Lexical bundles in formulaic interpreting

Abstract

Inspired by Henriksen (2007), this article investigates some key characteristics of formulaic interpreting, understood as the recurrent use of linguistic formulae in interpreted texts. Using a Chinese-English corpus of consecutive interpreting in the political setting (CICPPC), the study quantitatively investigates some features of 4-gram lexical bundles in interpreted text, i.e., their discourse functions and relationships to the source text, and qualitatively studies characteristics of specific instances of lexical bundles. The patterns are described both in terms of equivalence, shifts, and additions, as well as ‘constraints on formulaicity,’ a generalization that captures the tension involved between frequency-driven selection and the need to establish a translational relationship. It is suggested that equivalence typical of form-based rendition and addition typical of meaning-based rendition are subject to lower constraints, while greater constraints pertain in the case of shifts.