I & T Theory

Interpreting Lecture 4
 Politeness
• Traditional theories of politeness are based on the English
language

• Brown and Levinson (1987), Leech (1983) and Lakoff (1973), have
all suggested that politeness correlates with indirectness.

• The use of the imperative in Polish is not necessarily related to

impoliteness (Wierzbicka, 1985)

• Spanish speakers use more direct requests than American

speakers to express politeness (Mir, 1993)

• A study showed that interpreters added a degree of politeness

when interpreting from Spanish into English (Berk-seligson, 1988)
 3 maxims of politeness (Lakoff, 1973):

1.Don’t impose
2.Give options
3.Make the hearer feel good

In order to adhere to these maxims, Grice’s conversational

maxims may have to be flouted.

Politeness, truth and brevity are often incompatible.

Cross-cultural differences regarding politeness

• Politeness is expressed through different strategies by

different cultures

• A very important strategy used in English to give the

hearer the option to refuse is making requests by way of
questions, which are indirect speech acts.

• The use of imperative in German to make requests (e.g.

“pass me the book, please!” versus “would you pass me
the book, please?”
 Register

• A register is a variety of a language distinguished

according to use and situational appropriateness.
(Halliday et al,1973)

• Register falls into the pragmatic domain of language

because it is concerned with appropriateness of
language according to context.

• A register is a configuration of meanings that are

typically associated with a particular situational
configuration of field, mode and tenor.

• Register is commonly divided into two major broad

categories: formal and informal
 Register
Register is manifested in field, tenor and mode:

Field:
Refers to the subject matter, the setting or the context, e.g. lecture

Tenor:
Refers to the relationship between the interlocutors in that particular
context, e.g. lecturer – student.

Mode:
Refers to the medium through which the discourse is expressed, e.g.
written, spoken, spoken to be written etc.
 Register
• Field, tenor and mode guide speakers to the use of
formal/informal register

• Some linguists use the term register to refer to dialects or

language varieties.

• Sociolinguists speak of 3 types of dialects: regional, social and

temporal

• ‘Low' register and 'high' register are used to refer to low and
high varieties or social dialects of English

• Some interpreters shift registers (Berk-seligson, 1990; Hale,

1997)
 Pragmatic equivalence

• Pragmatic meaning overrides semantic meaning

• Translation is primarily a pragmatic

reconstruction of its source text (House, 1977)

• The interpreter must be aware of all the

pragmatic aspects of both languages
• Interpreters must understand the speakers’ intention, not
their words (Morris, 1995)

• Pragmatic equivalence does not mean a complete

disregard for form

• The form of an utterance will impact on its effect

• The pragmatic meaning is represented through lexis and

syntax, as well as the supra-segmental features of
speech

• 'what' + 'how' = pragmatic meaning

• Languages often have ready semantic equivalents that

are not pragmatically equivalent, e.g., swear words
• Accuracy is an important ethical tenet

• NAATI’s definition of accuracy is unclear

• Accuracy expectations differ according to interpreting

mode and participant expectations

• Some monolingual users of interpreting services believe

that accuracy is delivering the same quantity of words in
TL

• Untrained bilinguals believe accuracy is reporting,

summarising or filtering

• It is problematic when interpreters act in line with

bilinguals, e.g. reporting in the third person.
 Example:
Defendant :
Mi declracion es que he llegado, y he
llegado solo y estoy diciendo

Back translation:
(My statement is that I arrived, and that I arrived
by myself I'm saying)

Interpreter:
He says, sir, that he has made his statement that
he lived alone and that was all, and I am telling...
(Berk-Seligson, 1990).
The level of accuracy differs according to the mode
and setting:
Court:
• For witness testimony, accuracy of content and
form is essential
• Incoherence is important to be delivered in court
Conference Interpreting:
• In conference interpreting (simultaneous,
consecutive, chuchotage and sight translation)
information content is most important
• Stylistic considerations take second priority
• Filtering, paraphrasing and summarising are
acceptable strategies
• Accuracy is not interpreting verbatim

• Accuracy is relaying what is said in a

similar style and manner

• Due attention to equivalent effect is

required, i.e., TL delivery of equivalent
pragmatic meaning and force

• Register, style, completeness and intention

are crucial in interpreting. (Benmann,1997)
Benmann (1997) quotes Dueñas Gonzales et al, 1991:

Interpreting register:
“Faithful adherence to the register of speech” (formal,
educated and uneducated syntax and vocabulary)

Interpreting obscenities:
“Articulation of slang, obscenities, sexually explicit language”
(Interpreters are not responsible for the content)

Interpreting pragmatically:
“The intended meaning cannot be misrepresented in any
way”
Interpreting Register:

Example: Witness from low socio-economic background

with poor education

Prosecutor:
Tell the court what happened.

Witness:
Well I was walkin’ past about on the 18th of uh ‘bout a month
ago I was walking past goin’ to get the bus… I, I was in a
public footpath which I’m entile’ to walk on ….

and he threw the gate out and narrowly missed me

back, he knows I’ve got a bad back and just missed me and I
jumped aside
Informal dialect:
dialect:
Well I was walkin’ past about
on the 18th of uh ‘bout a month
ago I was walking past goin’ to
get the bus… I, I was in a
public footpath which I’m
entile’ to walk on…
and he threw the gate out and
narrowly missed me back, he
knows I’ve got a bad back and
just missed me and I jumped
aside so…
High social
Well, I was walking passed
his house on about the 18th,
about a month ago, on my
way to catch the bus. I was
on a public footpath as I am
entitled to do.
He threw the gate out and
narrowly missed my back.
He knew I have an injured
back. He narrowly missed
me as I jumped back.
Register adaptation is common among
interpreters and it can affect accuracy:

• They attempt to match the listener’s dialect

• They are tempted to neutralize social dialects

• Lowering or raising the register can alter the

impression the listener has of the speaker.
• Finding a pragmatic equivalent to
obscenities is important

• Interpreters are actors and need to portray

the speaker’s style to give the same
impression

• Accurate interpretation can only be

achieved when we interpret pragmatically.
 End of Lecture 4

Readings 6, 7 and 8