Schlaggesten beim Simultandolmetschen – Auftreten und Funktionen

Abstract

AbstractIt has been observed that interpreters gesticulate in the booth although they are usually invisible to the audience. Researchers have attributed this to the interpreters’ need to organize their speech and explain the content to themselves. Studies in the area of bilingualism have revealed that gestures do not have a mere communicational function but can also improve word retrieval and facilitate speech production. The aim of this paper is to analyze beat gestures produced by interpreters during simultaneous interpreting. The relationship between occurrence of gestures, speech content and hesitations or self-correction is discussed.