In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Turn Exchange in an Interpreted Medical Encounter : 27 Turn Exchange in an Interpreted Medical Encounter Laura M. Sanheim Turn taking is an integral part of our daily lives. We stop at red lights and allow other vehicles to cross while we wait for our turn. We stand in line at the checkout counter while we wait for the cashier to acknowledge that it is our turn to begin the process of totaling up and paying for our groceries. We also take turns when speaking to other people; this kind of exchange usually happens relatively smoothly between two or more people who speak the same language. But what happens when two people need to communicate with each other but do not speak the same language? Often, an interpreter is called on to work as a go-between, as someone who is skilled in both languages that are involved in the interaction. Linguists have been studying the exchange of turns in monolingual conversations for approximately 30 years, but not until recently did researchers look at this phenomenon as it occurs in interpreted encounters. The objective of this study is to add to the limited amount of research that examines the exchange of turns in interpreted encounters. Work in this area is needed because, as mentioned above, turns are an integral part of everyday life. In an interpreted interaction, the smoothness of turn exchange (or lack thereof) can affect, at the very least, how the parties perceive each other and, at the most, what information gets interpreted. Because of the life-and-death nature of the medical setting, one can argue that the import of interpreted information increases when the interpreted encounter takes place in that setting. For this reason, this study focuses on turn taking in data from a medical interpreted encounter. Roy (1989, 2000) performed one of the only studies of turn exchange in an interpreted encounter between American Sign Language (ASL) and English, and the study discussed in this chapter is a replication of her initial work. Instead of analyzing an academic meeting as Roy’s study did, however , the study discussed in this chapter will investigate the exchange of 28 : L A U R A M . S A N H E I M turns in an interpreted medical encounter. The replication of existing work is significant for several reasons. One reason is that later studies add to the general body of work in the field. Furthermore, findings in later studies can provide a basis for comparison and contrast. If findings are similar to the original study, theories can be strengthened. If findings are different, new questions can be raised and doors can be opened for further study. Data for this study are taken from a previous study of an interpreted medical examination (Metzger, 1995, 1999). Turns in the data will be analyzed using Roy’s (1989, 2000) categories of regular turns, turns with overlap, and turns with lag. The analysis is conducted under the assumption that turns occur between the users of one language; that is, turns occur in ASL between the deaf participant (or participants) and the interpreter , and turns occur in spoken English between the hearing participant (or participants) and the interpreter (see Metzger, 1995, 1999, for a discussion of interpreters and overlapping dyadic discourse). The results will then be compared to Roy’s findings to see what similarities and differences exist across the two encounters (i.e., Roy’s academic encounter and the medical encounter being examined here). In addition, back channeling (signals indicating that an addressee is attending to the message without actually taking a turn) is briefly discussed as a way of confirming not only that the interpreted encounter consists of two overlapping dyads (one in each language; again, see Metzger, 1999) but also that the participants are cognizant of their position in one dyad or the other, but not in both. LITERATURE REVIEW Substantial research has been conducted on the discourse of spoken English (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson, 1974; Tannen, 1984, 1986, 1990, to name just a few), and more research is being done every day to explore the discourse of American Sign Language and other signed languages (Baker, 1976a, 1976b, 1977; Baker & Padden, 1978; Martinez, 1995). However, very few studies have applied concepts of discourse style to the process of signed language interpreting (Metzger, 1995, 1999; Roy, 1989, 2000), and it is this latter category that will be the focus of the current study. [3.139.238.76] Project MUSE (2024-04-19...

Share