A multidisciplinary theoretical framework

Telephone interpreting (TI) is a form of interpreter-mediated, cross-cultural interaction, which takes place in conditions affected by the medium, hence its definition as a form of “technologized interaction” (Hutchby 2001, p. 6). This highlights the need for the interplay of a variety of approaches to develop a theoretical framework to study and teach remote interpreting. Starting from the premise that TI is a social activity in which talk performs a specific function and serves the communicative needs of interlocutors who have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, the import of different disciplines is required to define and describe this peculiar field of specialized human activity. The present chapter suggests a framework for both a macro and a micro analysis, i.e. ranging from the identification of telephone interpreters’ situated goals and functions to the evaluation of the actual linguistic and paralinguistic exchanges among the three interactants (speaker of language A, interpreter, speaker of language B). What follows is an attempt to assess the possible contribution of four research paradigms to a multidisciplinary theoretical framework for remote interpreting and for TI in particular: Ethnography of speaking (Hymes 1962), a sociological perspective to the use of Technology for communication (Hutchby 2001), Telephone conversation analysis (Sacks et al. 1974) and Prosody in conversation (Selting and Couper-Kuhlen 2001). All these analytical paradigms need to be factored in when studying TI, with a view to making telephone interpreting trainees aware of the discursive mechanics in interaction (both linguistic and paralinguistic), and of their communicative potential, if they are to become effective technologized communicators.