赵丹
（河南 新乡 453000）
【Abstract】This paper investigates the role of schema theory in interpreting analytically from four perspectives. The findings indicate that the schema theory which originated from cognitive psychology plays roles of pressure reducer, time saver, ambiguity reducer and development anticipator. The discussion in this paper may be not all-sided and idiographic enough. The author hopes this paper can be useful, though a little for learners in interpreting.
【Key words】Schema; Facilitative; Role; Interpreting
0 Introduction
Interpreting which is largely adopted at interlingual communications plays an irreplaceable role in the world. However, interpreting studies have not attracted attention as much as it should be，and the research methods for it are limited. Recently many scholars have applied schema theory, a key concept in Psychology, to the studies of reading comprehension and listening comprehension, and they have harvested many constructive fruits. However, few scholars have touched upon schema theory in interpreting studies at home and abroad. The activated schemata facilitate the activity, for they help the interpreter accomplish her/his task more promptly，more correctly and more successfully.
The paper takes on a combination of theoretical formulation and practical demonstration. After a introduction of schema and schema theory, this paper explains the facilitative role of schemata in interpreting process. Correctly activated schema serve as the ambiguity eliminator to choose the possible meaning, as the time saver to help the interpreter save the precious time by memorizing the sense quickly, and the development anticipator to predicate the possible following information; and at last，the schemata that conform to the audiences’ knowledge help reduce the pressure on the interpreter and help reproduce a more acceptable TS( Target Speech ) to the audience and help get higher ExG (expectancy gratification) from the audience.
Based on cognitive science and psycholinguistics，this thesis also dwells on the practical demonstration by analyzing the facilitative role of schema in interpreting process. Explanations and examples are offered to illustrate that activated corresponding schemata could facilitate the interpreting activity.
1 “Schema”and“Schema Theory”
“Schema” is a philosophical concept first advanced by Kant. But Gestalt psychologists and Swiss psychologist Piaget first introduced the concept of “schema” into psychology. Piaget has pointed out that new knowledge is simply a linear accrual process in which more information is attached to the existing information in the brain. Rather, the individual also has schemata, and as new experiences and information become available，the individual usually modifies them in order to fit the new information into his or her schemata of that concept or idea. With the appearance and development of modern cognitive psychology, “schema” now refers to learners’ acquired knowledge about the world, which is stored in the brain in the form of concept and activated by incentives. In Cook (1992), schema consisted of a set of expectations about how part of the world is organized; these expectations were applied to categorize various stimuli.
Schema theory was developed by R. C. Anderson who has viewed organized knowledge as an elaborate network of abstract mental structures which represented one’s understanding of the world. Modern schema theory appeared at the end of 1970s , Modern cognitive psychologist Rumelhart stated that“schema theory”was about knowledge of human beings , that taking schema as cognitive construction material was the basic rule for all information processing , and that all knowledge was stored in the brain in different units. And these units were“schema”. Schema represented not only knowledge itself, but also the use of knowledge.
2 Roles of schema in interpreting
The crucial role of schema is “relating new experience and knowledge to old in ways which reveal people’s knowledge of recurring events in which meanings are related to each other through dependent networks，the fundamental skill of seeing similarity in diversity” (Bell, 2001:249). And the thesis deals with the facilitative role of corresponding schemata in interpreting from four perspectives as follows:
2.1 Pressure Reducer
Interpreting is more difficult than translating. Interpreters may not remember all the information in certain situation, because the interpreter can not limit the topic and subjects of SS (Source Speech). However, if a wide range of structures or styles have been mastered, with the help of corresponding schemata, the interpreter can construct properly the information which s/he can not remember. (Wang Lidi, 2001:20). If the interpreter can master such expressions，in other words，store such schemata in memory beforehand，s/he can easily，quickly and correctly accomplish the interpreting task by adding some relevant information to the set frame.
Interpreting is a hard work for its heavy pressure on the interpreter during the practice. The quality of the task is greatly affected by the pressure. If the interpreter is nervous in the activity，s/he will surely reacts slowly even abnormally，which may lead to chaos. Interpreter，having kinds of set expressions at their disposal，could understand SS and reproduce TS calmly and unhurriedly, for the only thing s/he has to do is to add some key information to the set frame of the speech. The more familiar the interpreter gets to some set expressions, the easier s/he can activate the corresponding schemata stored in her/his brain, the more confidently s/he will act in the activity, the more relaxed s/he will act, and the better s/he will accomplish the task. In a word, schema facilitates interpreting in reproduction by reducing pressure.
2.2 Time saver
Cognitive Psychologists have carried out a lot of research on the speed of information extracting. Their research and experiments show that the speed and possibility 0f information extracting largely depends on activated memory or schemata. In other words, the more corresponding schemata are activated. The less time the interpreter will spend in understanding SS.
Here two sentences are cited as examples:
S1: We have Hebei Province in the southwest via the Shanhai Pass, Inner Mongolia in the northwest, Jilin Province in the northeast and North Korea in the southeast, across a river.(Lin Chaolun,2004:291)
S2: There are meadows with brooks and trees, and sea cliffs, and wide grassy plains, and broad spreads of grapevines and sandy beaches. (Li Mingyuan, 1998:83)
Talking about the geography, S1 covers about 30 words and 10 subjects (Hebei Province, southwest, Shanhai Pass, Inner Mongolia, northwest, Jilin Province, northeast, North Korea, southeast and a river) while S2 with 21 words and 7 subjects (meadows, brooks, trees, sea cliffs, plains, grapevines and beaches). Anderson (1995: 395) once pointed out that the more subjects the sentence covered, the more complicated the sentence was, and the more time and efforts were needed to understand the sentence. But in fact, a Chinese interpreter could interpret the S1 in less time because the familiar concepts about China’s geography can be abstracted easily while the ones of S2 is another story. The schema in S1 has been learned in geography classes in school and is frequently mentioned in daily life. However, the “broad spreads of grapevines” are common in California and “sandy beaches” are typical in Hawaii so the schema here is familiar to American but strange to Chinese. Therefore, for a Chinese interpreter who is not familiar with American geography, it is much more difficult to cope with the S2 while it is easier to do that with the S1. Thus, corresponding schema can save the previous time for the interpreter.
2.3 Ambiguity Eliminator
Language comprehension is always a dynamic, active process. The schemata activated during this interpret process are essential to speech comprehension and serves as a guide to drive the information flow in the right direction. Correct performance in any sphere of mental activity is achieved through the right schemata in the right order at the right time. Disambiguating of meaning is achieved through correct context identification, which calls up only the relevant information and schemata.
Schemata operate “in a top-down direction to help us interpret the bottom-up flow of information from the word (Cohen, 1986:26)”. In the “top-down” mode the interpreter begins her/his comprehension with her/his existing schemata. These schemata are the guides with which context effect is produced. While listening to the speaker, the interpreter activates her/his existing schema in memory, integrates and analyzes the incoming information with them. This mode of information processing helps the interpreter negate or affirm or even perfect her/his anticipation, and helps her/him speed up assimilation of the incoming information, and finally eliminate ambiguity.
It is known to everyone that many words are synonyms and many expressions do not mean the same in different situations. Relevant schemata will help determine the exact meaning of a word or an expression. The original meaning of “submarine” in English is a ship，which can be submerged to operate under water. But sometimes we may hear someone order “submarine” in a restaurant. Here the RESTAURANT schema helps us understand the word “submarine”. As we have mentioned, schema is often made up with smaller，more specific，sub-schema，which constitute action stereotypes and provide pre-established routines for handling particular kinds of event.
The RESTAURANT schema could be made up typically by slots of delicious dishes，a nice house，tables and chairs with music around，and waiters and waitresses .The ordered “submarine”can not be the house，the table or chair，or the waiter or waitress. The only thing it could be is the content in the menu- the dish or the food. Even though you may not know “submarine” is a kind of sandwich, you can still infer that in a restaurant the ordered “submarine”，is not a ship，but a kind of food. The RESTAURANT schema helps the interpreter eliminate the ambiguous meaning of “submarine” and decide the exact meaning of the word.
2.4 Development Anticipator
The ground of anticipator in hypothesis in interpreting is a key principle in psychology that the reaction of human brain to external incident precedes the result of that incident(Sa Liewen, 2004:58).The notion of “anticipation”, is put forward by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a psychologist of soviet Union, in 1903. In his famous experiment，the secreted saliva responding to the ring is to anticipate the coming of food，and to call for preparation for digesting the food instead of “digest” the ring. The experiment can be applied to interpreting. The interpreter can make some anticipation to predict the development of the speech consciously. The interpreter can make this anticipation with the help of her/his mental schemata.
The interpreter may not get the draft beforehand, but s/he can still anticipate the content of the speech with help of public speaking schema: when the interpreter gets to know that the speech s/he is going to interpret is a public speaking speech，the schema related to it could be activated, and this schema will help the interpreter make prediction of the development of content and the structure of the speech. The reason is that public speaking schema is usually composed of fixed slots，which help the interpreter make anticipation. Public speaking schema always covers the following slots: address to the audience，polite forms of thanks and welcome, the body of main content，and the end of a hope and the wish. With this schema in mind，the interpreter will soon remove nervousness，and s/he could pay most of the attention to the unfamiliar information.
3 Conclusion
This paper mainly deals with the role of schemata in interpreting from four perspectives. Schemata serve as the ambiguity eliminator to choose the possible meaning, as the time saver to help the interpreter save the precious time by memorizing the sense quickly, and the development anticipator to predicate the possible following information; and at last，the schemata that conform to the audiences’ knowledge help reduce the pressure on the interpreter.
Most interpreters activate their mental schemata consciously，subconsciously or unconsciously，but the important role of schemata in interpreting should not be ignored. The author hopes that this paper will arouse the attention of interpreters，who could notice schemata in their activities and consciously apply their mental schemata properly to their activities.
The discussion in this paper may be fundamental and are not all-sided and idiographic enough. Nevertheless，the author hopes that this study can be useful in fostering interpreting studies and achieving some progress in interpreting theory construction.
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［责任编辑：汤静］
