Translating Humorous Fiction in an Idiomatic Style a Case Study of a Short Story by Douglas Adams
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Translating Humorous Fiction in an Idiomatic Style A Case Study of a Short Story by Douglas Adams MA Thesis Faculty of Humanities Emma Knapper Leiden University Centre for Linguistics s1395017 MA Linguistics [email protected] Translation in Theory and Practice 01-07-2018 Supervisor: A.M. Bovelander, MA Second Reader: Drs. K. Zeven Abstract There is a serious lack of research in the interdisciplinary field of humour in translation. In order to contribute to this field, this thesis discusses the analysis and translation of a humorous short story by Douglas Adams. Verbally expressed humour, subdivided in verbal and referential humour, is argued to stem from incongruity and more specifically script opposition (Raskin, 1985; Attardo & Raskin, 1991; Attardo, 1994, 2001). The notion of ‘equivalence’ in the field of humour in translation is discussed and several translational procedures for translating verbally expressed humour are explained. The short story, Young Zaphod Plays It Safe (originally published in 1986), is then subjected to a stylistic analysis based on Leech & Short’s (2007) checklist of stylistic and linguistic categories, which shows that Adams’s style is largely characterised by his use of humour. The translation of the short story is accompanied by annotations commenting on important translational choices that affect the style of the text. Referential humour that is not culturally bound is easily transferred, but verbal humour such as puns and register humour poses a problem to the translator, who needs to choose between stylistic or semantic faithfulness. The thesis concludes with the remarks that humour theory lacks a formal set of guidelines for identifying instances of verbally expressed humour; that research in the field of humour in translation should focus on either verbal humour (puns and register humour) or culturally bound referential humour; and that the field of stylistics might be advantaged by a more in-depth analysis of Adams’s idiomatic style. 1 Acknowledgements ‘I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.’ – Douglas Adams I would like to thank my supervisor, Maud Bovelander, for her inexhaustible positivity and the more than useful feedback which helped shape this thesis into something of which I can feel proud. I also want to thank Katinka Zeven, for being an enthusiastic and fair second reader. Furthermore, I want to thank my peer reviewer, Maureen Walrave, for always making time to review my chapters and for always being there for me. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables..............................................................................................................................................5 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................5 List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................................5 Chapter 1 – Introduction ...........................................................................................................................6 1.1 Research question...........................................................................................................................6 1.2 Academic relevance ........................................................................................................................7 1.3 Outline of thesis structure ..............................................................................................................8 Chapter 2 – Theoretical Background .........................................................................................................9 2.1 Verbally expressed humour ......................................................................................................... 10 2.1.1 Basic principles ...................................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2 The Script-based Semantic Theory of Humour ..................................................................... 12 2.1.3 The General Theory of Verbal Humour ................................................................................. 13 2.1.4 Critical notes on and additions to the GTVH ......................................................................... 15 2.1.5 Dissecting a joke from YZPIS ................................................................................................. 15 2.2 Verbally expressed humour in translation ................................................................................... 17 2.2.1 Translatability and equivalence ............................................................................................ 17 2.2.2 Binary branching and applying the GTVH to translation ....................................................... 18 2.2.3 Translation strategies in practice ......................................................................................... 20 2.3 In summary .................................................................................................................................. 24 Chapter 3 – Material and Method ........................................................................................................... 26 3.1 Material........................................................................................................................................ 26 3.2 Method ........................................................................................................................................ 27 3.2.1 The importance of style, especially in literary translation .................................................... 27 3.3 In summary .................................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 4 – Stylistic Analysis ................................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Adams’s style in THGG ................................................................................................................. 29 4.2 Adams’s style in YZPIS .................................................................................................................. 29 4.2.1 Lexical categories .................................................................................................................. 29 4.2.2 Grammatical categories ........................................................................................................ 32 4.2.3 Figures of speech, etc. .......................................................................................................... 33 4.2.4 Context and cohesion ........................................................................................................... 34 4.2.5 Humorous lines ..................................................................................................................... 36 4.2.6 In summary: the most important aspects of Adams’s style in YZPIS ..................................... 38 4.3 Translation strategy ..................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 5 – Annotated Translation .......................................................................................................... 40 5.1 Discussion and reflection ............................................................................................................. 52 Chapter 6 – Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 54 6.1 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 54 6.2 Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 54 6.3 Future research ............................................................................................................................ 55 References .............................................................................................................................................. 56 Primary sources ................................................................................................................................. 56 Secondary sources ............................................................................................................................. 56 Appendices .............................................................................................................................................. 61 A Young Zaphod Plays It Safe ............................................................................................................. 61 B Leech & Short’s (2007) checklist ..................................................................................................... 70 4 List of Tables 1. The GTVH’s Knowledge Resources in hierarchical order.................................................................... 13 2. Malkamäki’s (2017) six translation strategies with an example translation. ...................................... 20 3. Chiaro’s (2010) four translation strategies with an example translation. .......................................... 21 4. Low’s (2011) eight translation strategies with explanatory examples. .............................................