Using Multimodal Analysis to Investigate the Role of the Interpreter

Abstract

Recent research in Interpreting Studies has favoured the argument that, in practice, the interpreter plays an active role, rather than the prescribed role stipulated in professional codes of conduct. Cutting-edge studies utilising multimodal research methods have taken a more comprehensive approach to investigating this argument, searching for evidence of the interpreter’s active involvement not only through textual analysis, but also by examining a range of non-verbal communicative means. Studies using multimodal analysis, such as those by Pasquandrea (2011) and Davitti (2012), have succeeded in offering new insights into the interpreter’s role in interaction. This research presents further investigation into the interpreter’s role through multimodal analysis by focusing on the use of gesture movements, gaze and body orientation in interpreter-mediated communication; it also looks at the impact of the state of knowledge asymmetry on the interpreter’s role. This thesis presents findings from six simulated face-to-face dialogue interpreting cases featuring three different groups of participants and interpreters representing different interpreting settings (e.g. parent-teacher meeting, business meeting, doctor-patient meeting, etc.). By adapting a multimodal approach, findings of this study (a) contribute to our understanding of the active role of the interpreter in Interpreting Studies by exploring new insights from a multimodal approach, and (b) offer new empirical findings from interpreter-mediated interactions to the technical analysis of multimodal communication.