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Article published In: Developments in Cognitive Translation and Interpreting Studies
Edited by Kairong Xiao and Sandra L. Halverson
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies 8:2] 2021
► pp. 328–355

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Dialogue interpreting, self-revision in translation and post-editing

Turn-taking in dialogue interpreting

Coping with cognitive constraints

ORCiD logo with link | Stockholm University
ORCiD logo with link | Stockholm University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Stockholm University.

Published online: 22 November 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00081.tis
Abstract
This study addresses cognitive aspects of turn-taking and the role of experience in dialogue interpreting, by investigating the temporal and textual properties of the coupled turn (i.e. the original utterance and its interpretation). A comparison was made using a video-recorded scripted role-play between eight interpreters, with Swedish-French or Swedish-Spanish as working languages and with different levels of experience. Cognitively challenging long stretches of talk were introduced in both directions of the working languages and analyzed with a multi-modal approach. We identified a number of quantitative measures, such as the number of coupled turns and the time used. Furthermore, we qualitatively analyzed the types of renditions. The findings suggest that the mean length of time of the coupled turn, which we label processing span, is a measure that is not primarily related to interpreting experience but rather reflects the constraints of the interpreter’s working memory. A further finding is that the inexperienced interpreters have a higher percentage of reduced renditions than the experienced interpreters, and this difference is statistically significant.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Aim
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Cognition in interpreting
    • 2.2Turn-taking in monolingual dialogues
    • 2.3Turn-taking in dialogue interpreting
    • 2.4Hypotheses of the study
  • 3.Data and method
    • 3.1Material
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Transcription and parameters for analysis
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Adler, Aleksandra
2024. Effects of experience and directionality on cognitive load in dialogue interpreting. Translation, Cognition & Behavior 7:2 ► pp. 187 ff. DOI logo
Mellinger, Christopher D.
2023. Embedding, extending, and distributing interpreter cognition with technology. In Interpreting Technologies – Current and Future Trends [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 37], ► pp. 195 ff. DOI logo

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