Mobilising linguistic resources in English–Italian interpreter-mediated interaction

This study examined the mobilisation of linguistic resources negotiated in an interpreter-mediated interaction in a semi-transparent linguistic constellation in which English, a language of widespread diffusion, is one of the languages spoken. The case under study is part of a larger corpus of public service interpreting data collected in Italian healthcare settings. It involved four participants: an Italian paediatrician, a Ghanaian paediatric patient accompanied by his father and a bilingual English–Italian mediator. The semi-transparent nature of the setting is due to the fact that the two languages used in this interaction are at least partially known to all the participants and not only to the bilingual mediator. Therefore, both the doctor, who has a reasonably good command of English, and the patient’s father, who has a limited command of Italian, make use of both English and Italian. Applying conversation analysis, the study examined the practices adopted by the participants to negotiate the different modes of communication available: relying on interpreting or resorting to direct talk in either English or Italian. The results show that the mediator’s task of interactional coordination is highly affected by the semi-transparent linguistic constellation, since the interpreting itself becomes an object of negotiation. The study is able to provide guidance to mediators on how to coordinate interactions in which both interpreting and direct talk are possible, an approach that is particularly appropriate when English is one of the languages used in mediated interactions.