A Report On Applications Of Syntactic Linearity In Mimic Simultaneous Interpreting

Syntactic linearity (SL) is highly valued as a golden code in bilingual Chinese-English simultaneous interpreting (SI). It is derived from the concept of "minimalism", proposed by Noam Chomsky, founder of Transformational-generative Grammar, and conforms to "the economy principle of language". The principle of SL is viewed as "chunking" by Robin Setton (1999). and "preserving linearity’" by Zhong Shukong (2005). Gile (1995) also regards it as an effective strategy adopted "when faced with major syntax differences"The thesis is an attempt to apply syntactic linearity (SL) principle and tactics in a mimic SI task. In the practice, the author chooses Obama’s speech at Mandela’s funeral as the task material. She consciously applies segmentation tactics, accuracy tactics, repetition tactics, and simplification tactics in the process of mimic SI and at the same time gets the whole process recorded. Then she does a case study, and carefully compares the interpreted version with a written translation one, discovering SI version applying SL tactics is much simpler in syntax, more redundant in expressions, and more colloquial in speech with applications of SL tactics.From this mimic SI task, the author hopes to find out the feasibility and pragmatical value of SL applications in SI and can therefore propose some suggestions accordingly. Based on the research above, the author does have some suggestions for teachers and learners of interpreting in the future. For teachers, they should encourage the students to apply SL in shorter sentences first, gradually cultivating their ability to employ SL tactics in SI. For students, practice makes perfect. They should consciously practice SL skills in their everyday interpreting practice and if possible, get the interpreting process recorded and analyze it carefully to locate where lie their strengths and weaknesses in the application of SL principle and tactics.