Anna Witter-Merithew, M. Ed., CAIF, CSC, CI, CT, OIC:C, SC:PA & SC:L is the Assistant Director for the Distance Opportunities in Interpreter Training Center (DO IT Center) in Denver, Colorado. She has over thirty-five years of experience in the field of interpreting as both a practitioner and educator. In her current capacity, she is responsible for the instructional programs of the Center that are delivered to distance learners throughout the United States. She is the architect of a number of programs, including a four semester program for interpreters working in the American judicial system and an online baccalaureate program. Anna served on the national board of the RID respectively as Vice President (1983-1987) and President (1987-1989) and is one of the co-founders and past Vice President of the Conference of Interpreter Teachers (CIT). Anna has co-authored two relatively new texts. The first, Toward Competent Practice: Conversations with Stakeholders, co-authored with Dr. Leilani Johnson, was the focus of a plenary session at the 2005 RID Convention in San Antonio. This text is published by the RID. The second, Dimensions of Ethical Decision-Making: A Resource Guide for Practitioners (2006), co-authored with Kellie Stewart, is published by Sign Media. She is also the author of the 12-part videotape series and workbook entitled Interpreting in the American Legal System, published by Sign Media (SMI), as well as one of the designers of the SMI Interpreting the Miranda Warning videotape.

Legal Parameters, Legal and Investigative Strategy and Linguistic Considerations Impacting the Interpretation of Lines of Questioning

In the legal context, a line of questioning is an ordering of questions with the purpose of forming a particular orientation to a set of facts or to probe and uncover information relevant to a crime. This process of asking questions by attorneys and law enforcement personnel is a process impacted by legal parameters and legal or investigative strategy. Lawyers are taught to control not only the timing of questions but also their form (Conley and O'Barr, 1998). Law enforcement officers are taught to use lines of questioning to interview (inquire, suggest, uncover, probe) and interrogate (probe, challenge, demand, accuse, trap) (Shuy, 1998). The combination of legal, strategic and linguistic factors impacting lines of questioning result in a set of challenging demands for the interpreter. The choices interpreters make can have varying degrees of influence and implication on the outcomes of lines of questioning.

In addition to these demands, research resulting from the analysis of videotaped interpretations generated during investigative and courtroom lines of questioning indicates a pattern of unique cross-linguistic demands associated with interpreting question forms from English into American Sign Language (ASL). These demands relate to linguistic differences in how to establish the interrelatedness of questions, how to convey implicature, and how to establish question forms that elicit the type of response intended.

This session will focus on an examination of these factors and explore considerations and strategies (controls) for the interpretation of lines of questioning in the legal context. The session will alternate between lecture and small group discussion of the legal, strategic and linguistic factors, demonstration of the factors through analysis of taped interpretations, and practice activities involving the interpretation of lines of questioning. Participants will actively engage in discussion and skill development activities.