Vol. 4(2), pp. 33-39, April, 2013 DOI: 10.5897/IJEL13.001 International Journal of English and Literature ISSN 1996-0816 © 2013 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/IJEL Review Toward an RT-based functionalist approach to subtitling: A case study Chuanmao Tian Yangtze University, Jingzhou, Hubei, 434023, P. R. China; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, 43002, Spain. Accepted 6 February, 2013 The paper first formulates an integrated approach to subtitling by combining elements of Skopos theory, relevance theory and knowledge of media studies into one whole. Its ultimate goal is to realize the purpose of general translation as well as various kinds of specific aims on different occasions so as to facilitate audio-visual products to win over the intended audience, the market. Then, it discusses approach-related translation strategies and techniques for inter-lingual subtitling taking as case study the film Gone with the Wind, an adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel. Key words: Audio-visual subtitling, Skopos theory, relevance theory, integrated approach, translation strategy. INTRODUCTION In 2001, Professors Yves Gambier and Henrik Gottlieb Deirdre Wilson in 1986, is a cognitive-psychological commenting on multimedia translation research pointed approach that seeks to explain how people draw out, “till date, research has not been confronted with rele- inferences from verbal or non-verbal behavior. They vance theory, polysystemic approach, critical discourse define the notion of relevance in terms of the following analysis (so useful in media studies) or cognitive conditions: psychology”. This, however, is not completely the case. As early as 1976, Fodor had a flirtation with cognitive Extent condition 1: an assumption is relevant in a context psychology in his work, Dubbing: Phonetic, Semiotic, to the extent that its contextual effects in this context are Aesthetic and Psychological Aspects. And in 2000, large. Remael attempted to apply the polysystemic approach to Extent condition 2: an assumption is relevant in a context the study of British film adaptation. After 2001, a growing to the extent that the effort required to process it in this number of scholars began to explore media translation context is small (Sperber and Wilson, 1986). from different perspectives such as ideology, relevance, norms, etc. (Lukasz, 2004; Baumgartten, 2005; Li and Contextual effects, according to Sperber and Wilson, are Bo, 2005; Guo, 2007). Nevertheless, the literature on utterance-yielding contextual modifications of any media translation seems meagre compared with that of contextual assumptions. They are seen in the derivation other fields of translation studies (TS). So strengthening of contextual implications, in the strengthening or con- the field of research is an urgent task. In the following firmation of assumptions already held, or in the eli- paragraphs, the research theory (RT)-based on func- mination of assumptions due to a contradiction. Clearly, tionalist approach to subtitling will be presented, then RT, relevance is dependent on the interplay of two factors: Skopos theory and relevant knowledge of media studies contextual effects and processing effort, and it is context- will be combined; and this composite approach will be dependent because the two factors are context- applied to the Chinese subtitles of the American film dependent. The central claim of relevance theory is that Gone with the Wind. human communication crucially creates an expectation of optimal relevance, that is, an expectation on the part of Relevance theory and Skopos theory hearers that their attempts at interpretation will yield adequate contextual effects at minimal processing cost. Relevance theory (RT), formulated by Dan Sperber and This fact is believed to be part of human psychology, and E-mail: [email protected]. 34 Int. J. English Lit. is expressed in relevance theory as the principle of displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be relevance: Every act of ostensive communication a form of written translation of a dialogue in a foreign includes the presumption of its own optimal relevance language, or a written rendering of the dialogue in the (Sperber and Wilson, 1986). Thus whenever someone same language with or without added information shows the wish to communicate, he or she implicitly and intended to help viewers who are deaf and hard-of- automatically conveys the assumption that the hearer can hearing. Compared with dubbing, subtitling has its own expect to derive adequate contextual effects without advantages. It is not expensive; it does not take a very spending unnecessary effort. As Sperber and Wilson long time; it preserves the original soundtrack; it may show, this assumption has an important consequence for have a role in language learning; it is better for the hard- the theory of utterance interpretation: the hearer has the of-hearing and the deaf and for immigrants and tourists. right to assume that the first interpretation he or she Its disadvantages include ‘contamination’ of the image, arrives at that a rational speaker might have expected to greater loss of information due to compression, and yield adequate contextual effects and to put the hearer to splitting of the audience’s attention between image, no unjustifiable processing effort in obtaining those soundtrack, and subtitle. The mode of transformation is effects is the interpretation intended by the commu- from oral to written text. In terms of language(s) nicator. Such an interpretation of an utterance, according concerned subtitling may be classified into intra-lingual to Sperber and Wilson, is consistent with the principle of and inter-lingual subtitling. In this paper our discussion relevance. And this is the answer of relevance theory as relates mainly to the latter. to how hearers can infer what the intended interpretation or meaning of an utterance is (Gutt, 2000). Functionalist approach in TS, on the other hand, is set Relevance theory and subtitling out in the work of a group of German scholars such as Katharina Reiss (1971/1978) and Hans Vermeer (1978), The most useful weapon relevance theory can provide for the founder of skopos theory. Vermeer postulates that as subtitling is its principle of optimal relevance, which can a general rule it must be the intended purpose of the be simply represented in the formula: target text (TT) that determines translation methods and strategies (1978). From this postulate, he derives the relevance = contextual effects / processing effort. Skopos rule: Human action (and its subcategory translation) is determined by its purpose (Skopos), and From the formula we can see that, in given conditions, therefore it is a function of its purpose. The main point of the smaller the processing effort, the larger the contextual this functional approach is the following: It is not the effects and the stronger the relevance; conversely, the source text (ST) as such, or its effects on the ST greater the processing effort, the smaller the contextual recipient, or the function assigned to it by the author, that effects and the weaker the relevance. At the extreme the determines the translation process, as is postulated by hearer can achieve adequate contextual effects at equivalence-based translation theories, but the minimal processing cost, which is called optimal prospective function or Skopos of the TT as determined relevance. ST utterances may contain a fair amount of by TT text users and their situation and cultural potential contextual effects. But it is impossible and background. Two general rules of the approach are the undesirable for the translator to reproduce all of them. He coherence rule and the fidelity rule. The former stipulates or she must choose the contextual effects most relevant that the TT must be sufficiently coherent to allow the to the occasion. So the expression “adequate to the intended users to comprehend it as coherent with their occasion” is important in subtitling because there is no situation, given their assumed background knowledge absolute level of relevance that is adequate to every and situational circumstances. The latter concerns occasion. intertextual coherence between translation and ST, and Let us make a metaphor to discuss the matter of stipulates merely that some relationship must remain context selection. Suppose the source language between the two once the overriding principle of Skopos audience is the author’s friend because they are born and and the rule of (intratextual) coherence have been immersed in the same source language-culture and the achieved (Baker, 1998). target audience is a stranger to the author because they come from different cultures. Generally speaking, in the interaction between a target audience from one culture AN RT-BASED FUNCTIONALIST FRAMEWORK OF and a TT from another, one would not normally expect a SUBTITLING high degree of relevance, hence would not be looking for a wide range of contextual effects. But in the commu- Subtitling nication between the source language audience and the ST one would expect a much greater number of Subtitling is one mode of audiovisual translation (AVT). contextual effects (Gutt, 2000). Relevance theory requires Its outcome is subtitles which are textual versions of the the translator to make choice in subtitling, selecting the dialogue in films and television programs, usually most relevant from an array of implicit messages and Chuanmao 35 explicating the text so as to reduce the audience’s including linguistic, cultural and cognitive issues. processing effort to a minimum. In terms of linguistic issues, translators have to deal with problems concerning transfer from oral to written text, cohesion of fragmented subtitles, swear words and Skopos theory and subtitling slang, etc. First, an oral text is usually longer than its corresponding text written in subtitles. If it is to be a Subtitling is in nature target-oriented, aiming at the traditional “paper” translation there is no problem with the success of the subtitled film or TV program in the target lengthening or shortening of the ST in terms of space.