1887
image of A corpus-based study of the shifts of evidentiality in the institutional interpreting of Chinese political discourse
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Despite the growing recognition of interpreters’ socio-political influence, their positioning in political discourse remains underexplored. This study examines the use of seven types of evidential markers in the Chinese political discourse on diplomacy and the shifts of evidentiality in the English interpreting based on a corpus of Chinese Foreign Minister’s press conferences and their corresponding simultaneous interpretations during the “Two Sessions” from 2020 to 2022. The findings reveal that the English interpretations of the Chinese political discourse demonstrate significant shifts in the use of evidential markers indicating belief, induction, deduction, credibility, and expectation, thus upgrading the certainty, commitment, and objectivity of the original political discourse and reducing its subjectivity. The evidential shifts provide insights into the positioning of institutional interpreters as political allies who actively participate in the sociological and ideological reconstruction of the political discourse. This study also highlights the role of evidentiality as a context-embedded discursive construct in the process of cross-linguistic entextualisation.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ps.25075.wu
2026-04-14
2026-05-11
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Almanna, Ali, and Juliane House
    2023Translation Politicised and Politics Translated. Oxford: Peter Lang. 10.3726/b18316
    https://doi.org/10.3726/b18316 [Google Scholar]
  2. Angelelli, Claudia
    2004Revisiting the Interpreter’s Role: A Study of Conference, Court, and Medical Interpreters in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/btl.55
    https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.55 [Google Scholar]
  3. Baker, Mona
    2006Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account. London and New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203099919
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203099919 [Google Scholar]
  4. Berlin, Lawrence
    2008 “I think, therefore... commitment in political testimony”. Journal of Language and Social Psychology (): –. 10.1177/0261927X08322480
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X08322480 [Google Scholar]
  5. Carrió-Pastor, María Luisa, and Ana Albalat-Mascarell
    2023 “The use of boosters and evidentials in British campaign debates on the Brexit referendum”. Pragmatics (): –. 10.1075/prag.21008.car
    https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.21008.car [Google Scholar]
  6. Chafe, Wallace
    1986 “Evidentiality in English conversation and academic writing”. InEvidentiality: The Linguistic Coding of Epistemology, edited byWallace Chafe and Johanna Nichols, –. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Chilton, Paul
    2004Analysing Political Discourse: Theory and Practice. London and New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203561218
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203561218 [Google Scholar]
  8. Cornillie, Bert
    2007Evidentiality and Epistemic Modality in Spanish (Semi-)Auxiliaries. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110204483
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110204483 [Google Scholar]
  9. 2009 “Evidentiality and epistemic modality: On the close relationship between two different categories”. Functions of Language (): –. 10.1075/fol.16.1.04cor
    https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.16.1.04cor [Google Scholar]
  10. Dendale, Patrick, and Liliane Tasmowski
    2001 “Introduction: Evidentiality and related notions”. Journal of Pragmatics: –. 10.1016/S0378‑2166(00)00005‑9
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(00)00005-9 [Google Scholar]
  11. de Haan, Ferdinand
    2013 “Semantic distinctions of evidentiality”. InThe World Atlas of Language Structures Online, edited byMatthew Dryer and Martin Haspelmath. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Fetzer, Anita
    2004Recontextualizing Context: Grammaticality Meets Appropriateness. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.121
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.121 [Google Scholar]
  13. 2014a “Foregrounding evidentiality in (English) academic discourse: Patterned co-occurrences of the sensory perception verbs seem and appear”. Intercultural Pragmatics (): –. 10.1515/ip‑2014‑0016
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2014-0016 [Google Scholar]
  14. 2014b “I think, I mean and I believe in political discourse: Collocates, functions and distribution”. Functions of Language (): –. 10.1075/fol.21.1.05fet
    https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.21.1.05fet [Google Scholar]
  15. 2020 “‘And I quote’: Forms and functions of quotations in Prime Minister’s questions”. Journal of Pragmatics: –. 10.1016/j.pragma.2019.05.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.05.004 [Google Scholar]
  16. Fetzer, Anita, and Etsuko Oishi
    2011 “Introduction”. InContext and Contexts: Parts Meet Whole?, edited byAnita Fetzer and Etsuko Oishi, –. Amsterdam: Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.209.01intro
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.209.01intro [Google Scholar]
  17. 2014 “Evidentiality in discourse”. Intercultural Pragmatics (): –. 10.1515/ip‑2014‑0015
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2014-0015 [Google Scholar]
  18. Fox, Barbara
    2001 “Evidentiality, authority, responsibility, and entitlement in English conversation. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology (): –. 10.1525/jlin.2001.11.2.167
    https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2001.11.2.167 [Google Scholar]
  19. Grice, Herbert Paul
    1975 “Logic and conversation”. InSyntax and Semantics Vol. 3, Speech Acts, edited byPeter Cole and Jerry Morgan, –. New York: Academic Press. 10.1163/9789004368811_003
    https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004368811_003 [Google Scholar]
  20. Gu, Chonglong
    2018 “Towards a re-definition of government interpreters’ agency against a backdrop of sociopolitical and cultural evolution: A case of premier’s press conferences in China”. Redefining Translation and Interpretation in Cultural Evolution, edited byOlaf Immanuel Seel, –. Hershey, Pa.: IGI Global. 10.4018/978‑1‑5225‑2832‑6.ch013
    https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-2832-6.ch013 [Google Scholar]
  21. 2020 “The main problems in China-Japan relations lie in the FACT that some leaders in Japan keep on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine: A corpus-based CDA on government interpreters’ metadiscursive (re)construction of truth, fact and reality”. InAdvances in Discourse Analysis of Translation and Interpreting: Linking Linguistic Approaches with Socio-Cultural Interpretation, edited byWang Binhua and Jeremy Munday, –. London and New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780367822446‑5
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367822446-5 [Google Scholar]
  22. Gumperz, John Joseph
    1992 “Contextualization and understanding”. InRethinking Context: Language As an Interactive Phenomenon, edited byAlessandro Duranti and Charles Goodwin, –. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Helin, Irmeli
    2006 “Implication of evidentiality in translation”. InA Man of Measure: Festschrift in Honour of Fred Karlsson on his 60th Birthday, edited byMickael Suominen, –. Turku: The Linguistic Association of Finland (SKY Journal of linguistics, Special supplement 19).
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Henkel, Daniel
    2023 “Verbs of perception and evidentiality in English/French translation”. Languages in Contrast (): –. 10.1075/lic.00028.hen
    https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.00028.hen [Google Scholar]
  25. Hu, Zhuanglin [胡壮麟]
    1994 “语言的可证性” [Evidentiality in language]. Foreign Language Teaching and Research/外语教学与研究 (): –, .
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Huang, Youyi [黄友义]
    2022 “强化国家对外翻译机制,助力国际传播能力提升” [Enhance state translation mechanism for improving China’s capacity for engaging in international communication]. English Studies/英语研究(): –.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Kadrić, Mira, Sylvi Rennert, and Christina Schäffner
    2022Diplomatic and Political Interpreting Explained. London and New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Kang, Ji-Hae
    2014 “Institutions translated: discourse, identity and power in institutional mediation”. Perspectives (): –. 10.1080/0907676X.2014.948892
    https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2014.948892 [Google Scholar]
  29. Kuram, Kadri
    2024 “Common ground management via evidential markers in Turkish”. Pragmatics and Society (): –. 10.1075/ps.21058.kur
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.21058.kur [Google Scholar]
  30. Li, Tao and Hu Kaibao
    2021Reappraising Self and Others: A Corpus-Based Study of Chinese Political Discourse in English Translation. Singapore: Springer. 10.1007/978‑981‑15‑9488‑5
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9488-5 [Google Scholar]
  31. Li, Xin and Zhang Ranran
    2021 “The diplomatic interpreter’s negotiation of power and solidarity through engagement choices: A case study of the Chinese Foreign Minister’s 2018 press conference”. Discourse, Context and Media: . 10.1016/j.dcm.2020.100459
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2020.100459 [Google Scholar]
  32. Li, Xin
    2018The Reconstruction of Modality in Chinese-English Government Press Conference Interpreting: A Corpus-Based Study. Singapore: Springer. 10.1007/978‑981‑10‑5169‑2
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5169-2 [Google Scholar]
  33. Marin-Arrese, Juana
    2011 “Effective vs. epistemic stance and subjectivity/intersubjectivity in political discourse: Legitimising strategies and mystification of responsibility”. InCritical Discourse Studies in Context and Cognition, edited byChristopher Hart, –. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/dapsac.43.10mar
    https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.43.10mar [Google Scholar]
  34. Marshall, Sally
    2015 “Evidential stance in translation patterns of complementation in mediated memories”. The Translator (): –. 10.1080/13556509.2014.994276
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2014.994276 [Google Scholar]
  35. Mossop, Brian
    1990 “Translating institutions and ‘idiomatic’ translation”. Meta (): –. 10.7202/003675ar
    https://doi.org/10.7202/003675ar [Google Scholar]
  36. Munday, Jeremy
    2012Evaluation in Translation: Critical Points of Translator Decision-Making. London and New York: Routledge. 10.4324/9780203117743
    https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203117743 [Google Scholar]
  37. Mushin, Ilana
    2001Evidentiality and Epistemological Stance: Narrative Retelling. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.87
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.87 [Google Scholar]
  38. Nuyts, Jan
    2001 “Subjectivity as an evidential dimension in epistemic modal expressions”. Journal of Pragmatics (): –. 10.1016/S0378‑2166(00)00009‑6
    https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(00)00009-6 [Google Scholar]
  39. 2017 “Evidentiality reconsidered”. InEvidentiality Revisited: Cognitive Grammar, Functional and Discourse-Pragmatic Perspectives, edited byJuana Marín-Arrese, Gerda Haßler and Marta Carretero, –. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.271.03nuy
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.271.03nuy [Google Scholar]
  40. Oishi, Etsuko
    2014 “Evidentials in entextualization” Intercultural Pragmatics (): –. 10.1515/ip‑2014‑0020
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2014-0020 [Google Scholar]
  41. Phanthaphoommee, Narongdej, and Jeremy Munday
    2024 “Pronoun shifts in political discourse: The English translations of the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s statements on the international stage”. Babel (): –. 10.1075/babel.00388.pha
    https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00388.pha [Google Scholar]
  42. Protopopescu, Daria
    2023 “‘You are certainly my best friend’ — Translating adverbs of evidential certainty in The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Open Linguistics (): . 10.1515/opli‑2022‑0269
    https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2022-0269 [Google Scholar]
  43. Ren, Wen
    2020 “The evolution of interpreters’ perception and application of (codes of) ethics in China since 1949: A sociological and historical perspective”. The Translator (): –. 10.1080/13556509.2020.1832019
    https://doi.org/10.1080/13556509.2020.1832019 [Google Scholar]
  44. Salama-Carr, Myriam
    2007Translating and Interpreting Conflict. Amsterdam: Rodopi. 10.1163/9789401204385
    https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401204385 [Google Scholar]
  45. Shi, Yanhua [施燕华]
    2009 “外交翻译60年” [Sixty years of diplomatic translation]. Chinese Translators Journal/中国翻译 (): –.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne-Marie, and Karin Aijmer
    2007The Semantic Field of Modal Certainty: A Corpus-Based Study of English Adverbs. Berlin: De Gruyter. 10.1515/9783110198928
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110198928 [Google Scholar]
  47. Simon-Vandenbergen, Anne-Marie
    2000 “The functions of ‘I think’ in political discourse”. International Journal of Applied Linguistics (): –. 10.1111/j.1473‑4192.2000.tb00139.x
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2000.tb00139.x [Google Scholar]
  48. Venuti, Lawrence
    2008The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Wang, Binhua and Feng Dezheng
    2018 “A corpus-based study of stance-taking as seen from critical points in interpreted political discourse”. Perspectives (): –. 10.1080/0907676X.2017.1395468
    https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2017.1395468 [Google Scholar]
  50. Zhong, Weihe [仲伟合]
    2001 “英汉同声传译技巧与训练” [Simultaneous interpreting: Principles and training]. Chinese Translators Journal/中国翻译 (): –.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.25075.wu
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/ps.25075.wu
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error