Analysis of Stance-Taking in World Health Organization Health Speeches: A Comparison between English and Arabic Translations during Coronavirus Pandemic

Health speeches represent a critical form of communication seeks to disseminate crucial and authentic information necessary for public wellbeing.Speakers employ different stances, such as attitudinal, epistemic, and stylistic, to effectively convey facts, view points, and feelings, which make speeches more dynamic and interactive.This research paper offers a stance-taking analysis of eight English speeches delivered by the World Health Organization (WHO) during the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic from 2020 to 2023.Moreover, the analysis is extended to include to the translated versions of these speeches in Arabic, aiming to reveal the accuracy of reconvening stances from English to Arabic.The analysis utilizes the Appraisal Theory, a key component of the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) approach, focusing on mood and modality parameters of analysis alongside evaluative resources.While the results revealed a convergence between the original English speeches and their Arabic translations, a shift in stance-taking is observed during translation.However, it is noteworthy that despite this shift, the overall meaning is generally maintained.This study protrudes unveiled discursive details, such as stance-taking utilized in health discourse in different linguistic and cultural contexts.Uncovering such details contributes to enriching our understanding of effective communication in public health discourse.