Relevance-Theoretic Exploration Of Consecutive Interpretation

This dissertation employs relevance theory to explore the inferential aspect of consecutive interpretation, or more specifically, research on how to understand the source speaker's utterances and transfer them to the target audience. Relevance theory, an adequate theory of communication, holds the view that communication is an ostensive-inferential process in which people instinctively abide by the principle of relevance, that is, every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance. Some of the fundamental notions in this theory, such as ostensive-inferential communication, cognitive environment and mutual manifestness, context and the principle of relevance enlighten consecutive interpretation research from a new angle. After the research on consecutive interpretation from the perspective of relevance theory, this dissertation expresses the following views: consecutive interpretation is ostensive-inferential communication in which the interpreter acts as both information receiver and information transmitter; consecutive interpretation is interlingual interpretive use; the principle of relevance is also applicable to consecutive interpretation; what the interpreter should convey is the source speaker's informative intention and communicative intention which can be perceived in light of the speaker's ostensive stimulus; accessing contextual assumptions from previous utterances, encyclopaedic entry and physical environment helps the interpreter gain the optimal relevance to the source speaker's utterances; inference and explanation are two general strategies employed by the interpreter to make relevant consecutive interpretation.