On The Compensation Strategies In Simultaneous Interpretation From The Perspective Of Relevance Theory

Relevance Theory(RT)provides a theoretical framework that analyzes the relationship between linguistic patterns and pragmatic comprehension from the angle of cognition(Sperber&Wilson,1986).It models communication as an“ostensive-inferential” process which necessarily involves Speaker’s ostension and Hearer’s inference;and it also provides a new definition of context,“cognitive context”,which is different from the traditional one.Simultaneous Interpretation(SI)can also be interpreted as a special form of human communication,and RT is widely believed to have strong explanatory power in SI.Robin Setton(1999)is one of the most influential researchers who interpreted SI as a dynamic process in cognitive-pragmatics approach.He also emphasized the importance of SI interpreter’s compensation that helps to change,adjust,and shape Hearer’s cognitive context.Having sorting out the development of compensation studies in the field of both translation and interpretation at home and abroad,the author found that there has been much research on compensation strategies,but SI compensation research has been greatly affected by the theories of translation compensation.Previous studies were limited to lexical and syntactic level,which may overlook the idiosyncrasy of SI:simultaneity,temporal constraints and dynamicity.Such studies would have little significance and instructive guidance to the practice and theoretic research of SI.Nevertheless,the “ostensive-inferential” model and “cognitive context” proposed by RT would provide a new working definition for SI and helps to tackle its interpreting problems.Therefore,based on the cognitive-pragmatic approach of Robin Setton,the thesis attempts to explore semantic-pragmatic compensation strategies and their functions in SI by taking relevance theory as the theoretic grounding.The research materials will be sourced from the self-built E-C SI corpus of the 76 th session of the UN General Assembly.Here are the two research questions: a.What are the compensation strategies for SI? B.What are the specific functions of the compensation strategy?According to RT,the thesis claims that SI is a special “dual ostensive-inferential process”.What the SI interpreter needs to compensate is the loss of “cognitive context” caused by the characteristics of SI.To compensate is to help Hearer change,adjust,and shape their cognitive context so as to get better comprehension.This paper draws the following conclusions: 1.As an effective pragmatic compensation strategy,discourse markers help to construct discourse coherence,reflect meta-pragmatic awareness,and fill pauses.2.Supplementary explanation and repetition are effective semantic compensation strategies in SI,which play an important role in adjusting the audience’s cognitive context and improving discourse cohesion.