Structural Asymmetry Processing in Chinese-English Simultaneous Interpreting: An Information-Cognitive Model

Processing of Chinese-English structural asymmetry is a prominent theme in simultaneous interpreting (SI) studies in China, and the prescribed technique of syntactic linearity, widely adopted. Yet theoretical plausibility and temporal simultaneity of linearity are to be verified, while SI scholarship outside China holds conflicting views on the necessity of structural asymmetry processing. This study examines constraints in the processing that arise from typological peculiarities of the Chinese language, and in the frameworks of Information Theory and cognitive science, an information−cognitive model for the processing is developed. The model is corroborated by samples collected in a controlled experiment with professional subjects interpreting bidirectionally. The results show that the processing is a dynamic equilibrium between the information constraint of source language (SL) meaning uncertainty and the cognitive constraint of short-term memory (STM) retention length. Both Uniform Information Density (UID) and maximum length of STM correct retention govern the processing, where SL uncertainty may be alleviated by redundancy. Structural asymmetry seriously delays SI production evidenced by an average starting ear-voice span (EVS) of 4 to 5 seconds and storing EVS of 6 to 8 seconds. The model offers rigorous theoretical explanations and empirical evidence of simultaneity to the processing.