Multimodal Translation Analysis: Speeches in Arabic and English

by

Asmaa Alduhaim

A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHLOSOPHY

Department of Modern Languages School of Languages, Cultures, Art History and Music College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham November 2017

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Abstract

In the contemporary globalized world, translation plays a key role in sharing news across the globe, in particular in the age of multimedia, where meaning is transferred through various modes and genres. This study focuses on two Arab Spring speeches of

Mummar Algaddafi’s and Hosni Mubarak’s and their translations in different media. The thesis initially conducts a comparative study of the source texts (STs), including a textual/contextual analysis drawing on Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, and on Gunther Kress’ multimodal analysis. This is followed by examining the target texts

(TTs) to investigate the inventible changes that occur during the translation process, particularly if the translation involves not only a transfer of meaning from Arabic to English but also from mode to mode (such as, speaking to writing) and genre to genre (a political speech to a newspaper article). The thesis introduces the Multimodal Translation Analysis model to investigate the following aspects of the TTs: linguistic aspects of the TTs, the

TT’s multimodal qualities, and, drawing on Mona Baker’s narrative theory, the role of dominant narratives in the shaping of the TT.

i

Dedication

To my awesome mom and dad, thank you for everything. I love you!

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Acknowledgements

َ"و ْاش ُك ُرواَنِ ْع َمتََ ََّاّللََِإِنَ ُكنتُ ْمََإِ َّي ُاهََتَ ْعبُدُ َونَ"

I would like to start by praising God, Most High, for this opportunity and ability to complete this Ph.D thesis, something that I could only have dreamt of just a few years ago.

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr Natalia Rulyova, for her invaluable support and guidance. Her knowledge and dedication is an inspiration to me, and has always motivated me to strive for the highest standards. I sincerely thank her for her confidence in me, and her constant encouragement and support throughout these years. Without her support, this thesis could never have been completed.

I would also like to thank my co-supervisor Dr Hanem El-Farahaty, whose passion, dedication and insight has helped me at every stage along the way. She is indeed, an inspiring seeker of knowledge that has no boundaries. She helped me throughout the thesis, and her close supervision yielded a firm determination on my side to do my best. Her guidance and advice were the assets upon which the dissertation was developed to reach its current status.

I am also grateful to Prf. James Dickins and Dr Basil Hatim for their support and for the knowledge that they have passed on to me, and Dr Sameh Hanna, Dr Hassane Lounis and Dr Saad Bin Tiflah for their encouragement. I am very grateful to them all. I am also indebted to Muman Saleh for being a reliable help in the reviewing of the translation and in the understanding of Libyan affairs. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my PhD colle