Reconstructing solidarity discourse through conference interpreting at the general debates of the United Nations (2008–2021)

While reconstructing political discourses in interpreter-mediated international conferences has attracted research attention, reconstructing solidarity discourse as a major theme for UN discourse in conference interpreting has not been studied. This study investigates the reconstruction of the solidarity discourse produced by Chinese heads of state and high-level government officials in Chinese-English conference interpreting at the UN’s General Debates (2008–2021). The corpus-based critical discourse analysis reveals three patterns in the discursive reconstruction done by interpreters: (1) the (re)grouping discourse for the common-collective-Self and common-threat-Others is emphasised; (2) the commissive (promising) discourse for China’s delivery of common goals is accentuated; and (3) the discourse of an inclusive ‘global-we’ with ‘our obligations’ is strengthened. The overall amplification of the solidarity discourse reproduces global consolidation as an upgraded form of international cohesion. Focusing on the prominent theme of solidarity discourse in the UN, this study highlights conference interpreters’ ‘editing’ of linguistic realisations that de facto constitute ideological intervention at interpreter-mediated discursive events.