Position of the verb in simultaneous interpreting: a corpus-based comparative study

In Dutch and German subordinate clauses, the verb is generally placed after the clausal constituents (Subject-Object-Verb structure) and creates a middle field with the subordinate conjunction (also called verbal brace). This field makes interpreting from SOV into SVO languages particularly challenging as it increases the processing and memory effort and often requires the interpreter to use specific strategies (e.g. anticipation) (Lederer, 1981; Van Besien 1999; Setton, 1999; Liontou, 2016). However few studies have tackled the issue from the point of view of interpreters working into SOV languages. Producing SOV structures requires some specific cognitive effort as, for instance, subject properties need to be stored in memory in order to ensure correct subject-verb agreement across a span of 10 or 20 words. Speakers therefore often opt for a strategy called extraposition placing specific elements after the verb in order to shorten the brace (Bevilacqua, 2009; Hawkins, 1994). Dutch speakers are claimed to do so to a larger extent than German speakers (Haeseryn, 1990). Given the additional cognitive load generated by the interpreting process (Gile, 1999), it may be assumed that interpreters will shorten the verbal brace to a larger extent than speakers. The present study is based on a corpus of original speeches and interpretations at the European Parliament and compares middle field lengths in Dutch and German interpreted and non-interpreted varieties. Preliminary results from sets of 1273 German and 1826 Dutch subordinates confirm that interpreters shorten the middle field more than speakers and that Dutch interpreters shorten the middle field more frequently than German interpreters.

http://ift.tt/2p7J2Dv