The Translation of Puns

THE TRANSLATION OF PUNS
- An analysis of the fate of puns in subtitling with Sex and the City as an e pi!i"al e#a ple
Autho!$ %a illa &ste!gaa!' Pe'e!sen AS($ English an' Spanish )ate of han' in$ )e"e be! *+ ,-*Supe!.iso!$ Ni"/ 0!igley
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TA(LE OF %ONTENTS
THE TRANSLATION OF PUNS ...........................................................................................1 - An analysis of the fate of puns in subtitlin !ith Se" an# the $ity as an e%pi&i'al e"a%ple.................................................................................................................................1 1.INTRO(U$TION.................................................................................................................1 1.1.Ai% an# p&oble% state%ent......................................................................................) 1.).Theo&y an# %etho#....................................................................................................* 1.*.(eli%itation.................................................................................................................+ ).SU,TITLIN- AS TRANSLATION....................................................................................... ).1./hat is subtitlin 0 ...................................................................................................... ).).$ha&a'te&isti's an# 'onst&aints................................................................................. *.THE NATURE OF THE PUN..............................................................................................1 *.1./hat is a pun0 ...........................................................................................................1 *.).The 'lassifi'ation of the pun ....................................................................................2 *.).1.The &elation of fo&%al i#entity.............................................................................2 *.).).The a&&an e%ent of pun 'o%ponents.............................................................13 *.*.Puns in fil%- an# T4 p&o#u'tions...........................................................................11 +.THE $HALLEN-E OF TRANSLATIN- PUNS ..............................................................1) +.1.Lan ua e-spe'ifi' 'onst&aints................................................................................1) +.1.). T&anslation an# e5ui6alen'e................................................................1) +.).7e#ia-spe'ifi' 'onst&aints .....................................................................................1+ ..STRATE-IES FOR TRANSLATIN- PUNS....................................................................1. ..1.(elabastita8s t&anslation st&ate ies........................................................................1. 9.INTRO(U$TION TO THE E7PIRI$AL 7ATERIAL.......................................................19 9.1.About :Se" an# the $ity8..........................................................................................19 9.).Plot an# 'ha&a'te&s..................................................................................................19 9.*.-en&e an# 'o%%uni'ati6e pu&pose.......................................................................1; 9.+.The TT au#ien'e.......................................................................................................11 ;.ANAL<SIS OF THE ST AN( TT......................................................................................12 ;.1.Ho%ony%i' puns......................................................................................................12
;.).Ho%ophoni' puns....................................................................................................)1 ;.*.Pa&ony%i' puns........................................................................................................)+ ;.+.4isual puns................................................................................................................); 1.THE EFFE$T OF THE TAR-ET TE=T REN(ERIN-S..................................................*3 2.$ON$LUSION..................................................................................................................*) 13.A,STRA$T....................................................................................................................** 11.REFEREN$ES................................................................................................................*. 1).LIST OF APPEN(I$ES .................................................................................................*1 Appen#i" 1> Lin uisti' st&u'tu&es................................................................................*1 Appen#i" )> Illust&ation of the fo&%al 'lassifi'ation of the pun................................*1 Appen#i" *> (elabastita8s t&anslation st&ate ies........................................................*1 Appen#i" +> T&ans'&ipts in 'onte"t..............................................................................*1
THE TRANSLATION OF PUNS 6 An analysis of the fate of puns in subtitling with Sex and the City as an e pi!i"al e#a ple Camilla stergaard Pedersen Bachelor thesis December 1, 2010
*3 INTRO)U%TION
The way that certain combinations of sounds and words can be exploited to create some kind of playful and surprising effect fascinates me. This is also one of the reasons that Sex and the City (in the following referred to as SATC) is one of my favourite TV-series. In my opinion one of the characteristics of this comedy series is the sharp and witty dialogue in which humorous effects to a large degree are generated by the employment of wordplay. This use of wordplay in SATC inspired me to the sub!ect of this thesis. "ne day while watching an episode it occurred to me that many of the instances of wordplay were lost in the subtitles# either because the meaning of it was only maintained to a certain degree or because the wordplay was simply left out. This observation indicates that the translation of wordplay can be a challenging and in some cases maybe even impossible task. $oreover it can be assumed that the task of translating wordplay in subtitles may pose even greater challenges for the translator due to the constraints induced by the nature of this specific translation type. Therefore I find it interesting to look into the translation of wordplay in this particular context. %ince &SATC was my source of inspiration I find it natural to use examples of wordplay from this series as ob!ects for study. 'ordplay comprises the creative use of language in the form of e.g. rhyme alliteration play with grammar etc. (%chr(ter )**+,-./). 0n additional type of wordplay is the pun which is the form of wordplay that will be focused on in this thesis. The pun is a complex and diverse phenomenon which is evident from the terminological and conceptual inconsistency that different works and publications on the sub!ect tend to show. The terms pun and wordplay are in many cases used interchangeably and in the words of 1irk 1elabastita an influential scholar on the field there is not even a consensus as to how the term pun should be understood (1elabastita -//2,..). In this thesis the term pun refers to the type of wordplay that creates a double meaning in the context in which it is employed by exploiting words that differ in meaning but are similar or almost similar in pronunciation and3or spelling. In order to avoid any potential confusion or misunderstanding I will thus distinguish between the terms wordplay and pun-. The former will be used to refer to the different types of wordplay in general whereas the latter will be used to refer to the specific type of wordplay !ust mentioned. In other words I regard the pun as being a subtype to the wider term wordplay.
The only exception will be when I 4uote a source which uses pun and wordplay interchangeably.
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Ai
an' p!oble
state ent
The purpose of this thesis is to examine which strategies are implemented by subtitlers when dealing with the transferring of puns from one language into another. In extension of this I will evaluate whether the effect of the pun in the original version is maintained in the subtitled version. I will do this by carrying out an empirical analysis which consists of a comparative analysis between the puns in the original version i.e. the source text (in the following referred to as %T) and their translations into the subtitled version i.e. the target text (in the following referred to as TT). The empirical material that is sub!ect to analysis consists of -) selected examples of puns from SATC season --7. It is not my intention to provide an exhaustive analysis of all the different types of puns that can be identified in the empirical material and the translation strategies that can be employed to translate them. 8ather I intend to look into how some of the issues that the translator faces when dealing with the translation of puns in subtitles are solved 9 successfully or not. Thus the aim of this thesis is to look into which strategies are used for the translation of puns in subtitles and with what effect. I will fulfil this aim by evaluating the translation of every example of puns that are sub!ect to analysis. This will be done by answering the following 4uestions to each example, -) 'hich translation strategy has been used to translate the %T pun: In extension of this I will seek to determine why the translator has chosen this strategy. )) Is the presumed intended effect of the %T pun maintained or lost in translation and why: 2) 'ould it be possible or maybe even more suitable to apply a different translation strategy for the %T pun and why: The results will enable me compare the fate of the puns in the 1anish subtitles and on the basis of this I will be able to conclude on the following problem statement, (oes the effe't of ST puns ten# to be lost in the TT0
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Theo!y an'
etho'
In order for me to be able to fulfil my aim I will need a theoretical framework. %eeing that the selected examples are taken from a TV-series it is pertinent to look into relevant aspects of translation within this type of media. 0ccordingly I will start by accounting for some of the characteristics of subtitling that may be influential on the choices made by the translator. This theoretical part will mainly be based on ;enrik <ottlieb=s works since he has carried out several studies on the field. 0dditional references will be made to >orge 1?a@ Aintas and 0line 8emael who are also specialised within the area. In order for me to be able to analyse the selected %T puns and their translations it is necessary to understand the phenomenon. Therefore I will use the works of 1elabastita to look into the characteristics of the pun as well as to provide a tool for classifying it. %ince the focus is on the translation of puns in subtitles the pun in this specific context will also be accounted for. ;aving looked into the nature of both subtitling and the pun the challenges of translating puns are examined. In this regard it is relevant to look into the notion of untranslatability as well as the concept of equivalence= since these theories are relevant when seeking to understand why the meaning and effect of the pun can be challenging to transfer from one language to another. 0s regards the theory of e4uivalence I will focus on Bida=s formal and dynamic equivalence because these distinctions are suitable in my evaluation of whether the effect of the %T puns has been maintained (cf. 4uestion ) on previous page). Cinally I will utili@e 1elabastita=s model of strategies that can be applied to the translation of puns to identify the different solutions opted for in the translation of the %T puns. 'ith these theories as a framework I will be able to analyse the empirical material which consists of -) selected segments containing pun elements. In order to give the reader an understanding of the empirical material I will give a brief introduction to the series in chapter 7 where the genre communicative purpose and TT audience also will be considered since these factors may be influential on the choices made by the subtitler. "n the basis of the analysis and the subse4uent chapter in which the results are compared I will be able to conclude on the problem statement.
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)eli itation
0s a result of the different perceptions of the pun there are also various approaches as to how it should be classified. 1ue to the limited scope of this thesis I will solely focus on the classification of puns in terms of their formal structure. "ne of the pun types that are represented in 1elabastita=s illustration of the formal classification of puns (appendix )) is the homographic pun. It has not been possible to find examples of this specific pun type in the empirical material though. This can be explained by the fact that it relies more on sight than hearing seeing that it is based on words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently (1elabastita -//2,D/). 0s a conse4uence this pun type will not be included in the theoretical part either. Curthermore it should be mentioned that the empirical material (among other theories) is analysed on the basis of 1elabastita=s model in which nine different strategies that are possible to apply in the translation of puns are identified. ;owever since the purpose of this thesis is not to provide an exhaustive analysis of all the possible types of puns and their translations it is not every translation strategy that is represented in the analysis.
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,3 SU(TITLIN8 AS TRANSLATION
In this chapter the main characteristics of subtitling are accounted for. This is to provide an understanding of this particular form of translation since the nature of it poses some constraints to the translator which may be necessary to consider in the analysis in chapter D. These constraints are also the reason that some translation scholars do not regard subtitling as a type of translation but rather of adaptation (Aintas E 8emael )**D,/). In this thesis subtitling is considered to be a form of translation taking the stance that the message rendered in the subtitles is not an adaptation of the original dialogue but a translation of it that due to the characteristics of subtitling does not render the %T dialogue in its exact wording. 0ccordingly the terms & translator and &subtitler are used interchangeably.
,3*3
0hat is subtitling9
%ubtitling is the most common mode of screen translation ) in 1enmark. 0ccording to <ottlieb subtitling can be defined as, Diamesic translation in polysemiotic media in the form of one or more line of written text presented on the screen in sync with the ori inal dialo ue ()**F in %ch!oldager, )*F). This definition is broad enough to refer to both intra- and interlingual subtitling but it is important to distinguish between the two though. 'hereas intralingual subtitling is the subtitling of the original dialogue in the same language (thus a translation form provided particularly for the deaf and hearing impaired) interlingual subtitling is the translation from one language to another (<ottlieb -//D,D-). The latter is the type of subtitling that is dealt with in this thesis.
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%ha!a"te!isti"s an' "onst!aints
%ubtitling differs from other types of screen translation by being written. 2 The fact that this particular translation type renders the original dialogue in a written form makes it diamesic seeing that a shift in language mode is involved. 0dditionally interlingual subtitling is diagonal meaning that it shifts from one
%creen translation encompasses all products distributed on screen be it a television cinema or computer screen (Aintas E 8emael )**D,-)). 2 "ther modes of screen translation is for instance dubbing and revoicing (Aintas E 8emael )**D,-)).
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language to another. Thus the language mode shifts from source language (in the following referred to as %G) speech to target language (in the following referred to as TG) writing (<ottlieb in %ch!oldager )**F,)-*). This means that the subtitler must not only translate the dialogue from one language to another. %3he is also to transfer dialogue from the spoken language which is characterised by pauses interruptions unfinished sentences etc. to the written language which is more rigid (<ottlieb -//D,--2). This shift from speech to writing induces some time- and space constraints because there is a limit as to how many characters the average viewer can read while at the same time grasping the visuals and acoustics on screen. Therefore the task of the subtitler is to focus on rendering the most informative elements of the original dialogue in the subtitles (Aintas E 8emael )**D,72-7+). The subtitler is also restricted in terms of space when translating from speech to writing given that a new semantic load is added to the screen in the form of subtitles. In order for the subtitles not to take up to much space on the screen they should not exceed 2)-+- characters per line in a maximum of two lines (Aintas E 8emael )**D,/). 0s a result of these time- and space restrictions which are induced because of the shift in language mode subtitlers often resort to condensation meaning that much of the original dialog is left out in the subtitles (Aintas E 8emael )**D,-+.). 0nother characteristic of subtitling is that it is conveyed in polysemiotic texts +. 0 text is polysemiotic when meaning is communicated through more than one semiotic channel . simultaneously. Cilm and TV-productions which are the types of polysemiotic texts that are dealt with in this thesis are some of the most prominent polysemiotic text types due to their audiovisual nature (<ottlieb in %ch!oldager )**F,+-). Traditionally they employ the following four semiotic channels simultaneously, The verbal acoustic channel! dialogue background voices sometimes lyrics (when meaningful in the given context) The non"verbal acoustic channel! music and sound effects The verbal visual channel! captions and written signs The non"verbal visual channel! picture composition and flow (<ottlieb -//D,F/).
The term text will be used throughout this thesis to refer to any combination of sensory si ns carryin communicative meanin # cf. %ch!oldager=s notion of the term (%ch!oldager )**F,+*). . 0 semiotic channel is the mode or sign system through which meaning or signs are communicated (%ch!oldager )**F,+*).
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$eaning is conveyed through the interplay between these channels which means that there are several aspects to consider in the subtitling process. Bot only is the subtitler to transfer the verbal meaning from the original dialogue into the TG s3he must also consider the visual channels and their importance in relation to what is being communicated verbally. This semiotic complexity can be considered a constraint to the subtitler because the meaning expressed in the subtitles must conform to what is communicated through the visual channels (1?a@ Aintas E 8emael )**D,/). Therefore the subtitler does not have the same freedom as e.g. literal translators. Bonetheless an advantage in this respect is that the audience=s understanding of the original dialogue does not depend entirely on the subtitles but is also supported by the intonative and visual aids of the original verbal and visual channels (<ottlieb -//D,-)-). The fact that subtitles appear in synchrony with the original dialogue makes this translation form overt7 (%ch!oldager )**F,2-). This coexistence of the original dialogue and the written translation of it gives rise to what is denominated the ossipin effect (Aintas E 8emael )**D,..) an expression that is used to refer to the fact that the audience because of the simultaneous reception of the original dialogue and the subtitled version of it is enabled to find discrepancies between the two versions. "ne of the constraints in this regard is that the subtitler cannot take the same &covert= liberties as e.g. literal translators without the audience (or the part of the audience that have a certain knowledge of the %G) noticing it (<ottlieb -//D,)*2). Curthermore due to the gossiping effect the use of the condensation strategy referred to earlier may give the audience the idea that too much information is left out seeing that the presence of the subtitles in synchrony with the original dialog makes them aware that it is not the entire dialog that is rendered. Therefore a common strategy is to transfer the items from the %T that have strong phonetic or morphological similarities to the TG thus hoping that the TT audience appreciates the &resemblance= between linguistic items of the original dialogue and the message that is rendered in the subtitles (Aintas E 8emael )**D,.7).
Translation is regarded as overt when viewers3readers are 9 or should be - aware that they are dealing with a translation (%ch!oldager )**F,2-).
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73 THE NATURE OF THE PUN

In order for me to be able to analyse and evaluate the translation of the %T puns in chapter D it is necessary to look into the nature of the pun. 0s indicated in the introduction it appears that there are different notions as to how the pun should be defined and classified. ;owever there seem to be an agreement upon the fact that the pun involves two senses (Hartington )**/,-D/.). This means that it produces two or more possible meanings due to the context in which it is conveyed. Thus ambiguity is triggered which can be said to be a central feature of the phenomenon (<ottlieb -//D,-F7).
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0hat is a pun9
1irk 1elabastita offers an operational definition of the pun which covers the most characteristic aspects of it. Therefore it will serve as a basis for the elaboration of the nature of the pun in the present chapter. $ordplay is the eneral name indicatin the various textual phenomena in which
certain features inherent in the structure of the lan ua e used are exploited in such a way as to establish a communicatively si nificant# %near&"simultaneous confrontation of at least two lin uistic structures with more or less dissimilar meanin s %si nifieds& and more or less similar forms %si nifiers& (1elabastita -//2,.D). In this definition it is stated that the pun is based on the confrontation of linguistic forms that are formally similar but have different meanings (1elabastita -//2,.F). The formal similarity is manifested in terms of spelling and pronunciation. It is therefore the confrontation of similar forms and dissimilar meanings between linguistic structures that gives rise to ambiguity. This means that ambiguity arises because words that look and3or sound the same but have different meanings are exploited in such a manner that an additional semantic layer D is added to the otherwise stable relationship between signifierF and signified/ (%anderson )**/,-).).
D F
Semantics is the study of the meaning of words ($c$illan). Thus a semantic layer is a &layer of meaning.= Si nifier is a term used in semiotics (the study of &signs=) referring to a word symbol or the like through which meaning is carried. In this case it is the word or group of word that constitute the pun (http,33www.yourdictionary.com3signifier). / The si nified refers to the meaning that the signifier carries thus in this case it is the habitual meaning of the word or word group constituting the pun http,33www.yourdictionary.com3signified.
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The linguistic structures through which the pun can be embedded can be phonological polysemous idiomatic morphological and syntactical-*. It is important to state that in many cases two or more of these linguistic features are exploited to obtain a single pun (1elabastita -//7,-2*-2-). In 1elabastita=s definition of the pun it is stated that the effect of a pun must be communicatively si nificant. Thereby it is distinguished from unintentional wordplay which appears from time to time (1elabastita -//7,-2-). 0 pun therefore need to be conveyed in especially textually contrived settings to be effective (1?a@ HIre@ )**F,2D). 0s is stated by Jrown, A necessary condition for pun perception is a context in which multiple and disparate meanin s for the pun word are acceptable' the context must concern itself with certain matters if a pun is to be made on a certain word (1elabastita -//2,D*) Thus a pun can only be regarded as effective when the context allows for a double-reading to be triggered. %uch contexts can be verbal (which e.g. follow from our expectation of grammatical wellformedness as well as thematic or conventional coherence) (1elabastita -//7,-)/) or situational (i.e. referring to the actual setting in which an utterance occurs or to the world spo(en of in the utterance) (1elabastita -//2,D)-2). The fact that a pun is communicatively significant means that it has a communicative effect. %uch effect can for instance be humorous attention-getting (often seen in newspaper headlines) or persuasive (fre4uent in marketing material) (1?a@ HIre@ )**F,2D).
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The "lassifi"ation of the pun
Various criteria can be used to describe and compare puns. They can for instance be classified in terms of their formal structure or according to the linguistic features in which they are inherent (1elabastita -//2,-22). To serve the purpose of this thesis I will use the former. 73,3*3 The !elation of fo! al i'entity
The purpose of classifying puns in terms of their formal structure is to examine how the pun components (i.e. the word or word group that have more or less similar forms and more or less different meanings) are related formally. The relation of identity between the two pun components can be either partial or complete. It is possible to identify four types and degrees which can be further specified in terms of homonymy homophony homography and paronymy (1elabastita
-*
Aonsult appendix - for a description of the linguistic structures.
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-//7,-)F). 0s mentioned in the introduction the homographic pun will not be included in this thesis. The ho%ony%i' pun is comprised of words that are identical both in spelling and pronunciation. The words have different meaning though. 0n example is the word & bear which can be a verb (to carry) or a noun (the animal). The ho%ophoni' pun is based on the exploitation of word pairs which sound alike but are different in spelling. 0n example of such word pair is & Carrie (proper noun) and &carry (verb). The pa&ony%i' pun exploits words that have slight differences in both spelling and pronunciation. 0n example of such a word pair is & addin (1elabastita -//2,D/-F*). 73,3,3 The a!!ange ent of pun "o ponents in salt/insult to in)ury
1epending on how the pun components are arranged in the text fragment in 4uestion the pun is either hori@ontal or vertical (1elabastita -//2,DF-D/). 0 pun is vertical when the meanings of it are exposed in one glimpse (<ottlieb -//D,-F7). The vertical pun is what 1elabastita in his earlier-cited wordplay definition refers to as the simultaneous confrontation of meanin seeing that the two confronting linguistic components are represented simultaneously within the same portion of text (1elabastita -//2,DF-D/) even though only one of them is materially present. The other component is triggered into action by the employment of the contextual setting (1elabastita -//7,-)/) which ignites the pun. This is illustrated in the following example, *+ dont even want to be seen in public with him. And + hate his name , Harry. Cause he is- .verywhere but his head/ (Aharlotte Kork SATC season . episode F). This homonymic pun is vertical because both pun components are exposed simultaneously in the same text fragment. Thus 0arry (proper noun) is the first pun component. The second is triggered by the following phrase in which the homophonic relation between 0arry and hairy (ad!ective) is exploited. 0dditionally it should be stated that it in some cases is possible to distinguish hierarchically between the two meanings that are derived from vertical puns. This is done on the basis of the importance of the meanings in relation to their contextual setting. In other words one of the pun readings may be biased in a contextually stronger manner because its meaning contributes more obviously to the coherence of the pun=s immediate context (1elabastita -//2,)*7). 5-*6
In hori@ontal puns on the other hand the two confronting linguistic components occur one after another in the text. It is the repetition of a word in context that triggers the secondary meaning. This is what 1elabastita refers to as the near"simultaneous confrontation of meanin in his definition. This type of pun component arrangement is illustrated with the following example, *+ dont believe in the 1epublican Party or the Democratic Party# + )ust believe in parties/ (%amantha >ones SATC season 2 episode )). 1ue to the premodifiers in the first two renderings of party# there is no doubt that the entities that are referred to are political. The secondary reading which triggers the pun is called forth in the third rendering of party where it becomes obvious that the type of party that %amantha refers to is not political. "n the basis of these criteria it should be possible to account for any pun in terms of its formal structure (1elabastita -//2,F-)--.
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Puns in fil - an' T: p!o'u"tions
;aving elaborated on the pun in general it is now pertinent to examine the phenomenon in the setting of polysemiotic texts more precisely film- and TV productions. 0s mentioned previously the pun can be utili@ed to obtain a humorous effect. This is why it is a highly employed device in comedy films and series. In such polysemiotic texts the pun can be conveyed through, 1ialogue 'ritten text on screen be it through displays or captions 1ialogue combined with non-verbal visual information (<ottlieb -//D,-FF)
In other words it can be triggered through verbal representation solely (either written or spoken) or through the interplay of verbal and visual elements. The puns that are conveyed in the latter manner will in the following be referred to as verbal puns. 'ith this type of pun the construction of a double meaning is conveyed through the simultaneous confrontation of an utterance and a visual image (%anderson )**/,-)+). The visual representation constitutes the situational contextual setting which means that the situational context can be regarded as crucial to the functioning of puns in polysemiotic texts (1elabastita -//2,D)).
--
Aonsult appendix ) for an illustration of the combination of these criteria.
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23 THE %HALLEN8E OF TRANSLATIN8 PUNS

Huns have by some translation scholars been labelled & untranslatable. The purpose of the present chapter is to clarify the reasons for this by looking into both the language- and media specific constraints with emphasis on the former. The talent of the translator and the time available to perform the translating task may also influence the results of the translation but will not be elaborated in the following.
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Language-spe"ifi" "onst!aints
It seems to be a common notion that the translation of puns is a challenging task. This can be explained by the fact that, the semantic and pra matic effect of source"text wordplay find their ori in in particular structural characteristics of the source lan ua e for which the tar et lan ua e more often than not fails to produce a counterpart# such as the existence of certain homophones# near"homophones# polysemic clusters# idioms or rammatical rules (1elabastita -//+,))2). In other words the rationale for considering puns as untranslatable is that they exist by virtue of the linguistic structures of the language in which they are produced. %eeing that the TG is built upon other linguistic structures than the %G it is not possible to translate the %T pun e4uivalently to the TT. Thus according to 1elabastita the notion of untranslatability means that translation e4uivalence is impossible in the transfer of puns from a %G to a TG (1elabastita -//7,-2). Bonetheless one=s stance in the disputable claim that puns are untranslatable depends on how the notions of translation and e4uivalence are perceived. 23*3,3 T!anslation an' e;ui.alen"e 'ithin translation studies the term e4uivalence is used to refer to the relationship of similarity between the %T and the TT. Aatford offers a definition of translation where e4uivalence in its strictest sense seems to be a prere4uisite, Translation may be defined as follows! the replacement of textual material in one lan ua e %S2& by equivalent textual material in another lan ua e %T2& (%ch!oldager )**F,-D).
;ere it is indicated that the TT should be e4uivalent to its %T in both form and content. Taking this stand point puns are presumably untranslatable in many cases.
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'hitman has a more flexible view on translation though. %he regards translation as a process of mapping aspects from one language to another and on the basis of this she re!ects the notion of untranslatability. In her view the task is to link the message of the original dialogue to the minds of the foreign audience. 0s she states, &Translation means bein aware of the intent of the ori inal as well as the tar et audiences common pool of allusions (<ottlieb )**/,))-)2). In other words she encourages a TT-oriented approach where the focus is on producing an effect on the TT audience that is as close as possible to the effect obtained on the %T audience. Thus it can be argued that she favours what can be called an e4uivalent effect. The concept of e4uivalence has been widely discussed since it traditionally focuses on achieving e4uivalence in terms of form and function between the %T and TT. $ost translation scholars have moved towards a more TT- oriented approach to translation arguing that the aim of translation is to be doin for a new tar et audience what the source text did for its readers thus advocating a functional approach to translation (%ch!oldager )**F,D*) as is also what 'hitman sees as the ideal approach. Bonetheless Bida has proposed two types of e4uivalence which allow for a less restrictive perception of the concept by moving away from strict word-for-word e4uivalence ($unday )**F,+2). The first is formal e4uivalence which focuses on the message itself in terms of form and function. Thus the ob!ect is for the message in the TT to match the different elements of the %T as closely as possible if necessary at the expense of natural expression. The second is dynamic e4uivalence
-)
which focuses on creating what Bida denominates the
principle of equivalent effect. 'ith this form of e4uivalence the aim is to create a relationship between the TT audience and the TT that is substantially the same as the one between the %T audience and the %T if necessary at the expense of literalness original word order etc. Hhrased differently the TT audience and their needs and expectations are in focus and these should be met with a complete naturalness of expression. Thus it can be concluded that a crucial aspect of this type of e4uivalence is the achievement of naturalness also if this involves adaptations in terms of grammar lexicon and3or of cultural references ($unday )**F,+)). Bida=s two approaches to e4uivalence have been heavily critici@ed. Cirst of all it is argued that still too much focus is put on the word level. %econd much criticism is centred on the e4uivalent effect e.g. by 4uestioning the measurability of such effect ($unday )**F,+2). Bonetheless seeing that these two distinctions allows for a less strict approach to the concept of e4uivalence I find them useful as an analytical tool in chapter D when determining the degree of translation e4uivalence in each example.
-)
0lso denominated functional equivalence.
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<e'ia-spe"ifi" "onst!aints
0part from the language specific constraints that occur in the translation of puns from one language to another the challenge of translating puns is increased in audiovisual productions due to their polysemiotic nature. Cirst of all the condensation strategy often applied by subtitlers because of the time- and space constraints may be influential. The fact that subtitled humour in many instances are rendered in fewer words than in the %T may affect the outcome of the rendering of the pun in the TT (Veiga -.F). 0n aspect particularly characteristic for audiovisual productions concerns the visual pun though. The visual pun is produced through the visual rendering of the unexpected semantic layer i.e. the secondary &reading=. This poses some constraints to the subtitler since the translation of the original dialog which is rendered in the subtitles is not only to correspond with the semantic content of the original utterance but also with the visual image (<ottlieb -//D,-F/). Aonse4uently the subtitler does not have the same opportunities of providing alternative creative translation solutions as would be an opportunity in monosemiotic text types. This is likely to influence the outcome of the translation.
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13 STRATE8IES FOR TRANSLATIN8 PUNS

1elabastita has developed a model which deals specifically with the translation of puns. In this model nine different translation techni4ues that are possible to apply in the translation of puns are identified. 0s 1elabastita reckons the model is open to further refinement. Bonetheless it is applicable to identify the strategies applied in the translation of puns in subtitles. 'orth mentioning is that strategy nine in the model is not possible to applicable in subtitling due to the technical constraints within this type of translation. Curthermore it should be stated that in some cases it is possible to combine two or more techni4ues (1elabastita -//2, -/-). The different strategies in the following model are explained in appendix 2.
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)elabastita=s t!anslation st!ategies
1? Pun pun )? Pun non-pun a& 3on selective non"pun b& Selective c& Diffuse paraphrase *? Pun Punoi# +? Pun @e&o .? (i&e't 'opy> Pun ST A Pun TT 9? T&ansfe&en'e> Pun ST A Pun TT ;? A##ition> Non-pun Pun 1? @e&o Pun 2? E#ito&ial te'hni5ues
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53 INTRO)U%TION TO THE E<PIRI%AL <ATERIAL

In the present chapter I will give an introduction to SATC the series from which the examples that constitute the empirical material have been selected. Curthermore the genre communicative purpose and TT audience are considered because these are relevant aspects to consider in the translation process.
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About >Se# an' the %ity=
SATC is an 0merican TV- series which consists of six seasons with a total of /+ episodes. It was aired for the first time in -//F by ;J" an 0merican cable TV-station.-2 The series which is partially based on the book of the same name written by Aandace Jushnell has been a huge success all over the world which is also evident from its more than .* Lmmy 0ward and )+ <olden <lobe 0wards nominations
-+
of which it has won several. The success has
been so big that SATC! the 4ovie was released in )**F followed by SATC 5 in )*-*. The series was broadcasted in 1enmark by TV2 from -//F-)**+ and has subse4uently been rerun several times.-. 0ll the seasons from the series is available on 1V1 either separately or in a 1V1 box featuring the complete series.
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Plot an' "ha!a"te!s
'ith Bew Kork Aity as the setting SATC tells the story about four attractive fashion-conscious career minded and independent female characters. "r more precisely the lead character Aarrie Jradshaw the central narrator of the series tells the story. Aarrie (played by %arah >essica Harker) a &thirty-something= fashionista writes a weekly column called Sex and the City for the fictive newspaper 3ew 6or( Star. In the column she tries to make sense of the city=s dating !ungle the relationship between men and women as well as !ust about any matter that may impact the life of the modern woman. Lvery episode of the series is centred on Aarrie=s research for her next column and thanks to the ups and downs of her and her three best friends %amantha $iranda and Aharlotte she is never short of material. %amantha >ones (played by Mim Aattrall) is a confident and successful H8 executive with a very uninhibited sexuality. $iranda ;obbes (played by Aynthia Bixon) a hardworking and successful corporate lawyer who later in the series has a baby is the relationship cynic. Aharlotte Kork is an art gallery manager and an indefatigable romantic optimist. Jased on the experiences of these four very different girls and best friends relevant issues are dealt with.
-2 -+
(http,33www.information.dk3-7**F)) (http,33www.hbo.com3sex-and-the-city3index.htmlN3sex-and-the-city3about3index.html) -. (http,33www.kulturkapellet.dk3musikanmeldelse.php:idO2*)
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This is done both in the form of conversations between the girls where they share stories and experiences but also when Aarrie reflects upon the theme in 4uestion for her next column. In many cases the latter is done in the form of Aarrie=s voiceover narration ($cAabe E 0kass )**+,-F.) but in the first three seasons she also addresses the camera directly asking 4uestions like, *$hy are there so many reat unmarried women and no reat unmarried men7/ (%eason episode -- *+,)*).
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8en!e an' "o
uni"ati.e pu!pose
;J" defines SATC as a comedy series. 0ccording to Bedergaard-Garsen the language is a characteristic feature within this genre (-//),+.). 0s mentioned in the introduction the dialogue in SATC is sharp and witty and the flexibility of the language is often exploited in the form of wordplay ($cAabe E 0kass )**+,-F7). 0ccording to $cAabe and 0kass the writing is vital for the series and they state that ;J" has focused on this particular feature in their promotion of it. They argue that promotin SATC as a literary product means the series can navi ate difficult adult content , sex and profanity , by puttin it into a context where smart comedy writin sets this product apart from its competition ($cAabe E 0kass )**+,7). "n the basis of this it can be argued that the primary communicative purpose of the series is to entertain the audience. Jased on the fact that much of the narrative is centred on sex and profanity it can also be argued that some additional communicative purposes are to inform and to create debate (seeing that &sensitive sub!ects= such as sexually transmitted diseases abortions breast cancer etc. are also dealt with). Curthermore even though not characteristic of the comedy genre it can be argued that an additional communicative purpose is to invite the audience into dialogue by 4uestioning the idea of the modern woman gender roles etc. This is partly because Aarrie due to her role as the narrator of the story occasionally addresses the camera directly ($cAabe E 0kass )**+,-DF) and partly because the series draws on modes of confession in the first two seasons by including clips with statements of &real= people expressing their attitude towards some issue related to dating and the relationship between men and women. Jy drawing on this TV confessional techni4ue the audience is invited to identify with different issues that are placed in comic fictional narrative ($cAabe E 0kass )**+,-7D).
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The TT au'ien"e
1ue to the themes in the series i.e. womanhood men sex gender roles fashion career and any relevant issue in relation to being woman in the -//*s it can be assumed that the intended target audience is most likely to be women in the age of -F-+* years old since this target audience is likely to be able to recognise and relate to some of the experiences and situations that the characters face and maybe even to a certain degree identify with one of the very different girls. The fact that the TT audience is likely to be relatively young and &up to beat= makes it fair to assume that the main part of it has a fair knowledge of the %G. This claim can be based on the fact that 1enmark is a subtitling country meaning that most 1anes listen to Lnglish every day (<ottlieb -//D,-//). This influences the TT audience=s knowledge of the %G. In this regard the gossiping effect is relevant because it can be argued that it is likely that the main part of the TT audience is still able to appreciate the effect of the %T pun even though it is not rendered in its original sense in the TT. Thus the simultaneous reception of the dialog and subtitles may be an advantage in this regard but it should of course not restrict the subtitler=s effort in recreating the effect of the %T pun in the TT.
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?3 ANAL@SIS OF THE ST AN) TT

In the following analysis the %T and TT will be analysed on the basis of the 4uestions enumerated in the introduction. The %T puns have been classified on the basis of their formal relation cf. 1elabastita=s classification accounted for in chapter 2. Thus the puns that will be analysed in the following are based on homonymy homophony and paronymy. Gast but not least the visual pun is also represented. It should be noted that the %T version is reproduced with any characteristics of spoken language that the dialogue may have meaning that e.g. it is is reproduced as its. Curthermore the pun components in the %T are underlined. Cor the sake of word economy the two meanings that are called forth in the following puns are denominated $- (meaning -) and $) (meaning )). Aonsult appendix + for a transcription of each segment in context.
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Ho ony i" puns
Segment 1 $ha&a'te& Aarrie ST I have no fortune. I didn=t need a cookie to tell me that TT >eg har ingen lykke. 1et behPvede !eg ikke en lykkekage for at vide
48! the entity or power believed by some to brin
ood or bad luc( to people
45! a very lar e amount of money %www.yourdictionary.com& Translation strate y! 9un 3on"9un %selective& This is an example of a vertical pun where one of the possible readings is more plausible than the other (cf. chapter 2). Jecause of the immediate contextually setting (the audience has !ust seen Aarrie opening a fortune cookie) $- is the obvious signification. $) is called forth by the context as well. In the precedent scenes the audience sees Aarrie being refused a loan in the bank and this is what triggers this additional meaning.
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The pun is rendered in a non-punning manner in the TT because only $- of the %T pun has been retained. It can be argued that the subtitler had no other choice but to render $- given that the contents of the subtitles must conform to the visual image which in this case exposes Aarrie opening a fortune cookie. The 1anish e4uivalent to fortune coo(ie is ly((e(a e# a compound of the two words ly((e : (a e. 2y((e has another semantic meaning than fortune though seeing that it is rather an e4uivalent to the Lnglish noun happiness. Aonse4uently e4uivalence is not achieved and the effect of the %T pun is lost. <iven that the subtitler is merged to retain $- in the TT due to the pictorial information I do not see any alternative translation solution.
Segment 2 $ha&a'te& Instructor Aarrie ST 0re you ready to grab the bar: I=m ready to go to the bar TT Harat til at gribe stangen: %olgt til stanglakrids
48! A lon trape;e&
piece of wood %in this case the ob)ect that Carrie holds on to when swin in
the
45! A place where you o to buy and drin( alcoholic drin(s Translation strate y! 9un 9unoid In this hori@ontal pun a double reading is triggered with the repetition of the word bar in a context where it has another meaning than the first pun component. The subtitler has chosen to translate the %T pun by using a wordplay-related rhetorical device. This is done by exploiting the effect of repetition thus repeating the word stan in the compound stan la(rids# which in this context is rendered as a 1anish idiom that figuratively means to be in a very unpleasant situation (0ndersen -//F,)*.). The meaning of Aarrie=s answer to the trape@e instructor=s 4uestion is that she is nervous and most of all feels like calming her nerves with a drink. Aomparing the figurative meanings of the %T pun and the TT version of it it can be argued that dynamic e4uivalence has been held (even though in a non-punning manner) since the communicative meanings are similar, Aarrie finds herself in an unpleasant situation. 0n alternative translation solution which arguably remains closer to the meaning of the %T pun could be, 9arat til at blive stan "<acardi. Lven though the same strategy is used by conveying a
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play on words through the repetition of stan in another context it can be argued that this utterance renders the meaning and structure of the %T pun in a more e4uivalent manner since only blive stan "bacardi diverges from being formally e4uivalent to the %T pun. 'ith stan as a premodifier to <acardi a spirits brand whose name can be used to describe the condition of someone who is very drunk the meaning of stan "<acardi is to be very drun(. Thus it can be argued that it draws on the same meaning as the one in the %T pun, That alcohol is suitable to calm a person=s nerves. ;ence it maintains the effect of the %T pun more successfully. Segment 3 $ha&a'te& Aarrie=s voice-over ST That night the only thing $iranda put to bed was the $cMen@ie-brief TT 1en aften var det eneste $iranda gav tPrt pQ $cMen@ie
ST 48! 9uttin the child to bed %the literal meanin & ST 45! To finish dealin with somethin # in this re ard a case she has been wor(in on in the law firm %the fi urative meanin & Translation strate y! 9un 9un In this vertical pun based on an idiom both the literal and figurative meaning of an Lnglish idiom is exploited. The subtitler has succeeded in translating the %T pun to a TG pun. The TT pun has the same formal structure as well as underlying linguistic mechanism as the %T seeing that it is also a homonymic vertical pun based on an idiom. Bonetheless the TT pun has a different figurative and literal meaning, TT 48! To chan e nappy TT 45! To tic( someone off (0nderson -//F,)).) Lven though the semantic meaning of the idiom is not 4uite similar I believe that it is fair to state that an e4uivalent effect is obtained in the TT seeing that both the literal and figurative meaning of the idiom upon which it is based serves the purpose of the %T pun i.e. it states the fact that $iranda (once again) missed out on spending time with her baby and instead spent time on work. Thus dynamic e4uivalence has been held.
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Ho ophoni" puns
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Segment 4 $ha&a'te& Aarrie=s voice-over ST The next morning I recovered from my see-Jig-sickness TT BRste morgen kom !eg mig over min Jig-sPsyge
48! sea sic(ness %i.e. playin on the fact that Carrie attended a boat"party& 45! see sic(ness %referrin to the fact that Carrie was overwhelmed by old feelin s when seein <i . Thus# implicitly# these feelin s are referred to as a sic(ness.& Translation strate y! 9un 3on"9un %selective& In this vertical pun which exploits the formal relation between see and sea the subtitler has only expressed aspects of $- of the %T pun while having excluded $). The e4uivalent words to sea and see in 1anish are s= and se respectively. This 1anish word pair is not homophonic which precludes an e4uivalent translation in terms of the formal structure. It is interesting to look into the wording of the TT though. <i "s=sy e can in a word-for-word sense be rendered as <i "sea sic(ness in Lnglish but this signification does only convey %T pun $- partially seeing that <i seems to function as an indicator to the kind of seasickness that Aarrie has in the TT. 1ue to the situational context it can be argued that the effect of the %T pun is maintained to some degree even though a pun is excluded because of the lack of homophony between se and s=. Bonetheless this re4uires that the target audience sees the underlying correlation between & <i and seasic(ness. The aspect of Aarrie feeling see"sick because of this meeting is implicit only because of the lack of the punning effect in the TT. If the subtitler had decided that %T $) was the most important to maintain in the TT a possible solution would be, &3>ste mor en (om )e mi over min se"<i "sy e# which would also be an application of the pun non pun %selective& strategy. The punning effect would still not be maintained but the %T $) which in my opinion is dominant in the given context would be rendered and maybe the target audience would be able to see the similarity between se"<i "sy e and s="<i "sy e which would actually retain both meanings. Aonse4uently it can be argued that dynamic e4uivalence to a certain degree would be held because the effect of the %T pun would be partially transferred to the TT. Segment 5 $ha&a'te& ST TT
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Lnid
I want less Aarrie Jradshaw and more carry this bag with these shoes do you see what I mean:
>eg vil have mindre Aarrie Jradshaw og mere, SbRr denne taske med disse skoT
48, Aarrie %proper noun& 45, To carry %verb& Translation strate y! 9un 3on 9un %non selective& In the translation of this hori@ontal pun which exploits the homophonic relation between $- and $) both meanings of the %T pun are retained in the TT but in a non-punning manner. Aharacteristic for hori@ontal puns when utili@ing this strategy is that a relative degree of e4uivalence is established between the %T $- and $) and the meanings rendered in the TT. Bonetheless the lack of e4uivalent lexical items in the TG results in the loss of the pun (1elabastita -//2,)*)). Therefore it can be stated that lexical e4uivalence has been held with the loss of the pun in the TT as a result. ;owever it can be argued that the TT audience due to the gossiping effect may be able to grasp the wordplay anyway seeing that no particular proficiency in Lnglish is re4uired to appreciate the identical pronunciation of Aarrie and the Lnglish verb to carry. It can be argued that puns based on names are particularly challenging cases of pun translations seeing that no word can replace the name. Therefore I cannot point on a translation strategy that would be more suitable.
Segment 6 $ha&a'te& 'oman in waiting room %amantha 'oman in waiting room ST I=m a nun Kou have none: Bo no no I am a nun TT >eg er sPster 1e har en sPster Be! !eg er sPster
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48! 3one 45! 3un Translation strate y! 9un 9un In this example the hori@ontal pun is translated successfully into a TT pun. The formal structure differs from the %T pun seeing that the TT pun is homonymic. This is because s=ster a 1anish e4uivalent to nun is e4uivocal. Aonse4uently the two following meanings are called forth in the TT pun, TT 48! Sister %the antonym to brother& TT 45! 3un Lven though the meaning is not identical to the one in the %T pun it can be argued that the TT pun imposes the same effect on the TT audience as the %T pun does on its %T audience. 0ccordingly dynamic e4uivalence has been held.
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Pa!ony i" puns
Segment 7 $ha&a'te& Aharlotte $iranda ST Kou don=t have a crib yet: Bo Aharlotte I have a !ob TT ;ar du ingen vugge endnu: Be! Aharlotte. >eg har et !ob.
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instead. I=m sorry but when am I supposed to find time to prepare for this baby: I don=t have a vague idea how I=m gonna do any of this Aarrie 'ell I don=t have a SVogueT idea so *hello/
;vornQr skal !eg finde tid til at forberede mig pQ babyen: 1et har !eg ingen vag idI om
1et har !eg ingen SVogueT idI om
48! ?a ue idea 45! ?o ue idea Translation strate y! 9un 3on"9un %non"selective& This hori@ontal pun is based on the phonemic similarities between va ue and vo ue. In the TT the subtitler has rendered both meanings but in a non-punning manner. In this segment the condensation strategy referred to in chapter ..). is employed given that some of the %T dialogue items are left out. Bonetheless this is not at the expense of the meaning. Lven though & va ue and its 1anish e4uivalent va are very similar the punning effect is not possible to recreate in the TT because the formal relation between va and ?o ue is too weak. The pun is triggered with the + dont have a ?o ue idea"utterance which refers back to the preceding scenes where Aarrie is critici@ed by her ?o ue-editor. It is therefore dependant on the situational context. Jecause ?o ue is a proper name it can be argued that the subtitler does not have the same opportunities of creating a well-functioning TT pun if the situational context is to be maintained. Therefore I do not see any alternative translation solution.
Segment 8 $ha&a'te& %amantha %tanford ST 'ell I decided to turn a little hair loss into a lot of hair gain "h you=re getting wiggy with it TT >eg besluttede at gPre hQrtab til hQrforPgelse 1u pa=rykker for vildt
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48! $i %i.e. artificial hair to be worn on your head as a replacement of your own& 45! $itty %i.e. to be clever and funny& Translation strate y! 9un 9un In this vertical pun the phonemic similarity between the words wit (in this context used as the ad!ective witty though) and wi has been exploited resulting in the word wi two 1anish words thus rendering the following meanings, TT 48! 9ary( %wi & TT 45! 1y((er %the fi urative meanin of to roc( can be re arded as an .n lish equivalent to this expression& 0s in the %T pun the phonemic similarities between two words are exploited by combining them into one word. Thus it can be stated that the subtitler has succeeded in creating a pun that is similar in terms of the formal relation between the pun components. Curthermore the semantic content of the TT pun is e4uivalent to the %T pun with the result that the same effect is achieved. "n the basis of this it can be concluded that this is an instance of formal e4uivalence. y. The subtitler has succeeded in creating a TT pun by exploiting the phonemic similarity between
Segment 9 $ha&a'te& $r. Jig Aarrie ST I=m tired of old Bew Kork 'ell if you are tired you ta(e a SnapaT you don=t move to Bapa TT >eg er trRt af gamle Bew Kork ;vis du er trRt sQ SnapaT en lur ikke flyt til Bapa
In this case a double pun is triggered seeing that $r. Jig states that he is tired of Bew Kork. 0s an answer to this Aarrie implies that the normal reaction when you are tired is to take a nap thus calling forth another signification of the ad!ective tired i.e. the one that is used to refer to a person=s condition when s3he is tired and needs rest.
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Bonetheless the pun that is in focus is the second which is a vertical pun that triggers the following meanings, 48! 3ap %i.e. a short sleep& 45! 3apa %i.e. the eo raphical location in California& Translation strate y! 9un 9un The subtitler has managed to create a TT pun which is also homophonic and establishes the following meanings, TT 48! napa %an altered version of the Danish verb at nappe TT 45! 3apa Lven though the pun is triggered through other syntactic elements than in the %T it can be argued that formal e4uivalence is held. This is due to the fact that the TT is a word-for word translation which renders the same meaning. Therefore no other translation solution would be better. Aommon for both the %T and TT pun is that the Lnglish nap and the 1anish napa (nappe) are altered i.e. an &a= is added. The reason for this may be that the pun is emphasised seeing that it might go unnoticed if nap was spelled normally. 'ith this wrong spelling the link between the two pun components is stronger.
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:isual puns
Segment 10 $ha&a'te& Aarrie=s voice over ST 'hen your career is going better than ever it=s hard not to get a big head TT BQr ens karriere er pQ toppen er det svRrt ikke at blive indbildsk
48! *To et a bi head/ can fi uratively spea(in mean when success oes to your head in the sense that you mi ht start thin(in that you are better than other (Holitikens Lngelsk-1ansk Idiom "rdbog )**-,-+D).
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45! *<i head/ in the literal sense %the audience sees a poster of Carrie where she is enlar ed. Consequently# her fi ure %includin her head& is much bi Translation strate y! is 9un 3on"9un %selective& In this example the subtitler has only rendered $- in the subtitles i.e. the signification that is rendered through the verbal utterance. The secondary &reading= in the %T pun is triggered through the visual image. The fact that the subtitler has chosen to translate the verbal meaning may have the result that the audience feels confused by the visual image because it does not conform to what is being expressed in the subtitles. It may therefore be fair to state that this is an unsuitable translation solution. To avoid the mismatch between the contents of the subtitles and the visual images it can be argued that it would be better to render $) of the %T pun by employing a 1anish formulation that somehow matches the visual image. In the lack of better 1anish phrasings such solution could be, @Det er sv>rt i((e at lade succesen sti e An til hovedet nBr (arrieren er pB toppen. Lven though the semantic content of this phrase is only e4uivalent to the verbal %T meaning it can be argued that the fact that the word head is included makes it a better translation solution. It does not conform entirely to the visual image but the fact that the phrase contains the word head may mean that the meaning of the subtitles makes better sense to the audience seeing that Aarrie=s head on the poster is in focus in the visual semiotic channels. Thus a slight degree of dynamic e4uivalence will be held because the effect of the %T pun is recreated to some extent. er than that of the real Carrie&.
Segment 11 $ha&a'te& Aarrie=s voice over ST $eanwhile $iranda was getting fed up as well with herselfU TT $iranda var ogsQ godt irriteret pQ sig selvU
48! To be sic( and tired of somethin %fi urative meanin &
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45! To be fed with somethin eatable %literal meanin & Translation strate y! 9un non"pun %selective& %pecial for this instance where only $- of the %T pun is rendered in the TT is that the subtitler is not only restricted by the visual elements but also by Aarrie=s voice-over which carries the audience from one scene to another. The voice-over brings us from a scene where Aharlotte is fed up (in the figurative sense) by her husband and his nonsense and to this scene where the visual channel renders the figurative meaning of the idiom. Thus ambiguity is triggered and due to the reference to the preceding scene the subtitler has no other choice but to render the meaning of the idiom. In 1anish the meaning of the Lnglish idiom to be fed up is at v>re tr>t af (%mith -//.,.7). 'ith this rendering a double reading is precluded though seeing that it is not e4uivocal. Therefore the pun is lost. Bonetheless it can be argued that the effect of the %T pun to some degree is maintained due to the support of the visual image. Lven though the visual images do not call forth a second reading of the TT rendering the meaning is still implicit seeing that the audience cannot have any doubt as to why $iranda is sic( and tired of herself. "n the basis of this and the fact that the subtitlers opportunities of finding a creative solution to the problem is restricted because of Aarrie=s voice-over which serves to create coherence between this and the preceding scene I do not see any alternative translation solution.
Segment 12 $ha&a'te& Aarrie=s voice-over ST I didn=t think $rs. Aohen could move any slower. Jut apparently she couldU TT >eg troede ikke $rs. Aohen kunne bevRge sig langsommere men det kunne hun Qbenbart
48! 4ove from the apartment 45! 4ove her body physically
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Translation strate y! 9un 3on 9un %Selective& In this example only %T $) is rendered in the subtitles i.e. the meaning that conforms to what is expressed through the visual channel. In 1anish the e4uivalents to move in $- and $) can be &flytte or &bev> e si respectively and the latter is the one employed in the subtitles due to the visual image. Bonetheless it can be argued that the effect of the TT rendering would have been more similar to that of the %T by employing the 1anish word flytte i.e. SCe troede i((e 4rs. Cohen (unne flytte si lan sommere# men det (unne hun Bbenbart./ Lven though it is only a slight difference it can be argued that this rendering conveys the effect of the %T pun better seeing that flytte si might suggest a duplicity in meaning because it is the word that is employed in the context of movin out of the apartment (for instance) as well. Thus by doing this a higher degree of dynamic e4uivalence would have been attained.
A3 THE EFFE%T OF THE TAR8ET TEBT REN)ERIN8S

"n the basis of the comparative analysis between the selection of %T puns and their translations into the TT it can be stated that there are several instances where the effect of the %T pun has been maintained in the TT 9 either with an e4uivalent meaning or with a meaning that produces the same effect on the TT audience as the %T pun did for its audience. Bonetheless the main part of the TT renderings only conveys the meaning of the %T pun partially or not at all with the result that the effect is lost in the TT. Aonsidering the fact that the language is a very important feature of comedy series this means that some humorous aspects are lost in the TT. Thus the importance of recreating the effect of the %T cannot be overrated. Therefore it is interesting to examine whether it is possible to identify some tendencies concerning the instances where the %T puns have been translated successfully as well as the ones where the effect is lost.
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Cour of the selected %T puns (segment 2 7 F and four) have been translated using the 9un 9un strategy. "nly one of these is based on homonymy. 0ccording to <ottlieb puns based on homonymy and paronymy are most likely to &survive= in translation because these pun types allow for greater differences between the pun-components at play. Therefore they may be regarded as less language-specific than the homophonic puns (<ottlieb -//D,-/*). The analysis carried out in this thesis is far from exhaustive because of the limited number of examples. Bonetheless it can be stated that two of the four successfully translated puns are paronymic i.e. puns of the type where the formal relation between the pun components is weak. 0ccordingly the subtitler has a larger degree of freedom when dealing with this pun type which suggests that these pun types also are the ones that are most likely to be rendered with an e4uivalent effect in the TT as is also stated by <ottlieb. In five instances (segment - + -* -- and -)) the 9un 3on"9un %selective& strategy has been employed with the result that the effect of these puns is not conveyed in the TT. The visual puns are most dominant here. It can be argued that the reason for this is that the subtitler is restricted because of the situational context i.e. the visual image. Aharacteristic for visual puns is that the subtitler should make what is communicated in the subtitles conform to what is expressed through the visual semiotic channels. This precludes him3her from taking creative liberties and finding an alternative phrasing whose meaning differs from the original version. The 9un 3on 9un %non"selective& strategy has been used for two puns (segment . and D) whose common denominator is that one of the pun components is a proper name. It can be presumed that proper names generally make the translation of puns challenging seeing that they are rarely replaced with another item which is easier to do when dealing with other word classes. Therefore it may be safe to assume that it is very hard to maintain the effect of such puns. Cinally the 9un 9unoid strategy has been employed to segment ). Lven though only one of the selected examples illustrates the employment of this strategy it may be assumed that the effect of %T puns to a high degree can be maintained if the subtitler is not able to find a TT pun and therefore creates some other form of wordplay as a form of compensation. 0 final observation that is relevant to the theory on subtitling accounted for in chapter ) is that the condensation strategy which is an often employed strategy used by subtitlers because of the timeand space constraints does not seem to impact the outcome of the TT rendering of the %T puns seeing that only very few instances of the selected examples showed instances of condensation.
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43 %ON%LUSION
The aim of this thesis was to study how puns are translated in subtitles and with what effect. Jy doing this my intention was to examine whether a loss of effect tends to be the fate of puns in subtitling. To enable me to answer this problem statement I made an empirical analysis based on 1elabastita=s theories on the nature of the pun as well as strategies that can be employed to translate it in which the %T puns were compared to the TT renderings with the purpose to determine whether the effect of the %T puns was lost in subtitling. In the analysis I considered the characteristics of subtitling primarily based on <ottlieb=s theories in chapter ) when relevant to the example in 4uestion. Curthermore Bida=s theories of formal and dynamic e4uivalence were included as a tool for estimating whether the effect of the %T pun was rendered e4uivalently in the TT.
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The results of the analysis showed that only a third of the selected examples of %T puns maintained the meaning and3or the effect of the original pun. Aonsidering the primary communicative purpose of SATC# it can be argued that this is a considerable loss given that an important generator of humorous effects in comedy series is the creative use of language. This means that many of the humorous aspects are not rendered as effectively in the TT as in the %T. Curthermore the analysis enabled me to suggest some tendencies seeing that it showed that puns that only have a slight degree of formal identity are likely to be translated successfully into the TT. Curthermore it can be stated that there is a tendency for the effect of puns to be lost in translation when the context is of high importance to the calling forth of a secondary meaning which means that the visual puns are particularly difficult to translate without losing the punning effect. Cinally it can be suggested that puns based on proper names can be difficult to render with an e4uivalent effect. "n the basis of this it can be concluded that the type of pun as well as the semiotic complexity of film- and TV productions tends to have a saying in how successfully the effect of the %T pun is rendered in the TT. Bonetheless the study also shows that puns are not untranslatable and that the effect of a %T pun is possible to transfer to the TT. Aonsidering the limited number of examples the results of this thesis are not conclusive. In order to be able to conclude anything definite it would be necessary to carry out a more comprehensive analysis. Bonetheless the findings of this thesis contribute to the field of translating by indicating some tendencies and by enlightening some of the issues that the translation of puns tends to entail.
*-3A(STRA%T
The pun is a form of wordplay that creates a double meaning in the context in which it is conveyed by exploiting the similar or almost similar pronunciation and3or spelling between words with different meanings. It serves to create some kind of communicative effect be it humorous attention-getting or persuasive. Bonetheless it is a complex phenomenon particularly when wanting to translate it from one language to another. This is because it is based upon linguistic structures and such structures differ from language to language. This means that it may be difficult to render the meaning of puns from one language to another because of the lack of e4uivalent counterparts of certain linguistic items and structures in the target language. I find this issue interesting which is why my intention of this thesis was to examine how puns are translated and with what effect. I chose to focus on the translation issue in the context of a TV-
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production because I found it interesting to see how the pun is dealt with in this medium which is characterised by semiotic complexity. Therefore the purpose of this thesis was to identify the translation strategies that are employed for the translation of puns in subtitling and on the basis of this evaluate whether the effect of the %T pun was maintained in the TT. This was done by conducting an empirical study with the comedy series Sex and the City as an empirical example. "n the basis of -) selected puns from this series a comparative analysis of the %T puns and their TT renderings was carried out with the purpose to examine how they were translated into the TT and with what effect. Jy looking into the characteristics of subtitling primarily based on theories by ;enrik <ottlieb it became evident that the polysemiotic nature of film- and TV productions poses some constraints to the subtitler. This is interesting for this thesis because it might influence the outcome of the subtitled versions of the %T puns. Curthermore by looking into the nature of the pun based on 1irk 1elabastita=s theoretical contribution to the field I was enabled to identify and classify the %T puns as well as to evaluate how successfully they were rendered in the TT. This was done on the basis of a model proposed by 1elabastita in which he has identified nine strategies that are possible to employ when dealing with the translation of puns. 0fter having examined why the translation of puns is such a challenging task by looking into the notion of untranslatability and the concept of e4uivalence I was able to carry out the analysis by taking point of departure in three operational 4uestions enumerated in the introduction. In the analysis the selected %T puns were classified on the basis of their relation of formal identity. Curthermore the pun type that only functions in polysemiotic texts because it relies on the visual representation of one of the meanings was included. 0ccordingly the different types of puns that were analysed were homonymic homophonic paronymic and visual. The analysis showed that a third of the selected examples were translated successfully in the sense that the effect of the %T pun had been maintained in the TT 9 either with an e4uivalent meaning or with a meaning that produced the same effect on the TT audience as the %T pun did for its audience. ;owever this also showed that two thirds of the selected %T puns were not translated in such a manner that the effect of the %T pun was maintained in the TT. This is a considerable loss particularly when taken the genre of Sex and the City in consideration. %ince the language is an important generator within comedy series it can be argued that the TT audience misses out on many of the humorous aspects that are generated by the employment of puns. The results of the analysis enabled me to conclude that the success of maintaining the effect of the %T pun in the TT depends on the degree of formal similarity between the pun components as well as on the contextual setting. The latter proved to be particularly relevant for the visual pun seeing that this relies on visual representation (which e4uals the context). 0ccordingly it could be stated
52+6
that the effect of visual puns are particularly difficult to maintain in the subtitled version. Cinally the analysis also enabled me to suggest that puns based on proper names can be difficult to render with an e4uivalent effect. Nu%be& of 'ha&a'te&s> *.929
**3REFEREN%ES
(oo/s 0ndersen %.T. (-//F), TalemBder i dans(! Drdbo over idiomer. $unksgaard. 1elabastita 1. (-//2), Theres a Double Ton ue! An +nvesti ation into the Translation of Sha(espeares $ordplay# with Special 1eference to 0amlet. 0msterdam, 8odopi. 1?a@ Aintas >.# 8emael 8. ()**D), Audiovisual Translation! Subtitlin . $anchester VM E Minderhook V%0, %t. >erome Hublishing. <ottlieb ;. (-//D), Subtitles# Translation E +dioms. Aopenhagen, 8eproafdelingen 9 The Caculty of ;umanities Vniversity of Aopenhagen. 52.6
<rue $.# %teen ;.;. ()**-), 9oliti(ens .n els("dans( +diomordbo . MPbenhavn, Holitikens Corlag. 4acmillan .n lish Dictionary for Advanced 2earners 5nd edition ()**D). $acmillan Lducation. $unday >. ()**F), +ntroducin Translation Studies , Theories and Applications# 5nd edition. Gondon E Bew Kork, 8outledge. %ch!oldager 0. with <ottlieb ;. and MlitgQrd I. ()**F), Fnderstandin Translation. Aopenhagen, 0cademica. %mith G. J. (-//.), .n els("dans( idiomordbo . >Prgen Haludans Corlag.
A!ti"les in anthologies 0kass M.# $cAabe >. ()**+), Introduction. In 0kass M.# $cAabe >. (eds.) 1eadin Sex and the City. Gondon E Bew Kork, I. J. Tauris pp. ---+. 0kass M.# $cAabe >. ()**+), $s Harker and the Vicious Aircle, female narrative and humour in Sex and the City. In 0kass M.# $cAabe >. (eds.) 1eadin Sex and the City. Gondon E Bew Kork, I. J. Tauris pp. -DD --/F. Jignell >. ()**+). ()**+), %ex confession and witness. In 0kass M.# $cAabe >. (eds.) 1eadin Sex and the City. Gondon E Bew Kork, I. J. Tauris pp. -7---D7. 1elabastita 1. (ed.) (-//7), Introduction. In $ordplay and Translation. Special +ssue of the Translator. Studies in +ntercultural Communication# ).). pp. -)D--2/. <ottlieb ;. ()**/), %ubtitling 0gainst the Aurrent, 1anish Aoncepts Lnglish $inds. In 1?a@ Aintas >. (ed.), 3ew Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Jriston VM E Tonawanda BK, $ultilingual $atters pp. )--+2. Bedergaard-Garsen J. (-//)), Multurbundne problemer ved tekstning. In T?"te(ster! Dvers>ttelse efter mBl , Dans(e afhandlin er om overs>ttelse nr. G. Aenter for "versRttelse MPbenhavns Vniversitet. %anderson >. 1. ()**/), %trategies for the 1ubbing of Huns with "ne Visual %emantic Gayer. In 1?a@ Aintas >. (ed.), 3ew Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Jriston VM E Tonawanda BK, $ultilingual $atters pp. -)2--2).
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%chr(ter T. ()**+), "f ;oly <oats and the BKH1 9 0 %tudy of Ganguage-Jased %creen ;umour in Translation. In ;ansen <.# $almk!Rr M.# <ile 1. (eds.), Claims# Chan es and Challen es in Translation Studies! Selected Contributions from the .ST Con ress Copenha en 5HH8. 0msterdam E Hhiladelphia, >ohn Jen!amins pp. -.D--7F.
Veiga, M. J. (2009): The Translation of Audiovisual Humour in Just a e! "ords. #n 1?a@
Aintas >. (ed.), 3ew Trends in Audiovisual Translation. Jriston VM E Tonawanda BK, $ultilingual $atters pp. -.F--D.. A!ti"les in Cou!nals 1elabastita 1. (-//+), Cocus on the Hun, 'ordplay as a %pecial Hroblem in Translation %tudies. Tar et# 7 ()) pp. ))2-)+2. 1?a@ HIre@ C. ()**F), 'ordplay in Cilm Titles, Translating Lnglish Huns into %panish. <abel# .+ (-) pp. 27-.F. Hartington 0. %. ()**/), 0 Ginguistic 0ccount of 'ordplay, The Gexical <rammar of Hunning. Cournal of 9ra matics +- pp. -D/+--F*/.
Inte!net !esou!"es www.yourdictionary.com, "nline 1ictionary %kov $., $ere sex i city http!IIwww.information.d(I8JHHK5 (8etrieved "ctober )F )*-*). ;J", %ex and the Aity ;omepage, 0bout the %how http!IIwww.hbo.comIsex"and"the" cityIindex.htmlLIsex"and"the"cityIaboutIindex.html (8etrieved Bovember ). )*-*). 8ichter M. W., $ens vi venter http!IIwww.(ultur(apellet.d(Imusi(anmeldelse.php7idMGH (8etrieved "ctober -* )*-*). ):) ;J" (-//.), Sex and the City The Complete Series 8 to J Shoebox. Haramount Hictures.
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*,3LIST OF APPEN)I%ES
Appen'i# *$ Linguisti" st!u"tu!es Appen'i# ,$ Illust!ation of the fo! al "lassifi"ation of the pun Appen'i# 7$ )elabastita=s t!anslation st!ategies Appen'i# 2$ T!ans"!ipts in "onte#t
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The Translation of Puns

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The Translation of Puns

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THE TRANSLATION OF PUNS

%ha!a"te!isti"s an' "onst!aints

73 THE NATURE OF THE PUN

The "lassifi"ation of the pun

Aonsult appendix - for a description of the linguistic structures.

Puns in fil - an' T: p!o'u"tions

Aonsult appendix ) for an illustration of the combination of these criteria.

23 THE %HALLEN8E OF TRANSLATIN8 PUNS

which focuses on creating what Bida denominates the

0lso denominated functional equivalence.

13 STRATE8IES FOR TRANSLATIN8 PUNS

)elabastita=s t!anslation st!ategies

53 INTRO)U%TION TO THE E<PIRI%AL <ATERIAL

About >Se# an' the %ity=

of which it has won several. The success has

Plot an' "ha!a"te!s

(http,33www.information.dk3-7**F)) (http,33www.hbo.com3sex-and-the-city3index.htmlN3sex-and-the-city3about3index.html) -. (http,33www.kulturkapellet.dk3musikanmeldelse.php:idO2*)

8en!e an' "o

?3 ANAL@SIS OF THE ST AN) TT

Ho ony i" puns

48! the entity or power believed by some to brin

ood or bad luc( to people

48! A lon trape;e&

Pa!ony i" puns

1et har !eg ingen SVogueT idI om

48! To be sic( and tired of somethin %fi urative meanin &

A3 THE EFFE%T OF THE TAR8ET TEBT REN)ERIN8S

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