The Discourse Role Of Trainee Interpreters In Dialogue Interpreting Under The Participation Framework

Empirical research has shown that interpreters perform diverse and complex discourse roles in various interpreting scenarios,especially in dialogue interpreting,which have an important,even decisive,impact on dialogic communication.This study explored the diversity and complexity of discourse roles in dialogue interpreting played by the under-researched group of trainee interpreters,so as to enrich empirical evidence and offer reference for interpreter training and education.From the perspective of Erving Goffman’s participation framework,this study conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses on the discourse roles of trainee interpreters based on the transcripts of 12 Chinese MTI students’ practice reports on dialogue interpreting.It investigated the 12 trainee interpreters’discourse roles as"speaker" and "hearer" in different settings,including legal,business,and healthcare interpreting,as well as the discursive strategies they adopted when playing different roles and the impacts on communication.The findings reveal that trainee interpreters played a dual discourse role as both"speaker" and "hearer" in different settings.As a "speaker",the discourse roles of trainee interpreters can be divided into three sub-roles:"animator","author",and "principal".As a "ratified hearer",the discourse roles of trainee interpreters can be divided into two subroles:"addressed recipient" and "unaddressed recipient".Trainee interpreters frequently mimicked the sound of source language when acting as an "animator",which has little impact on communication.The discursive strategies they employed in their role as"author" and "principal" are more varied,including changing personal pronouns,sentence reorganizing,cultural mediation,summarizing,and even directly joining the dialogue or amending the source language.In addition,trainee interpreters passively or actively adopted different discursive strategies as addressed recipient and unaddressed recipient,which may facilitate or obstruct dialogic communication.