Lexical Bundles in English EU Parliamentary Discourse-Variation Across Interpreted, Translated, and Spoken Registers
Journal
編譯論叢
Journal Volume
14
Journal Issue
2
Pages
37-86
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
Formulas offer processing advantages in both language comprehension and production and signal one’s identity in a professional community. This study attempts to explore the similarities and differences among European Parliament (EP) interpreters, translators, and Members of the EP (MEPs) in their use of English formulas, operationalized as four-word lexical bundles (LBs) identified through corpus-driven approach. English interpretations, translations, and speeches from the EP plenary sessions represent three registers, constituting the three corpora of this study. The LBs identified in each of the three corpora were then categorized based on their grammatical structures and pragmatic functions. Results showed that differences among EP interpreters, translators, and MEPs far outweigh similarities in actual bundle use, with only 10% of the total number of bundle types present in two or all three of the corpora. However, similar structural patterns of the three registers with noun phrase and prepositional phrase bundles playing a dominant role indicate informational purposes of the parliamentary discourse in general. Functional analysis revealed that the translated and spoken registers are more alike with the dominance of subject-specific bundles, indicating informational priorities. On the other hand, the interpreted register stands out with its nearly equal proportions of stance bundles, referential bundles, and subject-specific bundles, indicating a combination of informational and communicative priorities. Typology featuring LBs’ functional characteristics may have pedagogical implications for translation and interpretation (T&I) training, and suggestions for enhancing LBs’ pedagogical value are provided at the end of this paper.
Type
journal article