A Corpus-based Study On Interpreters' Use Of Paralanguage In The 7th Xiangshan Forum Simultaneous Interpretation

The Xiangshan Forum,co-hosted by the China Association for Military Science(CAMS)and the China Institute for International Strategic Studies(CIISS),has already been held seven times.It has now become a high-level international platform for dialogues on security and defense issues.At the forum,interpreters play an indispensable role,determining,to a large extent,the quality and effect of the forum.Paralanguage,as a natural byproduct in interpreting,inevitably exerts influence on interpreters' performance.This thesis focuses on paralanguage in its narrow sense,so the study of non-vocal features is excluded.To understand the role of interpreters' paralanguage used at the Xiangshan Forum,two hypotheses are raised in advance.First,differences exist in the interpreters' use of paralanguage between C-E and E-C interpretation at the 7th Xiangshan Forum.Second,there are correspondences between source text(ST)paralanguage use and target text(TT)paralanguage use,which means that the frequencies of paralanguage occurrence in the TT are closely related to those in the ST and that concurrence of paralanguage exists in the ST and the TT.The paralanguage used by the interpreters at the 7th Xiangshan Forum are recorded and categorized.Then,with the help of corpus tools and statistical methods(Chi-square Test and Person Correlation),the paralanguage is further analyzed and compared between C-E and E-C interpretation and between the TT and the ST.Based on the hypotheses raised at the beginning of the research,it's found that frequency differs between C-E interpretation and E-C interpretation in 12 out of the 15 sub-categories of paralanguage,with the highest chi-square number being 385.95.Another finding is that no correspondence exists in the use of paralanguage in the ST and the TT.Following the quantitative analyses,the author seeks to explain the reasons and implications of paralanguage which occurred in interpreting by borrowing Gile's Gravitational Model as well as prosodic theories.It is found that low language availability of an interpreter often leads to more frequent use of paralanguage such as pauses,fillers and repetitions.The use of paralanguage can leave more time for interpreters' comprehension and production,but the overuse of paralanguage may downgrade interpretation quality.On the basis of corpus data and statistical results,the author proposes that interpreters pay attention to the use of paralanguage in interpreting instead of concentrating solely on their language output: firstly,the use of filled pauses should be avoided or replaced by filler postponements for better performance;secondly,paralanguage such as filler amendments and repetition should also be used cautiously as they may leave a negative impression on the audiences;thirdly,moderate speaking tempos and volumes are recommended to achieve an enabling communicative effect.Based on the Gravitational Model,the author also calls for more attention on paralanguage by instructors in interpreter training and a quantitative criterion of paralanguage that can supplement the assessment of interpreting quality.