Discourse markers in police interpreting: Illusions of invisibility

Blakemore, D; Gallai, F

Abstract

Discourse markers in police interpreting: illusions of invisibility
This paper applies Blakemore’s (2010) relevance theoretic analysis of the role of discourse markers (DMs) in free indirect thought (FIT) representations to the role played by similar expressions by interpreters. Interpreting and free indirect discourse are analyzed within relevance theory as special cases of attributive use (cf. Gutt, 2000; Sperber and Wilson, 1986/95). However, the role of discourse markers in the representation of a point of view that is not the narrator’s/interpreter’s shows that this account must be modified in order to explain how narrators of FIT indirect thought representations/interpreters suppress their voices in order to maintain an impression of mutuality between reader/hearer and character/original speaker.
Our data from interpreter-mediated police interviews shows that interpreting practice is variable with respect to the inclusion of DMs. In particular, renditions include DMs not found in the original but which are understood as being attributed to the original speaker. While the addition of DMs might be regarded as evidence for a mediating interpreter, and hence contrary to public authorities’ codes of conduct, such additions are justified by the aim of providing a rendition that achieves relevance by increasing the sense of mutuality between hearer and the original speaker. Thus the interpreter’s ‘interference’ may (paradoxically) contribute to the impression of invisibility interpreter required by public institutions.

Citation

Blakemore, D., & Gallai, F. Discourse markers in police interpreting: Illusions of invisibility. Manuscript submitted for publication

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Deposit Date: Mar 11, 2013
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed