Discourse markers in English as a target language: the use of so by simultaneous interpreters

This paper investigates the occurrences of a particular discourse marker, i.e. so, in the target speeches produced by professional simultaneous interpreters while translating from Italian into English at three medical conferences. The specific situational norms at play in simultaneous interpreter-mediated settings are considered, assuming that they may have an effect on discourse marker distribution. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, and it is based on a parallel corpus of three medical conferences with Italian and English (native and non-native) source speakers along with the corresponding simultaneous interpretations. All the occurrences of zero correspondence (30% of all the occurrences of so in target speeches) are considered in detail and grouped into different macro-categories. Then, possible reasons behind the interpreters’ decision to add “sequentially dependent elements which bracket units of talk” (Schiffrin 1987: 31) are discussed, with a view to contributing to the description of English in interpreter-mediated communication.