A Study On Cohesion And Coherence Problems Under Syntactic Linearity In English-Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting

In simultaneous interpreting(SI),information is continuously delivered and interpreters need to interpret at nearly the same pace as the speaker's.Thus,syntactic linearity is usually deemed as the primary principle in simultaneous interpreting,for it helps save time and relieve the burden of interpreters' short-term memory.However,in practice,syntactic linearity is partially the cause of problems of improper cohesion and poor coherence of the target language,such as ambiguous references,inconsistent information,logical errors,redundancy,etc.Due to the differences between English and Chinese in expression habits and cultural background,interpreters should not completely copy the cohesive devices in English,but rather transfer them properly into Chinese.This thesis,as an interpreting practice report in UN Geneva office,made an analysis and summary of the English-Chinese SI practice project for the 108 th Session of the International Labor Conference in 2019.This paper analyzed and compared the source and target languages based on the cohesion theory proposed by M.A.K.Halliday and Hasan(1976).Besides,it also summed up cohesion and coherence problems caused by syntactic linearity,and proposed relevant approaches,including explicitation of references,proper additions and ellipsis,etc.,which help to deal with the cohesive devices in English and use proper cohesive ties in Chinese to achieve fluent,coherent and high-quality interpreting.