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Part of
Field Research on Translation and Interpreting
Edited by Regina Rogl, Daniela Schlager and Hanna Risku
[Benjamins Translation Library 165] 2025
► pp. 55–73

Chapter 2
Linguistic ethnography in interpreting studies

ORCID logo | Heriot-Watt University
Linguistic ethnography (LE) combines linguistic and ethnographic approaches to understand how social and communicative processes operate in a range of settings. The core goal of LE is to examine language use in context, thus various qualitative interpreting studies research could be considered as LE studies. I give an overview of LE and how it can be used to examine interpreter-mediated interactions, highlighting examples from previous interpreting research that could be considered as LE and drawing on examples from my own studies of sign language interpreter-mediated communication. I propose the affordances of examining interpreter-mediated communication through the framework of LE encompassing multi-methods approaches, which could re-frame what we mean by mediated communication and contribute to a changing paradigm in interpreting studies.
Keywords: qualitative research, multi-methods, linguistic ethnography, interpreting studies, sign language interpreting
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Using linguistic ethnography as a framework
  • 3.How can LE be used to examine interpreter-mediated interactions?
  • 4.My research on sign language interpreter-mediated communication
    • 4.1Social setting: Healthcare
    • 4.2Social setting: Workplace
    • 4.3Are these LE studies?
  • 5.Re-framing my studies of sign language interpreter-mediated communication as LE
    • 5.1Political institution
    • 5.2Legal institution
  • 6.Re-thinking our approach to IS through LE
  • Author queries
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
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