Chapter 5

Interpreter intervention in witness examination

The previous chapter illustrated an augmentation in the power of bilingual participants, especially counsel, in court as they take on extra audience roles by exploiting their bilingual knowledge in the triadic communication to work to their advantage. Meanwhile, it demonstrated an apparent loss of power on the part of the monolingual judge and the court interpreter. This chapter explores how monolingual counsel and the judge may lose their power and control over the evidence when the interpreter, as the only bilingual in the triadic communication, assumes an active participant role by initiating turns with the speaker. It discusses the impact of such interpreter intervention on the participation status of co-present court actors.