Analysis of Representation of the War in Afghanistan as a US War in Russian and Western News Media: Systemic-Functional Linguistics Model

Abstract

As the ‘crucial actor in the process of meaning making or meaning-remaking’ (Van Doorslaer, Journalism and translation. In Handbook of translation studies, vol. 1, ed. Yves Gambier and Luc van Doorslaer, 180–184. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2010: 11), the journalist-translator affects public perceptions of both people and events and of the public policy related to them. Yet, much analysis of news translation is either fragmented or limited to specific lexicogrammatical comparisons. This study sets out a model—based on the systemic functional linguistics framework—which, starting from the analysis of context, uses a six-stage model to identify how translation constructs ideologies of representation. In doing so, it reveals a powerful framework for understanding and interpreting misrepresentations, a framework which may be useful in training translators in best practice and in raising public awareness of the need to read translated work more critically and more carefully.