Negotiated exchanges in the Spanish-English bilingual courtroom

This paper examines the interpreters' use of requests for clarification in two criminal (Spanish-English) jury trials. The aim of the paper is to study how interpreters in the case studies reconcile expected courtroom protocols and standards with perceived communicative breakdowns that require clarification. The interpreters' attempts at clarification, which at times also shape the witnesses' treatment of misunderstandings and/or other repairs, appear to interfere with both the quality of the interpreters' renditions and, more significantly, the attorneys' ability to control the direction of courtroom proceedings. When discursive lines are blurred in bilingual institutional exchanges, witnesses and interpreters may negotiate communicative failures without mediation from the court. This is problematic because it may change the prescribed identity and role of the attorney, witness and interpreter in the bilingual courtroom.