Abstract
This article proposes a framework for analysing interpreted events mediated by non-professionals. It is based on an examination of individual contextual factors rather than on traditional definitions of setting-based features. This approach promises to be more productive for the study of non-professional interpreting and for analysing contexts that do not fit into existing categories of setting. For these purposes, this article examines a corpus of 26 prison-based mental health interviews mediated by non-professional interpreters in order to analyse the collaboration and negotiation processes that emerge among the members of the communicative triad. First, it outlines contextual factors from a conceptual perspective. Second, it describes those contextual factors that are most relevant to analysing collaboration and negotiation processes. Finally, it describes the context of prison-based mental health interviews through the lens of these factors and examines their influence on specific instances of collaboration and negotiation extracted from this corpus.
Highlights
Framing analyses of interpreter-mediated interaction around the concept of setting raises legitimate questions
I use this framework of selected contextual factors to describe the context of mental health interviews conducted in prison and to examine their influence on specific instances of collaboration and negotiation extracted from a corpus of 26 Non-professional interpreters’ (NPIs)-mediated interviews of this type
This article argues that analyses of contextual factors can be more productive for understanding and explaining interpreter-mediated interaction than examinations based on settings as theoretical categories
Summary
Framing analyses of interpreter-mediated interaction around the concept of setting raises legitimate questions. While consistencies in a setting allow for the creation of frameworks that facilitate analyses (e.g., conference vs public service interpreting), they can limit our ability to develop theoretical constructs based on similarities across and differences within established settings. These issues become more relevant when we examine non-professional interpreting. This article proposes and applies a framework for analysing interpretermediated events that is grounded in an examination of contextual factors, which offer a more granular view than setting-based analyses. I use this framework of selected contextual factors to describe the context of mental health interviews conducted in prison and to examine their influence on specific instances of collaboration and negotiation extracted from a corpus of 26 NPI-mediated interviews of this type
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