English-arabic Translations Of Selected Business And Economic Texts: A Discourse Analysis

• Main Author: Talafha, Dua'a Khalifah Mohammad
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/60346/1/DUA%27A%20KHALIFAH%20MOHAMMAD%20TALAFHA%20-%20TESIS24.pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/60346/
• Institution: Universiti Sains Malaysia

This study is a descriptive study which aims at describing the relation between macrostructures and microstructures in English business and economic texts and their translations in Arabic. It also aims to find the similarities and differences of English and Arabic macrostructures and microstructures in business and economic language. It links four linguistic devices including tenses, voices, modality and cohesion to their situational features represented in the Hallydian model (1979). It follows a descriptive qualitative method where Van Dijk's (1977) conceptions of macrostructures and microstructures were used as the parameters. The sample was taken from two websites; namely World Bank blogs and Finance and Development Magazine where 20 online texts were selected from each website along with their translations in Arabic. The findings show that the semantic function of tenses and modalities are affected by the translation choices and the Arabic language norms which in turn affect the ideational (field) and interpersonal functions (tenor) of the Arabic texts. Voices and cohesion show no significant effect as translators translated them according to language norms in Arabic. The study substantiates the importance of linking linguistic devices to their situational features and how the meanings are affecting the latter. The study recommends researchers to adapt this approach to other linguistic devices that prove to be lacking in this genre such as mood and structures.