Traduction et Langues

Humor in The Age of The Internet: The Case of Transmedial Humor

2024-10-16T15:08:56+00:00

The paper discusses the changes in humor that have occurred since the advent of the internet, in the past quarter of a century. The cognitive mechanisms that produce humor have not changed. However, since 2000, roughly when the Internet 2.0 (social web) is said to have started, there have been some minor changes at the level of slang, and especially the introduction of emojis, emoticons, and emotes. At the discursive level, the introduction of large group conversations (polylogues) is a major difference. Internet humor tends to be short. Probably the most significant innovation of humor since 2000 is the introduction of memes (“image macros” i.e., images plus text) and meme cycles (i.e., groups of memes that are thematically or formally related). Another interesting phenomenon is the blurring of the distinction between online satirical texts and fake media, to the point that it is sometimes hard to distinguish between parodies, actual news stories, and constructed stories (fake news). This has contributed in part to the widespread use of humor as a cover to spread white suprematist or neonazi propaganda. Another significant change is the advent of the participatory culture of social media, where the users (the audience of traditional media) become prod- users (i.e., they produce the media themselves), taking advantage of the affordances of the media. Yet another change is the blending of mirth and embarrassment, two emotions that were considered incompatible until “cringe humor” became popular in internet humor. In particular, the paper focuses on transmedial humor. Humor is found to be a transmedial constant, however the inter semiotic translation process required to transfer the text from one modality to another is found to affect in small but not indifferent ways the humor itself.

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Resumen

Questo articolo discute i cambiamenti dall’avvento della rete (internet), a partire dal 2000. I meccanismi cognitivi dell’umorismo non sono cambiati, ma ci sono stati alcuni cambiamenti nello slang, e l’introduzione di emoji, emotes, ed emoticons. Al livello de discorso, si nota l’avvento di conversazioni tra gruppi larghi. I testi comici tendono alla brevità. La maggiore novità è stata l’avvento dei memes (“image macros”) che consistono di immagini spesso con testo sovrapposto e dei cicli di meme, cioè gruppi di meme connessi tematicamente o formalmente. Altro fenomeno interessante è la perdita di distinzioni tra le notizie fasulle (fake news) e la satira, al punto che a volte è difficile distinguere tra di loro. Questo ha contribuito parzialmente all’uso di materiale comico da parte di gruppi neonazisti e di estremisti della destra per celare e diffondere la loro propaganda. Un altro cambiamento è l’avvento della cultura participatoria su internet (social media) in cui i consumatori di media ne diventano produttori, utilizzando appieno le “affordance” dei media. Un altro cambiamento ancora è la commistione dell’allegria e dell’imbarazzo, due emozioni che erano considerate incompatibili, prima dell’avvento del “cringe humor.” L’articolo riconcentra particolarmente sulla transmedialità. Il comico è una constante transmediale, tuttavia la traduzione intersemiotica necessaria a trasferire il testo da un medium a un altro influenza in maniera minore ma non indifferente il comico stesso.

Parole chiave: Transmedia ; Umorismo ; Traduzione intersemiotica ; Internet; Memes

Strange Ways of Laugh: Lo humor transculturale nelle metamorfosi del genere Western

2024-10-16T15:09:23+00:00

Strange Ways of Laugh: Transcultural humor in the matamorphosis of the Western genre
This paper focuses on laugh and the evolution of its representation in classical and post-classical Western movies. It deals with film chronology, mythology, and cultural heritage, the impact of migration and migrant cultures on the raising of the American way of laughing, and the startup of a new kind of transcultural and hybrid humor building, introduced and successfully screened by the Italian authors of the so-called Spaghetti-Western set and mostly filmed in Spain, and, later on, by the international authors of the so-called Gay Western. Spaghetti and Gay Western movies strongly reshape, stress, and exploit gender and macho stereotypes, highlighting hidden aspects of the classical genre they are reshaping. The methodology is comparative and cross-cultural (dealing with film history and film criticism; translation studies; movie industry & production; ancient mythology; with American and European studies and cultural studies). The results clearly highlight what happened to laughing men (and women) and why it happened the way it happened all along the Western movie history. It has also been revealed that the humorous and surreal-surrealist effect of the late Western genre is often linked to the revival of a series of countercultural stereotypes about Mexico, depicted since the Mexican Revolution as a land of transgression and escape, and associated with an imaginary of altered perceptions, influenced by plant drugs and alcohol. Looking back from the many comedic, caricatured, and paradoxical excesses of this diverse series of tributes and reincarnations, it is perhaps easier to reassess the true extent of the heroicomic and humorous potential of the Western genre, amplified, reinvented, revitalized, and reintroduced into circulation by the spaghetti Western and its clichés. Many recent authors and moviemakers. like Eastwood, Tarantino, Rodriguez, Coen Brothers, and others, revisited the postmodern tradition of the new Western and its heroicomic legacy.

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Abstract

Il presente studio si occupa della risata e delle sue rappresentazioni nei film Western del periodo classico e moderno. Vengono affrontate, in quest'ottica, diverse e significative questioni di cronologia e di mitologia, analizzate specialmente dal punto di vista dell'impatto che il contatto tra culture diverse ha avuto nella nascita e nello sviluppo dell'identità culturale americana e in particolare nella formazione composita del senso dell'umorismo americano, declinato in rapporto ai diversi spazi la cui conquista e colonizzazione ha caratterizzato la formazione della nazione, lungo il continuum tra discriminazione razziale e integrazione. I territori di frontiera, la guerra civile e i confini con il Messico hanno vertebrato e segmentato un immaginario polarizzato. Tale immaginario è stato rivisitato e ricreato da tutti i generi del cinema americano, e in particolare dal Western, che, più di altri, ha avuto fortuna anche in Europa. In questa chiave ha svolto un ruolo decisivo l'evoluzione umoristica ed eroicomica del genere tra gli autori di western all'italiana, che hanno girato i loro film in Spagna, e, successivamente, anche tra gli autori di omo-western, che hanno reso del tutto esplicita la tensione omoerotica tipica del genere. Tutte queste trasformazioni hanno valorizzato molto il potenziale umoristico correlato ad un uso non innocente e consapevole dei clichés sessisti, sia sfruttandoli direttamente che mettendoli in caricatura. La metodologia di analisi seguita per questo lavoro è comparativa e transculturale e si avvale di rimandi alla storia del cinema e della sua industria, alla storia della traduzione, alla critica cinematografica, alla mitologia classica, agli studi culturali e al confronto tra i diversi codici dellumorismo tipici civiltà americana e di quella europea. Le conclusioni mettono in luce di che cosa ridono e come lo fanno gli uomini e le donne del West quando la loro risata viene rappresentata sullo schermo, diventando un elemento capace si accompagnare e caratterizzare l'evoluzione storica dei genere Western e delle sue convenzioni.

Parole chiave: Film western; Tradurre l'umorismo; Spaghetti Western; Gay Western; Divinità che ridono;
I duri non ridono

Tensiones productivas entre el humor y la traducción

2024-10-03T13:03:06+00:00

Productive Tensions in the Translation of Humor: Theoretical insights and practical challenges

The overlap between translation and humor has often been controversial at both theoretical and practical levels. For this purpose, a critical perspective was adopted to approach these overlaps between the two domains and their respective theoretical models. This paper explores the intellectual and professional challenges posed by the common ground between translation studies and practices compared to humor studies and practices, as a development of a prior publication that has been highly influential over the years, Zabalbeascoa (2005). This study aims to highlight the lines of demarcation between translation practices and humor production as a social phenomenon within the framework of textual communication. It reflects the impact of social factors (social dynamics, biases, and traditions) on translation and humor. To this end, the paper classifies translation theories according to the degree to which they are sensitive to or able to account for humor in source texts and their translations, thus revisiting the main theories (including Vermeer, Toury, Lefevere, Delabstita, Attardo) in the ‘new’ light of how they deal with humor. The paper also includes a proposal for the ideal conditions for humor translation, including translator competencies, translation criteria, distribution, reception, and other social factors. This paper provides a new list of common factors between translation and humor practices pertaining to social bias and acceptance.

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Resumen

En este artículo se esbozan los retos intelectuales y profesionales que plantean los factores compartidos entre la teorización y la práctica de la traducción en relación con la teorización y la práctica del humor, como evolución de una publicación anterior que ha tenido una gran influencia a lo largo de los años, a saber, Zabalbeascoa, P. «Humor and translation—an interdiscipline», publicado en Humor Journal, vol. 18, nº 2. 2005, 185-207. Con este fin, el artículo clasifica las teorías de la traducción según el grado en que son sensibles o capaces de dar cuenta del humor en los textos fuente y en sus traducciones, incluyendo las teorías más populares (Vermeer, Toury, Lefevere, Delabstita, Attardo) a la «nueva» luz del papel que otorgan al humor. El artículo también incluye una propuesta de las condiciones ideales para la traducción del humor, incluyendo las competencias del traductor, los criterios de traducción y los factores de distribución, recepción y otros factores sociales. Por último, se propone una nueva lista de factores comunes entre la traducción y las prácticas humorísticas en lo que respecta a los prejuicios sociales y la aceptación.

Palabras clave: Biblia, Chiste, Entretenimiento, multimodal, Skopos, Teoría, Traducción literal

El tratamiento del componente humorístico en la combinación lingüística español-italiano: una aproximación desde la traducción audiovisual

2024-10-03T13:02:47+00:00

Humor Across Cultures: Exploring Italian and Spanish comedy through audiovisual translation

It is common knowledge that language is the most evident manifestation of idiosyncrasies and that it undoubtedly allows cultural elements of a very different nature to be expressed. Among these elements is the aspect related to humor, the transposition of which from language/culture A to language/culture B often poses major challenges for the translator. In this paper, we aim to address this phenomenon from the perspective of verbal humor and cultural references. Our analysis will focus on Italian and Spanish, two languages generally considered cognate due to their common historical background. The reason for this choice is justified by the limited number of scientific contributions in this field of study. Based on a corpus created from the transcriptions of the Italian and Spanish subtitles of an Italian series called Incastrati, available on Netflix, our interest will be devoted to analyzing how the two languages express certain aspects of humor. To this end, regarding the methodology, we will adopt a qualitative approach aimed at evaluating the translation results given by audiovisual translation in terms of comparative analysis. Additionally, our analysis will be based on the translation procedures proposed by renowned scholars in the field of audiovisual translation, such as Agost (1999), Fuentes Luque (2001), Chaume (2012), and Martínez Tejerina (2016). We aim to observe whether humor is expressed in the same way in both Spanish and Italian, to confirm or refute that the linguistic proximity between Spanish and Italian facilitates the translation process. In the conclusions, it appears that the proximity between Spanish and Italian, in many cases, does not facilitate the process of interlinguistic transposition. For this reason, the translator/subtitler is occasionally required to make appropriate changes and adaptations to render humor effectively.

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Resumen

De todos es sabido que la lengua es la manifestación más evidente de una idiosincrasia y permite, sin duda, expresar elementos culturales de muy distinta naturaleza. Entre estos elementos se halla la vertiente relacionada con el humor, cuya transposición de una lengua/cultura A hacia una lengua/cultura B suele plantear importantes desafíos para el traductor. El objetivo de este artículo es el de abordar el humor desde la perspectiva de las referencias culturales. Nuestro análisis se centrará en el italiano y el español, dos lenguas consideradas históricamente afines. La razón de esta elección se justifica por las escasas contribuciones científicas en este campo. A partir de un corpus creado mediante las transcripciones de los subtítulos en italiano y español de la serie italiana « Incastrati », disponible en Netflix, nuestro interés se dirigirá a analizar cómo las dos lenguas expresan determinados elementos humorísticos. Metodológicamente, adoptaremos un enfoque cualitativo y comparativo destinado a evaluar los resultados de la traducción audiovisual. Además, el análisis considerará los procedimientos traslativos propuestos por destacados estudiosos de traducción audiovisual, como Agost (1999), Fuentes Luque (2001), Chaume (2012), Martínez Tejerina (2016).Nuestro objetivo es observar si el humor se expresa de la misma manera en español e italiano, para confirmar o desmentir que la afinidad lingüística es un elemento que facilita el proceso de traducción. De las conclusiones se desprende que la proximidad entre estos dos idiomas en muchos casos no agiliza el proceso traductor. Por este motivo, el traductor/subtitulador se ve obligado de vez en cuando a realizar las modificaciones y adaptaciones oportunas para plasmar eficazmente el humor.

Palabras clave: Humor; Traducción Audiovisual; Lenguas Afines; Español-Italiano; Técnicas y estrategias de traducción

The Translation of Uma Thurman’s Pun in “Pulp Fiction”: Ensemble of translations from the perspective of Relevance Theory

2024-10-03T13:02:44+00:00

This paper is framed by the Relevance Theory as applied to the translation of a pun in Quentin Tarantino's cult film Pulp Fiction into nine dubbed versions. Entitled “the story of the family of tomates”, this pun is particularly difficult to translate because of its linguistic and cultural characteristics. The paper starts by classifying the kind of pun in question and describing its function in the original film. From here, the paper proceeds to a close examination of each of these translations, using Relevance Theory in the analysis of how each version revises the pun for the target audience. The analysis instead focuses on interpretative similarity, rather than fixed or standard equivalence to the source text. In this case, the study will establish how each translation develops the intended meaning of the pun by adjusting to the cognitive environment of the target audience. This paper therefore adopts Relevance Theory, which explains how individuals process information with regard to context and cognitive effort involved, in testing how well the translations could maintain original humor and communicative intent without being strictly tied to specific lexical or syntactic structures in the source text. It is also beyond the surface linguistic features, taking into consideration how pragmatic factors-like cultural references and the audiences' expectations-are accounted for in each dubbed version. This article, then, insists on the preeminence of pragmatic context over literal lexical and syntactical equivalence. In so doing, the research provided challenges the more traditional notions of translation fidelity-particularly in instances where puns or other wordplay resist direct translation. Relevance theory in this analysis examines the complications of humor translation and how these different dubbed versions face such challenges, while fidelity to source materials is imposed on them with imperatives to engage their particular target audiences.

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Resumen

Este artículo, basado en la Teoría de la Relevancia, examina la traducción de un juego de palabras del icónico film Pulp Fiction de Quentin Tarantino a través de nueve versiones dobladas. El juego de palabras, conocido como “la historia de la familia de tomates”, presenta desafíos únicos de traducción debido a sus matices lingüísticos y culturales. El estudio comienza categorizando el tipo de juego de palabras y definiendo su función en la película, para luego analizar en detalle las distintas traducciones, aplicando la Teoría de la Relevancia para evaluar cómo cada versión adapta el juego de palabras a su audiencia. En lugar de buscar una equivalencia fija o estándar con el texto original, el análisis prioriza la similitud interpretativa, considerando cómo cada traducción reconstruye el significado del juego de palabras adaptándose al entorno cognitivo de la audiencia. La Teoría de la Relevancia, que se centra en cómo las personas procesan la información según el contexto y el esfuerzo cognitivo, ofrece un marco para evaluar si las traducciones preservan el humor original y la intención comunicativa sin seguir de manera rígida las estructuras léxicas o sintácticas del texto fuente. El artículo enfatiza la importancia del contexto pragmático sobre la equivalencia léxica y sintáctica directa. De este modo, el estudio cuestiona las nociones convencionales de fidelidad en la traducción, especialmente cuando se trata de juegos de palabras, que a menudo presentan dificultades para ser traducidos de manera literal. A través de la Teoría de la Relevancia, el estudio ilumina las complejidades de la traducción del humor y muestra cómo las diferentes versiones dobladas equilibran la fidelidad al material original con la necesidad de atraer a sus respectivas audiencias.

Palabras Clave: Traducción del chiste; Teoría de la relevancia; Correspondencia de juegos de

palabras; Tipo de lector; La historia de la familia de tomates; Traducción de juegos de palabras

Scripted stand-up Comedy in Translation:The Marvelous Mrs Maisel dubbed in Italian

2024-10-03T13:03:04+00:00

Stand-up comedy is a fascinating art form that has received much scholarly attention (e.g., Mintz, 1985; Rutter, 2000; Lockyer and Mayers, 2011; Quirk, 2015; Double, 2020; Dore, 2022). Similarly, fictional stand-up has been discussed in the literature (Bhattacharjee, 2023), yet analyses exploring the intersections and possible differences between these two phenomena seem to be lacking, with a notable exception being Salamova (2016). To help fill this gap, this study focuses on fictional stand-up routines performed by Miriam “Midge” Maisel, the main character of the TV series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Sherman-Palladino, 2017–2023). This show is worth examining due to the topics it develops and the manner in which it conveys them. Thus, the analysis first examines Midge’s fictional, fully scripted stand-up routines, including the language used (explicit language openly discussing taboo subjects like sex, religion, and politics) and the purposes it serves (to raise awareness and captivate the audience). More importantly, this work explores how Midge interacts with the audience and contrasts this with real, semi-scripted comedian- audience interactions, thereby highlighting similarities and significant differences between them. Subsequently, it investigates how the Italian dubbing, which has traditionally served as a platform for ideological manipulation, handles Midge’s explicit language. The dubbing team largely retained instances of swearing, and when certain instances were omitted, they were compensated for through creative additions (i.e., adding items in the target text [TT] that are not mentioned in the source text [ST], Ranzato, 2016, p. 95). This pattern aligns with current trends in Italian dubbing, indicating a greater degree of freedom in addressing sensitive topics (cf. Dore and Petrucci, 2021; Dore and De Nicola, 2023). However, this change may be because The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, like other popular shows, is not subject to watershed regulations. Comparative analyses between shows featured on streaming platforms and traditional broadcasters may yield different and interesting results
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Abstract

La stand-up comedy (o cabaret) è stata analizzata da diversi studiosi (ad es., Mintz, 1985; Rutter, 2000; Lockyer e Mayers, 2011;), come anche il suo utilizzo all’interno di prodotti audiovisivi (Bhattacharjee, 2023). Sembrano tuttavia mancare analisi che esplorino le intersezioni e le possibili differenze tra questi due fenomeni (a parte Salamova, 2016). Per contribuire a colmare questa lacuna, questo studio si concentra sulla serie TV La fantastica signora Maisel (Sherman-Palladino, 2017-2023), che ha riscosso enorme successo internazionale per i temi e il linguaggio utilizzato. L’analisi si concentra in primis sugli spettacoli della protagonista Miriam “Midge” Maisel, il linguaggio usato (estremamente esplicito per affrontare argomenti quali il sesso, la religione e la politica) e i fini che si prefigge (sensibilizzare e catturare l’attenzione del pubblico). Inoltre, si esamina il modo in cui Midge interagisce con il pubblico e lo si contrappone alle interazioni reali e tra comici e pubblico per evidenziarne similitudini e differenze. Si indaga altresì il modo in cui il doppiaggio italiano, che è tradizionalmente caratterizzato da manipolazione ideologica, ha gestito il linguaggio di Midge. Dall’analisi si evince come siano state mantenute le espressioni volgari e, se omesse, siano state compensate con “aggiunte creative” (ovvero inserendo nel testo di arrivo elementi non presenti in quello di partenza; Ranzato, 2016, p. 95). Tale approccio appare in linea con le tendenze attuali del doppiaggio italiano, che indicano un maggiore grado di libertà nell’affrontare argomenti tabù (cfr. Dore e Petrucci, 2021; Dore e De Nicola, 2023). Tuttavia, questo cambiamento potrebbe dipendere dal fatto che La fantastica signora Maisel, come altre serie popolari, non è soggetta alle regole relative alle fasce protette di trasmissione. Analisi comparative tra programmi presenti sulle piattaforme di streaming e network televisivi tradizionali potrebbero produrre risultati diversi e interessanti.

Parole chiave: Stand-up (cabaret) ; Traduzione audiovisiva ; Doppiaggio ; Linguaggio volgare ; Tabù

Tra equivalenza ed efficacia: la comicità coreana nella traduzione audiovisiva

2024-10-03T13:02:58+00:00

Between Equivalence and Effectiveness: Korean Humor in Multimedia Translation

Humor can be defined as a cognitive experience aimed at eliciting laughter and amusement, particularly when conveyed through language in various forms (cf. Salmon, 2004). Its primary function is to provoke laughter in the listener, with the expectation that this effect will be preserved in translation. However, the multifaceted nature of humor, which encompasses linguistic, cultural, situational, and contextual elements, presents a significant challenge in achieving an adequate translation, particularly between languages as linguistically and culturally distinct as Korean and Italian. The translation of humor is widely recognized as one of the most challenging tasks for translators, due to its intricate nature and the profound interconnection between its nuances and the necessary linguistic, cultural, and contextual expertise. In relation to the Korean language, substantial comparative research has been conducted involving foreign languages such as English, Japanese, Chinese, and German. The objective of this study is to present a contrastive analysis of the subtitling of wordplay in Korean audiovisual content, motivated by the significant interest in this area over the past two decades, especially within the field of audiovisual translation. Therefore, the analysis will be focused on the humorous content of the movies and series, particularly wordplay, as these elements are deeply rooted in cultural specifics and require a high level of creative translation effort. It is of the utmost importance that the target language be shaped in such a way that idiomatic phrases, collocations, proverbs, or fixed expressions reflect a form of idiomaticity that preserves the original humor structures. In this regard, considerable emphasis will be placed on the concept of “cultural translation” and the issue of the “other.” The objective of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of translating humorous elements, despite the inherent challenges that may arise in each case. The examination of selected examples will assist in identifying a variety of potential solutions, some of which may prove effective, and facilitate a rapid parallel comparison between the languages under study.

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초록

유머를 웃음을 유발하는 인지적 경험으로 정의할 때 (Salmon, 2004), 청취자로 하여금 재미를 느끼고 웃음을 터트리게 하는 효과는 다른 언어로 번역되는 경우에도 동일하게 기대된다. 그러나 유머는 본질적으로 언어적, 문화적, 상황적, 맥락적 요소를 포괄하는 다면적 성격을 가지고 있기에 특히 출발어와 도착어가 한국어나 이탈리아어와 같이 언어적, 문화적으로 상이할 때 이를 적절하게 번역해 내는 작업은 굉장히 까다롭기에 마련이다. 특히 유머 번역은 출발어와 도착어 양자의 언어적, 문화적 맥락을 세밀하게 읽어내는 전문성을 필요로 하기에 번역가들이 직면하는 큰 어려움의 대상이 된다. 한국어의 경우 영어, 일본어, 중국어, 독일어 등을 대상으로 하는 유머 번역 관련 연구들이 수행되어 왔다. 이에 여기에서는 한국 영화와 드라마에 등장하는 유머의 이탈리아어 번역을 사례로 대조언어적 분석을 수행하는 것을 목표로 한다. 본 논문에서는 무엇보다 문화적 특수성이 강하게 반영되는 언어유희적 요소에 집중하였으며, 특히 출발어의 유머가 지닌 언어적 구조를 최대한 살리는 노력이 요구되는 관용구, 연어, 속담 등을 주요 분석 대상으로 삼아 유머의 번역 가능성 및 번역 전략을 탐색하고자 한다. 본 논문에서 제시하는 세부적인 유머 번역 예시에 대한 검토 및 분석을 통해 유머 번역이 수반하는 잠재적 어려움과 그 해결책을 가늠해 볼 수 있기를 기대한다.

키워드: 유머; 시청각번역; 문화번역; K-드라마

Tradurre l’umorismo nella comunicazione d’ambito medico in serie tv tedesche: il caso di Bettys Diagnose

2024-10-03T13:02:56+00:00

Translating Humor in the Medical Workplace as represented in German TV Series: A Case Study of Bettys Diagnose

This article analyses humorous dialogues from the first season of the German medical TV series Bettys Diagnose (2015) on the basis of Raskin and Attardo's General Theory of Verbal Humor (1991). First, the gender of the participants, socio-professional hierarchies, and specialized language are identified as criteria for classifying humorous interactions. Applying a qualitative approach, the study investigates the linguistic ambiguity found in numerous exchanges based on opposing scripts in the medical workplace. It demonstrates how humor can often conceal aggressive attitudes, help manage critical situations and aim at teasing other speakers. The analysis of specific dialogues sheds light on the knowledge gaps between clinicians and patients and the related effects of misunderstandings that may occur, regardless of the speakers' language and cultural background. At the same time, humor seems to convey — more or less overtly —gender-related issues and social tensions between communities and subcommunities, as well as between different professional roles. Other dialogues in the series reveal how humor can also contribute to reducing the daily emotional burden of people facing trauma, fear, and pain, thus serving as a coping strategy. The essay also considers both voluntary and involuntary, verbal and non-verbal forms of humor. Subsequently, the article presents proposals for interlingual subtitling in Italian, selected on the basis of the dominant tone of the dramedy series examined (Nord, 1993) and consistent with the dynamic and compelling dialogues typical of oral communication. Specific strategies (Díaz Cintas & Remael, 2007) were thus identified and employed to render those humorous exchanges in which gender, socio-professional hierarchies, and specialized language play a relevant role. This section distinguishes between cases of correspondence between the two language systems (German and Italian) and cases requiring a more creative intervention by the translator. The study identifies some trends in the fictional representation of communication in hospital settings in German as well as in interlingual subtitling in Italian. These results could be further consolidated on a quantitative level through the analysis of larger corpora of dialogues from German TV series with similar topics, settings, and genres.

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Abstract

Dieser Aufsatz analysiert humoristische Dialoge aus der ersten Staffel der deutschen Arztserie Bettys Diagnose (2015) auf der Grundlage der General Theory of Verbal Humor von Raskin und Attardo (1991). Zunächst werden das Geschlecht der Teilnehmer, soziale und berufliche Hierarchien und die Fachsprache als Kriterien für die Klassifizierung von humorvollen Gesprächen identifiziert. Mit Hilfe eines qualitativen Ansatzes untersucht die Studie dann die sprachliche Mehrdeutigkeit, die sich in zahlreichen Gesprächen auf der Grundlage gegensätzlicher Skripte in der medizinischen Kommunikation findet. Der Aufsatz geht auch auf freiwillige und unfreiwillige, verbale und nonverbale Formen des Humors ein. Anschließend werden Vorschläge für die interlinguale Untertitelung im Italienischen vorgestellt, die auf der Grundlage des dominanten Tons der untersuchten Dramaserie (Nord 1993) ausgewählt wurden. Auf diese Weise wurden spezifische Strategien für die Wiedergabe von humoristischen Dialogen ermittelt, die sich um Geschlecht, soziale und berufliche Hierarchien und Fachsprache drehen (Díaz Cintas & Remael 2007), wobei zwischen Fällen der Übereinstimmung zwischen den beiden Sprachsystemen (Deutsch und Italienisch) und Fällen, die ein kreatives Eingreifen des Übersetzers erfordern, unterschieden wird. Die Studie zeigt einige Tendenzen bei der Darstellung der humoristischen Kommunikation im Deutschen in einer Krankenhausumgebung und bei der Übersetzung für die Untertitelung im Italienischen auf. Diese Ergebnisse können auf quantitativer Ebene anhand größerer Korpora von Filmdialogen aus Fernsehserien ähnlichen Inhalts weiter gefestigt werden.

Schlüsselwörter: Humor; Audiovisuelle Übersetzung; Deutsche TV-Serie; italienische Untertitel; Fachsprache der Medizin; Gender

Maitena Burundarena: femminismo e humor in spagnolo: Traduzione intralinguistica e interlinguistica

2024-10-03T13:02:53+00:00

Maitena Burundarena: feminism and humour in Spanish-Intralingual and interlingual translation

This paper focuses on the translation of comics, a type of so-called “subordinate” translation that is typically subject to space and time constraints – respectively, the limited space available in each speech bubble and the need for written text to render actions effectively in a few words and to qualify a character, so as to allow the audience to understand his or her psychology. Specifically, the article examines the case of the Argentinean cartoonist Maitena Burundarena (an author known for her humorous production), observing the double transposition of her work (“Mujeres Alteradas 5”, 2001 and “Superadas 1”, 2002): from Rioplatense Spanish into Peninsular Spanish and into the interlingual Italian version. With regard to intralingual translation, we will reflect on the need to have a version adapted for an Iberian audience, also with reference to the humorous rendering of text and image and from a contrastive perspective. Focusing on interlingual translation into Italian, the difficulties that emerged during the translation process will be analysed, observing how the use of certain strategies sometimes leads to conflicts and losses in the final product that alter the scope of the humorous intent of the prototext. The affinity between Spanish and Italian, two cognate languages, hides many pitfalls in translation. In order to compensate for some of these linguistic and cultural losses, particularly related to culturally marked terms or colloquial expressions, alternative translation solutions will be proposed. While in some cases a literal translation will be suggested, more creative renderings will also be proposed, so as to more closely respect the author's intentions.

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Abstract

Questo saggio si occupa di studiare la traduzione del fumetto, un tipo di traduzione “subordinata”. Essa è infatti sottoposta a restrizioni di spazio (quello chiuso della nuvoletta, che contiene parole o pensieri di un personaggio) e idealmente anche di tempo, poiché tali espressioni devono saper rendere, in pochi condensati termini, le azioni, ma pure qualificare un personaggio, così da consentire al pubblico di comprendere la sua psicologia. Nello specifico, il testo prende in esame il caso della vignettista argentina Maitena Burundarena, osservando la doppia trasposizione della sua opera (“Mujeres Alteradas 5”, 2001 e “Superadas 1”, 2002) dallo spagnolo rioplatense allo spagnolo penisulare, fino alla versione interlinguistica in italiano. Per quanto concerne la traduzione intralinguistica, si rifletterà, in ottica contrastiva, sulla reale necessità di disporre di una versione adattata per un pubblico iberico, anche in riferimento alla resa umoristica di testo e immagine. In merito alla traduzione in lingua italiana, verranno analizzate le difficoltà emerse durante il processo traduttivo, osservando come alcune strategie di resa nella lingua target evidenzino talvolta dei conflitti e delle perdite nel prodotto finale che alterano la portata della nota umoristica del prototesto. L’affinità tra spagnolo e italiano nasconde infatti molte inside nella traduzione. Allo scopo di compensare alcune di queste perdite linguistiche e culturali (di termini culturalmente marcati e colloquialismi) si proporranno soluzioni alternative di traduzione, in alcuni casi suggerendo una traduzione letterale, in altri, una versione maggiormente creativa rispetto a quella ufficiale, così da rispettare più fedelmente il messaggio originale.

Parole chiave: Fumetto femminista; Maitena; Tradurre interlinguisticamente; Umorismo; Variante Rioplatense

L’umorismo come tecnica per decostruire stereotipi femminili: Analisi di O cavalo transparente di Sylvia Orthof

2024-10-03T13:02:50+00:00

Deconstructing Female Stereotypes through Humor in Sylvia Orthof's O cavalo transparent

The widespread use of humor in children's literature used to make readers reflect on important social mattters, such as inclusion and gender equality. The study focuses on the analysis of this technique as exploited in the story O cavalo transparente by the Brazilian writer Sylvia Orthof (1987). Through strong comic traits, the author deconstructs traditional female stereotypes, choosing the protagonist Carmen, a gypsy anti-heroine who embarks on a journey to search for a lost magic bottle. The function of humor will be highlighted by analyzing the most significant part of the text, determined by the climax, in which the protagonist encounters a mermaid, whose physical characteristics differ from the usual canonical model. This analysis depicts how humor in O cavalo transparent operates to subvert traditional female stereotypes. It examines the dialogues between the two anti-heroines from a pragmatic perspective, highlighting how their interactions give emphasis to the atypical physical characteristics of the mermaid. Also, this study explores these humorous elements into Italian in reference to the functionalist model as a frame. This model considers the cultural context of the text which influences conversational styles, the choice of registers, lexical labels, politeness strategies and allocutive formulas, and domestication. This approach emphasizing domestication brings the text closer to the reader, adhering as much as possible to the linguistic and social conventions of the target culture. Within the framework of the ‘linguistics of humor’, this study demonstrates how the conveyance of comedy is strongly anchored to the socio- pragmatic precepts of each linguistic community. The study underlines the challenges of retaining the original comedic text effect of O Cavalo Transparente when adapting it into the target culture, revealing how the comedic essence may be altered in translation. This research contributes to understanding the effect of humor in literature and the intricacies of cross-cultural translation. Humor could be used as a valuable pedagogical means to stimulate effective learning as comedy by inducing positive emotional states, significantly contributing to lowering the Affect filter and performance anxiety.

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Resumen

Considerando a ampla utilização do humor na literatura infantil, utilizado para que os leitores possam refletir sobre importantes questões sociais, como a inclusão e a questão de género, propomos a análise desta técnica empregada no conto O cavalo transparente da escritora brasileira Sylvia Orthof (1987). Através de marcados traços cómicos, a autora desconstrói estereótipos femininos tradicionais, escolhendo como protagonista a cigana Carmen, uma anti-heroína que empreende uma viagem para buscar uma garrafa mágica perdida. A função do humor será realçada analisando a parte textual mais significativa, determinada pelo clímax, em que a protagonista se depara com uma sereia, cujas peculiaridades físicas fogem ao modelo canónico habitual.

Além de examinar os diálogos entre as duas anti-heroínas em perspetiva pragmática, realçando as estratégias adotadas com base no distanciamento social e no propósito comunicativo, que destacam as características físicas atípicas da sereia, apresentamos propostas de tradução para italiano adotando o modelo funcionalista, que considera a relação entre o texto e a cultura em que é produzido - uma vez que esta influencia os estilos de conversação e a escolha de registos, vocábulos, estratégias de polidez e fórmulas ilocucionárias -, e a domesticação, que aproxima o texto ao leitor, aderindo tanto quanto possível às convenções linguísticas e sociais da cultura de chegada. Este trabalho demonstrará, no contexto da ‘linguística do humor’, como a veiculação do cómico está ancorada nos preceitos sócio-pragmáticos de cada comunidade de falantes, visto que, ao adaptar o texto à língua-alvo, se perde o original efeito cómico das locuções.

Palabras clave: Literatura infantil; Inclusão; O cavalo transparente; Sylvia Orthof; Estereótipos femininos; Humorismo

Xiaolin: Un'esplorazione su barzellette e umorismo nella cultura cinese antica

2024-10-03T13:02:48+00:00

Xiaolin: An Exploration of Jokes and Humor in Ancient Chinese Culture

This article is based on the study of the book "Xiaolin" (The Forest of Laughter) by Handan Chun 邯鄲淳 (ca.132-ca.221) of the Cao Wei 曹魏 period in the Eastern Han Dynasty 東漢 (25-220).The first book dedicated to jokes in ancient China. The realistic and satirical folk stories produced against the backdrop of the times, reflected the interest in life, humor and the educational sense of the literati, lower-class and common peopleof that period (Wang, 1981; Huang, 1999). Focusing on the only 29 jokes left in the book, the extracts and short quotes found in the nine important ancient documents analysed, in a chronological list, the five most mentioned and representatives jokes , will be explored in depth. These are: “Zhao Bo gong (weng) feida 赵伯公(翁)肥大” [Zhao Bo gong (weng) is fat], “Shen Jun xing jianlin 沈峻性俭吝” (Shen Jun is stingy), “Wu ren dao jing chi naisu(lao)吴人到京吃奶蘇(酪)” (The people of Wu go to Luoyang to eat cheese), “Taiyuan ren ye shihuo 太原人夜失火” (A house in Taiyuan caught fire during the night) and “Lu ren zhi gan 魯人執竿” (The people of Lu hold long poles in their hands). Which are translated into Italian with some reflections.This work highlights the social and cultural ideologies of the people of the time, its purpose is to deepen the knowledge of the pragmatic language and ideologies reflected in the culture of the time. These jokes express the importance of laughter,and with the study and in-depth research of this genre little considered will also be able to disseminate the spirit of humor everywhere without forgetting to possess this gift that makes us feel good with little. The history of Chinese jokes is very rich, therefore I hope that in the future its knowledge will be appreciated with the right value.

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Abstract

Questo lavoro si basa sullo studio del libro “Xiaolin” (La foresta delle risate) di Handan Chun 邯鄲淳 (ca.132-ca.221) del periodo Cao Wei 曹魏 nella dinastia Han Orientale 東漢 (25-220), il primo libro dedicato alle barzellette nell'antica Cina. Le storie popolari realistiche e satiriche prodotte sullo sfondo dei tempi riflettevano l'interesse per la vita e l'umorismo dei letterati e della gente comune della classe inferiore di quel periodo, così come anche un senso educativo (Wang, 1981; Huang, 1999). Concentrandoci sulle sole 29 barzellette rimaste del libro, gli estratti e le brevi citazioni ritrovate nei nove importanti documenti antichi analizzati, in un elenco cronologico, saranno approfondite le cinque barzellette più nominate, quelle più rappresentative. Queste sono: “Zhao Bo gong (weng) fei da 赵伯公(翁)肥大” [Zhao Bogong (weng) è grasso], “Shen Jun xing jian lin 沈峻性俭吝” (Shen Jun è avaro), “Wu ren dao jing chi naisu (lao)吴人到京吃奶蘇(酪)” (La gente di Wu va a Luoyang a mangiare il formaggio), “Taiyuan ren ye shihuo 太原人夜失火” (Una casa di Taiyuan ha preso fuoco durante la notte) e “Lu ren zhi gan 魯人執竿” (La gente di Lu ha in mano lunghi pali), tradotte in italiano e con delle riflessioni. In questo lavoro si evidenziano le ideologie sociali e culturali delle persone dell'epoca ed il suo scopo è quello di approfondire la conoscenza del linguaggio pragmatico e le ideologie riflesse nella cultura dell'epoca. Queste barzellette esprimono l'importanza delle risate.

Parole chiave: Barzellette cinesi; Xiaolin; Satira cinese; Umorismo; Youmo; Handan Chun

L’humour en classe de FLE : un exemple à travers la bande dessinée

2024-10-03T13:03:02+00:00

Using Humor in French as a Foreign Language Class: A case study with comics
Since the emergence of the communicative and then task-based approach in foreign language teaching, humor has been left aside to the benefit of an “efficient” language perspective. This vision limits the language to a communication tool and forgets all the implicit and cultural weight any language act supposes, as has established Bougherra in 2007 by defending an “esthetical- ludic-referential competence”. This paper proposes to introduce humor in a French class for foreigners through a didactic activity field tested, easy to build and to adapt in different teaching contexts, operable from the beginner level to the advanced one. The project uses the website birdsdessines.fr, which publishes every day new comics created by any user and at the same time offers a very user- friendly content creation tool. Guiding the learners into it step by step, starting from understanding those comics and arriving at creating some new ones, will allow them to discover and understand different humor types, but also reproduce them. We will present three different educational uses based on this website, implemented in two Italian universities in groups going from the beginners to the B1 level. We will observe how the learners familiarize themselves with humor’s presence in their language path, understand its mechanism, and finally manipulate it themselves in the foreign language. Finally, we will verify that the learners have developed a true capacity for understanding and creating humor, but also that their relation to the learning process has been positively impacted, by analyzing the comics they produced. Since this project has been carried out on a small scale, we intend to inspire foreign language teachers to reproduce it and hopefully confirm our results. Thus, we aim to demonstrate how it is possible and beneficial to expand the existing pedagogical approaches by including a true “humor competence”, as defined by Harakchiyska and Borisova as a transversal capacity to understand, react to and produce jokes.

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Résumé

Depuis l’avènement des approches communicatives et actionnelles dans l’enseignement des langues étrangères, l'humour a été laissé de côté au profit d’une vision “efficace” de la langue. Cet article se propose de l’introduire en classe de FLE à travers une activité didactique, simple à mettre en place et à adapter à des contextes d’enseignement différents, et ce dès le niveau débutant. Grâce au site birdsdessines.fr, qui publie quotidiennement des bandes dessinées créées par les utilisateurs inscrits et met à disposition un outil de création très facile à prendre en main, les apprenants peuvent découvrir et comprendre différents types d’humour, mais aussi chercher à les reproduire ou à en créer d’autres. Nous présenterons donc trois exploitations pédagogiques différentes basées sur ce site, mises en œuvre dans deux universités italiennes auprès de groupes allant du niveau débutant complet au B1. Ces exploitations permettent d’habituer progressivement les apprenants à la présence du comique dans leur parcours linguistique, de leur en faire comprendre les mécanismes, et de les conduire à le manipuler eux-mêmes en langue étrangère. Nous constaterons au terme de ces parcours que les apprenants développent non seulement une réelle capacité de compréhension et de production de l’humour dans la langue étrangère, mais aussi que leur rapport à l’apprentissage de la langue en est affecté positivement. Nous invitons ainsi les enseignants de FLE à s’inspirer de ces séquences et espérons montrer comment il est possible et souhaitable d’élargir les approches pédagogiques actuelles pour y intégrer une véritable “compétence humoristique”.

Mots clés: Français Langue Étrangère ; Bande dessinée ; BirdsDessinés ; Rire ; Efficacité pédagogique ; Enseignement des langues ; Humoristique