A New "Parallel Prayer Beads Model" In Syntactic Linearity In English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpretation

This is a report on the author's performance in a real simultaneous interpreting session and his own reflection on relevant theories.The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of syntactic linearity through textual analysis.The core topic of syntactic linearity and the relevant topics are also studied.On that basis,this paper proposes a new model to describe the mechanism of syntactic linearity--the "Parallel Prayer Beads Model".The technique of syntactic linearity is first taught in universities and training schools and then practiced by simultaneous interpreters,so it is more often than not given by teachers to students;validation of syntactic linearity via real textual analysis is rarely done to give feedback to the teaching side,and it is even more rare for experienced interpreters to do so.The author of this paper is at a vantage point to carry out such a real case study as he has over 8 years of SI experience.This paper therefore has its uniqueness.With the support of the hypothetical model proposed in this paper,the process,feasibility and failure mode of syntactic linearity can be explained in a detailed way.Therefore,this paper is innovative to some extent.As syntactic linearity is properly used by many successful interpreters,there must be mechanisms of action in the brain and the process of interpreting.The theories about syntactic linearity,psychological space,cognitive linguistics etc.shed light on the theoretical intricacies of this important technique,but the author maintains that we should push a step further into the unknown.This paper covers the pre-conditions and motivation of syntactic linearity,proposes a new "Parallel Prayer-Beads Model" in E-C SI.Then the author uses real SI transcripts to validate those concepts and the hypothetical model of "Parallel Prayer-Beads Model".The Parallel Prayer-Beads Model is proposed on the basis of previous scholars and practitioners' achievements.This model describes the dynamic mechanism of syntactic linearity in a more sophisticated and accurate way.The components of this technique are given in a relatively detailed way so that teachers and learners will be able to understand and use this technique to better hone their skills.In the process of this research,some source language and target language audios from a real conference on rare diseases are transcribed into source and target texts.These texts are laid side by side in the attachment.Examples to prove the concepts and models are mostly taken from these texts.The author would like to state that the rendition of the source(verbal speeches)text may carry very personal features and may not be extrapolated to other interpreters or learners;the conclusions about the Parallel Prayer Beads Model may be valid herein and have yet to be validated by others with other texts and languages pairs.However,the author believes that some concepts and models from this paper may serve as good reference for others.