2,976 research outputs found
Accents and stereotypes in animated films. The case of Zootopia (2016)
No full textLanguage variation is an extremely useful tool to convey information about a character, even when this means playing with stereotypes, which are often associated to some dialects and sociolects (Lippi-Green 1997). Accents generally bear a specific social meaning within the cultural environment of the source text, this being the main reason why they are often particularly difficult to translate with varieties of the target language, even though there are several cases where this strategy proved to be a valid choice, especially in animation (Ranzato 2010). Building on previous research on the language of cartoons (Lippi-Green 1997, but also more recently Bruti 2009, Minutella 2016, Parini 2019), this study is aimed at exploring language variation and how this is deeply connected to cultural stereotypes in the animated Disney film Zootopia (Howard et al. 2016). After giving an outline of the social and regional varieties of American English found in the original version (Beaudine et al. 2017; Crewe 2017; Soares 2017) a special focus will be given to the Italian adaptation of the film through the analysis of the strategies chosen by adapters to render a similar varied sociolinguistic situation in Italian, with particular interest in the correspondence between language and stereotype
Audiovisual Translation, Film Studies, and Adaptation Studies. A healthy cross-pollination
No full textIt is perhaps surprising that while adaptation and intersemiotic studies about the classics on screen have been flourishing, audiovisual translation (AVT) has comparatively neglected adapted classics, arguably preferring to focus on contemporary TV series, video games and films of all times not necessarily referred to an illustrious hypotext. Audiovisual translation, a young discipline itself, has grown somehow in parallel with adaptation studies. In 2008, Jorge Díaz Cintas could affirm that the “Cinderella mantle that has surrounded this area of knowledge” had, at least partially, evaporated and that “AVT is definitely one of the fastest growing areas in the field of Translation Studies (TS), which in itself is experiencing an unprecedented surge in interest” (Díaz Cintas 2008, 1). And if the interplay between the non-linguistic codes of film language and audiovisual translation is central in the seminal theoretical paradigm proposed by Frederic Chaume (2004), the cousin discipline of adaptation studies has very seldom if at all come into play in AVT analyses. This collection was conceived as a first step to bridge this gap
English Classics in Audiovisual Translation
No full textThis collection explores the translation of dialogue from the adaptations of literary classics across audiovisual media, engaging with the question of what makes a classic through an audiovisual translation lens. The volume seeks to fill a gap on the translation of classic texts in AVT research which has tended to focus on contemporary media.
The book features well-known British literary texts but places a special emphasis on adaptations of the works of Jane Austen and William Shakespeare, figures whose afterlives have mirrored each other in the proliferation of film and television adaptations of their work. Chapters analyze myriad modes of AVT, including dubbing, subtitling, SDH, and voice-over, to demonstrate the unique ways in which these modes come together in adaptations of classics and raise questions about censorship, language ideologies, cultural references, translation strategies, humor, and language variation. In focusing on translations across geographic contexts, the book offers a richer picture of the linguistic, cultural, and ideological implications of translating literary classics for the screen and the enduring legacy of these works on a global scale.
This book will be of interest to scholars in audiovisual translation, literary translation, comparative literature, film and television studies, and media studies
"Why is he making that funny noise?". The RP speaker as an outcast
No full textReceived Pronunciation (RP) has always been considered as the most prestigious accent, to be taken as a reference in order to ‘talk proper’. It is not by chance, then, that it was still the dominant accent that could be heard on television until a few decades ago. However, regional accents have gradually obtained more space in TV fictional dialogue, and they have gained popularity and very positive attitudes from the audience thanks to memorable characters. This is what has recently happened with the popular comedy series Derry Girls (McGee 2018-present), where the only main character speaking with an English accent is frequently mocked for his making ‘funny noises’. This paper will offer a qualitative linguistic analysis of some scenes from Derry Girls, which will show how the RP speaker can be seen, paradoxically and contrarily to its traditional status, as an outcast. This study will thus shed light on the view that RP, in spite of being usually labelled as ‘regionless’, can be perceived as an actual foreign accent in some parts of the UK, such as Ulster
Upper-class English in natural and audiovisual dialogue
No full textThis Ph.D. thesis deals with the language of the British upper class in natural face-to-face dialogue and how this language is rendered fictionally in audiovisuals. In this research, the definition of ‘upper class’ is used to refer to the British aristocracy, also defined in more modern terms as the élite group, which is distinguished by the other social classes by comparatively higher rates of cultural, social and economic capitals.
This topic was chosen because, while the so-called ‘working classes’ in Britain have traditionally received more attention from scholars, the upper class has rarely been the subject of particularised studies, probably because it is a smaller social group, which is characterised by a concrete difficulty of penetration for investigation purposes. Moreover, the élite sociolect has traditionally been identified with the standard language, and has consequently been excluded from sociolinguistic studies. One of the main objectives of this thesis is that of providing a complete linguistic overview of the language of the British upper class by demonstrating that standard language and upper-class language should not be assumed to be identical.
This thesis will be mostly descriptive, with the aim of reorganising the sparse information on the topic that is found in previous linguistic and sociocultural studies; these bibliographical contents will be discussed and expanded in the light of new evidence gathered from the qualitative analysis of some recorded audiovisual texts, building on the principles of Conversation Analysis and Sociophonetics. The use of computer-assisted tools will also be part of the process of the analysis. The research method adopted for this thesis can thus be considered as an empirical archival method, whose three major steps were the location, the inspection and the interpretation of the documentary sources.
In particular, after two chapters dedicated to the linguistic description, the diachronic evolution and the present-day internal variability of the upper-class sociolect, the second part of the thesis will deal with the analysis of the case studies: chapter 3 will explore the main aspects of the spontaneous aristocratic language of Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Family and a few other influential upper-class figures in British society, while chapter 4 will be devoted to the upper-class character in cinema and TV and to the linguistic analysis of some conversational scenes in the Netflix TV series The Crown (2016-present); a final chapter will close the discussion by focusing on the comparison between real and represented upper-class English through the analysis of a few public speeches by the Queen and other aristocratic figures and how these speeches were rendered in The Crown.
The results from this study, which combines the disciplines of sociolinguistics and dialectology applied to the audiovisual text, will hopefully open a new path in the study of the language of the élite group, which can still be considered as an under-researched topic in academia
Session 13. Multilingualism and language variation
No full textHow to solve AVT of multilingualism in television comedy, no laughing matter / Patrick Zabalbeascoa (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Stavroula Sokoli (Computer Technology Institute) ; Language variation and identity construction: the translation of multilingualism in 'Killing Eve' / Luca Valleriani (Sapienza University of Rome) ; Dialect translation on the screen and its historical reasons / Arista Szu-Yu Kuo (Nanyang Technological University). Chair: Irene de Higes (Universitat Jaume I)Language variation and identity construction: the translation of multilingualism in 'Killing Eve' / Luca Valleriani (Sapienza University of Rome). This video presentation is not available in open access, only the abstract is available, but you can request access by emailing [email protected]
Sociolects on the Small Screen. The Case of the British Upper Class
No full textThe aim of this chapter is that of expanding the discussion on the language of the ‘élite’ classes in Britain by providing some original insights on the fictional audiovisual representation of public figures whose individual upper-class voices can be considered as socially ‘enregistered’ and thus potentially problematic to render in shows with naturalistic intents.
After an overview of the comparatively few studies on the topic of upper-class speech, the chapter provides a revisited list of linguistic features that can be considered typical of this sociolinguistic variety, with a focus on phonological traits; a section is, then, dedicated to the representation of the ‘upper-class character’ in telecinematic fiction. Both the linguistic description and the account on the traditional, often stereotypical rendition of this sociolect are useful for the ensuing discussion of the examples from the case studies. In particular, two figures were selected to provide insights on the topic: firstly, Lady Diana Spencer, an upper-class English speaker who showed a tendency to use ‘non-U’ features in specific contexts; secondly, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose idiolect is typical in terms of pronunciation features, but showing signs of ‘creative’ twists in terms of speech elements and mannerisms. Excerpts taken from a few audiovisual products featuring fictional characterisations of these two public figures are analysed in order to show how their distinctive voices were carefully studied by the respective authors
“Omit: a reference to the unspeakable vice of the Greeks”: Maurice’s Audiovisual Journey in Italy
No full text"Omit: a reference to the unspeakable vive of the Greeks". Maurice's audiovisual journey in Italy
No full textEver since its appearance in 1971, Forster’s Maurice has enjoyed remarkable transnational and transmedial attention, prompting fierce debate and conflicting interpretations. In its simplest reading, Maurice is a story of homosexual love in Edwardian England, a spatial-temporal setting in which “the unspeakable vice of the Greeks” (Forster 2005: 42) was punished with hard labour. The novel was published posthumously and signalled Forster’s coming out. It was, however, greeted with luke-warm critical acclaim (Sutton and Tsai 2020: 2), dismissed as sub-Forsterian (Ivory 1999 in Monk 2020: 233) and eschewed by exponents of the gay-liberation movement who viewed Forster’s decision to publish Maurice after his death as a betrayal of the gay community (Hodges and Hunter 1974). As queer theory emerged, Maurice was reappraised in all its queer permutations in contrast with heteronormativity (Martin and Piggfort 1997). Simultaneously, and perhaps ironically, despite Thatcher’s clause 28 , Maurice also started to gain ground in popular culture, not least of all due to Merchant and Ivory’s film adaptation. Less than two decades after its debut in the literary world, Maurice became the second movement of their Forsterian symphonic trilogy, which opened with A Room with a View and later concluded with Howards End (Ingersol 2012).
The fortunes of Maurice in Italy are less well-known. Although Forster considered Italy a haven for homosexuals, by the time Maurice was published the peninsular may have become a less tolerant space. Nevertheless, the novel was translated by Marcella Bonsanti in 1972, while the dubbed version of the film was released in 1988. Building on previous research on the linguistic representation of homosexuality across Italian-English lingua-cultures in AVT products (Filmer 2020, Ranzato 2012, 2019, Sandrelli 2016), the central question of this paper engages with cross-cultural tensions surrounding the verbal references to “the unspeakable vice”. Two scenes will be analysed combining perspectives from Translation Studies and Literary Studies; Maurice’s second visit to Doctor Lasker Jones and the last encounter between Maurice and Clive before Maurice’s departure. Our analysis highlights, on the one hand, the ideological consequences that emerge in translating the expression “share with” that Alec and Maurice use to refer to love making and, on the other, the lingua-cultural interference present in the Italian film’s adapted dialogue, which seems to pinpoint palpable religious isotopy
Jane Austen’s "Pride and Prejudice" from the page to the screen: A diachronic analysis of source texts and Italian translations
No full textJane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) has been adapted for the screen multiple times. This paper compares two film versions of Pride and Prejudice, namely the 1940 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and the 2005 film directed by Joe Wright, and their Italian dubbed versions. To get a fuller picture, reference is also made to two Italian translations of the novel that were published roughly at the time of the release of the two films, namely the first translation ever published in Italy (Caprin 1932) and a recent one by one of Italy’s leading literary translators (Pivano 2007). More specifically, the analysis presents a diachronic study of politeness features and conversational routines in the selected source texts and translations. Quantitative data on terms of address, honorifics and vocatives were collected by means of corpus tools (SketchEngine); this was complemented by a qualitative (manual) analysis of selected conversational routines (i.e., introductions, invitations, and marriage proposals). The aim of the study is to provide a diachronic perspective on language usage differences in the two English language films, the two Italian dubbed versions and the two translations of the novel
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