An Exploratory Study On Shifts Of Cohesive Devices In C-E Consecutive Interpretation

Of the studies which focus on textual features of the product of the interpreter, cohesion tends to attract the attention of interpretation researchers. However, regrettably all studies in this regard concern themselves with the product of simultaneous interpreters, with little attention paid to the feature of cohesion in the product of consecutive interpreters. This study investigated characteristics of the pattern for shifts of cohesive devices in C-E consecutive interpretation (CI) and factors contributing to the formation of this pattern.The translation theory of the interpretive school and differences in cohesive devices between Chinese and English were examined, and then based on these theories, a tentative theoretical framework was first established, under whose guidance specific research questions for the present study were generated.To answer these questions, the author conducted an in-depth observation of a corpus consisting of consecutive interpretation by successful interpreters for press conferences held subsequent to the three sessions of the Ninth National People's Congress in 1998,1999 and 2001.Analysis of the corpus yielded the following major findings: first, shifts of cohesive devices in C-E CI take mainly the forms of reproduction, addition, omission and substitution;second, the pattern for shifts in cohesive devices in C-E CI is characterized with the predominance of addition, that is, there is a change from implicit cohesion to explicit cohesion in C-E CI;also an explication tendency displays itself in this pattern. Finally, regarding factors contributing to the formation of this pattern, linguistic differences between Chinese and English are identified as a key factor.