English 1: [As these contacts yield prog-ress,]1 [I’m confident that our Congress will inevitably lift an embargo]2 [that should not be in place anymore.]3
1 2 3
English 2: [As these contacts yield prog-ress,]1 [I’m confident]2 [that our Con-gress will inevitably lift an embargo]3 [that should not be in place anymore.]4
1 2 3 4
Turkish 1: [Bu sayede ilerleme artacak-tır.]1 [Eminim, Kongre’miz sonuç olarak, kaçınılmaz bir şekilde]2 [hiçbir şekilde olmaması gereken]3 [bu ambargoyu da kaldıracaktır.]2
1Δ {3} 2
Turkish 2: [Bu sayede ilerleme artacak-tır.]1 [Eminim,]2 [Kongre’miz sonuç ola-rak, kaçınılmaz bir şekilde]3 [hiçbir şekil-de olmaması gereken]4 [bu ambargoyu da kaldıracaktır.]3
1Δ 2 {4} 3
Mode | Text / Speech | Sentence # | Subordinations | |||
| English 1 | English 2 | |||||
| Simultaneous interpretation | Obama UNGA | 100 | 1 | 1 | ||
Target language | Reordering Σi=1 Σj=i+1 I(xj<xi) | ± Nestings { } {{ }} {{{ }}} | Semantic changes Δ |
|||
| Turkish 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | |
| Turkish 2 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 1 | |
Difference in analysis: In both “English 1” and “Turkish 1,” “I’m confident” in [2] isn’t treated as a separate proposition. In “English 2” and “Turkish 2,” “I’m confident” is treated as a separate proposition, in [2].
Reason: A phrase like “I’m confident” can be seen as a comment clause – like saying “I think” – and not treated as a separate proposition. It can also be seen as functionally independent – like saying “Our Congress will inevitably lift the embargo, and I’m confident of that.” A comment clause can generally be moved to different places in a sentence with similar effect. In the original English version shown above, it would be somewhat awkward to move [2] to different places in the sentence. This strengthens the case for the functionally independent reading. In the Turkish interpretation, [2] are [3] aren’t syntactically attached, and the equivalent of the English main clause is at the beginning of a sentence rather than at the end. This atypical syntax would probably not appear in a standard written translation and is suggestive of the comment clause reading. Recall that different versions of a sentence are parsed the same way in this study unless there’s felt to be a major structural difference between them. So either reading is justified, as long as each language version of the sentence is parsed with the same criteria.
Consequence: None