IDEOLOGICAL INTERVENTION IN ARABIC MEDIA TRANSLATIONS OF SPEECHES BY DONALD TRUMP: AN APPRAISAL THEORY ANALYSIS

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines ideological intervention in Arabic media translations of political speeches through the analytical framework of Appraisal Theory. Political speeches rely heavily on evaluative language to construct attitudinal meaning, position audiences, and promote ideological perspectives. When such discourse is translated and disseminated through international media, attitudinal meanings encoded in the source text may be maintained, modified, or reshaped in translation. This research investigates attitudinal shifts in Arabic translations of selected speeches by Donald Trump in order to identify how evaluative meanings are represented in translated political discourse. Drawing on Appraisal Theory Martin and White (2005), the analysis focuses on the three systems of interpersonal meaning: Attitude, Graduation, and Engagement. The corpus consists of three speeches delivered by Donald Trump and their Arabic translations published in major Arab media outlets. Through a comparative analysis of the English source texts and their Arabic translations, the study identifies instances where attitudinal meaning is maintained or altered and determines which appraisal resources are most frequently modified in translation. The analysis combines qualitative discourse analysis with systematic identification of appraisal resources in both source and target texts. The findings indicate that while many evaluative meanings are preserved, several attitudinal shifts occur across the corpus, particularly in relation to judgement, appreciation, and evaluative intensity. These shifts demonstrate how translation choices may influence the interpersonal meaning of political discourse and may reflect ideological positioning in the Arabic translations. Keywords: Ideological intervention, Appraisal Theory, attitudinal meaning, political discourse, Arabic media translation, and translation shifts.

Date of Award	2026
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Humanities and Social Science