The Reconstruction of Modality in Chinese-English Government Press Conference Interpreting

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Xin Li

   Pages 1-10

3. Previous Literature on Interpreting and Modality

   • Xin Li

   Pages 11-34

4. Theoretical Framework and Methodology

   • Xin Li

   Pages 35-59

5. Modality Shifts in the Use of English Modality Markers

   • Xin Li

   Pages 61-87

6. Modality Shifts in the Translation of Chinese Modality Markers

   • Xin Li

   Pages 89-111

7. The Reconstruction of Modality in Relation to Its Sociocultural Context

   • Xin Li

   Pages 113-132

8. Conclusion

   • Xin Li

   Pages 133-140

9. Back Matter

   Pages 141-202

   PDF

This book investigates a special genre of interpreting in the Chinese context, namely Government Press Conference (GPC) Interpreting. Drawing on the modality system from Systemic Functional Grammar and a corpus of 21 interpreting events, the project explores the regular patterns of modality shifts in Chinese-English GPC interpreting and seeks explanations in the sociocultural context. As a corpus-based project, the book covers qualitative analysis of the sociocultural context, qualitative analysis of the interpersonal effects of modality shifts, and quantitative analysis of modality shifts. This book will contribute to the understanding of the distinctive features of GPC interpreting in China, shed new light on the rendition of modality between Chinese and English in specific contexts, and also inspire new thoughts on the nature of interpreting in general.

• Interpreting
• Corpus-based interpreting study
• Government Press Conference
• Modality
• GPC Interpreting
• Translation Shifts
• Chinese-English
• Systemic Functional Grammar
• China
• translation studies

• School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

  Xin Li

Xin Li is an instructor of College English and a researcher in translation/interpreting studies at the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She has a PhD in foreign linguistics and applied linguistics with a specialization in corpus-based translation/interpreting studies. Based on her active engagement in translation/interpreting research projects, she has published articles in influential journals in China such as Computer-assisted Foreign Language Education, Foreign Language Learning Theory and Practice, and Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. She is also the associate editor of Critical Readings of Corpus-based Translation Studies (2012, in Chinese).

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