The Study On Syntactic Linearity In Simultaneous Interpreting

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex multi-task activity of interpreting which came into exsistance after the Nuremberg trials. Thanks to that breakthrough and to the development of modern technology, simultaneous interpreting has become one of the most widely adopted means of interpreting in international conferences, business meetings and on other occasions.Compared with consecutive interpreting, simultaneous interpreting is less time-consuming and is viable in multi-lingual conferences. Due to the small time lag, simultaneous interpreting requires an interpreter to deliver the message in the target-language as quickly as he or she can to formulate it into the target language while the source-language speaker speaks continuously. Over these years, researches have been carried out by scholars from home and abroad to figure out effective means to improve the simultaneous interpreting.The thesis is an attempt to study the application of syntactic linearity in simultaneous interpreting in an effort to enhance simultaneous interpreting performance. Syntactic linearity refers to the process in which by employing a series of transformations, interpreters reproduce the original meaning of the source-language sentence while preserving the original order of the sentence as much as possible. After reviewing earlier literary theories and works, the thesis analyses the strategy of syntactic linearity in simultaneous interpreting from the perspective of Chomsky's Minimalist Program.Chomsky proposes in his Minimalist Program a series of principles, such as Principle of Economy, Principle of Procrastinate and Principle of Greed. An analysis on these principles is able to answer questions why syntactic linearity occurs naturally in simultaneous interpreting and how syntactic linearity can be realized through the adoption of these principles. Based on the principles in Minimalist Program, several techniques to realize syntactic linearity are presented, including segmentation, repetition, addition, deletion and transformation of figure of speech. In order to test the applicability of these techniques, an exploratory study is conducted on a real-life case of simultaneous interpreting—President Obama's speech at Town Hall Meetings with Chinese youths inShanghai. In the exploratory study, the application of syntactic linearity in simultaneousinterpreting is analyzed in depth. It is concluded that the adoption of syntactic linearity insimultaneous interpreting is conducive to easing the burden of the interpreters whilemaintaining the quality of the interpreting performance. With the analysis on syntacticlinearity in simultaneous interpreting, it is hoped that the thesis will shed some light onfuture training and teaching in simultaneous interpreting.