Abstract
Although simultaneous interpreting (SI) is generally recognized as a highly demanding cognitive activity in nature, the role of cognitive processes in SI fluency is yet to be determined. While utterance fluency refers to the set of objectively determined oral features of utterances, cognitive fluency means the speaker’s efficient mobilization and integration of underlying cognitive processes responsible for utterance production. An investigation into the relationship of the two dimensions of fluency helps to reveal the cognitive bases of interpreting. This study explores the predicting power of cognitive fluency in the utterance fluency development of L2 (English)–L1 (Chinese) SI output of trainee interpreters. Cognitive fluency was operationalized as measures of lexical access, linguistic attention control, and working memory capacity. Measures of utterance fluency were obtained through simulated SI tasks under conditions of low and high input rates. Twenty-eight trainees interpreted two speeches, one with a high input rate and the other with a low input rate, at the beginning and end of an SI training period of 13 weeks. A bilingual corpus of the participants’ SI output was built, and indicators of SI utterance fluency were annotated systematically. Utterance fluency was indexed by the speech rate, mean length of run, phonation time ratio, mean number of silent pauses, and mean number of disfluencies. Results of analyses indicated that (1) the predicting power of cognitive fluency for SI utterance fluency development was only shown under high cognitive load over a training period of 13 weeks; (2) predictors for the development of SI utterance fluency tended to be the efficiency of cognitive processes involved in the target language production stage; and (3) the inclusion of measures of working memory capacity significantly increased the predicting power of cognitive fluency for SI utterance fluency development. This study for the first time provides evidence for the role of cognitive fluency in trainee interpreters’ SI utterance fluency development, having implications for the theoretical framework of cognitive fluency and the information processing mechanism in interpreting process, as well as for interpreter aptitude tests and interpreting pedagogy.
Highlights
Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex bilingual activity
This study aims to examine the relationship of cognitive fluency and utterance fluency development in the SI output of trainee interpreters under conditions of low and high cognitive load
Correlation analyses between measures of cognitive fluency were conducted for a preliminary screening of predictors for the regression analyses
Summary
Simultaneous interpreting (SI) is a complex bilingual activity It involves the comprehension of message in one language and the immediate verbal rendition of it into another language while the interpreter keeps listening to the incoming information (Liu et al, 2004; Injoque-Ricle et al, 2015). Simultaneous interpreting involves concurrent listening and speaking for a substantial percentage of the speech time, and it requires flexible and efficient online processing of cognitive resources in order to produce full and fluent delivery (Shlesinger, 2003). Fluency, being one of the most important quality criteria in interpreting (Liu et al, 2008), is important in the overall interpreting evaluation. Previous studies on fluency in interpreting are mostly descriptive These studies mainly focus on disfluencies, which signify difficulties and uncertainties encountered in the cognitive processes of interpreting (Gósy, 2007; Bakti, 2009). An investigation into fluency will enhance our understanding of the information processing mechanism of SI and help to understand the cognitive bases of interpreting
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