Conference interpreting as a ‘variational node’ in intercultural communication: a case study of Belt-and-Road discourse at/beyond the Summer Davos Forum

Informed by Positioning Theory, this study investigates the active agency of conference interpreters in reshaping speakers' ideological positioning and influencing media recontextualisation of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) discourse at/beyond the multiphonic Summer Davos Forum. The analysis demonstrates interpreters respond to ideologically charged utterances as discursive stimuli, repositioning speakers regarding the BRI discourse. The interpreted utterances are quoted verbatim and recontextualised by media outlets. The findings conceptualise interpreters as ‘variational nodes’: pivotal discursive actors connecting intercultural encounters with media circulation to co-construct global sociopolitical narratives. The study illuminates the relational fluidity and ideological complexity of interpreter-mediated communication as an ideologically charged, culturally situated form of intercultural mediation.

本研究借鉴立场理论探讨了会议译员在夏季达沃斯论坛重塑发言者关于中国‘一带一路'倡议（BRI）话语的意识形态定位，以及影响媒体再语境化过程中的主体性。分析表明，译员将带有意识形态色彩的表述视为话语激发信号，从而根据BRI话语重塑发言者立场话语。同时，口译表述被媒体逐字引用并再语境化。研究将译员视作‘致变节点’：即在互动现场与媒体传播网络之间起到连接作用的关键话语行动者，参与构建全球社会政治叙事。通过揭示此类口译调介中关系流动性与意识形态复杂性的交织，本研究将会议口译定位为一种意识形态驱动的、文化嵌入式的跨文化调介形式。