Negotiating Renditions in and through Talk: Some Notes on the Contribution of Conversation Analysis to the Study of Interpreter-mediated Interaction

Abstract

Conversation Analysis has shown that the system of turn-taking results in the construction of meaningful actions in conversation. Turns are not independent units; they both project new contributions and display reactions to previous ones. Contributions to talk are thus the result of complex mechanisms of negotiation and make sense in reference to each other. Davidson (2002) shows that the common difficulty in conversing through an interpreter consists in establishing reciprocity of understanding between the primary interlocutors and suggests that models need to be developed that take into account the necessity of constructing reciprocal understanding. On the basis of an analysis of audio-recorded and transcribed interpreter-mediated interactions in healthcare, this paper shows that interpreters’ contributions are not free from the conversational system of turn-taking. Rather, the meaning of interpreters’ actions (renditions or non-renditions) is achieved locally, in the turn-taking system and in reference to the goals that are interactionally established in and through the sequences.