Lexical Similarity Vs.

Lexical
Dissimilarity in Consecutive
Interpreting
Helle V. Dam (1998) Lexical Similarity vs
Lexical Dissimilarity in Consecutive
Interpreting, The Translator, 4:1, 49-68, DOI:
10.1080/13556509.1998.10799006

Abstract
The present paper reports on a product-oriented study
of consecutive interpreting in which lexical similarity
and lexical dissimilarity, i.e. similarity and dissimilarity
between source and target texts as regards the choice
of lexical items, are proposed as tools for the
identification of form-based and meaning-based
interpreting, respectively.
Contrary to current claims regarding the typical
distribution of form-based and meaning-based
interpreting, the findings of the study suggest that
form-based interpreting is more frequent than
meaning-based interpreting.

La Thorie Interprtative
Transcoding is described as a direct transmission of the
individual source text words to corresponding words in
the target language.
In interpreting proper, by contrast, there is supposed to
be no direct passage from source to target text. Rather,
it is suggested that this type of interpreting proceeds
through an intermediary stage of deverbalization, in
which only the meaning of the source text stripped
of its linguistic form is represented in the mind of
the interpreter; only on the basis of this non-verbal
representation is the target text produced.

Neurophysiological research
Franco Fabbro, Bruno Gran and Laura Gran found in
their neurophysiological research that the professional
interpreters identified more semantic errors and fewer
syntactic errors than the students a finding that is
extrapolated by the authors to indicate a tendency
among professional interpreters to focus attention on
semantic features when processing a text and,
conversely, a tendency among students to focus on
syntactic form. The authors further suggest that this
pattern provides evidence of a preference for meaningbased interpreting among professional interpreters and
of a tendency towards form-based interpreting among
student interpreters.

Focus
In the present study, the author proposes to
examine the distribution of form-based and
meaning-based interpreting from an entirely
different angle.
Whereas the studies described above focus on
the cognitive processes involved in the two
procedures of interpreting, the focus of the
present study is on the interpreting product.
In other words, the question here is not how
interpreters process a source text, but what kind
of target text they produce.

Lexical Similarity and Dissimilarity

The concepts of lexical similarity and lexical
dissimilarity obviously pose certain problems
when comparing texts that are expressed in
two different languages. In the present study,
the identification of lexical similarity and
dissimilarity is based on the notion of formal
equivalence.

Data
The study is based on an experimental corpus
which consists of recordings of a Spanish
speech (the source text) and five consecutive
interpretations of this speech into Danish (the
target texts).

Method of analysis
According to their formal-lexical relation to the
source text segments, the target text segments
may be allocated to one of two opposing
categories: parallel segments or substituting
segments. Parallel segments are target text
segments that are exclusively characterized by
lexical similarity in relation to the source text.
Substituting segments are target text segments
that are exclusively characterized by lexical
dissimilarity in relation to the source text.

Results
the category of paralel segments (51% in total)
outnumbers the category of substituting
segments (33% in total). The same pattern can
be observed in the interpreters individual
performances. Thus, all five target texts have a
higher representation of paralel segments
than of substituting segments.

Conclusion
The formal-lexical relation between the source
and target texts analyzed in the present study
was found to be dominated by similarity
rather than dissimilarity, a finding that runs
counter to the hypothesis that interpreting
generally proceeds on the basis of a nonverbal representation of the source text.