When speakers of different languages interact, they may choose between two strategies: trying to speak the other's language, or relying on the help of an interpreter. In small claims court, both strategies can be readily observed, as proceedings are relatively informal, enabling litigants to speak more freely than in formal courts. The court provides interpreters, but most people who request them also make use of their limited English, alternating between the two languages (codeswitching). In my research, I focus on two linguistic questions that arise from this situation: how do litigants alternate between languages, between speaking through the interpreter and speaking in limited English? And how do interpreters represent the speech of immigrants? These questions relate to larger issues of language choice and identity, addressing the social significance of speaking English or not speaking it, and the role of interpreters (often immigrants themselves) as cultural intermediaries.
In my linguistic analysis, I seek to identify whether the same patterns of language alternation can be observed with speakers of different languages. My focus is on the insertion of English words into sentences that are otherwise in another language. In previous research, I have argued that such cross-linguistic insertions result from speakers’ attempts to create coherence between utterances that were made in different languages. In my dissertation, I will test this hypothesis further by investigating the extent to which litigants' insertions repeat words used previously by other participants. In addition, I will investigate how interpreters represent the speech of others, whether in the first or third person (“I swear to tell the truth” or “She swears to tell the truth”). My analysis will test whether variation between these alternatives reflects the degree to which interpreters identify with the speakers whose voices they assume.
My research advances the understanding of bilingualism by exploring data that differ from those typically studied, as it compares speakers from different linguistic dyads in the same setting and focuses on interethnic communication rather than in-group communication within a single community. My study promises to have an impact beyond linguistics, specifically, on critical issues in language and law. While previous studies have considered the impact of court interpreters upon the outcome of legal proceedings, my study is the first to examine the interaction between interpreting and codeswitching and, therefore, the first to document the impact of this interaction on immigrants' use of the courts.