Formulations as way of providing renditions in mediated interactions

Abstract

Studies on interpreted-mediated interactions show that the function of interpreting as mediation is based on interpreters’ actions that modify other participants’ original utterances. The effects of interpreters’ modifications of participants’ original utterances include negative selection of information, i.e. ‘gatekeeping’, as well as language mediation as successful coordination of the interaction. Many of the studies show the importance of interpreters’ modifications of original utterances for the coordination of interactions between participants speaking different languages. The present paper analyzes audio-recorded interactions at an Immigrant Support Centre, in which one mediator provides interpreting between Italian social workers and immigrants who speak West African English. The analysis is based on a theoretical approach concerning communication processes, the design of the mediator’s actions in the interaction, and the function of interpreting as mediation at the Immigrant Support Centre. In particular, the analysis concerns the design of the mediator’s expansions of social workers’ explanations as different types of formulations, consisting in explicating or developing the gist of these explanations. The mediator’s formulations highlight her participation in providing support for the immigrants and the function of mediation in narrowing the gap between the institutional narrative and the immigrants’ narratives.