Anticipation And Syntactic Linearity In Simultaneous Interpretation: A Comparative Study And Its Implications For Simultaneous Interpretation Training

Working memory and coping strategies are two key factors that have great influence on the quality of simultaneous interpretation. Therefore, they have attracted a great deal of attention from researchers and practitioners. This thesis focuses on the coping strategies of simultaneous interpretation because they are deemed important in solving practical problems and improving the quality of simultaneous interpretation. Such strategies can empower interpreters with practical methods and help reduce pressure for simultaneous interpreters. From among all the coping strategies, this thesis chooses to focus on the strategy of anticipation and the strategy of syntactic linearity, investigating and analyzing the usage of and problems with the strategy of anticipation and the strategy of syntactic linearity in simultaneous interpretation practices through an empirical study. The finding of the empirical study is that the strategy of anticipation is underused compared with the strategy of syntactic linearity. Based on the finding, this author makes some suggestions for quality enhancement of simultaneous interpretation training and discusses the implications of the study of the strategy of anticipation and the strategy of syntactic linearity for researchers and practitioners of simultaneous interpretation in China.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter1discusses the research background, presents a literature review, and explains the rationale and research questions of this thesis. Chapter2lays the theoretical foundation by introducing theories about simultaneous interpretation, schema theory, and the minimalist program. This chapter firstly discusses simultaneous interpretation from the perspectives of its definition, development, process, and features; secondly it describes the definition, types, features, and functions of schema theory; thirdly it introduces the background and theoretical goals of the minimalist program. In Chapter3, the author constructs the theoretical framework for this study by linking the strategy of anticipation with schema theory and the strategy of syntactic linearity with the minimalist program, and discussing the relationship between each of them. This chapter also discusses a variety of ways of using the strategy of anticipation and the strategy of syntactic linearity in simultaneous interpretation. Chapter4investigates the usage of the strategy of anticipation and the strategy of syntactic linearity and the problems that exist in simultaneous interpretation trainings by conducting an empirical study. Data are analyzed and results are classified, compared, discussed and summarized. The last chapter is the "Conclusion" which summarizes this project and discusses the implications of this study as well as its limitations.