Can topical coherence be exactly defined? How is it measured in an interpreted text (IT)? To what extent can interpreters influence it? The present paper is an attempt to answer these questions by observing real data collected in a corpus and applying a research method as rigorous as possible to the analysis. The analysed corpus is a collection of recorded American presidential debates broadcasted by the Italian television, and their simultaneous interpretation. They are taken from CorIT – Television Interpreting Corpus – by Falbo (2009) and Straniero Sergio (2007). The analysis focuses on the rendition of the question/answer (Q/A) group by a given interpreters’ équipe in terms of topical coherence. The study concentrates on the IT as the result of a service provided with the aim of making the OT accessible to the target-language (TL) audience. This presentation outlines the salient features of the pilot study, which is currently being conducted on a sample of two presidential debates. It aims at testing the applied methodology and paving the way for the final study. After identifying and classifying question (Q) and answer (A) types on the basis of their function and structure, the investigation focuses on the analysis of the ITs as autonomous texts, without any reference to the original texts (OT). Questions and answers are observed individually and then as a group, in terms of frequency, cohesion and topical coherence (Halliday & Hasan 1987; Gernsbacher & Givòn 1995; Linell 1998; DeBeaugrand & Dressler 2000). The following step is a thorough analysis of the OT according to the above-mentioned parameters, which are subsequently applied to the OT-IT contrastive analysis of the two debates. The latter, as shall be pointed out in this presentation, either replicates or disclaims the outcomes of the IT analysis. In discussing the results, particular attention shall be devoted to frequency rates of Q and A types in the OT, which shall be compared to those emerging from the IT analysis: is there a wide gap between the two? Do the cases of incoherence in the IT coincide with changes operated on the Q/A type, structure or function during the interpretation process?
Quality as coherence maintenance. A corpus-based pilot study on topical coherence in simultaneous interpretation on television: the question/answer group.
DAL FOVO, EUGENIA
2013-01-01
Abstract
Can topical coherence be exactly defined? How is it measured in an interpreted text (IT)? To what extent can interpreters influence it? The present paper is an attempt to answer these questions by observing real data collected in a corpus and applying a research method as rigorous as possible to the analysis. The analysed corpus is a collection of recorded American presidential debates broadcasted by the Italian television, and their simultaneous interpretation. They are taken from CorIT – Television Interpreting Corpus – by Falbo (2009) and Straniero Sergio (2007). The analysis focuses on the rendition of the question/answer (Q/A) group by a given interpreters’ équipe in terms of topical coherence. The study concentrates on the IT as the result of a service provided with the aim of making the OT accessible to the target-language (TL) audience. This presentation outlines the salient features of the pilot study, which is currently being conducted on a sample of two presidential debates. It aims at testing the applied methodology and paving the way for the final study. After identifying and classifying question (Q) and answer (A) types on the basis of their function and structure, the investigation focuses on the analysis of the ITs as autonomous texts, without any reference to the original texts (OT). Questions and answers are observed individually and then as a group, in terms of frequency, cohesion and topical coherence (Halliday & Hasan 1987; Gernsbacher & Givòn 1995; Linell 1998; DeBeaugrand & Dressler 2000). The following step is a thorough analysis of the OT according to the above-mentioned parameters, which are subsequently applied to the OT-IT contrastive analysis of the two debates. The latter, as shall be pointed out in this presentation, either replicates or disclaims the outcomes of the IT analysis. In discussing the results, particular attention shall be devoted to frequency rates of Q and A types in the OT, which shall be compared to those emerging from the IT analysis: is there a wide gap between the two? Do the cases of incoherence in the IT coincide with changes operated on the Q/A type, structure or function during the interpretation process?Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
