A Corpus-based Analysis Of Lexical Bundles In MTI Students’ Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpreting

Lexical bundles,as recurring segments with certain functions,when used in interpreting can help allocate cognitive resources,relieve pressure and improve interpreting delivery.Current interpreting studies on lexical bundles mainly focus on professional interpreters while for student interpreters,existing research mainly uses PACCEL-S(Parallel Corpus of Chinese EFL,Learners—Spoken),a corpus based on the interpreting test of TEM-8.This is a specialized sentence-by-sentence format,different from real interpreting settings.Moreover,relevant studies on strategies are few and far between.Therefore,with a self-built MTI students’ interpreting corpus,this study aims to analyze lexical bundle features and compare the bundles with the source language to examine students’ usage strategies(equivalence,addition and substitution).Based on the quantitative analysis,the reasons for students’ choice of a particular strategy are explored through case studies.Results from a professional interpreters’ corpus are used as a reference to identify gaps between the two groups.It is found that first on the lexical bundle features,student interpreters use lexical bundles as frequently as professional interpreters.However,students rely more on noun-propositional phrases whereas the remaining verbal phrases and dependent clause phrases account for a very small proportion,lacking diversity and flexibility.Secondly,in terms of the usage strategies,like professionals,students use equivalence the most,but their usage strategies are not evenly distributed,with the use of substitution and addition being very insufficient.Finally,for the reasons of the use pattern,it is found that equivalence is used in lexical bundles that are familiar phrases or glossary.In equivalence,the source language can trigger a quick response and reduce cognitive pressure.Addition and substitution,although used less frequently,play an important role in simplifying sentence structures and summarizing information with lexical bundles in a short period of time to cope with the interpreting pressure in case of fast speed and overwhelming cognitive load.This study examines student interpreters’ lexical bundle features,use strategies and reasons and identifies their gap with professional interpreters,offering reference to future interpreting teaching and learning.The corpus-based approach and comparative method also complement existing interpreting studies with theoretical significance.