The transfer of conative function in simultaneous interpreting using the example of Czech and English speeches at the European Parliament

The present theoretical-empirical diploma thesis in the field of interpreting studies analyses the transfer of conative function in bidirectional simultaneous interpreting between Czech and English. The theoretical part of the thesis presents an overview of the present knowledge in relation to the conative or persuasive function of language and its transfer in interpreting. The methodological framework and initial hypothesis underlying the empirical part of the thesis are then defined. The research material used for the quantitative-qualitative research consists of a corpus of recordings of original and interpreted speeches from the European Parliament. The aim of the present thesis is to explore to what degree the conative function, being the dominant language function in political discourse, is preserved in the interpreted versions of the speeches, on the basis of which debates in this multilingual institution take place. The empirical research follows from a contrastive analysis of the transfer of individual categories of the means of the conative function in simultaneous interpreting for the given language pair. Results of the research are interpreted in terms of the characteristics of the original speech, type of interpreting and directionality.