Interpretation Process From The Perspective Of Relevance-adaptation Model

Interpretation, as a relatively new research field, has aroused much attention of scholars both at home and abroad. Interpreter stands at the center of the dynamic process of communication and tends to smooth communication between people who speak different languages. How can the interpreter remain faithful and neutral to serve as a bridge in intercultural communication in interpreting? The complexity of the interpretation process has without doubt daunted many researchers who have been trying to devise ways of finding out what actually happens in the interpreter's mind.The present research is a pragmatic exploration of the interpretation process from the perspective of Relevance-Adaptation Model. The Relevance-Adaptation Model is a new cross-cultural and interpreter-centered theoretical paradigm, which integrates two influential pragmatic theories—Relevance Theory proposed by Sperber & Wilson and Adaptation Theory initiated and elaborated by Verschueren. In this paradigm, interpreting is both a relevance-seeking, ostensive-inferential process and a dynamically-adjusting process. The interpreter searches for optimal relevance in the source cognitive environment and makes dynamic adjustment in the target cognitive environment. In the process of comprehension, the interpreter acts as a hearer who bears the responsibility of inferring the speaker's communicative intention with the principle of optimal relevance. In the process of production, the interpreter makes corresponding adaptations in the target language environment so as to convey appropriately the speaker's intentions.The author illustrates in detail the guidance of Relevance-Adaptation Model to press conference interpretation by focusing on the interpreter's comprehension and production processes. In both the comprehension and production processes, linguistic structure including lexicon, syntax and discourse, and context including linguistic context, mental world, social world and physical world are involved. The interpreter searches for optimal relevance to linguistic structure and context in the source language in the process of comprehension. Then he makes dynamic adaptations to linguistic structure and context in the target language in the process of production.The primary concern of this thesis is to provide theoretical insights into the interpreter's seeking for relevance and making dynamic adaptations in interpretation process, with the analysis of interpretation examples from former Premier Zhu Rongji and Premier Wen Jiabao's press conferences. Thus the interpreter's active role is emphasized in interpretation process.