Journal Paper Published

Abstract

Simultaneous interpreting (SI) entails complex cognitive processes, requiring interpreters to simplify linguistic output to manage cognitive and temporal constraints during real-time, cross-lingual communication. However, the extent to which the typological characteristics of source languages shape linguistic simplification remains underexplored. This study aims to examine the simplification hypothesis by analyzing simultaneously interpreted English across multiple language pairs, comparing them with non-interpreted L1 English production, and investigating how different source languages modulate these patterns of linguistic simplification. Using a self-compiled corpus comprising English SI from Chinese, French, and Russian source speeches alongside comparable non-interpreted L1 English speeches at the United Nations Security Council, this study employed six entropy-based measures: unigram, bigram, and trigram entropy at both wordform and part-of-speech levels. Results reveal a consistent reduction in entropy values in interpreted English compared to non-interpreted L1 English, confirming linguistic simplification as a robust phenomenon in SI. Crucially, the degree of simplification varies by source languages: the Chinese-English interpreting variant exhibits the highest degree of simplification, with the Russian-English interpreting variant showing the least reduction in complexity. These findings demonstrate that patterns of simplification in SI are not uniform but are shaped by the interaction of interpreting directionality, typological distance, cognitive demands, and institutional constraints, indicating the role of multilingual dynamics in modulating interpreter output in cross-linguistic, cross-cultural communicative settings.

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