Article published in:
Discourse Analysis in Translation Studies
Edited by Jeremy Munday and Meifang Zhang
[Target 27:3] 2015
► pp. 387–405

Institutional power in and behind discourse

A case study of SARS notices and their translations used in Macao

| University of Macau
| Sun Yat-Sen University
This article takes a critical approach to the study of the SARS notices and their translations from the perspective of discourse analysis. Drawing upon the insights of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study explores how language is used by different governmental institutions in shaping their social power and hierarchy. By conducting a comparative study of the SARS notices and their translations, focusing on speech roles, speech functions, modality types and modality orientation, the authors argue that choices made in producing the texts reflect the institutions’ social roles and their relationship with each other and with the audience. They also argue that the application of concepts from SFL in detailed text analysis and from CDA in the overall discussion may better reveal how different models of discourse analysis can supplement each other and be applied to translation studies.
Keywords: discourse analysis, translation studies, language, power
Published online: 22 October 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.27.3.04zha
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Munday, Jeremy
2018.  In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge [Benjamins Translation Library, 142], ► pp. 301 ff. Crossref logo
Munday, Jeremy
2018. A model of appraisal: Spanish interpretations of President Trump’s inaugural address 2017. Perspectives 26:2 ► pp. 180 ff. Crossref logo
Pan, Hanting & Meifang Zhang
2016. Translating for a healthier gaming industry. Translation Spaces 5:2 ► pp. 163 ff. Crossref logo
Schäffner, Christina
2019. Translation and Discourse Analysis. Slovo.ru: Baltic accent 10:3 ► pp. 28 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 november 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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