Is Speech Planning More Linearly or More Hierarchically Incremental in Consecutive Interpreting?

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Sentence production can be linear (word-by-word) or hierarchical (framework-based).
• Cognitive load impacts planning scope, but bilingual adaptation under L2 production demands is understudied.
• Structure-related load's effect on bilingual planning scope in interpreting requires investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how structure-related cognitive load affects bilinguals' sentence planning scope in consecutive interpreting.
• To investigate the interplay between source-target symmetry, structural length, and planning strategies.
• To understand how interpreters manage processing demands in L2 production.

Main Methods:

• 39 Chinese-English interpreter trainees participated.
• Interpreters translated sentences varying in source-target symmetry and length.
• Planning scope was measured using reordering rates, dependency relations, and disfluency analysis.

Main Results:

• Sentence asymmetry and length significantly increased reordering probability, favoring hierarchical incrementality.
• Interpreters expanded planning scope pre-articulation to minimize downstream costs and facilitate reformulations.
• Linear incrementality reduced initial planning effort but often compromised fluency.

Conclusions:

• Bilingual sentence production planning is flexible and adaptive, adjusting to cognitive load.
• Hierarchical incrementality is employed to manage structural complexity and integration costs.
• Interpreters balance planning effort with fluency to optimize L2 production.