| Abstract [eng] |
The successful translation of humour has been one of the most challenging, as well as the most targeted objectives within translation studies. In the case of audiovisual translation and family-friendly films, particularly animated films aimed at a younger audience, the task of effectively transferring humour between languages becomes imperative due to the specific cognitive features of children, including shorter attention spans. Taking into account these circumstances, the aim of the final degree project is to analyse verbally expressed humour elements and their translation to Lithuanian in selected animated films. The project contains an overview of the theoretical approaches regarding audiovisual translation, particularly dubbing, and verbal humour, as well as an analysis of selected examples containing verbally expressed humour (cultural references and wordplay) in animated films. The analysis of cultural references is based on translation strategies for extralinguistic cultural references by Jan Pedersen: generalisation, direct translation, official equivalent, substitution, specification, retention, and omission, as well as an additional strategy of insertion. The analysis of wordplay, on the other hand, is carried out by employing a modified taxonomy for the translation of puns by Delabastita: wordplay to wordplay, wordplay to zero, wordplay ST to wordplay TT, non-wordplay to wordplay, zero to wordplay, wordplay to non-wordplay, and editorial techniques. The results of the analysis of cultural references showed that the translation strategies were Retention and Substitution. With Retention, certain transcultural references familiar to the Lithuanian audience were retained to increase humourousness, while monocultural references may have been retained due to the necessity to adhere to information of the visual channel, or the cultural context of the film. In terms of the use of Substitution, cultural references were replaced with a cultural reference of the target language or with a different rhetorical device. The strategy of substitution, along with insertion, proved to be particularly effective in terms of humour retention. The remaining strategies were employed significantly less during the translation of selected examples containing cultural references, with the strategies of Direct Translation, Official Equivalent, Insertion and Omission among the least employed. Considering the analysis of the translation of wordplay, the most frequent translation strategy employed was Wordplay to Non-Wordplay, followed closely by Wordplay to Wordplay. In the case of the former, wordplay-based humour was replaced with a non-wordplay utterance, potentially due to linguistic differences between English and Lithuanian, as well as technical constraints imposed by the mode of dubbing. Wordplay to Wordplay strategy was employed to replace wordplay with different wordplay in the target language or a different rhetorical device. This strategy, along with the strategies of Zero to Wordplay and Non-Wordplay to Wordplay proved most effective in terms of humour retention as, rather than retaining or transferring wordplay originally present, a different type of wordplay would be inserted that would be more humourous to the target Lithuanian audience. However, the latter two strategies were among the least employed for the translation of selected examples, potentially also pointing towards constraints imposed by dubbing or by linguistic differences. |
