Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This thesis investigates -taxis relations as simultaneously interpreted into English in a parallel corpus of Arabic discourse delivered at the General Debates of the United Nations General Assembly from 2011 to 2015. In an attempt to generate -taxis-oriented simultaneous interpreting strategies (SISs), which are goal-oriented and intentional problem-solving techniques, the study analyses the patterns expert UN interpreters establish to interpret hypotaxis and parataxis from Arabic into English. In Language and Power (1989) Norman Fairclough positions language within a three-dimensional model where it is a sociolinguistic and discursive practice.As far as this study is concerned, a micro analysis of linguistic phenomena within an organisational setting, helps to establish a micro-macro continuum that substantiates hypotactic and paratactic devices not only as surface cohesion markers, but also ideology makers. The primary aim of the thesis is to investigate UN discourse in terms of, firstly, clause complexing patterns, when hypotaxis and parataxis are simultaneously interpreted from Arabic into English in order to build a list of coping strategies facilitating largescale processing difficulties during SI (Gile, 1992). Secondly, it examines the possible macro impact of adopting certain SISs on the maintenance of original balance, preservation of relations and (re)framing of ideological imperatives. The originality of this dissertation stems from its interdisciplinarity, which stands out with three distinct approaches: Interpreting Studies, Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus-Based Studies. A huge body of corpus-based research has been mainly confined to the study of Arabic translation features, and, in interpreting, a tendency towards the study of explicitation. Secondly, the study investigates an Arabic corpus; a language not so often represented in CIS, which serves in the inference of directionality patterns and the validity of SISs

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