Inference and anticipation in simultaneous interpreting: A probability prediction model (review)

Edited with a critical foreword by Robin Setton and Adelina Hild, this volume is the English publication of Ghelly V. Chernov’s seminal work in simultaneous interpreting (SI) studies, originally published in Russian. In it, the author stresses the importance of redundancy and the role of probability anticipation, or forward inference, in SI.

The first two chapters are introductory. In Ch. 1, C proposes a psycholinguistic approach to SI research, reflecting on the relationship between SI and the linguistic theory of translation, and the methodological basis and object of such an approach. In Ch. 2 he describes some of the factors conditioning the efficacy of SI: speed, memory limitations, simultaneity, and the nature of the material to be interpreted.

C then begins to unveil how redundancy arises at different levels of discourse. For this reason, in Ch. 3 he explains the semantic and pragmatic structure of discourse, focusing on issues such as word meaning, polysemy, synonymy, semantic agreement, or semantic redundancy. Basing his discussion on the Prague School information-structure analysis, in Ch. 4 he analyzes the relationship between the semantic structure of texts and the sources of objective semantic redundancy, while in Ch. 5 he examines other sources of subjective redundancy, a notion that depends on speaker meaning, sentence meaning, and implications.

In Ch. 6 C shows that interpreters’ anticipation mechanism relies heavily on cumulative redundancy, which is the result of combining various types of inferences at different levels of discourse, and the range of probability anticipation. The next two chapters are devoted to arguing that interpreters may profit from this redundancy by paying attention to the information structure of discourse. Whereas Ch. 7 contends that the theme of discourse is characterized by compression (syllabic, lexical, syntactic, or semantic—all of which are interrelated), Ch. 8 defends the view that interpreters should focus on its rheme, where they may find dense information peaks or referential chains. This discussion is illustrated with examples of redundancy in political speeches.

After having centered on the comprehension side of SI, C shifts to its production side in Ch. 9, where he approaches the problem of the completeness or fragmentation of the rhythm of interpreters’ by-product and the complexity of syntax for working memory, contrasting formal and communicative word order. Then, in Ch. 10 he proposes that SI be considered as a functional system in which probability anticipation works as a multilevel mechanism where feedback or self-monitoring are crucial activities for the interpreter. Finally, in Ch. 11 he comments on one of his many experiments with students, which is dedicated to analyzing anticipation, and in Ch. 12 he offers some very interesting concluding remarks.