The impact of simultaneous-interpreting prosody on comprehension

Interpreting ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Cédric Lenglet ◽  
Christine Michaux

Abstract Does the particular prosody of simultaneous interpreting have an impact on comprehensibility? This paper presents an experiment that sought to answer this question. Two groups of listeners (47 with relevant contextual knowledge about the subject-matter of the speech and 40 with less contextual knowledge) listened to the interpretation into French of a 20-minute lecture in German under two conditions (the actual interpretation and a read-aloud rendition of the transcript of the interpretation by the same interpreter) and answered comprehension questions. The prosodic features of the two conditions were analysed, and differences regarding the temporal organisation of speech, disfluencies, pitch register and the interface between prosody and syntax emerged. Simultaneous interpreting was found to be more monotonous, to contain a larger number of short and long silent pauses, more hesitations (“euh”) and more non-syntactic pauses as well as to have a more irregular speech rate. The read-aloud version was livelier, with more medium-length silent pauses and almost no hesitation. Results of the comprehension questionnaire do not demonstrate that interpreting-specific prosodic features affect comprehensibility to a significant extent. This is consistent with professional norms of interpreting in specialised conferences, where verbal aspects have priority over non-verbal ones.

Babel ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 588-603
Author(s):  
Shanshan Yang ◽  
Defeng Li ◽  
Victoria Lai Cheng Lei

Abstract The issue addressed in this study is the impact of source text presence on simultaneous interpreting performance in fast speeches. Fast speech rate is assumed to frustrate even professional interpreters in simultaneous interpreting (SI) without source text (ST) scenario, yet little is known about what happens when the ST is available to interpreters, an interpreting practice of increasing popularity. Previous studies present mixed results concerning the effect of fast speech rate and ST presence on SI quality, which further adds to the complexity of this issue. This study adopted the experimental approach with a qualitative assessment of SI quality, quantisation of output parameters and retrospective interview, to unravel some myths surrounding this issue. The 54 trainees were randomly divided into two groups to interpret two fast Chinese speeches into English under with and without ST conditions. The results found a significant effect of ST presence on the qualitative assessment of interpreting performance, on the interpreting delivery fluency, and on the information completeness. The facilitative effect of ST presence in fast speeches was confirmed while new issues also arise concerning trainee interpreters’ ability in eye-ear coordination.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Ammar Ahmed ◽  
Rafat Naseer ◽  
Muhammad Asadullah ◽  
Hadia Khan

In this competitive environment, organizations strive to satisfy their customer by providing best quality service at affordable and fair prices with a view to enhance their revenues. To achieve the objective of revenue maximization, organizations strive to identify the factors that help them in retaining their customers. Drawing from the signalling theory of marketing, the current study proposes a novel conceptual model representing the impact of service quality with food quality and price fairness on customer retention in restaurant sector of Pakistan. The paper underlines an important arena of knowledge for academicians as well as organizational scientists on the subject. On the basis of literature available on the variables understudy, the present study forwards eight research propositions worthy of urgent scholarly attention. The conceptualized model of the present article can also be viewed significant in unleashing further avenues for the restaurant management entities, policy makers and future researchers in the domain of managing in the service sector businesses.


Author(s):  
Oleksandr Synenko ◽  
Kateryna Yarema ◽  
Yuliia Bezsmertna

The subject of the research is the approach to the possibility of using the Solow model to perform the regression analysis on the example of the Ukrainian economy model. The purpose of writing this article is to investigate the notion of regres- sion analysis, Solow’s economy model, algorithm for performing regression analy- sis on the example of Ukraine’s economy model. This model can be adapted for the economy of enterprises. Methodology. The research methodology is system-struc- tural and comparative analyzes (to study the structure of GDP); monograph (when studying methods of regression analysis on the example of the Ukrainian economy); economic analysis (when assessing the impact of factors on Ukraine’s GDP). The scientific novelty consists the features of the use of the Solow model on the ex- ample of Ukrainian economy are determined. An algorithm for calculating the basic parameters of a model using the Excel application package is disclosed. The main recommendations on the development of the national economy and economic growth through the use of macroeconomic instruments are given. Conclusions. The use of the Solow model enables forecasting and analysis. The results obtained re- vealed the problem of low resource return of capital as a resource, along with the means of macroeconomic regulation of the investment process, using which can improve the situation. A special place in these funds belongs to the accelerated depreciation and interest rate policies.


Author(s):  
Igor Ponomarenko ◽  
Kateryna Volovnenko

The subject of the research is a set of approaches to the statistical analysis ofthe activities of small business entities in Ukraine, including micro-enterprises. The purpose of writing this article is to study of the features of functioningof small business entities in Ukraine. Methodology. The research methodology isto use a system-structural and comparative analysis (to study the change in thenumber of small enterprises by major components); monographic (when studyingmethods of statistical analysis of small businesses); economic analysis (when assessing the impact of small business entities on socio-economic phenomena andprocesses in Ukraine). The scientific novelty consists to determine the features ofthe functioning of small businesses in Ukraine in modern conditions. The influenceof the activities of the main socio-economic and political indicators on the activities of small enterprises in recent periods of time has been identified. It has beenestablished that there is flexibility in the development of strategies by small businesses in conditions of significant competition, which makes it possible to quicklyrespond to changing situations in specific markets. Conclusions. The use of acomprehensive statistical analysis of small businesses functioning in Ukraine willallow government agencies to develop a set of measures to optimize the activitiesof these enterprises, which ultimately will positively affect the strengthening oftheir competitiveness and will contribute to the growth of the national economicsystem.


e-Finanse ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Piotr Bartkiewicz

AbstractThe article presents the results of the review of the empirical literature regarding the impact of quantitative easing (QE) on emerging markets (EMs). The subject is of interest to policymakers and researchers due to the increasingly larger role of EMs in the world economy and the large-scale capital flows occurring after 2009. The review is conducted in a systematic manner and takes into consideration different methodological choices, samples and measurement issues. The paper puts the summarized results in the context of transmission channels identified in the literature. There are few distinct methodological approaches present in the literature. While there is a consensus regarding the direction of the impact of QE on EMs, its size and durability have not yet been assessed with sufficient precision. In addition, there are clear gaps in the empirical findings, not least related to relative underrepresentation of the CEE region (in particular, Poland).


Author(s):  
Evgeniya Mikhailovna Popova ◽  
Guzel Mukhtarovna Guseinova ◽  
Sergei Borisovich Milov

The deficit of subnational budgets and deceleration capital investments in multiple Russian regions increase the relevance of research aimed at improvement of tax incentivizing practice of the regional investment process. The studies focused on determination of the impact of socioeconomic and institutional factors upon the efficiency of investment tax expenses obtained wide circulation within the foreign scientific literature. The subject of this article is the assessment of sensitivity of the efficiency of regional tax expanses towards investment attractiveness of the types of economic activity carried out by the residents of territories of advanced socioeconomic development, created in the subjects of Far Easter Federal District. The scientific novelty and practical values of this research consists in substantiation of the reasonableness of assessment of investment attractiveness of the types of economic activity that are stimulated by tax incentives. Methodology for assessing investment attractiveness is proposed and tested. The conclusion is made that in case of low investment attractiveness of the type of economic activity, which was planned to support by tax incentives, it is required to conduct and additional analysis to avoid unjustified tax expanses.


1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-217
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood

Foreign aid has been the subject of much examination and research ever since it entered the economic armamentarium approximately 45 years ago. This was the time when the Second World War had successfully ended for the Allies in the defeat of Germany and Japan. However, a new enemy, the Soviet Union, had materialized at the end of the conflict. To counter the threat from the East, the United States undertook the implementation of the Marshal Plan, which was extremely successful in rebuilding and revitalizing a shattered Western Europe. Aid had made its impact. The book under review is by three well-known economists and is the outcome of a study sponsored by the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of assistance, i.e., aid, on economic development. This evaluation however, was to be based on the existing literature on the subject. The book has five major parts: Part One deals with development thought and development assistance; Part Two looks at the relationship between donors and recipients; Part Three evaluates the use of aid by sector; Part Four presents country case-studies; and Part Five synthesizes the lessons from development assistance. Part One of the book is very informative in that it summarises very concisely the theoretical underpinnings of the aid process. In the beginning, aid was thought to be the answer to underdevelopment which could be achieved by a transfer of capital from the rich to the poor. This approach, however, did not succeed as it was simplistic. Capital transfers were not sufficient in themselves to bring about development, as research in this area came to reveal. The development process is a complicated one, with inputs from all sectors of the economy. Thus, it came to be recognized that factors such as low literacy rates, poor health facilities, and lack of social infrastructure are also responsible for economic backwardness. Part One of the book, therefore, sums up appropriately the various trends in development thought. This is important because the book deals primarily with the issue of the effectiveness of aid as a catalyst to further economic development.


Author(s):  
George Pattison

A Rhetorics of the Word is the second volume of a three-part philosophy of Christian life. It approaches Christian life as expressive of a divine calling or vocation. The word Church (ekklesia) and the role of naming in baptism indicate the fundamental place of calling in Christian life. However, ideas of vocation are difficult to access in a world shaped by the experience of disenchantment. The difficulties of articulating vocation are explored with reference to Weber, Heidegger, and Kierkegaard. These are further connected to a general crisis of language, manifesting in the degradation of political discourse (Arendt) and the impact of new communications technology on human discourse. This impact can be seen as reinforcing an occlusion of language in favour of rationality already evidenced in the philosophical tradition and technocratic management. New possibilities for thinking vocation are pursued through the biblical prophets (with emphasis on Buber’s and Rosenzweig’s reinterpretation of the call of Moses), Saint John, and Russian philosophies of language (Florensky to Bakhtin). Vocation emerges as bound up with the possibility of being name-bearers, enabling a mutuality of call and response. This is then evidenced further in ethics and poetics, where Levinas and Hermann Broch (The Death of Virgil) become major points of reference. In conclusion, the themes of calling and the name are seen to shape the possibility of love—the subject of the final part of the philosophy of Christian life: A Metaphysics of Love.


The theory of the vibrations of the pianoforte string put forward by Kaufmann in a well-known paper has figured prominently in recent discussions on the acoustics of this instrument. It proceeds on lines radically different from those adopted by Helmholtz in his classical treatment of the subject. While recognising that the elasticity of the pianoforte hammer is not a negligible factor, Kaufmann set out to simplify the mathematical analysis by ignoring its effect altogether, and treating the hammer as a particle possessing only inertia without spring. The motion of the string following the impact of the hammer is found from the initial conditions and from the functional solutions of the equation of wave-propagation on the string. On this basis he gave a rigorous treatment of two cases: (1) a particle impinging on a stretched string of infinite length, and (2) a particle impinging on the centre of a finite string, neither of which cases is of much interest from an acoustical point of view. The case of practical importance treated by him is that in which a particle impinges on the string near one end. For this case, he gave only an approximate theory from which the duration of contact, the motion of the point struck, and the form of the vibration-curves for various points of the string could be found. There can be no doubt of the importance of Kaufmann’s work, and it naturally becomes necessary to extend and revise his theory in various directions. In several respects, the theory awaits fuller development, especially as regards the harmonic analysis of the modes of vibration set up by impact, and the detailed discussion of the influence of the elasticity of the hammer and of varying velocities of impact. Apart from these points, the question arises whether the approximate method used by Kaufmann is sufficiently accurate for practical purposes, and whether it may be regarded as applicable when, as in the pianoforte, the point struck is distant one-eighth or one-ninth of the length of the string from one end. Kaufmann’s treatment is practically based on the assumption that the part of the string between the end and the point struck remains straight as long as the hammer and string remain in contact. Primâ facie , it is clear that this assumption would introduce error when the part of the string under reference is an appreciable fraction of the whole. For the effect of the impact would obviously be to excite the vibrations of this portion of the string, which continue so long as the hammer is in contact, and would also influence the mode of vibration of the string as a whole when the hammer loses contact. A mathematical theory which is not subject to this error, and which is applicable for any position of the striking point, thus seems called for.


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