Abstract
This paper proposes the notion of cognitive tag and a processing model of simultaneous interpretation (SI) using that notion. A cognitive tag, or c-tag, is typically evoked by some linguistic expression and assigned to a cognitive object, which is to become gradually enriched as discourse develops. A relation c-tag, one of the two proposed types of c-tag, holds a semantic relation among entities, each of which has an entity c-tag attached. A relation c-tag has more than one slot to be filled with an entity c-tag. In this model such coupling constitutes the backbone of speech comprehension and serves as the structural basis of SI at the cognitive level, which is free from idiosyncratic lexical constraints. Authentic SI records are examined to show the validity of the proposed theory.
