Pause as determinant of speech rate perception in simultaneous interpreting of spontaneous and read speeches
Abstract
The pause as a fundamental feature of speech fulfills a number of functions; some of these are relevant for the speaker, others are important for the listener. Interpreters are a specific category of listeners; pauses, their length and frequency in the source speech play an essential role for their performance.
Characteristic differences in the distribution of pauses have been identified between spontaneous speech to prepared texts being read aloud. Importantly, interpreters' subjective perception of the length and frequency of pauses in these two types of speech deviates from the real values, which may in fact be virtually identical; interpreters' subjective perception of the length of pauses then often translates into their perception of the rate of the speech and its difficulty.