The Correlation Between Articulation Rate And Information In The Output Of English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting

This thesis is the first systematic study at MA level in China devoted to the research of the correlation between articulation rate(AR) and information(I) in the output of English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting(SI).Drawing upon the findings of information processing paradigms,communication research and a variety of other studies,this thesis anatomizes the issue with detailed theoretical discussion,a mathematical model and an experiment.It proves that faster output of SI does not always generate more information.On the contrary,there is an inverse correlation between AR and I among high-level SI trainees.Overall,in the output of English-Chinese simultaneous interpreting,AR and I observe a complex curved correlation with variations.The thesis is composed of four chapters excluding the introduction and the conclusion.Chapter 1 introduces the background and motivations of this research and raises the research question of whether the relationship between articulation rate(AR) and information(I) in the TL output of SI from English to Chinese is a direct correlation.Chapter 2 reviews the literature of the studies of temporal factors in SI and other disciplines,examines the nature of AR and its determining factors,and illustrates the high precision measurement of variable AR by wave analysis and excel calculation template.Chapter 3 redefines the nature of information in TL output qualitatively and quantitatively on the basis of related literature in communication and linguistic studies, and proposes an assessment formula and standardized evaluation procedures for quantitative information assessment.Chapter 4 substantiates the relations between AR and I theoretically with reference to the Information Processing(IP) theories.It anatomizes the mechanism and interaction of the two variables of AR and I in the information processing scheme of SI, and puts forward a mathematical model showing the possible correlations between AR and I.The general tendency of function(I,AR) is revealed in this chapter.Chapter 5 presents the SI experiment,the results of which validate the correlation predicted by the mathematical model.Statistical data shows that the answer to the research question is negative,and the correlation between AR and I demonstrates different patterns among interpreters of various levels.In the end,practical advice about speed control is provided to SI trainees and trainers for reference.Chapter 6 concludes the thesis by summarizing the research findings of this thesis.