Interpreting political discourse at the Pan African Parliament into Arabic Ali EL-Shahir

226 Pages·2015·1.99 MB·English

Interpreting political discourse at the
Pan African Parliament into Arabic

by

Ali EL-Shahir

in partial fulfilment of Masters in Translation (Option: Interpreting)

at the

UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND

SUPERVISOR: Dr. K. Wallmach

August 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 8
1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 8
1.2. Background to the research problem ..................................................................................................... 9
1.2.1. The Pan-African Parliament .................................................................................................................. 9
1.3. Aim and rationale ................................................................................................................................ 10
1.4. Research question ................................................................................................................................ 12
1.5. Literature review ................................................................................................................................. 13
1.6. Research methodology ........................................................................................................................ 16
1.7. Research contribution .......................................................................................................................... 18
1.8. Research outline .................................................................................................................................. 18
2. Chapter 2: Literature review ....................................................................................................................... 22
2.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 22
2.2. Approaches to discourse through Critical Discourse Analysis ............................................................ 22
2.2.1. Discourse-Historical Approach ........................................................................................................... 24
2.2.2. Sociocognitive Discourse Analysis approach ...................................................................................... 25
2.3. Approaches to discourse through narrative theory .............................................................................. 26
2.3.1. Power relations and competing narratives ........................................................................................... 28
2.3.2. Language function and knowledge ...................................................................................................... 31
2.3.3. Power relations, dominance, control and conflict ............................................................................... 34
2.3.4 Dominant discourse, power abuse and framing ...................................................................................... 40
2.3.4 Access, modes, style and formulation .................................................................................................... 41
2.4. Approaches to simultaneous interpreting research .............................................................................. 43
2.4.1. Cognitive approaches to simultaneous interpreting ............................................................................. 43
2.4.2. Context-oriented approaches to simultaneous interpreting ................................................................. 46
2.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 54
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3. Chapter 3: Conflict resolution in the context of the PAP ........................................................................... 55
3.1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 55
3.2. Overview of the concept of conflict resolution within the PAP .......................................................... 55
3.3. Different African positions on the conflict .......................................................................................... 60
3.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 61
4. Chapter 4: Research methodology.............................................................................................................. 62
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 62
4.2 Broader methodological context................................................................................................................. 62
4.3 CDA Approach ........................................................................................................................................... 63
4.4 Aims and methodological procedure .......................................................................................................... 64
4.5 Research approach and research tools ........................................................................................................ 65
4.6 Research data .............................................................................................................................................. 66
4.7 Rationale behind the sample selection ....................................................................................................... 68
4.8 Positioning of the booths ............................................................................................................................ 70
4.9 Possible research constraints ...................................................................................................................... 70
4.10 Profile of interpreters ............................................................................................................................... 72
5. Chapter 5: Research analysis ....................................................................................................................... 73
5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 73
5.2 Discourse of world politics and foreign interventions................................................................................ 79
5.2.1 Extract 1: UNSC Resolution 1970 (2011) ........................................................................................... 79
5.2.2 Extract 2: UNSC Resolution 1973 (2011) ............................................................................................. 1
5.2.3 Extract 3: Foreign interventions: Extract from article entitled “Irresponsible Interventions” ............. 79
5.3 Western discourse/narratives: Libya letter by Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy .......................................... 81
5.3.1 Extract 4: Libya Letter by Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy .................................................................. 81
5.4 African discourses/narratives ..................................................................................................................... 90
5.4.1 Extract 5: Joint Appeal ........................................................................................................................ 91
5.4.2 Extract 6: An Open Letter ................................................................................................................... 98
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5.5 Media discourses/narratives ..................................................................................................................... 107
5.5.1 Media discourse: Reports .................................................................................................................. 107
5.5.2 Media discourse: Commentaries ....................................................................................................... 108
5.5.3 Media discourse: Opinions ................................................................................................................ 109
5.6 Recordings of interpreted PAP discussions .............................................................................................. 114
5.6.1 Transcription of recorded extracts from the interpreted debate of minutes of the committee ........... 115
5.6.2 Extracts from the debate of the committee recording ........................................................................ 121
5.6.3 Debate of the PAP Plenary Session ................................................................................................... 135
5.7 Report of the Fact Finding Mission to Libya (FFM) ................................................................................ 193
5.7.1 Extract 7: Report of the FFM ............................................................................................................ 194
6. Chapter 6: Findings, recommendations and conclusions .......................................................................... 201
6.1 Findings .................................................................................................................................................... 202
6.2 Recommendations .................................................................................................................................... 212
6.3 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 213
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 216
Sample of recording consent form

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Acknowledgements

My appreciation and gratitude go to my wife and children for their unwavering encouragement and for
providing a warm, conducive environment for research and writing.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to Dr. Kim Wallmach for her indispensable, valuable and
outstanding engagement, discussion, advice and help, without which this research would not have been
possible.

I thank my colleagues, the Arabic interpreters, who gave their consent to be recorded and contributed to
the general discussion about my research. Special thanks goes to veteran Arabic interpreter Prof.
Mohamed Agina for his insight into the field of discourse analysis.

I thank the PAP staff for providing information and documents for analysis. I also thank Congress
Rental for their assistance, particularly their veteran technician Mr. Luis Cunha for the high quality
recordings. Last but not least, I thank Mr. Galal Ari of the PAP secretariat for his assistance in putting
together different typed manuscripts and typesetting.

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Abstract

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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Transcription symbols

Arabic font: Arabic transparent, font size 12
English font: Times New Roman, font size 12
Line spacing: 1.5 for the body of the research text and 1 for extracts and samples
◙ pause
═ lag
≡ extended lag
≈ hesitation

Abbreviations

APSA Peace and Security Architecture
AU African Union
BT Back translation
CDA Critical Discourse Analysis
DHA Discourse-Historical Approach
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
OAU Organization of African Unity
PAP Pan-African Parliament
SADC Southern Africa Development Community
UN United Nations
UNSC United Nations Security Council

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1. Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1. Introduction

“Definitions of conflict inevitably draw on notions of power, and vice versa.” (Baker 2006: 1)

This research is a pioneer study of interpreted political discourse at the Pan African Parliament (PAP) –
a contemporary African institution. The study focuses on the conflict resolution dimension of political
discourse and its interpretation into Arabic.

The founding assumption of this research is that our understanding and interpretation of events is
based, to a large extent, on a number of constant and variable factors that include our existing
knowledge, experience, beliefs and ideologies; our ‘so-called models, that is, mental representations of
experiences, events or situations as well as the opinions we have about them’ (Van Dijk 1993: 258). As
Cunningham and Browning (in Baker 2006: 106) put it, our existing knowledge and ideas are framed in
a certain way to provide ‘a mechanism through which individuals can ideologically connect with
movement goals and become potential participants in the movement’s action.’ Toolan (1991: 227)
concurs that ‘narratives carry political and ideological freight.’

Baker (2006: 105) elaborates this further, stating that translators and interpreters face a basic ethical
choice, namely ‘to produce existing ideologies as encoded in the narratives elaborated in the text or
utterance, or to dissociate themselves from those ideologies.’ Accordingly, this study will discuss and
investigate language, knowledge, cognition, framing, access to discourse, power, control and
dominance, as well as media discourse in the context of conflict. This will be done by focusing on the
strategies used by Arabic interpreters in interpreting parliamentary debates on conflict resolution in
Africa, both within meetings of the PAP committee on international cooperation and conflict resolution
and within debates on this topic during the Plenary Session of the PAP.

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1.2. Background to the research problem

1.2.1. The Pan-African Parliament

The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is ‘an organ of the African Union established under Article 2 of the
Protocol to the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African
Parliament in accordance with Article 17 of the Constitutive Act of the African Union’ (PAP Rules of
Procedure 2004: 6). This treaty was signed in Abuja, Nigeria in 1991, and the PAP was officially
established at an African Union (AU) summit in Durban on July 9, 2002 to replace the Organization of
African Unity (OAU). The PAP is one of the organs of the AU and currently consists of 47 African
member states from the five African regions (seven of the 54 member states of the African Union have
not as yet joined the PAP for a number of different political, financial and regulatory reasons).

The seat of the PAP is in Midrand, South Africa. The PAP holds at least two ordinary sessions every
twelve months, and may also hold extraordinary sessions in response to certain requests, as set out in
its Rules of Procedure.

The African continent is politically divided into five regions, with different linguistic groups in each of
the regional caucuses. The first region is North Africa whose members represent one language group of
Arabic-speaking countries. The second region is West Africa which includes the member countries of
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This group has three official languages:
English, French and Portuguese. The countries of the third region, East Africa, speak Swahili, Arabic,
English and French. The Southern African region includes the member countries of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC); the languages spoken in this region are English, French
and Portuguese. The fifth and last region is the Central African region whose members are mostly
French speaking.

From the abovementioned data we note that the member countries of the PAP come from widely
differing linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This linguistic diversity is provided for within the PAP;
according to Rule 39 of the Pan-African Parliament Rules of Procedure (2004: 32), ‘the working
languages of the Pan-African Parliament shall be the working languages of the Union’ – namely
Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Swahili. The rule also stipulates the following:
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simultaneous interpretation shall be provided into the working languages at the proceedings of
Parliament and the Permanent Committees.’ It furthermore stipulates that ‘the Clerk of the Parliament
shall ensure that all official documents of the Parliament and the Permanent Committees are translated
into the working languages.

Such linguistic diversity has significant implications for my study of political discourse and
argumentation and its interpretation into Arabic and gives me ample opportunity to investigate different
strands of cultural influence on PAP parliamentary discourse, as well as to trace the patterns of
interpreter influence in discussions. Such influence is recognized from the outset, though implicitly, by
the fact that discussions are conducted by interpreting between these languages.

The organs of the PAP are the Bureau, which consists of a President and four Vice-Presidents, and the
Permanent Committees of the Parliament, which consists of ten permanent committees. The Parliament
has the power to restructure these committees or establish other committees and ‘may appoint Ad Hoc
Committees whenever it deems necessary, for a particular function’ (PAP Rules of Procedure 2004:
23). For the purposes of this study, the research will focus only on the Committee on Cooperation,
International Relations and Conflict Resolution. The four general functions of this committee are to:

a) consider issues relating to the development of an efficient policy in matters of cooperation and
international relations of the Parliament and the African Union;
b) consider the conventions and protocols linking the Parliament with regional and international
institutions and report to the Parliament;
c) carry out examinations on the revision of Protocol and Treaties of the Union; and
d) assist the Parliament in its efforts of conflict prevention and resolution (PAP Rules of Procedure
2004: 26).

1.3. Aim and rationale

The study focuses on parliamentary discussions/debates around African conflicts in general, but with
special emphasis on the conflict in Libya, and the ways in which these discussions/debates are
interpreted into Arabic. The rationale behind my emphasis is that the conflict in Libya is an ideal
representation of the conflict resolution dimension of Pan-African political discourse and poses a real
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