Role of Message analysis in interpretation

discourse analysis

"is the act of distinguishing and considering the component parts of a message in order to understand the whole of the message"

Affect

Affect is the emotion or tone conveyed in the text and perceived by the listener Paralinguistics are the driving force behind affect: volume, rate of speech, intonation Other elements include: vocabulary, syntax, pauses Two types of affect Lexical Personal Ties in with function (goal) What type of affect is used in the following examples: To convince To swindle To threaten Ties in with setting as well EX: mental health Affect does not mean imitation

Propositions

An idea, thought, or any objectively expressed concept within a discourse Discourse - the use of words (or signs) to exchange thoughts and ideas Example: The man was exhausted after John made him run around the football field

Parameters of a message

Content,Function, Register, Affect, Contextual force, Metanotative qualities

Three uses of message analysis

Critique Identifying difficulties Prioritizing

Three stages of successful and equivalent interpreting

Identify what needs to be relayed-->Search for equivalents in the TL-->Production-->back to search.

Context

It is the background information and prior experience that individuals bring to the conversation Considerations: Relationship between speaker & listener What they know about each other What they know of the world around them. Their view of reality - their thought world (Demand Control Schema)

Metanotative Qualities

People do not always mean what they say and say what they mean In every interaction, we make decisions and judgements about and are left with impressions of the people we are communicating with Those judgments are called metanotative qualities Example: Japanese American Conference

Content

Refers to the facts, ideas, information and other objective material expressed in an utterance Listen for ideas (propositions) not words

Function

The function is the purpose or reason for speaking Also called the goal Simple statement - To (verb) Influences how something will be said (paralinguistics) with regard to speech and/or gestures Examples (English and ASL) To convince To swindle To threaten

illocutionary force

The intended, context-defined and culture sensitive meaning of an utterance. (e.g. when a speaker informs us that "there's someone at the door" but really they mean "answer the door please").

Register

The register determines the level of formality in a speech Five types of register: Frozen Formal Consultative Casual Intimate Context is imbedded in register Relationship between speaker and listener - social distance Background knowledge & experience Thought worlds Message equivalency includes maintaining register from SL to TL regardless of whether interpreting or transliterating

Types of meaning

denotative and connotative-Denotative meaning is the literal definition of a term Connotative meaning is the subjective association that are connected to a particular word Denotative

idiomatic phrase

group of words that have one specific meaning different than the meaning of the individual words because of how they are placed together

Process of interpreiting

includes discourse analysis

Contextual force

the impact, either high or low, a message has on the receiver (listener) It is the significance of the message (as deemed by the listener) as opposed to the meaning (which is deemed by the speaker) Example: "Hi Fred! We need to talk after class tomorrow.