No Cover Image

E-Thesis 523 views

A Corpus-based Study of the Impact of Directionality on English<>Chinese Simultaneous Interpreting / XIAOYI ZHAI

Swansea University Author: XIAOYI ZHAI

  • Version of Record under embargo until: 25th June 2026

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.57215

Abstract

This PhD thesis investigates the impact of directionality on English<>Chinese simultaneous interpreting (SI) based on a purposely built spoken corpus. The study examines disfluencies (filled pauses and repetitions) and repairs from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. An expert-novi...

Full description

Published: Swansea 2021
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Perez-Tattam, Rocio and Yang, Jun
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57215
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Abstract: This PhD thesis investigates the impact of directionality on English<>Chinese simultaneous interpreting (SI) based on a purposely built spoken corpus. The study examines disfluencies (filled pauses and repetitions) and repairs from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. An expert-novice paradigm is also adopted with the aim of determining if directionality influences these two different groups. The quantitative analyses look at the frequency of filled pauses and repetitions, as well as the frequency of different types of repairs (including appropriateness repairs, different repairs, error repairs, mid-articulatory repairs and repair failures) and the proportion of each category of disfluencies and repairs. The aims are to determine if directionality influences SI fluency and to provide a holistic view of the extent to which directionality influences the occurrence of disfluencies and repair behaviour. These quantitative analyses are complemented by qualitative analyses of filled pauses and repetitions, as well as each category of repairs. The aims are to examine the influence of directionality on the occurrence of filled pauses and repetitions and to examine the reasons that cause these repairs. The results indicate that directionality has some impact on the interpreting performance of student interpreters, but such impact is negligible on the performance of professionals. The results also show that expertise helps professional interpreters cope with the challenge caused by directionality better in comparison with student interpreters, even with an average of 3.5 years’ experience. Findings in this study provide new insights on the understanding of disfluencies and repairs through interpreters’ performance. In addition, the study contributes to closing the current gaps in the literature regarding the impact of directionality on disfluencies and repairs in English<>Chinese SI and presents pedagogical implications for SI training in these two directions.
Item Description: Due to embargo restrictions this thesis is not available via this service until 2026.
Keywords: directionality, corpus, simultaneous interpreting
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences