A Corpus-based Study Of Chinese Reformulation Markers In Simultaneous Interpreting: Implications For Explicitation

Explicitation hypothesis is widely acknowledged as a universal phenomenon in corpus-based translation studies. Some scholars investigated reformulation markers for the evidence of explicitation in translation studies, because reformulation markers are deemed as indicators of explicitation, for which not only manifest the propositional connection but also explicate speaker’s intention. Researchers have confirmed that Chinese reformulation markers are explicated in written translation. Given the distinctive differences between written translation and oral interpretation, the present study investigates the explicitation of reformulation markers in simultaneously interpreted Chinese speech by combining parallel and comparative, quantitative and qualitative analysis of data retrieved from Summer Davos Simultaneous Interpreting Corpus.In the parallel perspective, the addition of Chinese reformulation markers are deemed as evidence for explicitation and the explicitation rate amounts to61%-73%. The addition of reformulation markers is further categorized in terms of its causes for typology analysis of explicitation. Explicitation is grouped into optional explicitation and interpretation inherent explicitation. In addition, a comparative analysis is conducted to back up the advocate of interpretation inherent explicitation. The finding of interpreted Chinese using more reformulation markers than native Chinese supports the argument that explicitation is a universal phenomenon.Possible motivations for explicitation of reformulation markers are presented in this study. Linguistic differences between English and Chinese, strategies in simultaneous interpreting (segmentation and condensation), and preference of individual interpreters (style and risk aversion) are considered to result in explicitation.