Interpreter visibility in press conferences: a multimodal conversation analysis of speaker–interpreter interactions

Abstract

This study offers a novel perspective on interpreter visibility by exploring speaker references to interpreters, which differs from previous research that primarily focused on interpreter visibility through their own discourse contributions. Employing a multimodal conversation analysis approach, the study examined the verbal and nonverbal resources utilized by speakers and interpreters in 98 selected excerpts taken from press conference interpreting sessions at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). The analysis revealed six distinct topics that denoted the ways in which interpreters were rendered noticeable to the audience through the speaker’s references. These references were context dependent, leading to subsequent speaker–interpreter interactions where interpreters became highly visible. In addition to verbal cues, nonverbal semiotics played a crucial role in demonstrating how interpreters working in rigidly structured press conferences could function as active co-participants of discourse, and how the speaker and interpreter could collaborate to facilitate the interpreter’s visibility and promote a relaxed communicative environment. These findings shed new light on the interpreter’s role, underscoring that it is a dynamic phenomenon requiring analysis in relation to the specific communicative context. This study demonstrated the efficacy of utilizing multimodal conversation analysis as a methodology to explore interactions between speakers and interpreters and to gain a deeper understanding of the complex and nuanced aspects of conference interpreting.