- Rome, Lazio, Italy
This book offers a comprehensive account of the audiovisual translation (AVT) of humour, bringing together insights from translation studies and humour studies to outline the key theories underpinning this growing area of study and their... more
This book offers a comprehensive account of the audiovisual translation (AVT) of humour, bringing together insights from translation studies and humour studies to outline the key theories underpinning this growing area of study and their applications to case studies from television and lm. The volume outlines the ways in which the myriad linguistic manifestations and functions of humour make it difficult for scholars to provide a united definition for it, an issue made more complex in the transfer of humour to audiovisual works and their translations as well as their ongoing changes in technology. Dore brings together relevant theories from both translation studies and humour studies towards advancing research in both disciplines. Each chapter explores a key dimension of humour as it unfolds in AVT, offering brief theoretical discussions of wordplay, culture-specific references and multilingualism in revoicing and captioning in AVT as applied to case studies from Modern Family. A dedicated chapter to audio description, which allows the visually impaired or blind to assess a film's non-verbal content, using examples from the 2017 lm the Big Sick, outlines existing research to date on this under-explored line of research and opens avenues for future study within the AVT of humour. This book is key reading for students and scholars in translation studies and humour studies.
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British comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge recently rose to fame for her outspoken humour, which is filled with sexual references. Her comedy-drama television series Fleabag received widespread acclaim for its writing, acting and uniqueness.... more
British comedian Phoebe Waller-Bridge recently rose to fame for her outspoken humour, which is filled with sexual references. Her comedy-drama television series Fleabag received widespread acclaim for its writing, acting and uniqueness. It was adapted from Waller-Bridge's 2013 routine of the same name that she performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and won her a Fringe First Award. In the series, the protagonist frequently breaks the fourth wall to provide internal monologues and a running commentary as if she were onstage talking to her audience, thus making it extremely innovative. Fleabag has been dubbed and/or subtitled in many languages, including Italian. All these aspects make this programme an interesting case study, which is examined here with a twofold objective in mind. Firstly, the original script of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show and its screened version are compared to determine if, and if so, how the medium and performative context shape or affect the rendering of humour by focusing on gender differences and taboo topics. Secondly, the English original of the first season of Fleabag and its Italian dubbed version are analysed to establish where and how this translation mode influences the transfer of postfeminist humour across language and culture.
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Creativity in pivot AVT is a burning issue, since the pivot text can be seen as imposing pre-existing patterns, which may limit the translator’s decision-making process and in!uence their creative output. To verify this, we examined the... more
Creativity in pivot AVT is a burning issue, since the pivot text can be
seen as imposing pre-existing patterns, which may limit the
translator’s decision-making process and in!uence their creative
output. To verify this, we examined the Italian subtitled and
dubbed versions of the "lm Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019), a wellknown
example of Korean audiovisual content transferred
interlinguistically using English as a pivot language. The
preliminary textual analysis of the data showed that both the
Italian versions were also created using the pivot translation by
Darcy Paquet. Being unable to retrieve the name of the Italian
subtitler, we examined the Italian subtitles and found they are
very close to the English pivot, often replicating some creative
and controversial choices. For the Italian dubbing, we managed
to interview the Italian dialogue writer (and dubbing director)
and the translator. Their feedback on the translation process and
the comparative analysis of the Korean source text, English
subtitles and Italian dubbing demonstrated that the Italian
dubbing team relied not only on the English subtitles but also on
subtitles in other languages and the Korean script to create a text
that often departs from the English pivot, and it is closer to the
original.
seen as imposing pre-existing patterns, which may limit the
translator’s decision-making process and in!uence their creative
output. To verify this, we examined the Italian subtitled and
dubbed versions of the "lm Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019), a wellknown
example of Korean audiovisual content transferred
interlinguistically using English as a pivot language. The
preliminary textual analysis of the data showed that both the
Italian versions were also created using the pivot translation by
Darcy Paquet. Being unable to retrieve the name of the Italian
subtitler, we examined the Italian subtitles and found they are
very close to the English pivot, often replicating some creative
and controversial choices. For the Italian dubbing, we managed
to interview the Italian dialogue writer (and dubbing director)
and the translator. Their feedback on the translation process and
the comparative analysis of the Korean source text, English
subtitles and Italian dubbing demonstrated that the Italian
dubbing team relied not only on the English subtitles but also on
subtitles in other languages and the Korean script to create a text
that often departs from the English pivot, and it is closer to the
original.
Research Interests:
This chapter concentrates on self-translation, humour and language variation in Marsha De Salvatore's stand-up routines. She is a professional Italian American comedian whose one-woman shows talk about her chronic illness (i.e.,... more
This chapter concentrates on self-translation, humour and language variation in Marsha De Salvatore's stand-up routines. She is a professional Italian American comedian whose one-woman shows talk about her chronic illness (i.e., Beta-alassemia Major) and her life in Italy as a "half-expatriate". By comparing the original English scripts and the Italian scripts she self-translated, this study explores the mechanisms at work in creating humorous scripts in two di erent languages. e textual analysis is supported by De Salvatore's answers during a semi-structured interview. e ndings show that when discussing her chronic illness, De Salvatore consciously mixes tragedy and comedy to defy stereotypes about sick people, win over her audience and persuade them to donate blood. In her show about her life, she relies mostly on disparaging humorous comments targeting herself, her friends and her Calabrian family. Interestingly, her scripts in English are mainly constructed on the opposition between English and Italian (and Calabrian) language and culture. Conversely, her self-translated scripts recast this opposition between Italian and Calabrian, albeit retaining some English, since her audience normally has a good grasp of it. Besides, the Italian versions appear tamer when dealing with topics such as sex, which may depend on the fact that this culture is generally more sensitive to taboo humour. However, localising and compensatory strategies make the Italian scripts as e ective as the English versions in triggering humour and successfully creating comedian-audience a liation.
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This introduction sets off by reflecting on migration in relation to multilingualism and self-translation. It explores the migration phenomenon over time but focuses in particular on the 21st century and the way migrants seek integration... more
This introduction sets off by reflecting on migration in relation to multilingualism and self-translation. It explores the migration phenomenon over time but focuses in particular on the 21st century and the way migrants seek integration into the hosting country while, at the same time, remaining profoundly connected to their culture and language of origin. This aspect is not only advocated, but it is also praised as a means of encouraging insiders to be more open towards outsiders. It also considered important to help insiders to become more tolerant and reflect on their own identity. The second part of this chapter is instead devoted specifically to humour in self-translation, its characteristics and driving reasons. One important aspect that is also emphasised here is that humour self-translation is a virtually unexplored area in both Humour Studies and Translation Studies, and this volume seeks to contribute to filling this gap. The chapter concludes with an overview of the contributions included herein. It also offers a reflection on the way humour and self-translation can jointly be explored to better understand how these two natural human traits shape and are shaped by reality.
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This study investigates the translation of Emma Donoghue's 2010 novel Room into Italian to verify what types of translation strategies were used to overcome the difficulties this text poses in terms of grammar, vocabulary, figurative... more
This study investigates the translation of Emma Donoghue's 2010 novel Room into Italian to verify what types of translation strategies were used to overcome the difficulties this text poses in terms of grammar, vocabulary, figurative speech and interactional behaviour. The contrastive analysis shows that, by and large, the Italian translator attempted to compensate for the loss of the five-year-old main character's (Jack's) peculiar personifications and other linguistic idiosyncrasies by adopting an approach that is both source-and target-oriented. Yet, it is argued that the translation process has resulted in a TT that is less stylistically deviant than the ST. Consequently, Jack's mind style in the Italian translation is likely to be perceived as exceptional but less unusual than in the original version.
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This study focuses on the use of humour and amateur dubbing as a non-pharmacological technique to help children and adolescents who have had to be hospitalised during their development. The project was developed and carried out at Meyer... more
This study focuses on the use of humour and amateur dubbing as a non-pharmacological technique to help children and adolescents who have had to be hospitalised during their development. The project was developed and carried out at Meyer Children’s Hospital in Florence, Italy. Its main objective is to involve patients in a playful, social and creative activity like dubbing and put them at the centre of this process to elicit humour and foster positive emotions, thus also distracting them from the difficult moment they are facing. In this chapter, we describe the activity, the rationale behind its organisation, the professionals involved and, most importantly, the feedback of six adolescents who took part in a semi-structured interview regarding their experience as amateur dubbers. The adolescents’ comments confirm the effectiveness of this approach, and their insights and suggestions will be taken into account to enhance the future development of this non-pharmacological therapy.
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Nowadays, digitalisation has an enormous impact on the way multimedia content is created and conveyed. It affects the intra-, interlingual and intercultural transfer of audiovisual products, which can be enjoyed dubbed, subtitled, voiced... more
Nowadays, digitalisation has an enormous impact on the way multimedia content is created and conveyed. It affects the intra-, interlingual and intercultural transfer of audiovisual products, which can be enjoyed dubbed, subtitled, voiced over etc. Most importantly, technology has facilitated the spread of phenomena such as fansubbing and fandubbing across the world. Hence, this study seeks to assess the impact of the current fast-changing mediascape on traditional and new AVT modes. To this end, we analyse the first two seasons of the North American TV series The Handmaid’s Tale (Bruce Miller, 2017-) in their Italian dubbed, subtitled and (ItaSA) funsubbed versions. A preliminary investigation of the dubbed and subtitled versions shows that the latter is an intralingual (condensed) version of the former (a.k.a. dubtitles), which is an unusual practice in Italy. Interviews with the dubbing company and the subtitlers attempted to explain the rationale behind this. Furthermore, the textual examination of the different treatment of religious references, text-internal references, and coarse language in the dubbed/ subtitled and the fansubbed versions of this series shows the fluidity of professional and amateur AVT, which appear to intersect within today’s ever-changing mediascape.
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Dubbing has always been an expensive and time-consuming mode of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) because of the complex processes it entails and the many professionals it requires. However, advances in technology have allowed dubbing to... more
Dubbing has always been an expensive and time-consuming mode of Audiovisual Translation (AVT) because of the complex processes it entails and the many professionals it requires. However, advances in technology have allowed dubbing to become easier and more cost-effective. Nowadays, computer software available on any personal computer can be used to create home-made dubbed versions of any audiovisual content. Nonetheless, thus far amateur dubbing has mostly been aimed at offering content that was unavailable on the mainstream market (fandubbing) or at parodying people and/or situations (fundubbing). This study focuses instead on an innovative pilot project carried out at Meyer Children’s Hospital in Florence, Italy, which promotes the use of non-professional dubbing to foster well-being among children and adolescents who have to cope with illness while staying in hospital. Amateur dubbing can invest participants with an active role, putting them at the centre of the dubbing process to experience positive emotions via humour and a host of images and characters. The present work explains the project’s systematic organisation and implementation, along with the technical and linguistic challenges it involves. Although in its infancy, this project appears to offer promising opportunities for replicability.
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Humour is often exploited in advertising to enhance the positive image of a brand or corporate company, as well as to promote products or services. Advertisers seek the involvement of the audience via covert or overt references that, in... more
Humour is often exploited in advertising to enhance the positive image of a brand or corporate company, as well as to promote products or services. Advertisers seek the involvement of the audience via covert or overt references that, in their opinion, may trigger humour and, hypothetically, result in a positive customer response. However, using intertextual humour in advertising can sometimes be risky because, even though the ideal interlocutor is supposed to be familiar with the humorous reference the author alludes to, the latter can never be certain of whether it will be favourably received. The matter is further complicated if the advert relies on references that play on taboo or transgressive topics, which some may find humorous while others will consider distasteful. After all, humour is a phenomenon that varies according to individual cultures and historical time, as well as in terms of how it is perceived and whether it is appreciated. In this context, this study focuses on the use of intertextual taboo humour in adverts and campaigns that exploit both verbal and non-verbal texts. It particularly explores the reasons for the target clientele's reaction, which has had a boomerang effect on the brand and company itself. The suggested hypothesis is that the simultaneous exploitation of verbal and non-verbal intertextual references (consciously or unconsciously) activates multiple targets and scripts that cause the intended humour to fail in its scope.
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Since the founding of the Walt Disney Company in 1923, animated feature films have been a pillar of the cinema industry, telling fascinating, timeless stories, and appealing to children all over the world. Over the years, however, these... more
Since the founding of the Walt Disney Company in 1923, animated feature films have been a pillar of the cinema industry, telling fascinating, timeless stories, and appealing to children all over the world. Over the years, however, these tales have undergone significant changes, variously due to sociocultural development, different perceptions of childhood, and above all the economic need to broaden their target audience. Mono-dimensional drawings and fairy tales have evolved into the computer-generated imagery of films, completely modern in their cinematography and narrative approach.
The growing importance and popularity of these movies has also attracted the interest of translation scholars who have turned their attention to the study of audiovisual texts for children and analysed at length the needs of this specific audience and the strategies adopted in dubbed and subtitled versions. As far as translation is concerned, one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of animated movies in general and Disney animated films in particular is the use of linguistic variation to construct the characters, highlight their geographical origins or generate humorous effects. Therefore, this study investigates how foreign accents and diatopic varieties of US English have been employed in the 2017 Academy Award-winning movie Zootopia (Byron Howard and Rich Moore, 2016) and dealt with by the Italian dubbing team during its translation. As the analysis demonstrates, some of the translation choices adopted for the Italian target text (i.e. using local dialects and accents) seem to foster stereotypes regarding the receiving culture and its social stratification, thus subverting in part the ST’s original moral message of inclusion and mutual tolerance.
The growing importance and popularity of these movies has also attracted the interest of translation scholars who have turned their attention to the study of audiovisual texts for children and analysed at length the needs of this specific audience and the strategies adopted in dubbed and subtitled versions. As far as translation is concerned, one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of animated movies in general and Disney animated films in particular is the use of linguistic variation to construct the characters, highlight their geographical origins or generate humorous effects. Therefore, this study investigates how foreign accents and diatopic varieties of US English have been employed in the 2017 Academy Award-winning movie Zootopia (Byron Howard and Rich Moore, 2016) and dealt with by the Italian dubbing team during its translation. As the analysis demonstrates, some of the translation choices adopted for the Italian target text (i.e. using local dialects and accents) seem to foster stereotypes regarding the receiving culture and its social stratification, thus subverting in part the ST’s original moral message of inclusion and mutual tolerance.
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This Special Issue continues the fruitful discussion on the translation of dialects, accents, and language variation that InTRAlinea began in 2010 with the publication of a Special Issue on ‘The Translation of Dialects in Multimedia’... more
This Special Issue continues the fruitful discussion on the translation of dialects, accents, and language variation that InTRAlinea began in 2010 with the publication of a Special Issue on ‘The Translation of Dialects in Multimedia’ (Giorgio Marrano, Nadiani and Rundle 2010), which was followed by the 2012 (Nadiani and Rundle) and 2016 (Brenner and Helin) issues on the same theme. As with the previous issues, this collection of articles stems from the scholarly debates and discussions that took place at the MultiMeDialecTranslation conference (MMDT7) in May 2017 at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Denmark. In addition, it includes selected papers presented at MMDT6 in September 2014 at the ELTE in Budapest, Hungary. The articles herein deal with the wealth of issues connected to language variation from different perspectives, as well as its translation within audiovisual and literary contexts. As will become clear, most of the contributions focus on the translation of dialect in audiovisual works, some concentrating on captioning while others dealing with revoicing or even both (cf. Chaume 2013 for a detailed definition of these concepts). However, a number of articles also deal with other contexts such as theatre translation, literature and even lexicography.
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Audiovisual productions are increasingly featuring multi-ethnic communities which also reflect today's globalised world. Characters in both films and TV series are often depicted as having a bilingual background and heavily relying on... more
Audiovisual productions are increasingly featuring multi-ethnic communities which also reflect today's globalised world. Characters in both films and TV series are often depicted as having a bilingual background and heavily relying on code-switching to express their bicultural identity (Monti 2016: 69). As such, this phenomenon poses important challenges for its translation, especially when dubbing is involved. Using this audiovisual translation (AVT) mode involves a necessary technical manipulation (Díaz-Cintas 2012: 284-285). As for Italian dubbing, multilingualism has often undergone a process of neutralization (Pavesi 2005: 56) or local standardization (Ulrych 2000: 410), although recent dubbed films have proved to be geared towards a more faithful rendering of this important feature of the source text (Monti 2016: 90). It should be borne in mind that contextual factors, such as genres, may play a fundamental role in deciding whether to retain or neutralise multilingualism in AVT, especially when it is used for humorous purposes. In those cases, the perlocutionary function of the ST should be considered (Hickey 1998; cf. also Zabalbeascoa 2012: 322). Comedy can make use of multilingualism to entertain and the American mockumentary (or docucomedy) Modern Family (Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, 2009-2019), is a striking example in this sense. It follows the lives of Jay Pritchett and his family in suburban Los Angeles. Linguistically speaking, the most interesting character is Jay's second wife Gloria Delgado, a young and beautiful Colombian woman who often code-switches or code-mixes English and Spanish (with a marked Colombian accent), thus creating moments of pure comedy. Hence, this study investigates how Gloria's humorous and multilingual persona has been transferred into Italian. The analysis confirms the current tendency of Italian dubbing to render otherness in the TT (Monti 2016: 89). This may be justified by the genre and scope of the programme, that allow for a more innovative transfer of vernacular matching via what I propose to call functional manipulation.
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This special issue seeks to further enhance scholarly research in multilingual humour and translation by exploring this phenomenon from different perspectives.
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Over the last decade, a growing number of Translation Studies scholars has focused on the many aspects of AVT, as demonstrated by the proliferation of research papers in journals, essay collections and monographs devoted to this topic... more
Over the last decade, a growing number of Translation Studies scholars has focused on the many aspects of AVT, as demonstrated by the proliferation of research papers in journals, essay collections and monographs devoted to this topic (e.g. Chiaro 2007; Díaz Cintas 2012; Chaume, 2012; Pérez González 2014, 2018; Maszerowska, Matamala and Orero 2014; Di Giovanni and Gambier 2018; Baños 2018 just to name a few). This has certainly enabled AVT to develop “its very own theoretical and methodological approaches, allowing it to claim the status of a scholarly area of research in its own right” (Díaz-Cintas 2009: 7). One of the interesting consequences of the rapid advances in the production of audiovisual content and the availability of its many translated versions (e.g. dubbed, (fan)subtitled, in respeaking or audio-described) is that the traditional separation between ‘dubbing’ and ‘subtitling’ countries by now appears obsolete (Gambier 2003; Chaume 2013; Sandrelli, this volume). It is probably time we overcame “the frequently futile debate over the pros and cons of dubbing and subtitling, generally simplified to subjective and pseudo-intellectual arguments” (Chaume 2012: 13). Scholarly research on AVT may fare better at exploring the intricacies and resulting phenomena that the current mediascape brings about so as to continue to contribute fruitfully to the advances in theory and practice.
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Paolo Sorrentino’s film Il divo. La Spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008) is based on the political career of Giulio Andreotti, the most prominent and controversial figure in modern Italian political history. To some extent,... more
Paolo Sorrentino’s film Il divo. La Spettacolare vita di Giulio Andreotti (2008) is based on the political career of Giulio Andreotti, the most prominent and controversial figure in modern Italian political history. To some extent, Andreotti’s sharply ironic and enigmatic persona reflects the contradictions of Italian society, thus corroborating existing stereotypes. It is therefore not surprising that this movie has fomented a great deal of scholarly debate over the issue of political corruption, which seems inherently part of Italian culture (Antonello 2010, Marcus 2010a and 20120b, Marlow-Mann, 2010). More importantly, the film has become the focus of the debate regarding the ways recent audiovisual works by the new wave of young Italian directors have dealt with such a phenomenon (Holdaway, 2011).
The linguistic and cultural peculiarities of Il divo have cast doubt on the likelihood of its success outside its country of origin, which Sorrentino believed could be offset by his innovative cinematic approach to Italy’s so-called cinema of ‘civic engagement’ (or cinema d’impegno) (Crowdus and Sorrentino, 2009). Hence, this study concentrates on the comparative analysis of Il divo (Source Text, ST) and its English subtitled version (Target Text, TT). In particular, it considers the challenges that this film poses to its transfer. The examination of the two datasets shows that the translator has retained the language- and culture-specific references to Italian politics and related events in most parts of the text. However, this may require a substantial processing effort on the part of the target viewer and might be detrimental to the appreciation of the film itself.
The linguistic and cultural peculiarities of Il divo have cast doubt on the likelihood of its success outside its country of origin, which Sorrentino believed could be offset by his innovative cinematic approach to Italy’s so-called cinema of ‘civic engagement’ (or cinema d’impegno) (Crowdus and Sorrentino, 2009). Hence, this study concentrates on the comparative analysis of Il divo (Source Text, ST) and its English subtitled version (Target Text, TT). In particular, it considers the challenges that this film poses to its transfer. The examination of the two datasets shows that the translator has retained the language- and culture-specific references to Italian politics and related events in most parts of the text. However, this may require a substantial processing effort on the part of the target viewer and might be detrimental to the appreciation of the film itself.
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The Cultural Turn in Translation Studies has brought the gender issue to the fore. Since they can affirm or challenge the status quo, language and translation are nowadays seen as tools for gender oppression or liberation (Castro 2013:... more
The Cultural Turn in Translation Studies has brought the gender issue to the fore. Since they can affirm or challenge the status quo, language and translation are nowadays seen as tools for gender oppression or liberation (Castro 2013: 6). Hence, reflecting on the way language is used and/or manipulated in communication and mediated communication (a.k.a. translation) can shed light on the way gender and identity are constructed and perceived across cultures. To this end, we analyze the Academy Award-winning feature film Dallas Buyers Club (2013 Jean-Marc Vallée) set in Texas in the 1980s, along with its Italian official (TT1) and unofficial (TT2) subtitled versions.
The scope of this study is twofold. On the one hand, we seek to investigate the way gender roles are negotiated and how the transfeminine identity is (re)affirmed within a difficult health context such as HIV/AIDS. We examine how issues like homosexuality, sickness due to HIV/AIDS and identity are developed and constantly negotiated by the two main characters, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) and Rayon (Jared Leto). While the former is an initially homophobic cowboy who finds out to be HIV positive, the latter is drug addicted transgender and AIDS positive. We, therefore, investigate these two main characters’ language, the way it develops throughout their friendship and how it shapes their need to assert their own identity. On the other hand, the comparison of the two Italian TTs seeks to discuss how professional and amateur subtitlers have tackled linguistic issues such as camp talk (defined as “a product of the gay sensibility” in Babuscio 1993), gayness and transgenderism. All in all, both TTs appear to use a sanitising approach to homosexual language, yet the official version seems more creative than the amateur one. The different approach used in these two Italian versions may be due to linguistic constraints (Ranzato, 2012), as well as to factors such as lack of expertise (Bucaria, 2010) or formal training by amateur subtitlers (or (fan)subbers).
The scope of this study is twofold. On the one hand, we seek to investigate the way gender roles are negotiated and how the transfeminine identity is (re)affirmed within a difficult health context such as HIV/AIDS. We examine how issues like homosexuality, sickness due to HIV/AIDS and identity are developed and constantly negotiated by the two main characters, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) and Rayon (Jared Leto). While the former is an initially homophobic cowboy who finds out to be HIV positive, the latter is drug addicted transgender and AIDS positive. We, therefore, investigate these two main characters’ language, the way it develops throughout their friendship and how it shapes their need to assert their own identity. On the other hand, the comparison of the two Italian TTs seeks to discuss how professional and amateur subtitlers have tackled linguistic issues such as camp talk (defined as “a product of the gay sensibility” in Babuscio 1993), gayness and transgenderism. All in all, both TTs appear to use a sanitising approach to homosexual language, yet the official version seems more creative than the amateur one. The different approach used in these two Italian versions may be due to linguistic constraints (Ranzato, 2012), as well as to factors such as lack of expertise (Bucaria, 2010) or formal training by amateur subtitlers (or (fan)subbers).
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IT Come in molti altri Paesi europei, l'Italia ha di recente sviluppato un enorme interesse nei confronti dello stand-up comedy di stile anglosassone. Comici professionisti e non si esibiscono in teatri più o meno grandi durante tutto... more
IT Come in molti altri Paesi europei, l'Italia ha di recente sviluppato un enorme interesse nei confronti dello stand-up comedy di stile anglosassone. Comici professionisti e non si esibiscono in teatri più o meno grandi durante tutto l'anno e in diverse parti del Paese. La maggior parte di questi artisti scrive i propri spettacoli e si esibisce in italiano ma vi sono alcuni comici di madrelingua inglese, o che parlano bene questa lingua, che hanno deciso di creare eventi di stand-up quasi interamente in questa lingua. Il presente lavoro si prefigge pertanto di esplorare questo fenomeno concentrandosi in particolare sugli spettacoli del Rome's Comedy Club a cui partecipano costantemente alcuni comici, mentre altri sono invitati come parte del loro tour internazionale. L'analisi mostra che l'umorismo di questi spettacoli si basi perlopiù su stereotipi riguardanti la cultura italiana, gli italiani e la vita degli stranieri in Italia (differenze culturali, identità, ecc.). Inoltre, e cosa più importante, il modo in cui i comici e il pubblico gestiscono gli scambi umoristici sembra reggersi su una strategia comune. I primi cercano di garantire il successo della propria performance interagendo con, e testando continuamente, il secondo riguardo ad argomenti spesso controversi e sensibili (morte, scatologia ecc.). Anche nei momenti in cui i commenti dei comici denigrano apertamente uno o più componenti del pubblico, quest'ultimo non si offende e accetta di conformarsi allo spirito dell'evento a cui ha scelto di partecipare. Parole chiave: stand-up comedy, Rome's Comedy Club, stereotipi, umorismo negoziato EN Like many other European countries, Italy has recently developed an enormous interest in stand-up comedy. Professional and amateur comedians successfully perform in large and small venues throughout the year and across the country. Most comics write and perform their scripts in Italian but some native and non-native speakers of English have joined forces to create stand-up comedy events to be delivered in this language. Hence, this article investigates the performance of regular and invited comics at Rome's Comedy Club. The analysis shows that most of the humour is based on stereotypes about Italians, their culture and foreigners living in Italy (e.g. culture shock, cultural differences and identity issues). Most importantly, the comedians and the audience seems to negotiate humour via recurrent patterns. The former tries to ensure the success of their performance by continuously testing the latter's response while dealing with more or less touchy topics (death, scatology, etc.). The comedians' disparaging comments about the audience are never taken at face values as the latter conform to the social event they have willingly decided to take part in.
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This study compares the original Italian and the BBC and MHz Networks subtitled versions of the two episodes in the first Montalbano series Il ladro di merendire and La voce del violino. In particular, it explores the way Catarella’s... more
This study compares the original Italian and the BBC and MHz Networks subtitled versions of the two episodes in the first Montalbano series Il ladro di merendire and La voce del violino. In particular, it explores the way Catarella’s humorous idiosyncrasies have been dealt with by the translators and the challenges that subtitling humour poses.
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As Nash observes, “[v]irtually any well known forms of words – from the language of politics, of advertising, or journalism, of law and social administration – will serve the requirements of wit” (my emphasis). As a matter of fact,... more
As Nash observes, “[v]irtually any well known forms of words – from the language of politics, of advertising, or journalism, of law and social administration – will serve the requirements of wit” (my emphasis). As a matter of fact, witticisms, puns, jokes, satire, parody, etc. are examples of the different forms and guises in which humor can come. Be it scripted (e.g. jokes) or naturally occurring, humor can be used to enhance or challenge interpersonal and social relations. It is therefore not surprising that it has been often used in advertising to seek the involvement of the audience while promoting products, services and, consequently, the brand or corporate company that provides them. As Berger explains, humor can create what he calls the “halo effect”, meaning “a feeling of well-being that becomes attached to the products being advertised [sic.]”. Nonetheless, humor in advertisement has often been considered risky, especially due to its potential offensiveness, which can be inadvertent or intentional. Moreover, the (non) appreciation of a humorous advert may very well depend on various factors (e.g. personal situation, beliefs, etc.) that often escape the marketers’ control. It is therefore interesting to explore the possible reasons that can lead to a negative response by the receivers of controversial adverts that consciously or unconsciously entail humor. In particular, this paper concentrates on adverts that have been considered offensive by their receivers at the local, national or global level, on the basis of their themes, language and culture-specific references. Considering that such adverts or campaigns set out to address and/or seek the involvement of their target clientele in today’s hyper-politically correct world, the latter’s (unexpected) reaction is worth exploring, as it can be of great interest to advertising companies and marketers alike. Before proceeding with an in-depth analysis of the issue at hand, I will offer a brief overview of humor and how it can be defined for the purposes of this paper.
Research Interests:
Food is more than just a means of nourishment; it reflects the way human beings are influenced by the geographical space they inhabit. Diasporas and more general movements of people across time and space have allowed for the encounter and... more
Food is more than just a means of nourishment; it reflects the way human beings are influenced by the geographical space they inhabit. Diasporas and more general movements of people across time and space have allowed for the encounter and exchange of different culinary traditions. This has happened orally at first, and subsequently in written form. However, it is the invention of television and the Internet that has taken the sharing of culinary experiences to an entirely new level. Countless TV programmes revolve around food preparation and recipes. Nonetheless, food is not only the main theme of factual entertainment shows, but can also become an essential part of TV dramas and movies due to its ability to convey meaning though its culture-specificity. An excellent example of this is the Italian TV series Inspector Montalbano, which has been adapted from Andrea Camilleri’s many short stories and novels. Since the subtitled versions of the series have been successfully marketed at the international level, it is interesting to investigate how food, one of its topoi, has been dealt with in both British English (TT1) and American English (TT2) subtitled versions. The comparative analysis of these three datasets shows that Montalbano’s (and other characters’) attitudes to food and Italian-Sicilian traditional cuisine are expressed differently in the British and American versions. While the former tends to be more source-oriented in its attempt to convey the peculiarities of Italian and Sicilian food, the latter appears generally more target-oriented. Most importantly, when the American version does retain the Italian and Sicilian culinary terms, they are not always transferred as accurately as could be hoped for. Possible reasons for this may be that it targets an audience that may be mostly made up of Italian-Americans and/or people with some working knowledge of Italian. This study confirms the need for extensive reception studies on audiovisual texts that use the same language but address different cultures.
Research Interests:
This study focuses on stand-up comedy in English at Rome’s Comedy Club and investigates how the comedians and the audience deal with humor based on stereotypes about Italians and foreigners living in Italy (e.g. culture shock, cultural... more
This study focuses on stand-up comedy in English at Rome’s Comedy Club and investigates how the comedians and the audience deal with humor based on stereotypes about Italians and foreigners living in Italy (e.g. culture shock, cultural differences and identity issues). In addition, this article discusses how comedians and the audience interact (mostly in English and sometimes in Italian) and negotiate humor regarding sensitive topics. The data analysis demonstrates that the comedians consciously exploit the context and accommodate to the audience to guarantee a positive response. In turn, the audience’s sense of superiority is fulfilled by the disparagement of comedians in general and self-disparagement. Most importantly, the audience shows that they do not take audience-disparagement at face value.
Research Interests:
This study investigates the concept of Mind Style in Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel Room, which is partly based on the Fritzl case that emerged in Austria in 2008. Donoghue narra- tes the story from the point of view of Jack, a ve-year-old... more
This study investigates the concept of Mind Style in Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel Room, which is partly based on the Fritzl case that emerged in Austria in 2008. Donoghue narra- tes the story from the point of view of Jack, a ve-year-old boy who was born and held in captivity along with his mother by Old Nick. Jack’s cognitive development is a ected by his limited access to knowledge and the external world. Here, I apply a linguistic approach to account for the way the receiver perceives Jack’s Mind Style and his linguistic and cognitive development as the events unfold. To this end, I discuss Jack’s peculiar linguistic choices and patterns in terms of grammar, vocabulary, gurative speech and interactional behaviour. The systematic investigation of these stylistic features demonstrates how they can contribute to the understanding of the developmental process of a child’s mind style that may be hindered by external factors and/or traumatic experiences.
Research Interests:
Although they are far from reflecting real interaction stricto sensu, TV series try to recreate a sort of idealised community. In order to do this, the language they use is based on those communicative patterns that are deemed... more
Although they are far from reflecting real interaction stricto sensu, TV series try to recreate a sort of idealised community. In order to do this, the language they use is based on those communicative patterns that are deemed prototypical for a given social group. It is therefore not surprising to find that stereotyped language variations are exploited in audiovisual texts to mark differences in social status. In particular, British TV dramas and films have often relied on such strategies to enhance dramatic characterisation. The British dark comedy drama Misfits proves to be an interesting example of the way British dialects, accents and slang are used to characterise its five young main characters. Each of them displays a peculiar accent, which reflects their social and personal background, yet they all also use contemporary slang that shows their willingness to be part of the same social group representing young people of all backgrounds. When dealing with such linguistic peculiarities, translators may resort to global strategies such as standardization to ensure the smooth processing of the target text, or opt for more creative solutions instead. Hence, this study investigates the strategies and procedures used to transfer Misfits into Italian. The comparative analysis of the English source text and its dubbed Italian counterpart shows that the characters' dialectal inflections have been replaced by standardised pronunciation. It goes without saying that this has led to significant losses in terms of connotation. However, the translator has attempted to compensate by means of a consistent use of Italian slang and swear words to convey the in-group bonding that such linguistic elements can create.
Research Interests:
As a component of human behaviour, humour has received a large amount of interest throughout the centuries from theorists of many different fields of study. In the recent past have theorists in the field of humour research analysed this... more
As a component of human behaviour, humour has received a large amount of interest throughout the centuries from theorists of many different fields of study. In the recent past have theorists in the field of humour research analysed this phenomenon strictly from a linguistic viewpoint (e.g.: Greimas, Raskin, Attardo) in order to understand the mechanism which creates linguistic humour. Far less interest has been shown in translation of humour itself. Similarly, given that the audiovisual medium is a relatively recent creation, theorists in its earlier past paid little attention to the role played by translation in this medium. Nevertheless, scholars in the field of translation studies have demonstrated a growing interest in this complex branch of language transfer which, as in translation in general, contributes to the communication between cultures across linguistic boundaries.
In this light, this study seeks to highlight the way in which humour can be translated in the audiovisual domain by virtue of the dubbing mode. In order to do so, it will consider the case of the Italian translation of an American television series: The Simpsons.
In this light, this study seeks to highlight the way in which humour can be translated in the audiovisual domain by virtue of the dubbing mode. In order to do so, it will consider the case of the Italian translation of an American television series: The Simpsons.
Research Interests:
Humour is a relative, idiosyncratic and generally complex phenomenon, which also varies according to culture and time. It is therefore not surprising that scholars in various fields of research (e.g. Palmer, Attardo, Oring amongst others)... more
Humour is a relative, idiosyncratic and generally complex phenomenon, which also varies according to culture and time. It is therefore not surprising that scholars in various fields of research (e.g. Palmer, Attardo, Oring amongst others) struggle to provide a unified definition of humour. However, they attempt to unveil the mechanisms that this phenomenon involves and the function(s) it has within the text in which it occurs. In Translation Studies, some scholars (e.g. Delabastita, Zabalbeascoa, Chiaro to name just a few) have produced a fair amount of literature on the audiovisual translation (henceforth AVT) of humour, concentrating in particular on those language and culture-specific features (punning, wordplay, allusive wordplay, etc.) that pose significant problems in translation. In doing so, they have taken into account those factors that influence the translator’s decision making process such as time pressure and expertise.
On the grounds of these considerations, this study aims at contributing to this on-going research in the AVT of humour, and dubbing in particular. To this end, I have carried out an in-depth analysis of the original North-American and the Italian dubbed version of the first series of the TV comedy programme Friends (aired for the first time in U.S.A. in 1994, in Italy in 1997). My investigation is obviously based on the scholarly research on the AVT of humour but it also draws insights from various fields (e.g. Film Studies, Corpus Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and Stylistics). More importantly, I have supported my textual and contrastive analysis of the source text (ST) and target text (TT) by means of the Semantic Script Theory of Humour (SSTH, Raskin 1985) and in particular the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH, Attardo and Raskin 1991, Attardo 1994, 2001).
By means of this eclectic approach, I have attempted to explain how the scriptwriters of Friends exploited wordplay, culture-specific allusions and creative metaphors for humorous purposes. Moreover, I have found that they use these devices in order to convey idiosyncratic clues about the six main characters and to enhance the themes of the series (i.e. friendship, interpersonal relationships, work, and sex). My contrastive analysis of the ST and the TT indicates that the Italian translators were sensitive to the role these mechanisms play in the success of the series. Hence, they deployed several translation strategies to retain them, which often resulted in a high level of manipulation of the ST. More importantly, my research demonstrates that such a manipulation produced some interesting differences between the two datasets in terms of humour potential. Finally, it confirms that dubbing can greatly influence the translators’ decision making process. As a matter of fact, this translation mode allows translators to adopt creative solutions that are not applicable in subtitling.
On the grounds of these considerations, this study aims at contributing to this on-going research in the AVT of humour, and dubbing in particular. To this end, I have carried out an in-depth analysis of the original North-American and the Italian dubbed version of the first series of the TV comedy programme Friends (aired for the first time in U.S.A. in 1994, in Italy in 1997). My investigation is obviously based on the scholarly research on the AVT of humour but it also draws insights from various fields (e.g. Film Studies, Corpus Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and Stylistics). More importantly, I have supported my textual and contrastive analysis of the source text (ST) and target text (TT) by means of the Semantic Script Theory of Humour (SSTH, Raskin 1985) and in particular the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH, Attardo and Raskin 1991, Attardo 1994, 2001).
By means of this eclectic approach, I have attempted to explain how the scriptwriters of Friends exploited wordplay, culture-specific allusions and creative metaphors for humorous purposes. Moreover, I have found that they use these devices in order to convey idiosyncratic clues about the six main characters and to enhance the themes of the series (i.e. friendship, interpersonal relationships, work, and sex). My contrastive analysis of the ST and the TT indicates that the Italian translators were sensitive to the role these mechanisms play in the success of the series. Hence, they deployed several translation strategies to retain them, which often resulted in a high level of manipulation of the ST. More importantly, my research demonstrates that such a manipulation produced some interesting differences between the two datasets in terms of humour potential. Finally, it confirms that dubbing can greatly influence the translators’ decision making process. As a matter of fact, this translation mode allows translators to adopt creative solutions that are not applicable in subtitling.
Research Interests:
Punning is an intricate and fascinating phenomenon that complicates further when based on longer textual units, rather than on one or two words (Attardo 1994: 132). In this study I concentrate of the creative exploitation of the canonical... more
Punning is an intricate and fascinating phenomenon that complicates
further when based on longer textual units, rather than on one or
two words (Attardo 1994: 132). In this study I concentrate of the
creative exploitation of the canonical form(s) of Fixed Expressions
and Idioms (hence FEIs, Moon 1998) and their transfer across language
and culture. To this end, I analyse some examples taken from
the first series of the TV comedy programme Friends (1994-2004, M.
Kauffman and D. Crane) and its Italian dubbed version.
The analysis of what I named FEI-based puns is preceded by an
overview on this phenomenon, which is mainly based on Moon
(1998), Veisbergs (1997), Raskin (1985) and Attardo (1994). The
combined use of these studies provides a sound approach to the
investigation of FEI-based puns and their audiovisual translation.
In general, the objective of this work is twofold. On the one hand,
it seeks to understand how FEI-based are exploited in the ST for
humorous purposes, whether they are used according to recurrent
patterns and what other function(s) they have within it. On the other
hand, it aims to show how the Italian translator(s) confronted and
overcame the problems related to the transfer of FEI-based puns at
the lexical and cultural level.
The analysis of the ST reveals that puns based on FEIs function
not only as humour triggers but also as a device for characterisation
and to enhance the themes in Friends. In addition, the translation
strategies applied in dubbing the Italian TT seem to show that the
high level of manipulation of the original text to some extent might
result in shifts in the target audience’s perception of some of the
characters’ idiosyncrasies.
further when based on longer textual units, rather than on one or
two words (Attardo 1994: 132). In this study I concentrate of the
creative exploitation of the canonical form(s) of Fixed Expressions
and Idioms (hence FEIs, Moon 1998) and their transfer across language
and culture. To this end, I analyse some examples taken from
the first series of the TV comedy programme Friends (1994-2004, M.
Kauffman and D. Crane) and its Italian dubbed version.
The analysis of what I named FEI-based puns is preceded by an
overview on this phenomenon, which is mainly based on Moon
(1998), Veisbergs (1997), Raskin (1985) and Attardo (1994). The
combined use of these studies provides a sound approach to the
investigation of FEI-based puns and their audiovisual translation.
In general, the objective of this work is twofold. On the one hand,
it seeks to understand how FEI-based are exploited in the ST for
humorous purposes, whether they are used according to recurrent
patterns and what other function(s) they have within it. On the other
hand, it aims to show how the Italian translator(s) confronted and
overcame the problems related to the transfer of FEI-based puns at
the lexical and cultural level.
The analysis of the ST reveals that puns based on FEIs function
not only as humour triggers but also as a device for characterisation
and to enhance the themes in Friends. In addition, the translation
strategies applied in dubbing the Italian TT seem to show that the
high level of manipulation of the original text to some extent might
result in shifts in the target audience’s perception of some of the
characters’ idiosyncrasies.
Research Interests:
The recent surge of interest in the application of Cognitive Linguistics (CL) theories to humour research has produced a fair amount of literature (Giora 1991, 2001; Coulson 2001, 2003; Brône and Feyaerts 2004; Kyratzis 2003 just to name... more
The recent surge of interest in the application of Cognitive Linguistics (CL) theories to humour research has produced a fair amount of literature (Giora 1991, 2001; Coulson 2001, 2003; Brône and Feyaerts 2004; Kyratzis 2003 just to name a few). The lively debate between some of these CL scholars and Salvatore Attardo, the proponent of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (hence, GTVH), has certainly contributed to the ongoing research in this sense (cf. the 2006 special issue of Humor: International Journal of Humor Research). In particular,
Brône et al. (2006: 217) argue that CL theories can offer a better explanation of the inferential process involved in humour creation and interpretation as opposed to linguistic theories of humour such as GTVH. Although in partial
agreement, Attardo (2006: 356) urges these scholars and in general all those interested in the application of CL theories to humour to develop a precise formulation that can account for the mechanism at the root of this phenomenon.
This study attempts to bring together two influential approaches in CL (Conceptual Metaphor Theory, or CMT, and Blending Theory, or BT) and the GTVH. These theories are used to examine the production of humour via metaphor
(‘metaphor’ is used here as an umbrella term to include phenomena based on cross-domain mapping, be they pure metaphors or similes; cf. Semino 2008: 16–17) in some instances taken from the first series of the North American TV
comedy programme Friends, (M. Kauffman, D. Crane, 1994). This eclectic approach seeks to demonstrate how the scriptwriters exploit metaphors in conversation within the fictional world to convey humour and, at the same time, to reinforce some of the six main character’s specific traits and idiosyncrasies (e.g., Joey is simple minded, Rachel is a spoilt young woman, etc.). CMT can help to understand the underlying conceptual metaphor that given sets of linguistic expressions entail, which are also a sign of our conventional ways of perceiving the world and making sense of it (cf. next section). In contrast, BT can explain how central (i.e. most relevant) inferences are produced while we speak or write in a
given context or situation (cf. Section 3 for a detailed explanation). The relation between metaphor and humour is obviously central to this work as it addresses the question why some metaphors are humorous while others are not. In this regard, the general points of oppositeness and overlapping
postulated by the GTVH for other types of humorous creations hold for humorous metaphors as well. However, the creative and interpreting process seems to vary for this type of humour triggers. As suggested in Attardo (this volume), potentially
humorous metaphors do not seem to resolve the incongruity they imply, thus adding to the effect the text conveys. This incongruous tension can be visualised by means of the BT model that shows how the elements that are part of the
source and target domain are projected into the same space (i.e. the blend).
Brône et al. (2006: 217) argue that CL theories can offer a better explanation of the inferential process involved in humour creation and interpretation as opposed to linguistic theories of humour such as GTVH. Although in partial
agreement, Attardo (2006: 356) urges these scholars and in general all those interested in the application of CL theories to humour to develop a precise formulation that can account for the mechanism at the root of this phenomenon.
This study attempts to bring together two influential approaches in CL (Conceptual Metaphor Theory, or CMT, and Blending Theory, or BT) and the GTVH. These theories are used to examine the production of humour via metaphor
(‘metaphor’ is used here as an umbrella term to include phenomena based on cross-domain mapping, be they pure metaphors or similes; cf. Semino 2008: 16–17) in some instances taken from the first series of the North American TV
comedy programme Friends, (M. Kauffman, D. Crane, 1994). This eclectic approach seeks to demonstrate how the scriptwriters exploit metaphors in conversation within the fictional world to convey humour and, at the same time, to reinforce some of the six main character’s specific traits and idiosyncrasies (e.g., Joey is simple minded, Rachel is a spoilt young woman, etc.). CMT can help to understand the underlying conceptual metaphor that given sets of linguistic expressions entail, which are also a sign of our conventional ways of perceiving the world and making sense of it (cf. next section). In contrast, BT can explain how central (i.e. most relevant) inferences are produced while we speak or write in a
given context or situation (cf. Section 3 for a detailed explanation). The relation between metaphor and humour is obviously central to this work as it addresses the question why some metaphors are humorous while others are not. In this regard, the general points of oppositeness and overlapping
postulated by the GTVH for other types of humorous creations hold for humorous metaphors as well. However, the creative and interpreting process seems to vary for this type of humour triggers. As suggested in Attardo (this volume), potentially
humorous metaphors do not seem to resolve the incongruity they imply, thus adding to the effect the text conveys. This incongruous tension can be visualised by means of the BT model that shows how the elements that are part of the
source and target domain are projected into the same space (i.e. the blend).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This book explores an important aspect of human existence: humor in self-translation, a virtually unexplored area of research in Humour Studies and Translation Studies. Of the select group of international scholars contributing to this... more
This book explores an important aspect of human existence: humor in self-translation, a virtually unexplored area of research in Humour Studies and Translation Studies. Of the select group of international scholars contributing to this volume some examine literary texts from different perspectives (sociological, philosophical, or post-colonial) while others explore texts in more extraneous fields such as standup comedy or language learning. This book sheds light on how humour in self-translation induces thoughts on social issues, challenges stereotypes, contributes to recast individuals in novel forms of identity and facilitates reflections on our own sense of humour. This accessible and engaging volume is of interest to advanced students of Humour Studies and Translation Studies.
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Forthcoming 2020 This volume offers a comprehensive treatment of the way humour translation has been evolving over the last two decades, by focusing on both traditional and new ways of communication. The contributions herein seek to... more
Forthcoming 2020
This volume offers a comprehensive treatment of the way humour translation has been evolving over the last two decades, by focusing on both traditional and new ways of communication. The contributions herein seek to address and debate how today’s globalised media and new technologies are influencing and/or shaping humour translation. Furthermore, they seek to map out future directions for research in this field of inquiry and its practice within a variety of contexts.
This volume offers a comprehensive treatment of the way humour translation has been evolving over the last two decades, by focusing on both traditional and new ways of communication. The contributions herein seek to address and debate how today’s globalised media and new technologies are influencing and/or shaping humour translation. Furthermore, they seek to map out future directions for research in this field of inquiry and its practice within a variety of contexts.
Research Interests:
At Master’s level, students in Translation Studies may choose to complete their course by compiling a dissertation by commentary. Such projects involve detailed discussions of the strategies and procedures that students opt for when... more
At Master’s level, students in Translation Studies may choose to complete their course by compiling a dissertation by commentary. Such projects involve detailed discussions of the strategies and procedures that students opt for when translating a source text of their choice (be it literary, audiovisual, or technical). However, the vast majority of these dissertations by commentary usually remain stored in university libraries. Achieving Consilience: Translation Theories and Practice brings to the fore the theoretical and practical potential of these dissertations by commentary. It demonstrates how theories in Translation Studies can be fruitfully, consciously and systematically applied during the translation practice, thus helping to transcend the received wisdom according to which theorists and practitioners share little common ground. Additionally, the contributors to this volume evince their ability to apply a research-driven approach to their analysis by comparing their work with official translations or other field-related texts. As such, this essay collection will contribute to a better understanding of the translator’s decision-making process, and will offer future students valuable guidelines regarding the procedure normally followed in completing a dissertation by commentary.
Research Interests:
The title of Oliver Double's monograph clearly summarises the purpose of this book. After briefly explaining the personal reasons behind this endeavour, in his introduction Double offers a general overview of the British social and... more
The title of Oliver Double's monograph clearly summarises the purpose of this book. After briefly explaining the personal reasons behind this endeavour, in his introduction Double offers a general overview of the British social and cultural context within which alternative cabaret, or comedy, developed. Double's investigation is based on his long-standing scholarly research on stand-up comedy, the analysis of recorded material held at the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive (BSUCA) as well as interviews with British comedians involved in alternative comedy such as Andy de la Tour, Alexei Sayle, Tony Allen and Pauline Melville.
Research Interests:
The editors of The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, Łukasz Bogucki and Mikołaj Deckert, have put together an impressive number of renowned scholars from a thriving and continuously expanding field of... more
The editors of The Palgrave Handbook of Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility, Łukasz Bogucki and Mikołaj Deckert, have put together an impressive number of renowned scholars from a thriving and continuously expanding field of enquiry.
Research Interests:
Chakhachiro’s monograph deals with irony, probably one of the most intriguing types of humour. In addition, it also aims to discuss its transfer across languages and cultures, which appears equally fascinating. Proposing to compare irony... more
Chakhachiro’s monograph deals with irony, probably one of the most intriguing types of humour. In addition, it also aims to discuss its transfer across languages and cultures, which appears equally fascinating. Proposing to compare irony translation between two such distant languages and cultures as English and Arabic further piques readers’ curiosity.
Considering that it is based on such solid premises, this book could potentially appeal to a broad range of scholars and students in Humour Studies, Translation Studies (TS), Pragmatics, Stylistics and so forth. Unfortunately, it does not meet these expectations, mainly because by now both its theories and data are partly outdated.
Considering that it is based on such solid premises, this book could potentially appeal to a broad range of scholars and students in Humour Studies, Translation Studies (TS), Pragmatics, Stylistics and so forth. Unfortunately, it does not meet these expectations, mainly because by now both its theories and data are partly outdated.
Research Interests:
Come si evince dal titolo dell'opera, Massih Zekavat si prefigge di esplorare il modo in cui si costruiscono diversi tipi di identità attraverso la satira e l'umorismo. Un obiettivo di particolare interesse che si sviluppa attraverso un... more
Come si evince dal titolo dell'opera, Massih Zekavat si prefigge di esplorare il modo in cui si costruiscono diversi tipi di identità attraverso la satira e l'umorismo. Un obiettivo di particolare interesse che si sviluppa attraverso un capitolo introduttivo, tre di impianto prettamente teorico e quattro che si concentrano rispettivamente sulla quesitone dell'identità razziale ed etnica, quella nazionale, quella religiosa e quella di genere. Il capitolo conclusivo ripercorre i punti principali della discussione e conferma l'importanza di comprendere come la satira e l'umorismo contribuiscano a formare l'idea di identità sulla base dei principi di opposizione e incongruità su cui gran parte degli studi sull'umorismo oggigiorno si fondano. Nel dettaglio, il primo capito introduce il lavoro, presentando le ragioni che muovono l'autore e con una fondamentale precisazione: "l'alterità è il mezzo attraverso il quale stimolare la comprensione del sé" (p. 16; mia traduzione). La discussione infatti parte dal concetto hegeliano della costruzione dell'identità in relazione alla presa di coscienza del sé in rapporto all'altro. Il filosofo utilizza l'esempio della relazione signore-servo per spiegare il confronto col l'altro in termini di lotta e opposizione, ma anche di necessaria interdipendenza. Per ciò che concerne il ruolo della lingua nella costruzione dell'identità Inoltre, Zekavat condanna l'atteggiamento elitario che, secondo lui, ha sempre contraddistinto l'approccio destrutturalista, poiché esso mal si adatta allo studio della satira che, per contro, ha sempre avuto lo scopo di curare (o condannare, deridendoli) i mali della società (p. 20). Pertanto, l'autore si rifà alle riflessioni di Wittgenstein ed Edwards e, in particolare, di Deleuze e Guattari (1972-1980) i quali credono che l'idea che l'identità si sviluppi attraverso una serie di relazioni non gerarchicamente definite tra l'individuo e l'altro (pensiero rizomatico; p. 22-23). Da un punto di vista psicologico, Zekavat discute la distinzione tripartitica di Freud in ego, id e super-ego per spiegare la creazione del sé e della sua identità che, sebbene individuale, è anche investita di una componente sociale (come già postulato da Hegel ed Edwards), poiché necessariamente intersoggettiva, che tuttavia si dibatte tra il desiderio del singolo e la sua regolazione sociale. Inoltre, da un punto di vista sociologico, la definizione e percezione del sé e del gruppo porta all'autodeterminazione e, se un gruppo è percepito in modo negativo rispetto a un altro, l'individuo cercherà di migliore il gruppo di apparenza (p. 27). I parametri su cui la comparazione tra
Research Interests:
Salvatore Attardo's Handbook of Language and Humor is part of the Routledge series of handbooks devoted to topics in Linguistics. As Attardo himself acknowledges in his introduction, this handbook could not have been possible three... more
Salvatore Attardo's Handbook of Language and Humor is part of the Routledge series of handbooks devoted to topics in Linguistics. As Attardo himself acknowledges in his introduction, this handbook could not have been possible three decades ago, when he started researching humor (p. 3). However, the turn of the century has demonstrated that times are now ripe for this comprehensive collection devoted to such a multifaceted and overarching phenomenon as humor.
Research Interests:
Tessa Dwyer’s Speaking in Subtitles. Revaluing Screen Translation concentrates on error and failure (or “mistranslation” and “errancy,” in her terminology) in Audiovisual Translation (AVT) by placing particular emphasis on subtitling,... more
Tessa Dwyer’s Speaking in Subtitles. Revaluing Screen Translation concentrates on error and failure (or “mistranslation” and “errancy,” in her terminology) in Audiovisual Translation (AVT) by placing particular emphasis on subtitling, although dubbing and other modes of AVT are also discussed.
Research Interests:
As the title and introduction explain, Sophie Quirk’s monograph sets out to investigate the reasons and ways comedians manipulate and influence their audience. The term manipulation, however, should be considered apart from its often... more
As the title and introduction explain, Sophie Quirk’s monograph sets out to investigate the reasons and ways comedians manipulate and influence their audience. The term manipulation, however, should be considered apart from its often negative connotations and should be interpreted as the comedian’s attempt to skilfully communicate with their audience, elicit laughter, and, most importantly in this case, influence their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour (see p. 2). With these premises, Quirk explores instances of stand-up comedy including some interaction between mainly well-known British comedians (e.g. Eddie Izzard, Stewart Lee, Josie Long) and their audience. She also interviews some of these performers so as to gain a first-hand understanding of the comedians’ performing experience.
Research Interests:
Review
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Review of Chiaro, D. (ed.) (2010) Volume 2
Research Interests:
Book review
Research Interests:
Book review
Research Interests:
Since a number of prospective authors asked for an extension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we thought to extend the deadline to everyone else who may still be interested in contributing to this issue. Please see the updated timeline... more
Since a number of prospective authors asked for an extension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we thought to extend the deadline to everyone else who may still be interested in contributing to this issue. Please see the updated timeline below.
The volume aims to explore the self-translation of humour. Generally speaking, self-translation is described as a type of translation in which the translators happen to be the same people as the authors of the source text. It represents an atypical case which, as such, was somewhat neglected by Translation Studies scholars. More recently, however, self-translation has attracted a good deal of attention, as demonstrated by Gentes’s (2020) Call for Papers
Tentative title: Humour and Self-Translation
Editors: Margherita Dore and Giacinto Palmieri
The volume aims to explore the self-translation of humour. Generally speaking, self-translation is described as a type of translation in which the translators happen to be the same people as the authors of the source text. It represents an atypical case which, as such, was somewhat neglected by Translation Studies scholars. More recently, however, self-translation has attracted a good deal of attention, as demonstrated by Gentes’s (2020) 212-page bibliography on this topic. Notwithstanding this, the self-translation of humour appears to be a remarkable blind spot. A text search for the word “humour” in the aforementioned bibliography returns only one match (Noonan 2013), searching for “humor” returns one more (Palmieri 2017a), while “comedy” returns three (Palmieri 2017a; Palmieri 2017b; Sebellin 2009; Palmieri 2018) and “comic” returns only one (Cohn 1961).
Another aspect that makes the research gap on humour self-translation so remarkable is that the translation of humour in general has also been the object of much attention, not least because it offers a wide range of challenges, spanning from dealing with wordplay to the importance of culture-specific references (Chiaro 1992, 2005; Zabalbeascoa 1996; Attardo 2002; Dore 2019). Moreover, the success or failure in humour translation is often constrained by the translation mode used (cf. for instance Zabalbascoa 1994; Dore 2019; Dore, forthcoming). Interestingly, many authors who have written on self-translation (e.g. Fitch 1988; Eco 2013) have stressed that self-translators enjoy a level of freedom greater than that allowed to allographic translators. Similarly, the challenging nature of humour translation makes the case of self-translation the more interesting and intriguing, as it often requires exercising great freedom in adapting the humours content to the target audience (as discussed, with reference to stand-up comedy, in Palmieri 2018). Therefore, observing specific cases of humour self-translation is likely to unveil specific characteristics of this process in different context (cf. e.g. Palmieri 2018) and of humour translation in general.
It is envisaged that the exploration of this fascinating phenomenon will further contribute to enhance the ongoing debate on the (un)translatability of humour (Delabastita 1996; 1997; Chiaro 2000; Dore 2019). Since the self-translation of humour can potentially cover several fields of enquire and application, as well as genres, an edited book can become a particularly promising tool. With these premises in mind, we would like to launch a Call for Papers to encourage scholars to give a contribution to mapping this problem space, by identifying instances of humour self-translation in their specific areas of competence, both in terms of language(s) and medium/ text type.
The papers will be peer-reviewed. Authors will be asked to send their contributions to both Margherita Dore (margherita.dore@uniroma1.it) and Giacinto Palmieri (g.palmieri@londonmet.ac.uk).
Timeline
NEW DEADLINE 15 July 2020 – Abstracts (300 words)
Notification of acceptance: 31/07/2020
End of January 2021 – Manuscripts of chapters (up to 8,000 words)
End of March 2021 – Feedback from editors/external readers
End of May 2021 – Final manuscripts
Length of contributions: 8.000 words
Please use British spelling.
Refernces
Attardo, Salvatore (2002) ‘Translation and Humour: An Approach Based on the General Theory of Verbal Humour’, The Translator 8(2): 173-194.
Chiaro, Delia (1992) The Language of Jokes. Analysing Verbal Play, London and New York, Routledge.
Chiaro, Delia (2000) ‘"Servizio completo"? On the (un)translatability of puns on screen’. In Bollettieri Bosinelli, R. M., Heiss, C., Soffritti, M. and Bernardini, S. (eds.) La traduzione multimediale: Quale traduzione per quale testo?, Bologna: CLUEB, 27-
42.
Chiaro, Delia (2004) ‘Investigating the perception of translated Verbally Expressed Humour on Italian TV’, ESP Across Cultures, 1: 35-52.
Chiaro, Delia (2005) ‘Foreword: Verbally Expressed Humour and Translation: An overview of a neglected field’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 18 (2): 135–145.
Cohn, Ruby (1961) ‘Samuel Beckett Self–Translator’, PMLA 76: 613–621.
Delabastita, Dirk (1996) ‘Introduction’, The Translator 2(2): 127-139.
Delabastita, Dirk (1997) ‘Introduction’. In D. Delabastita (ed.) Traductio: Essays on Punning and Translation. Special Issue of Target 12(1):161-166.
Dore, Margherita (2019) Humour in Audiovisual Translation. Theories and Applications. New York and London: Routledge.
Dore, Margherita (Forthcoming, ed.) Humour Translation in the Age of Multimedia. New York and London: Routledge.
Eco, Umberto (2013) ‘Come se si scrivessero due libri diversi [As if you wrote two different books]’ In A. Ceccherelli, G. E. Imposti, & M. Perotto (eds.), Autotraduzione e riscrittura [Self-translation and rewriting], Bologna: Bononia University Press, 25–30.
Fitch, Brian T. (1988) Beckett and Babel: an investigation into the status of the bilingual work. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Gentes, Eva (2020) Bibliography: autotraduzione/autotraducción/self-translation. URL https://app.box.com/s/iux0u31earrvgi5n3l32jev65i5a593e
Noonan, Will. 2013. ‘Self-translation, Self-reflection, Self-derision: Samuel Beckett’s Bilingual Humour’. In A. Cordingley (ed.), Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture. London: Continuum, 159–176
Palmieri, Giacinto (2017a) ‘Oral self-translation of stand-up comedy and its (mental) text: a theoretical model”. Humor. International journal of humor studies, 30/2, 193–210. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2016-0092
Palmieri, Giacinto (2017b). “Self-translation and orality: the case of stand-up comedy”. Perspectives. Studies in translation theory and practice, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2017.1351457
Palmieri, Giacinto (2018) Oral self-translation of stand-up comedy: from the mental text to performance and interaction. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Surrey.
Sebellin, Rossana M. (2009) ‘Bilingualism and Bi-textuality: Samuel Beckett’s Double Texts’. In D. Guardamagna and R. M. Sebellin (eds.), The Tragic Comedy of Samuel Beckett “Beckett in Rome” 17–19 April 2008. Università degli Studi di Roma. Editori Laterza, 39–56.
Zabalbeascoa, Patrick (1994) ‘Factors in dubbing television comedy’, Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 2 (1): 89-99.
The volume aims to explore the self-translation of humour. Generally speaking, self-translation is described as a type of translation in which the translators happen to be the same people as the authors of the source text. It represents an atypical case which, as such, was somewhat neglected by Translation Studies scholars. More recently, however, self-translation has attracted a good deal of attention, as demonstrated by Gentes’s (2020) Call for Papers
Tentative title: Humour and Self-Translation
Editors: Margherita Dore and Giacinto Palmieri
The volume aims to explore the self-translation of humour. Generally speaking, self-translation is described as a type of translation in which the translators happen to be the same people as the authors of the source text. It represents an atypical case which, as such, was somewhat neglected by Translation Studies scholars. More recently, however, self-translation has attracted a good deal of attention, as demonstrated by Gentes’s (2020) 212-page bibliography on this topic. Notwithstanding this, the self-translation of humour appears to be a remarkable blind spot. A text search for the word “humour” in the aforementioned bibliography returns only one match (Noonan 2013), searching for “humor” returns one more (Palmieri 2017a), while “comedy” returns three (Palmieri 2017a; Palmieri 2017b; Sebellin 2009; Palmieri 2018) and “comic” returns only one (Cohn 1961).
Another aspect that makes the research gap on humour self-translation so remarkable is that the translation of humour in general has also been the object of much attention, not least because it offers a wide range of challenges, spanning from dealing with wordplay to the importance of culture-specific references (Chiaro 1992, 2005; Zabalbeascoa 1996; Attardo 2002; Dore 2019). Moreover, the success or failure in humour translation is often constrained by the translation mode used (cf. for instance Zabalbascoa 1994; Dore 2019; Dore, forthcoming). Interestingly, many authors who have written on self-translation (e.g. Fitch 1988; Eco 2013) have stressed that self-translators enjoy a level of freedom greater than that allowed to allographic translators. Similarly, the challenging nature of humour translation makes the case of self-translation the more interesting and intriguing, as it often requires exercising great freedom in adapting the humours content to the target audience (as discussed, with reference to stand-up comedy, in Palmieri 2018). Therefore, observing specific cases of humour self-translation is likely to unveil specific characteristics of this process in different context (cf. e.g. Palmieri 2018) and of humour translation in general.
It is envisaged that the exploration of this fascinating phenomenon will further contribute to enhance the ongoing debate on the (un)translatability of humour (Delabastita 1996; 1997; Chiaro 2000; Dore 2019). Since the self-translation of humour can potentially cover several fields of enquire and application, as well as genres, an edited book can become a particularly promising tool. With these premises in mind, we would like to launch a Call for Papers to encourage scholars to give a contribution to mapping this problem space, by identifying instances of humour self-translation in their specific areas of competence, both in terms of language(s) and medium/ text type.
The papers will be peer-reviewed. Authors will be asked to send their contributions to both Margherita Dore (margherita.dore@uniroma1.it) and Giacinto Palmieri (g.palmieri@londonmet.ac.uk).
Timeline
NEW DEADLINE 15 July 2020 – Abstracts (300 words)
Notification of acceptance: 31/07/2020
End of January 2021 – Manuscripts of chapters (up to 8,000 words)
End of March 2021 – Feedback from editors/external readers
End of May 2021 – Final manuscripts
Length of contributions: 8.000 words
Please use British spelling.
Refernces
Attardo, Salvatore (2002) ‘Translation and Humour: An Approach Based on the General Theory of Verbal Humour’, The Translator 8(2): 173-194.
Chiaro, Delia (1992) The Language of Jokes. Analysing Verbal Play, London and New York, Routledge.
Chiaro, Delia (2000) ‘"Servizio completo"? On the (un)translatability of puns on screen’. In Bollettieri Bosinelli, R. M., Heiss, C., Soffritti, M. and Bernardini, S. (eds.) La traduzione multimediale: Quale traduzione per quale testo?, Bologna: CLUEB, 27-
42.
Chiaro, Delia (2004) ‘Investigating the perception of translated Verbally Expressed Humour on Italian TV’, ESP Across Cultures, 1: 35-52.
Chiaro, Delia (2005) ‘Foreword: Verbally Expressed Humour and Translation: An overview of a neglected field’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 18 (2): 135–145.
Cohn, Ruby (1961) ‘Samuel Beckett Self–Translator’, PMLA 76: 613–621.
Delabastita, Dirk (1996) ‘Introduction’, The Translator 2(2): 127-139.
Delabastita, Dirk (1997) ‘Introduction’. In D. Delabastita (ed.) Traductio: Essays on Punning and Translation. Special Issue of Target 12(1):161-166.
Dore, Margherita (2019) Humour in Audiovisual Translation. Theories and Applications. New York and London: Routledge.
Dore, Margherita (Forthcoming, ed.) Humour Translation in the Age of Multimedia. New York and London: Routledge.
Eco, Umberto (2013) ‘Come se si scrivessero due libri diversi [As if you wrote two different books]’ In A. Ceccherelli, G. E. Imposti, & M. Perotto (eds.), Autotraduzione e riscrittura [Self-translation and rewriting], Bologna: Bononia University Press, 25–30.
Fitch, Brian T. (1988) Beckett and Babel: an investigation into the status of the bilingual work. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Gentes, Eva (2020) Bibliography: autotraduzione/autotraducción/self-translation. URL https://app.box.com/s/iux0u31earrvgi5n3l32jev65i5a593e
Noonan, Will. 2013. ‘Self-translation, Self-reflection, Self-derision: Samuel Beckett’s Bilingual Humour’. In A. Cordingley (ed.), Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture. London: Continuum, 159–176
Palmieri, Giacinto (2017a) ‘Oral self-translation of stand-up comedy and its (mental) text: a theoretical model”. Humor. International journal of humor studies, 30/2, 193–210. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2016-0092
Palmieri, Giacinto (2017b). “Self-translation and orality: the case of stand-up comedy”. Perspectives. Studies in translation theory and practice, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2017.1351457
Palmieri, Giacinto (2018) Oral self-translation of stand-up comedy: from the mental text to performance and interaction. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Surrey.
Sebellin, Rossana M. (2009) ‘Bilingualism and Bi-textuality: Samuel Beckett’s Double Texts’. In D. Guardamagna and R. M. Sebellin (eds.), The Tragic Comedy of Samuel Beckett “Beckett in Rome” 17–19 April 2008. Università degli Studi di Roma. Editori Laterza, 39–56.
Zabalbeascoa, Patrick (1994) ‘Factors in dubbing television comedy’, Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 2 (1): 89-99.
Research Interests:
Guest Editor: Dr. Margherita Dore University of Rome “La Sapienza” margherita.dore@uniroma1.it People who move to other countries may do so for different reasons: some may like to improve the languages they know or experience new... more
Guest Editor: Dr. Margherita Dore
University of Rome “La Sapienza”
margherita.dore@uniroma1.it
People who move to other countries may do so for different reasons: some may like to improve the languages they know or experience new cultures, others strive for better work opportunities to improve their lives. Be they from developed or developing countries, these people can lead to the creation of more dynamic societies that reflect today’s globalised world. Multi-ethnic communities are becoming increasingly common, and their members often possess a bilingual (or even trilingual) background. They use code-switching and code-mixing to express and assert their bicultural identity (Monti 2016: 69). It is not surprising, therefore, that fictional representations of multilingualism in film, television and novels, which may involve not two but three or more languages, attempt to capture these phenomena, and “it matters relatively little in itself whether it is ‘national’, ‘dead’ or ‘artificial’ languages, slang, dialects, sociolects, or idiolects, that make up the multilingual sequences. What matters more is their textual inter-play” (Delabastita & Grutman 2005: 16; emphasis added). This multilingual inter-play can be used to convey conflict, character configuration, spatial opposition, mimesis, and suspense management. Most importantly, interlingual misunderstandings and mistranslations can be used for comic effect by bringing about what humour theorists would call an incongruity or conflict between different cognitive schemes (ibid 18-24).
Many scholars in Translation Studies have focused their attention on how heterolingual texts are translated (e.g. Delabastita 2002, Grutman 2006, Bleichenbacher 2008), but much more can certainly be done (Meylaerts 2006), especially when these fictional texts exploit multilingualism for humorous purposes (cf. Corrius & Zabalbeascoa 2011 and Zabalbeascoa & Voellmer 2014 on the translation of the third language in audiovisual texts and Dore forthcoming on the functional manipulation of audiovisual texts). As a matter of fact, in today’s hyper-politically correct world, the development of a heightened sensitivity may pose a series of challenges regarding how multilingual humour is created, processed and dealt with in translation. Hence, the present thematic issue aims to bring the following issues to the fore: How is multilingual humour created? What are the linguistic and cultural implications involved in creating multilingual humorous texts? What are the challenges multilingual humour poses to translators? Can the audience’s (supposed) perception and interpretation of these works influence their translation? Can any theoretical and methodological lessons be learnt from the investigation of these practices? If so, can such lessons be systematically conceptualised to enhance the translation of multilingual humorous texts?
Contributions are sought concerning, but not limited to, issues such as:
• Identity and social issues in multilingual humour and translation
• Language- and culture-bound challenges in translating multilingual humour
• Audiences’ perception and appreciation of multilingual humour and its translation
• Functional manipulation in translated multilingual texts
Time frame:
Abstract submission (margherita.dore@uniroma1.it): March 30th, 2018
Notification of acceptance by: April 20th, 2018
Article deadline and start of peer-reviewing: September 30th, 2018
References
Bleichenbacher, L. (2008) Multilingualism in the Movies. Hollywood Characters and their Language Choices. Tübingen: Francke.
Corrius, M. & Zabalbeascoa, P. (2011). “Language variation in source texts and their translations: The case of L3 in film translation”. Target, 23(1), 113–130.
Delabastita, D. (2002) “A Great Feast of Languages”, The Translator 8:2. 303–340.
Delabastita, D. & Grutman, R. (2005) “Introduction: fictional representations of multilingualism and translation,” in D. Delabastita and R. Grutman (eds.), “Fictionalising translation and multilingualism,” Linguistica Antverpiensia 4: 11–34.
Dore, M. (forthcoming) ‘Revoicing Otherness and Stereotypes via Dialects and Accents in Animated Films’, InTralinea.
Grutman, Rainier (2006), “Refraction and recognition. Literary multilingualism in translation”, his/her language? An introduction”. Target 18:1. 1–15.
Meylaerts, R. (2006) “Heterolingualism in/and translation. How legitimate are the Other and Target 18:1. 17–47.
Zabalbeascoa, P. & Voellmer, E. (2014). “Accounting for Multilingual Films in Translation Studies: Intratextual Translation in Dubbing”, in D. Abend-David (Ed.), Media and translation: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 25–52). London: Continuum.
University of Rome “La Sapienza”
margherita.dore@uniroma1.it
People who move to other countries may do so for different reasons: some may like to improve the languages they know or experience new cultures, others strive for better work opportunities to improve their lives. Be they from developed or developing countries, these people can lead to the creation of more dynamic societies that reflect today’s globalised world. Multi-ethnic communities are becoming increasingly common, and their members often possess a bilingual (or even trilingual) background. They use code-switching and code-mixing to express and assert their bicultural identity (Monti 2016: 69). It is not surprising, therefore, that fictional representations of multilingualism in film, television and novels, which may involve not two but three or more languages, attempt to capture these phenomena, and “it matters relatively little in itself whether it is ‘national’, ‘dead’ or ‘artificial’ languages, slang, dialects, sociolects, or idiolects, that make up the multilingual sequences. What matters more is their textual inter-play” (Delabastita & Grutman 2005: 16; emphasis added). This multilingual inter-play can be used to convey conflict, character configuration, spatial opposition, mimesis, and suspense management. Most importantly, interlingual misunderstandings and mistranslations can be used for comic effect by bringing about what humour theorists would call an incongruity or conflict between different cognitive schemes (ibid 18-24).
Many scholars in Translation Studies have focused their attention on how heterolingual texts are translated (e.g. Delabastita 2002, Grutman 2006, Bleichenbacher 2008), but much more can certainly be done (Meylaerts 2006), especially when these fictional texts exploit multilingualism for humorous purposes (cf. Corrius & Zabalbeascoa 2011 and Zabalbeascoa & Voellmer 2014 on the translation of the third language in audiovisual texts and Dore forthcoming on the functional manipulation of audiovisual texts). As a matter of fact, in today’s hyper-politically correct world, the development of a heightened sensitivity may pose a series of challenges regarding how multilingual humour is created, processed and dealt with in translation. Hence, the present thematic issue aims to bring the following issues to the fore: How is multilingual humour created? What are the linguistic and cultural implications involved in creating multilingual humorous texts? What are the challenges multilingual humour poses to translators? Can the audience’s (supposed) perception and interpretation of these works influence their translation? Can any theoretical and methodological lessons be learnt from the investigation of these practices? If so, can such lessons be systematically conceptualised to enhance the translation of multilingual humorous texts?
Contributions are sought concerning, but not limited to, issues such as:
• Identity and social issues in multilingual humour and translation
• Language- and culture-bound challenges in translating multilingual humour
• Audiences’ perception and appreciation of multilingual humour and its translation
• Functional manipulation in translated multilingual texts
Time frame:
Abstract submission (margherita.dore@uniroma1.it): March 30th, 2018
Notification of acceptance by: April 20th, 2018
Article deadline and start of peer-reviewing: September 30th, 2018
References
Bleichenbacher, L. (2008) Multilingualism in the Movies. Hollywood Characters and their Language Choices. Tübingen: Francke.
Corrius, M. & Zabalbeascoa, P. (2011). “Language variation in source texts and their translations: The case of L3 in film translation”. Target, 23(1), 113–130.
Delabastita, D. (2002) “A Great Feast of Languages”, The Translator 8:2. 303–340.
Delabastita, D. & Grutman, R. (2005) “Introduction: fictional representations of multilingualism and translation,” in D. Delabastita and R. Grutman (eds.), “Fictionalising translation and multilingualism,” Linguistica Antverpiensia 4: 11–34.
Dore, M. (forthcoming) ‘Revoicing Otherness and Stereotypes via Dialects and Accents in Animated Films’, InTralinea.
Grutman, Rainier (2006), “Refraction and recognition. Literary multilingualism in translation”, his/her language? An introduction”. Target 18:1. 1–15.
Meylaerts, R. (2006) “Heterolingualism in/and translation. How legitimate are the Other and Target 18:1. 17–47.
Zabalbeascoa, P. & Voellmer, E. (2014). “Accounting for Multilingual Films in Translation Studies: Intratextual Translation in Dubbing”, in D. Abend-David (Ed.), Media and translation: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 25–52). London: Continuum.
Research Interests:
EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR LITERARY AND TECHNICAL TRANSLATION CONTRIBUTIONS: 01/03/2015
CfP aiming to collect contributions based sound Master by Translation Commentary Projects.
CfP aiming to collect contributions based sound Master by Translation Commentary Projects.