学位論文要旨

JAITS＜博士学位論文要旨＞

論文題目: Conceptual Processing in English-Japanese SimultaneousInterpreting
提出者: 石塚浩之
授与機関: 神戸市外国語大学
学位の種類: 博士(文学)
学位取得の方法: 課程
学位取得年月日: 2013 年 3 月 6 日
OutlineThis thesis consists of four parts. Part I serves as an introduction. Part II is comprised of two casestudies. Chapter 4 explores the actuality of conceptual operation during SI. Part III is an analysis of
online development of concepts during SI. Part IV consists of one conclusive chapter.
Part I: Theoretical background
The three chapters that make up Part I lay the foundations for the analysis of the cognitive aspects of
the interpreting process found in this study.
Chapter 1 addresses the purpose, scope, and method of the study as well as other relevant issues.
The aim of this study is to provide an explicit description of conceptual operation in discourse
processing during simultaneous interpreting (SI). By comparing the source text (ST) and the target
text (TT) of actual SI performances, I analysed interpreters’ meaning construction during SI. The
differences between ST and TT served as a means to explore interpreters’ mental activities.
I use the term of concept for a mental representation constructed as a result of utterancecomprehension. I explore the roles of both linguistic and non-linguistic information in making up
concepts by analysing the content, source and timing of various forms of information. Concepts indiscourse processing are not completed all at once. They are thought to be developed into moreelaborate concepts step by step. In order to explore this aspect of meaning construction, I focus on
the online nature of discourse comprehension, the incremental process that unfolds as the interpreter
processes the ST along its temporal flow, thus recovering the source speaker’s message.
Chapter 2 reviews previous research into the cognitive aspects of the interpreting process. The
traditional controversy which surrounds the cognitive process of interpreting is reviewed so as to
ISHIZUKA Hiroyuki, “Conceptual Processing in English-Japanese Simultaneous Interpreting,”
Interpreting and Translation Studies, No.13, 2013. pages 165-170. © by the Japan Association for Interpretingand Translation Studies165

『通訳翻訳研究』13 号 (2013)clarify the motivation behind this study. Since Seleskovitch (1978/1998) proposed the notion ofdeverbalization as an indispensable part of her three-staged model of the interpreting process, it hasbecome one of the most controversial topics in interpreting studies. From the mid-eighties to earlynineties, some ‘scientific-minded’ researchers denounced this notion and criticised her approach as apersonal theorisation. However, progress in pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, and cognitivepsychology provided opportunities to re-examine the theory. The meaning of an utterance does not
only consist of linguistically encoded meaning, but also of non-linguistic information (e.g. Sperber& Wilson, 1986/1995). Setton (1999) attempted to analyse the pragmatic aspects of the interpreting
process to elucidate the nature of mental representations constructed in an SI performance. He did
not, however, pay sufficient attention to the fluid and flexible nature of concepts in the online
development of discourse processing. Although Funayama (e.g. 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,2008) contrived a device to explore the mental reality behind the SI performance, suggesting theonline nature of utterance comprehension, his analysis of interpreters’ conceptual operations
remained fragmentary.
This study aims to elicit the potential of this model based on actual SI performances. It is anattempt to explore the actuality of deverbalization as an essential part of interpreting process.
Chapter 3 presents a brief but essential overview of the CC model, which is the basic theoreticalframework underpinning this study. The CC model, which is the theoretical framework used in thisstudy, was proposed and developed by Funayama (e.g. 1994, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) todescribe the online development of concepts represented in utterance comprehension. This chapter
introduces the basic structure of the model and addresses the basic nature of CCs. Furthermore, thepotential of this descriptive device is demonstrated in several examples. The nature of CCs is fluidand non-linguistic and a group of CCs can form an event CC or a property CC, which means thatCCs can form a nested structure. The CC is derived from three sources: linguistic information,
background information, and the history of CCs.
Part II: Case studies
This part consists of two chapters. First of all, Chapter 4 analyses the retention and the status of CCs
through repetitive translations for a single ST expression. A CC is a mental representation
constructed through discourse processing. This chapter examines the non-linguistic nature of the CCand the components necessary to construct it. The non-linguistic nature of the CC examined in thissample is an example of deverbalization as proposed by Seleskovitch (1978/1998). The resources toconstruct a CC have been examined from three aspects: linguistic information, backgroundinformation and history of CCs. A case of anticipation has been examined using the same example inorder to explore parallel processing in conceptual operations. Anticipation in this SI performance isconsidered to be a product of discourse comprehension based on the formulation of CCs.
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Chapter 5 focuses on a more structural aspect of CCs by analysing the construction of a certain
type of event CC. The construction of structured CCs contributes to the comprehension of adiscourse framework. This chapter examines the comprehension of a causal event as a type of event
CC. The interpreter constructs CCs step by step in the course of online discourse processing. The
example performance reveals an instance of such online CC construction. The performance suggeststhat the nature of SI forces interpreters to produce TT expressions without sufficient informationeven while they are still in the process of CC construction. This chapter clarifies the specific role ofcontextual information in the construction of a causal event. Based on samples from an actual SI
record, it analyses the function of structured event CCs in SI performances.
Part III: Online analysis
In this part of the study, which comprises three chapters, I attempt a comprehensive discussion of theonline construction of CCs by an interpreter during an actual SI performance. The conceptual
operations at work in the SI is analysed through examination of a sample SI performance, focusing
on the role of contextual information in online discourse processing.
Chapter 6 examines the background information known to interpreters before the ST input fromfour aspects: world knowledge, knowledge about the topic, setting of the interpreting performance,
and introduction of the source speech. Individual differences must be assumed concerning different
interpreters’ background information, and the degree of attention given to each element during
discourse processing depends on the interpreter’s cognitive status at each given moment. Thesevariables provide an explanation for the fact that each interpreter may comprehend the ST differently,
and that even the same interpreter may produce different TTs for the same ST expressions ondifferent occasions.
Before describing the online development of CCs, Chapter 7 provides an overview of thedifferences observed in the sample SI performance in order to prepare clues to the analysis of theconceptual operations at work. Chapter 7 examines five types of differences between ST and TT andother relevant points in the SI performance sample, thus analysing the conceptual operations behindan SI performance. The types of differences examined in this chapter are repetition, exhibition ofbackground information, exhibition of meta-representation with a demonstrative, construal ofimplicit logic and exhibition of an event CC. Using this examination, I analyse the conceptual
operations behind the SI performance and the types and roles of information sources which enable it.
The information sources employed for each TT expression are analysed based on the four aspects
examined in Chapter 6.
On the basis of analysis in Chapter 7, the online development of CCs during the sampled
performance is described in Chapter 8. The differences outlined in Chapter 7 are employed todescribe the online development of CCs in order to explore the actuality of conceptual operations167

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during the SI performance. All phenomena observed in this performance involve the contribution ofcontextual information to discourse processing. This chapter analyses types of contextual
information and describes the online development of CCs by exploring the detailed contents of theinformation, the timing, and the role of its contribution in discourse processing.
An event CC can be derived from linguistic and non-linguistic sources. The structure of anevent CC is discursive rather than being a reflection of the syntactic structure of an utterance. Oncean event CC is constructed, it can be a guide for discourse comprehension.
Observations in this study suggest the existence of a prestigious CC. Though the explicit use of
the CC was limited in both ST and TT, this element was anchored and played an indispensable rolein processing this discourse. The role of the CC cannot be independent from the construal of event
CCs. Once a topical event is comprehended, the interpreter’s operations are firmly supported by it.
As long as discourse processing runs in accordance with event CCs, the production of the TT can befree from the superficial linguistic features of the ST. This analysis suggests the indispensable role ofCCs in discourse processing and SI performances.
Part IV: Conclusion
The final part of this thesis consists of a single chapter which summarises the contribution the study
makes to interpreting studies and relevant fields, and which addresses issues for future research. The
major contributions made by this study are summarised in two points: Elaboration of the CC modeland instantiation of its description; Explicit description of conceptual operations in SI.
First, the study elaborates on the CC model as a descriptive device for concept construction byinterpreters and instantiates descriptions of online discourse processing based on the model. The
nature of CCs described based on this study’s approach is summarised in three points: Incremental
formulation in accordance with discourse processing; Linguistic and non-linguistic conceptual
resources; The non-linguistic nature of conceptual content.
The second contribution of this study is an explicit description of conceptual operations in
online discourse processing during SI performances. By closely observing actual SI performances,linguistic differences between expressions in ST and TT could be identified. Employing suchdifferences as clues, and drawing on the CC model, interpreters’ conceptual operations during SI
could be described. This description made it possible to analyse types of conceptual operations andmechanisms that cause such differences. This analysis supports the notion of deverbalization(Seleskovitch 1978/1998).
The conceptual operations examined in this study are not limited exclusively to SI
performances. Rather, CCs are assumed to be generated for utterance comprehension in general.
This study’s observations indicate the existence of such conceptual operations based on thedifferences between ST and TT in SI performances. Therefore, while the conceptual operations
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examined in this study are an essential part of discourse processing necessary to re-express amessage related in one language in another, these observations can also serve as a clue to explore thecognitive mechanisms of utterance comprehension in general.
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【著者紹介】石塚浩之(ISHIZUKA Hiroyuki)
1994 年、慶應義塾大学経済学部卒業。2007 年、英国バース大学通訳翻訳修士課程修了。2013
年、神戸市外国語大学外国語学研究科博士課程修了。研究テーマは通訳の認知的プロセス。現在、神戸市外国語大学・京都橘大学非常勤講師。フリーランスで翻訳・通訳実務にも従事。
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