作为机构守门人的法庭口译员角色研究

Court Interpreter as Institutional Gate-keeper

作为一种典型的机构话语,法庭话语的目的性和权力性决定了法庭口译员角色的特殊性。法庭口译员不是单纯的"传声筒",而是具有能动性的庭审交际活动参与者和"协调者"。作为机构守门人,法庭口译员同时扮演着双重角色:服务提供者和控制传递者。对控制的实施是为了达到法律对等,从而最终实现法庭话语的目的。

Institutionally framed hence power-laden and goal-oriented,courtroom discourse assigns a unique role to court interpreters.Whoever inerprets in the court is expected to serve as a proactive participant and a 'mediator' in the bilingual legal transactions rather than merely a verbatim transmitter of whatever is being said.The need to perform these gate-keeping duties means that the court interpreter is institutionally endowed with a dual status,i.e.,as both a service provider and an agent of the law.The court interpreter is thus uniquely positioned to help ensure equality under the law,and to contribute to the upholding of justice as the ultimate goal of courtroom discourse.