Misrepresentation and Construction of Meaning in Translation of News Texts in the Context of Conflict and Intervention: the Application of Systemic-Functional Linguistics
This study presents an analysis of misrepresentation and construction of meaning in the translation of news texts in the English and Russian news media. The texts analysed are published online by the U.S. and Russian media. They discuss events in contexts of sociopolitical instability, military conflict and intervention, including: military intervention in Georgia (2008), humanitarian intervention and socio-political instability in Somalia (2011 and 2012) and military conflict as well as socio-political instability in Afghanistan (2010 and 2012). This research has three main aims. The first is to examine the ways in which ideological representation is (re-)constructed in the shift between source/s and translated news texts. This is conducted through the analysis of individual linguistic choices. The second and overlapping aim is to investigate the relationship between translated target news texts and their potential source texts in the context of the issue of source-target relationship in the area of news translation. The final aim is to assess the applicability of Systemic-Functional Linguistics (SFL) to translated Russian news texts in contrast to their potential sources. This is in order to analyse the ideology of representation constructed in translated Russian news texts and examine cases of misrepresentation of sources. This thesis discusses the production of global media in the context of conflict as well as strategies of news media production. Key categories and components of the theory of SFL are discussed in order to suggest an adaptation of the SFL model of analysis which can be applied to the corpus of the news texts and their translations in the online media. These key categories include: thematic and transitivity structure, modality and context. The SFL model is applied to the textual analysis of news texts in the form of case studies in order to examine individual linguistic choices – choices of lexicogrammar in the immediate linguistic as well as a wider socio-political context. Choices of lexicogrammar are interpreted with regard to the particular socio-political context of each political or military event discussed. Six stages of analysis are identified: structure analysis, context analysis, thematic structure analysis, transitivity structure analysis, modality and interpretation/evaluation of results. The analysis is applied to a corpus of twenty news texts drawn from the online media. 3 The results of the analysis indicate that SFL can be applied effectively to the analysis of translated news texts and their potential sources, in English as well as in Russian. The results also show that potential sources are often misrepresented. The suggestion arising from this is that both the question of source-target relationship and the issue of equivalence in news translation, although problematic, may be successfully investigated, in contrast to what has previously been suggested in the area of news translation analysis. The study indicates that there are differences in the constructed ideologies of both representation and meanings in the analysed news texts. The general conclusion of the analysis with regard to constructed ideologies of representation is that national interests, existing stereotypes, policies and practices are reinforced through translation. In the context of news translation the study addresses and illustrates a range of relevant and problematic issues. It also adds to the research related to contexts of political discourse by analysing three contexts of conflict and intervention. The current situation of instability in the region and Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine (similar to the one in Georgia in 2008) contribute to the topicality and importance of the questions of representation and construction of meaning through translation in the media presented in this research. The results of the analysis indicate the need for further research based on a larger corpus of news texts. It is also suggested that further analysis may incorporate the readers’ response as a criterion for evaluation of constructed ideology of representation in the respective contexts of news production.
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