The translation of irony implies the recognition of the elements that produce it, as it is true for all the linguistic and rhetoric phenomena that connotate language, with the added difficulty that understanding irony poses the issue of interpretation and metalinguistic awareness, since “irony happens rather than exists” (De Wilde, 2010, p. 41), in the sense that it can either be triggered by the receiver’s active participation or remain completely invisible and latent in the source text. Setting off from previous research concerning the translation of humour in the subtitles of the detective TV-series Inspector Montalbano, the aim of this paper is to focus more specifically on irony. From a methodological point of view, the issues concerning the translation of irony in subtitling will be considered adopting a dynamic methodological perspective (Hutcheon, 1994), developing a descriptive framework of the ways in which irony is constructed in the source text and then carried across in the English subtitles. Through a range of examples, the focus will be on its heterogeneous functions at a linguistic, textual and pragmatic level. What happens when the author of the source text and the receiver do not share common background knowledge, as the interpretation of irony relies heavily on a set of shared assumptions in order to be carried across? And what happens when irony is a constitutive part of this source text and not just a marginal element? The translator, quite evidently, becomes the ironist, performing the double action of interpreting and reframing irony for the target audience.

The Language of Inspector Montalbano: a Case of Irony in Translation

DE MEO, Mariagrazia
2015-01-01

Abstract

The translation of irony implies the recognition of the elements that produce it, as it is true for all the linguistic and rhetoric phenomena that connotate language, with the added difficulty that understanding irony poses the issue of interpretation and metalinguistic awareness, since “irony happens rather than exists” (De Wilde, 2010, p. 41), in the sense that it can either be triggered by the receiver’s active participation or remain completely invisible and latent in the source text. Setting off from previous research concerning the translation of humour in the subtitles of the detective TV-series Inspector Montalbano, the aim of this paper is to focus more specifically on irony. From a methodological point of view, the issues concerning the translation of irony in subtitling will be considered adopting a dynamic methodological perspective (Hutcheon, 1994), developing a descriptive framework of the ways in which irony is constructed in the source text and then carried across in the English subtitles. Through a range of examples, the focus will be on its heterogeneous functions at a linguistic, textual and pragmatic level. What happens when the author of the source text and the receiver do not share common background knowledge, as the interpretation of irony relies heavily on a set of shared assumptions in order to be carried across? And what happens when irony is a constitutive part of this source text and not just a marginal element? The translator, quite evidently, becomes the ironist, performing the double action of interpreting and reframing irony for the target audience.
2015
1-4438-8035-3
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11386/4659670
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