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Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 13:2 (2018) ► pp.163–184

Translating/ed selves and voices

Language support provisions for victims of domestic violence in a British third sector organization

| University of Manchester

This article addresses issues of multilingualism in domestic violence support services, building on Tipton (2017a) and findings from a small qualitative study involving an organization in the North West of England. The aim is to shed light on how organizations construct multilingual spaces, the role played by language service provisions in the mediation of such spaces, and how interpreters handle the specificities of working with victims given the lack of available specialist training. The concept of communicative repertoire (following Blommaert and Backus 2011) is introduced to support analysis of supported and autonomous forms of communication in relation to the semiotic practices of survival in their broadest sense, casting new light on the organization’s handling of multilingual service delivery and the role of interpreter mediation.

Keywords: communicative repertoires, domestic violence, multilingualism, translation and interpreting
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Investigating experiences of minoritized groups in relation to domestic abuse: Issues of culture and language
    • Understanding structural impediments to support for limited language proficient survivors
  • Sustaining difference, enabling transformation
  • Case study
  • Policy as a regulatory framework
    • The organization as a multilingual site: Virtual and material observations
    • Translation and inclusivity: A double-edged sword
    • Enabling/constraining participation: Interpreter and service user perspectives
    • Evidence of strategic planning
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 October 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.00010.tip
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Tipton, Rebecca
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