Mediated discourse at the European Parliament: Empirical investigations


Book Description

The purpose of this book is to showcase a diverse set of directions in empirical research on mediated discourse, reflecting on the state-of-the-art and the increasing intersection between Corpus-based Interpreting Studies (CBIS) and Corpus-based Translation Studies (CBTS). Undeniably, data from the European Parliament (EP) offer a great opportunity for such research. Not only does the institution provide a sizeable sample of oral debates held at the EP together with their simultaneous interpretations into all languages of the European Union. It also makes available written verbatim reports of the original speeches, which used to be translated. From a methodological perspective, EP materials thus guarantee a great degree of homogeneity, which is particularly valuable in corpus studies, where data comparability is frequently a challenge. In this volume, progress is visible in both CBIS and CBTS. In interpreting, it manifests itself notably in the availability of comprehensive transcription, annotation and alignment systems. In translation, datasets are becoming substantially richer in metadata, which allow for increasingly refined multi-factorial analysis. At the crossroads between the two fields, intermodal investigations bring to the fore what these mediation modes have in common and how they differ. The volume is thus aimed in particular at Interpreting and Translation scholars looking for new descriptive insights and methodological approaches in the investigation of mediated discourse, but it may be also of interest for (corpus) linguists analysing parliamentary discourse in general.




Corpus Use in Cross-linguistic Research


Book Description

Cross-linguistic research is a fruitful field of language inquiry that has benefited enormously from the use of corpora. As sources of linguistic data of various kinds and as tools for language processing, corpora have shaped the development of cross-linguistic research, enabling both language description and practical applications. This volume contains twelve studies that emphasize the usefulness and usability of parallel corpora in accurately exploring the structure and use of seven under-researched languages and language varieties. The first part emphasizes the role of corpus-based descriptive analyses at the lexicogrammatical and discursive levels, as a first step on the way towards concrete applications like translation or language teaching. The second part focuses on the role of parallel-corpus-based language processing techniques and applications that facilitate professional communication. This book will be of interest to scholars in contrastive linguistics, translation studies, discourse analysis, language teaching, and natural language processing.




Handbook of Terminology


Book Description

As a core component of legal language used to draft, enforce and practice law, legal terms have fascinated lawyers, linguists, terminologists and other scholars for centuries. Third in the series, this Handbook offers a comprehensive compendium of the current state of knowledge on legal terminology. It is the first attempt to bring together perspectives from the domains of Terminology, Translation Studies, Linguistics, Law and Information Technology in a single place. This interdisciplinary endeavour comprises systematic reviews, case studies and research papers which overview key properties of legal terms and concepts, terminological tools and resources, training aspects, as well as translation in national contexts and multilingual organizations. The Handbook attests to the complex multifaceted nature of legal terminology and showcases its cultural, communicative, cognitive and social contexts in diverse legal systems. It is a rich resource for scholars, practitioners, trainers and students, presenting vibrant research and practice in this area.




Exploring Language and Society with Big Data


Book Description

As the legislative bodies of democratic nations, parliaments play a fundamental role in society. Consequently the linguistic practices observed in parliamentary discourse are of importance to everyone. This volume brings together leading researchers in areas of corpus linguistics, big data, parliamentary discourse, and historical linguistics in a truly interdisciplinary exploration at the vanguard of big data and corpus methods with the aim to investigate the intersection between linguistic and social change. Making use of both quantitative and qualitative methods, the studies included in this volume range from a focus on explicitly linguistic phenomena to topics that contribute to our understanding of language and society more generally. It breaks new ground in its critical reflection on the conceptual and methodological challenges of using large corpora of parliamentary discourse to study both the specialised language of parliamentary speech and the societies that the parliaments in question represent and govern.




Constraints on Language Variation and Change in Complex Multilingual Contact Settings


Book Description

Constraints on Language Variation and Change in Complex Multilingual Contact Settings explores an innovative proposal: that linguistic similarities identified in different forms of contact-influenced varieties of language use (including translation, native and non-native varieties of English, and language use of bilinguals more generally) can be accounted for in a coherent framework grounded in the notion of ‘constrained communication’. These varieties have hitherto been studied in independent scholarly traditions, especially translation studies and world Englishes, leaving the potential underlying unity underexplored, both conceptually and empirically. The chapters collected in this volume aim to develop such a unified perspective by drawing on corpus data across a range of languages and language varieties, with a focus on written language, a neglected data source in research on multilingual contact settings. The findings point to shared general characteristics across individual contact settings, which result from (probabilistically conditioned) manifestations of the same deeper regularities – constraints – present in diverse language-contact settings.




The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting and Cognition


Book Description

The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting and Cognition provides an overview of the interrelated nature of interpreting and cognition. The Handbook presents in-depth discussions of cognitive aspects of the task of interpreting and how researchers and practitioners alike have applied these findings to the practice of interpreting. With contributions from scholars working within multiple theoretical and methodological paradigms across various disciplines, this Handbook allows readers to engage with current thinking on cognitive processes, behaviors, and activities in a single space. The volume traces the historical progression of cognitive inquiry into interpreting on various topics, highlighting methodological advances and possibilities that can further our understanding of this cross-language activity. With an editor’s introduction and 25 chapters by global authorities, the Handbook offers broad coverage of cognitive aspects of interpreting while identifying new avenues for future research. This is an essential reference for students and researchers of interpreting in translation and interpreting studies as well as those interested in cognitive aspects of interpreting in bilingualism, second-language acquisition, cognitive psychology, and beyond.




Usability research for interpreter-centred technology: The case study of SmarTerp


Book Description

Technological advancement is reshaping the ways in which language interpreters operate. This poses existential challenges to the profession but also offers new opportunities. This books moves from the design of the computer-assisted interpreting tool SmarTerp as a case study of impact-driven interpreting technology research. It demonstrates how usability testing was used to achieve an interpreter-centred design. By contextualising the case study within the past and current developments of translation and interpreting technology research, this book seeks to inform and inspire a redefinition of the conceptualisation of interpreting technology research—not just as a tool to understand change but to drive it into a sustainable and human direction.




Computer-assisted simultaneous interpreting: A cognitive-experimental study on terminology


Book Description

The present work explores computer-assisted simultaneous interpreting (CASI) from a primarily cognitive perspective. Despite concerns over the potentially negative impact of computer-assisted interpreting (CAI) tools on interpreters’ cognitive load (CL), this hypothesis remains untested. Previous research is restricted to the evaluation of the CASI product and a methodology for the process-oriented evaluation of CASI and the empirical evidence for its cognitive modelling are missing. Overcoming these limitations appears essential to advance CAI research, particularly to foster a deeper understanding of the cognitive aspects of CAI through a validated research methodology and to determine the feasibility of the integration of CAI tools into the interpreting process. This book tests and validates a methodology for the combined exploration of the product and process of CASI. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected during an eyetracking experiment at the Translation & Cognition Centre of the University of Mainz. The study followed a convergent mixed-method and multi-method approach and involved nine interpreting students. Prior to the experimental task, the informants were trained in the use of three terminology support tools: a digital glossary in PDF format, a CAI tool with manual look-up, and a mock-up CAI tool with integrated automatic speech recognition (ASR) for terminology. After several pre-tests, the participants interpreted three speeches from English into their native German using a different tool each time. To increase comparability between the three conditions and control for potentially confounding variables, the speeches were validated during a pilot study. The students’ gaze data and deliveries were recorded and analysed. Qualitative data on the informants’ perception of the tools were collected post-hoc. In the study, several performance, behavioural, and subjective measures were analysed: terminological accuracy and errors and omissions; glossary queries, ear-voice span, inter-cluster pause duration, time to first fixation, average fixation duration, and fixation time; qualitative questionnaire responses. The findings provide insights into the effects of CAI tools on CL and attention allocation in interpreter-CAI tool interaction during simultaneous interpreting. As this is the first study on in-process CAI tool use with a markedly cognitive orientation, it entails significant implications for the methodological development of CAI research and the design of future studies on cognitive aspects of CASI, while raising additional questions in need of further investigation.




Pragmatics and Translation


Book Description

This volume presents innovative research on the interface between pragmatics and translation. Taking a broad understanding of translation, papers are presented in four different parts. Part I focuses on interpreting; Part II centers on the translation of fictional and non-fictional texts and spaces; Part III discusses audiovisual translation; and Part IV explores translation in a wider context that includes transforming senses and action into language. The issues that transpire as worth exploring in these areas are mediality and multi-modality, interpersonal pragmatics, close and approximate renditions, interpretese and translationese, participation structures and the negotiation of discourses and power.




Machine Translation and Foreign Language Learning


Book Description

The book investigates how machine translation (MT) provides opportunities and increases the willingness to communicate in a foreign language. It is informed by a mixed methods methodological approach that analyzes quantitative and qualitative data of questionnaires and real-time instant messages (IM). The book is unique because it contains tables, figures, and screenshots of actual real-time IM exchanges. It is innovative in discussing IM translation, a novel form of MT, and demonstrates how the technology offers English foreign language learners, in this case, Chinese college students, communication opportunities while increasing their willingness to communicate. The study provides an interesting insight into IM user profiles, clients, and usages. Smartphone screenshots are the locale of the study whose findings have far-reaching implications for students, language and translation instructors, and curriculum designers.