| Summary: | in partial fulfilment of Masters in Translation (Option: Interpreting)
at the
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND
August 2015 === This study analyses the interpreting of political discourse at the Pan African Parliament (PAP)
into Arabic, with a special focus on conflict resolution in the context of PAP debates on conflict
situations in Africa and with special reference to the Libyan conflict. The debate I examine was
held within a broader context of international dominant discourses and competing narratives of
conflicts and foreign interventions, dominated by the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC)
resolutions on the Libyan conflict. But its battleground includes a broader African context,
characterized by a certain degree of resistance as reflected in the discourse of conflict resolution
that is informed by the immediate context of the PAP – an organ of the African Union (AU)
which seeks to assist in conflict resolution and promote democracy and human rights throughout
the continent in actualization of its motto: One Africa, One Voice.
My analysis focuses on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and I investigate in particular the
conditions of reproduction of dominant discourses, narratives and framings in order to ascertain
how they influence debates in the PAP and also what influence they have on interpreting
strategies. The aim is to identify the degree to which these elements influence an interpreter’s
role and performance and, in turn, how the interpreter then influences the course of a discussion.
Based on this, the analysis seeks to determine certain variables, such as discursive and linguistic
patterns, discursive moves, style, argumentation, ideologically and politically charged
expressions, etc., so as to trace the influence of dominant discourses and competing narratives in
the context of interpreting, and specifically how it relates to the political discourse on the Libyan
conflict.
In investigating interpreting strategies, the analysis also aims at pinpointing elements such as
omissions, shifts, repetitions and the occurrence of certain discursive or linguistic elements that
would demonstrate the scope of such influences. The analysis furthermore highlights some difficulties and recommends some points for future research.
Key words: CDA, interpreter’s role, interpreting strategies, narratives, framing, cognitive load, structure of discourse, linguistic features, discursive strategies, conflict discourse, Africa, conflict resolution
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