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Article published In: Interpreting
Vol. 24:2 (2022) ► pp.192–220

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Psycholinguistic errors in signed simultaneous interpreting

ORCiD logo with link | North-West University
Published online: 24 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/intp.00074.weh
Abstract
In this article, errors and repairs in a corpus of English news broadcasts interpreted simultaneously into South African Sign Language are explored from a psycholinguistic perspective according to (1989). Speaking: From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar cognitive levels (comprehension, conceptualisation, formulation, morphological encoding and articulation). Breaking away from traditional perspectives, the study offers a novel approach to empirical research into sign(ed) language interpreting, with applications relevant to spoken-language interpreting. Most slips involved lemma selection, followed by slips in articulation and conceptualisation (syntactic planning). Significantly fewer errors in comprehension compared to production indicate that professional interpreters have excellent listening skills, although reconceptualising is sometimes problematic. The interpreters mainly repaired incorrect lemma selection and reception errors that resulted in mistranslations, suggesting the existence of a true/false error-detection mechanism, with little attention being paid to other forms of error, possibly owing to time and cognitive pressures. Errors do not increase over time, which suggests cognitive overload rather than fatigue as their cause.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.How the brain processes language
  • 3.Errors in interpreting studies
  • 4.Repair
  • 5.Method
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Articulation errors
    • 6.2Morphological encoding errors
    • 6.3Lexeme access errors
    • 6.4Lemma selection errors
    • 6.5Conceptualisation errors
    • 6.6Comprehension errors
    • 6.7Error distribution
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (79)
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