his novel, ʔibtisām ʕabdullāh (2004) and Ṣaḫr Al-Ḥājj Ḥusayn (2004). In particular, it looks into the renderings of the linguistic triggers of the original narrative viewpoints, namely deixis (i.e., tense and time and place deictic terms), thematic structures, modal expressions and techniques of discourse representation. The comparative analyses show varying degrees of discrepancy at the lexicogrammatical stratum between the original and its two translations, mostly attributable to the two translators’ linguistic preferences and interpretations of the original. These discrepancies, in turn, bring about radical transformations to the original mode of narration, the modification of its perspectivization and the portrayal of the principal character, blurring the narrative style of the author and thus offering a different readerly experience to the target audience. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Table of Contents v List of Figures x List of Tables xii Transliteration, Gloss Lines and Abbreviations xiii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 1.1 Research Questions 4 1.2 The Author 5 1.3 WFB 8 1.4 The TTs 12 1.5 Organisation of Thesis 16 CHAPTER TWO: Theoretical Framework and Methodology 19 2.1 Introduction 19 2.2 Translator’s Voice 19 2.3 SFL 26 2.4 Point of View 29 2.4.1 Spatio-temporal Point of View 33 2.4.2 Psychological Point of View 36 2.4.3 Phraseological Point of View 37 v 2.5 Existing Research on Point of View in Translation 38 2.6 Style: Definition and Approaches to Analysis 45 2.6.1 Style in Translation 47 2.7 Outline of Research Methodology 53 2.7.1 First Stage: Local, Lexicogrammatical Level 53 2.7.2 Second Stage: Global Level of the Narrative Text 54 2.7.3 The Corpus 55 2.8 Conclusion 56 CHAPTER THREE: Deixis 58 3.1 Introduction 58 3.2 Narrative Tense in First-person Mode of Narration 58 3.2.1 Past (Retrospective) Tense 60 3.2.2 Historical (Metaphorical) Present Tense 61 3.2.3 Simultaneous Present Tense 63 3.2.3.1 Rhetorical Effects of Simultaneous Present Tense in the ST 66 3.5 Temporal Reference in MSA 68 3.6 Rendition of the ST Narrative Tense 71 3.6.1 Simultaneous Present Tense in Translation 74 3.7 Place and Time Deictics 83 3.7.1 Quantitative Results 84 3.7.2 ST Temporal Deictics in Translation 86 3.7.2.1 Shift from Proximal to Distal Deictics 90 3.7.2.2 Omission of Deictics 93 vi 3.7.2.3 Addition of Deictics 99 3.8 Conclusion 103 CHAPTER FOUR: Thematic Structure 105 4.1 Introduction 105 4.2 Theme-Rheme Distinction: Brief History 106 4.3 System of Theme in English 111 4.3.1 Thematic Selection Patterns: (Un)marked Themes 117 4.4 Thematicisation in MSA 123 4.4.1 Sequence of Elements in MSA 125 4.4.2 System of Theme in MSA 127 4.5 Method of Thematic Structure Analysis 133 4.5.1 Problem of Analysis 136 4.6 Quantitative Results 139 4.6.1 Textual and Interpersonal Themes in Translation 140 4.6.2 Topical Themes in Translation 149 4.6.3 Marked Topical Themes in Translation 155 4.7 Conclusion 163 CHAPTER FIVE: Modality 166 5.1 Introduction 166 5.2 The Concept of Modality 166 5.3 Simpson’s Taxonomy of Modality 167 5.3.1 Deontic and Boulomaic Modalities 168 vii 5.3.2 Epistemic and Perception Modalities 170 5.4 SFL Categories of Modality 171 5.5 System of Modality in MSA 174 5.6 Simpson’s Typology of Narrators 177 5.7 Quantitative Results 180 5.8 Types of Shifts in the ST Modal Expressions 182 5.8.1 Types of Obligatory Shifts 183 5.8.2 Optional Shifts in the ST Modal Patterns 186 5.8.2.1 Demodalisation Shift 189 5.8.2.2 Modalisation Shift 198 5.8.2.3 Inter-modal and Intra-modal Shifts 205 5.9 Conclusion 212 CHAPTER SIX: Modes of Discourse Representation 214 6.1 Introduction 214 6.2 Speech and Thought Representations 214 6.2.1 Direct Discourse (DD) 216 6.2.2 Free Direct Discourse (FDD) 217 6.2.3 Indirect Discourse (ID) 218 6.3 Methodological Considerations 220 6.4 Modes of Discourse Representation in Translation 223 6.4.1 (F)DD Modes in Translation 225 6.4.2 (F)DD Reported Content in Translation 239 6.5 Conclusion 244 viii CHAPTER SEVEN: Conclusion 246 7.1 Introduction 246 7.2 Answers to Research Questions 247 7.3 Summary of Findings 250 7.4 Limitations and Implications for Future Research 256 Bibliography 262 ix List of Figures Figure 1.1. Thesis structure 17 Figure 2.1. Chatman’s (1978) model of the narrative communication situation 23 Figure 2.2. Extended model for translation adapted from Schiavi (1996) 23 Figure 2.3. Munday’s (2008) parallel narratological scheme 24 Figure 2.4. Leone’s (2011) revised narratological model in translation 25 Figure 2.5. Example of system 27 Figure 2.6. Raphael’s The School of Athens (1511) 31 Figure 2.7. Caillebotte’s Paris Street, Rainy Day (1877) 31 Figure 3.1. ST mode of narration in contrast to its TT counterparts 82 Figure 3.2. Distribution of proximal and distal deictics in ST and TTs 85 Figure 3.3. Frequency of omission shifts in TTs 93 Figure 3.4. Frequency of time deictics in ST and TTs 94 Figure 3.5. Frequency of addition shifts in TTs 99 Figure 4.1. System of Theme adapted from Caffarel et al. (2004: 28) 123 Figure 4.2. Frequency of different types of Theme in ST and TTs 139 Figure 4.3. Frequency of the marked nominal-initial sequence 157 Figure 4.4. Frequency of unmarked thematic shifts in TTs 158 Figure 5.1. Distribution of modality systems in ST and TTs 181 Figure 5.2. Distribution of obligatory and optional modality shifts 183 Figure 5.3. Types of modality optional shifts 187 Figure 5.4. Frequency of types of modality optional shifts 188 Figure 5.5. Frequency of demodalised ST expressions of different modality systems 190 Figure 5.6. The functions of the ST omitted modal expressions 192 Figure 5.7. Frequency of TTs added expressions of modality systems 199 x Figure 5.8. Frequency of different modality strategies of added expressions 200 Figure 5.9. Frequency of ST inter/intra-modally shifted expressions 206 Figure 5.10. Frequency of intra-modal shifts 209 Figure 6.1. Distribution of (F)DD and ID modes 224 xi List of Tables Table 2.1. Linguistic markers of point of view drawn on Munday (2008: 24) 33 Table 3.1. English temporal terms and their MSA correspondents 83 Table 3.2. Frequency of categories of deictic shift in the TTs 89 Table 4.1. Main differences between FSP and SFL approaches to Theme-Rheme distinction 111 Table 4.2. Topical Theme in English 114 Table 4.3. Multiple Themes in English 115 Table 4.4. Unmarked Themes in different English moods 119 Table 4.5. Marked Themes in the declarative mood 121 Table 4.6. Textual and Interpersonal Themes 131 Table 5.1. SFL types of modality 173 Table 5.2. Types and realisations of modality systems in MSA 175 Table 5.3. Examples of modality optional shifts 188 Table 5.4. Type, frequency and function of added modal expressions 200 Table 5.5. Frequency of inter-modal shifts 208 Table 6.1. Leech and Short’s (2007) forms of speech and thought representation 215 Table 6.2.