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REN Rui, ZHAI Yuehan
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DOI:10.17265/1539-8080/2026.04.002
Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
This study redefines note-taking in court interpreting through the lens of notion of scheme (σχῆμα), the rational, perceptible structure through which ideal forms become manifest in the sensible world. It argues that effective note-taking depends not on recording what is said, but on externalizing what makes saying it meaningful: the underlying scheme of accusation, control, and argument that organizes adversarial discourse. The study conducts a corpus analysis of a distinct courtroom settings: the adversarial cross-examination, with high-frequency three-word lexical bundles extracted and functionally annotated following a chunk-based approach. The corpus exhibits a high concentration of confrontational chunks, and particular focus is given to constructions related to “I put it to you.” Building on this insight, the study proposes a schema note-taking framework in which symbols encode logical relations, illocutionary force, and interactional dynamics. It also highlights limitations in current artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted interpreting systems. Finally, the study proposes an open discussion that the interpreter’s justice lies not in procedural neutrality but in schema judgment. A note is not a record of words, but a sketch of order that must, against all contingency, hold.
note-taking, court interpreting, prefabricated chunks, adversarial schema, corpus analysis
REN Rui & ZHAI Yuehan. On the Construction of a Note-Taking Scheme in Court Interpreting: In Terms of the Courtroom Linguistic Features. US-China Foreign Language, April 2026, Vol. 24, No. 4, 148-155 doi:10.17265/1539-8080/2026.04.002
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