A Cognitive Load Approach To Chinese-english Simultaneous Interpreting Strategies Of Chinese No-subject Sentences

This thesis concerns itself with a research on the Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting strategies of no-subject sentences under the cognitive load theory.Due to its significant difference from English syntax,Chinese no-subject sentences often become a difficulty in Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting.Researchers have long explored the interpreting strategies of Chinese no-subject sentences under different approaches,but few studies focus on simultaneous interpreting.Apart from that,they usually choose a few interpreting strategies with little regard for different types of no-subject sentences.In fact,simultaneous interpreting strategies of Chinese no-subject sentences can reflect the choice of interpreters with the aim to reduce cognitive load.However,there are few studies on this aspect at present.Cognitive load theory is an important part of cognitive psychology.A cognitive load model is an exploration of relations among different factors that have effect on the cognitive load.It seeks to distribute cognitive load among all factors reasonably to achieve optimal load or the best performance.Gile's effort model focuses on simultaneous interpreting.It uses a simplified formula to illustrate energy distribution among factors which have effect on simultaneous interpreting.The discussion about multiple factors in cognitive load theory coincides with the study of multiple tasks in simultaneous interpreting.Therefore,the thesis is elaborately devoted to the following two questions:(1)what are the demonstrations of no-subject sentences?(2)what interpreting strategies can be used in Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting of no-subject sentences to reduce the cognitive load of the interpreter?This thesis identifies itself as a quantitative analysis and case study,and the data are excerpted from President Xi's speeches at the opening ceremonies of BRICS Business Forum,2017-2018.It is concluded that:(1)16.6% of sentences in the data are no-subject sentences,and the proportion of syntactic vacancy no-subject sentence and pragmatic no-subject sentence is about 1:4;(2)in order to ease the cognitive load of simultaneous interpreters and keep the total processing capacity requirements below the total available processing capacity(TR<TA),Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting of no-subject sentences can use such interpreting strategies as supplementing the subject,using other elements in the sentence as the subject,using “it” as formal subject,using a subordinate clause to express logical relations,and using English non-subject-predicate sentences.By exploring the Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting strategies of no-subject sentences under the cognitive load theory,the present thesis is expected to provide interpreters with the basis to identify no-subject sentences,improve their level of information processing(LIP)and pick appropriate interpreting strategies.