Multilingualism in Legal Space: The Issue of Mutual Understanding in ELF Communication between Defendants and Interpreters

Autor/in	Du, Biyu
Titel	Multilingualism in Legal Space: The Issue of Mutual Understanding in ELF Communication between Defendants and Interpreters
Quelle	In: International Journal of Multilingualism, 16 (2019) 3, S.317-335 (19 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Du, Biyu)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1479-0718
DOI	10.1080/14790718.2018.1455687
Schlagwörter	English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Immigrants; Law Enforcement; Translation; Court Litigation; Tourism; Chinese; Language Usage; Official Languages; Discourse Analysis; Language Variation; Pronunciation; Intercultural Communication; African Languages; Barriers; Mutual Intelligibility; Native Language; Disadvantaged; Legal Problems; Civil Rights; Foreign Countries; China + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Immigrant; Immigrantin; Immigranten; Gesetzesvollzug; Rechtsstreit; Tourismus; China; Chinesen; Sprachgebrauch; Office language; Amtssprache; Diskursanalyse; Sprachenvielfalt; Aussprache; Interkulturelle Kommunikation; Africa; Language; Languages; Afrika; Sprachen; Afrikanische Sprache; Bürgerrechte; Grundrechte; Zivilrecht; Ausland
Abstract	Owing to its economic growth and social changes in the past two decades, China has become a popular destination for tourists, investors, and diverse communities of migrants. When foreign-language-speaking migrants interact with Chinese criminal justice system, they rely on interpreters to participate in the proceedings. Based on four-month trial observations in a Chinese city that is reported to have the highest concentration of foreign migrants in the country, this paper attempts to empirically explore the communicative complexity between foreign defendants and interpreters when they use English as a lingua franca. Drawing upon discourse analysis of recordings of seven criminal hearings that involve defendants from African countries, this paper shows how intercultural communication in the legal setting becomes challenging when primary participants in the interaction have divergent linguistic repertoires and speak different varieties of English. Variations in pronunciation become barriers to intelligibility; different legal culture and legal systems further complicate mutual understanding. This paper highlights how linguistic differences in interpreter-defendant communication disadvantage defendants in participating in judicial proceedings, which may undermine their legal rights and result in inequality and injustice. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01