Translation strategies and narrowcasting platforms: subtitling taboo language in Portuguese and Brazilian TV series
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2024.e99139Keywords:
audiovisual translation, subtitling, fictional genres, filmic speech, translation strategiesAbstract
Taboo language, as a field of research, was for a long time a neglected area, and it was only from the 1960s onwards that an ever greater interest was observed and produced in a series of publications. In terms of audiovisual translation of taboo words, it is important to note that only recently have new translation strategies been introduced in dubbing and subtitling, moving beyond omission or euphemisms (primarily on streaming platforms). Furthermore, audiovisual translation of cursing has become a subject of scientific studies and research that consider the translation process and how the target audience receives it. In this regard, this article aims to analyse the forms of taboo language recorded in the filmic speech of Portuguese and Brazilian series and in intralingual subtitles (EP and BP), and their translation in Italian and English subtitles, through sociolinguistic translation strategies of adequacy that can oscillate between the poles of manipulation and maintenance.
References
Allan, K., & Burridge, K. (1991). Euphemism & Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon. Oxford University Press.
Allan, K., & Burridge, K. (2006). Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge University Press.
Ameka, F. (1992). Interjections: the universal yet neglected part of speech, Journal of Pragmatics, 18(2), 101–118. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(92)90048-G
Andersson, L. G., & Hirsch, R. (1985a). Swearing. Report No. 1 A Project on Swearing. University of Göteborg.
Andersson, L. G., & Hirsch, R. (1985b). Swearing. Report No. 2 A Project on Swearing. Perspectives on Swearing. University of Göteborg.
Andersson, L. G., & Trudgill, P. (1990). Bad Language. Penguin Books Ltd.
Ávila-Cabrera, J. J. (2013) Subtitling multilingual films: The case of Inglourious Basterds. RAEL: Revista Electrónica de Lingüística Aplicada, 12, 87–100.
Ávila-Cabrera, J. J. (2014). The Subtitling of Offensive and Taboo Language: a Descriptive Study. [Tese de doutorado]. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.
Ávila-Cabrera, J. J. (2015). An account of the subtitling of offensive and taboo language in Tarantino’s screenplays. Sendebar, 26, 37–56.
Ávila-Cabrera, J. J. (2020). Profanity and blasphemy in the subtitling of English into European Spanish: Four case studies based on a selection of Tarantino’s films. Quaderns: Revista de Traducció, 27, 125–141. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/quaderns.11
Ávila-Cabrera, J. J. (2023). The Challenge of Subtitling Offensive and Taboo Language into Spanish: A Theoretical and Practical Guide. Multilingual Matters.
Azzaro, G. (2005). Four–Letter Films. Taboo Language in Movies. Aracne.
Basso, R. M., & Souza, L. M. de. (2020). Puta: a sintaxe e a semântica de um controverso intensificador. Diadorim, 22(2), 528–556. https://doi.org/10.35520/diadorim.2020.v22n2a34290
Beers Fägersten, K. (2012). Who’s Swearing Now? The Social Aspects of Conversational Swearing. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Beers Fägersten, K., & Stapleton, K. (2017). Advances in Swearing Research: New languages and new contexts. John Benjamins.
Bruti, S. (2009). Translating compliments and insults in the Pavia Corpus of filmic speech: Two sides of the same coin?. In M. Freddi & M. Pavesi (Eds.), Analysing Audiovisual Dialogue. Linguistic and Translational Insights (pp. 143–147). CLUEB.
Bucaria, C. (2018). Genetically modified TV, or the manipulation of US television series in Italy. Perspectives, 26, 930–945. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2017.1407349
Byrne, E. (2017). Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language. Profile Books.
De Rosa, G. L. (2019). O substandard na fala ficcional cine-televisiva portuguesa e brasileira. In D. M. de Barros, G. L. De Rosa & V. C. Casseb-Galvão (Orgs.), Português em contexto italiano: história, instrumentalização, análise e promoção (pp. 127–161). Editora UEG.
De Rosa, G. L. (2022). La sottotitolazione del turpiloquio nelle fiction e serie TV: il caso Irmandade. In M. S. Felici (Ed.), Glottodidattica della lingua portoghese in diacronia e sincronia (pp. 99–116). Tuga edizioni.
Dewaele, J. M. (2004). The emotional force of swearwords and taboo words in the speech of multilinguals, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25(2-3), 204–223. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630408666529
Díaz Cintas, J. (2001). Sex, (sub)titles and videotapes. In L. Lorenzo García & A. M. Pereira Rodríguez (Eds.), Traducción subordinada II: el subtitulado (inglés – español/ galego) (pp. 47–67). Universidad de Vigo.
Díaz Cintas, J. (2003). Audiovisual Translation in the Third Millennium. In G. Anderman & M. Rogers (Eds.), Translation Today. Trends and Perspectives. (192–204). Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Díaz Cintas, J., & Remael, A. (2007). Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. St. Jerome Publishing.
Díaz Cintas, J., & Remael, A. (2021). Subtitling: Concepts and Practices. Routledge.
Eble, C. (1996). College Slang: In-Group Language among College Students. University of North Carolina Press.
Enell-Nilsson, M. (2014). Lost in Translation? Swearing in the Swedish Millennium Films and their German and Finnish Translations. In M. Rathje (Ed.), Swearing in the Nordic Countries (pp. 99–124). Dansk Sprognævn.
Faggion, C. M. (2009). Persistência de uma língua no turpilóquio. In D. da Hora (Org.), Anais do VI Congresso internacional da ABRALIN (pp. 635–641). Ideia.
Foda-se. (n.d.). Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa. https://dicionario.priberam.org/foda-se
Forchini, P. (2012). Movie Language Revisited. Evidence from Multi-Dimensional Analysis and Corpora. Peter Lang.
Fuentes-Luque, A. (2015). El lenguaje tabú en la traducción audiovisual: Límites lingüísticos, culturales y sociales. E-AESLA, 1(70), 1–11.
Galli de’ Paratesi, N. (1969). Le brutte parole. Semantica dell’eufemismo. Mondadori.
Gambier, Y. (1994). Audio-visual communication: Typological detour. In C. Dollerup & A. Loddegaard (Eds.), Teaching Translation and Interpreting 2 (pp. 275–283). John Benjamins.
Gottlieb, H. (1994). Subtitling: Diagonal translation. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 2(1),
–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.1994.9961227
Guillot, M. N. (2017). Subtitling and Dubbing in Telecinematic Text. In M. A. Locher, Miriam & A. H. Jucker (Eds.), Pragmatics of Fiction. Handbooks of Pragmatics (pp. 397–424). Mouton De Gruyter.
Hughes, G. (1998). Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English. Penguin.
Hughes, G. (2006). An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World. ME Sharpe.
Ivarsson, J., & Carroll, M. (1998). Subtitling. TransEdit.
Jay, T. (1977). Doing Research with Dirty Words”. Maledicta, I, p. 234–256.
Jay, T. (1980). Sex Roles and Dirty Word Usage. A Review of the Literature and a Reply to Haas’. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 614–621. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.614
Jay, T. (1992). Cursing in America. A Psycholinguistic Study of the Use of Dirty Language in the Courts, in the Movies, in the Schoolyears and on the Streets. John Benjamins.
Jay, T. (2000). Why we curse: a neuro-psycho-social theory of speech. John Benjamins.
Jay, T. (2009). The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(2), 133–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.011
Karamitroglou, F. (1998). A Proposed Set of Subtitling Standards in Europe. Translation Journal, 2(2), 1–14.
Lakoff Tolmach, R., & Tannen, D. (1984). Conversational Strategy and Metastrategy in a Pragmatic Theory: The Example of Scenes from a Marriage, Semiotica, 49(3-4), 323–346.
Lie, S. (2013). Translate This, Motherfucker! A Contrastive Study on the Subtitling of Taboo Words. [Dissertação de Mestrado]. Universitetet I Oslo.
Ljung, M. (2011). Swearing. A Cross-Cultural Linguistic Study. Palgrave Macmillan.
Luyken, G. M., Herbst, T., Langham-Brown, J., Reid, H. & Spinhof, H. (Eds.). (1991). Overcoming Language Barriers in Television: Dubbing and Subtitling for the European Audience. European Institute for the Media.
Mattson, J. (2006). Linguistic Variation in Subtitling. The Subtitling of Swearwords and Discourse Markers on Public Television, Commercial Television and DVD. In M. Carroll, H. Gerzymisch-Arbogast, & S. Nauert (Eds.), MuTra: Audiovisual Translation Scenarios (pp. 47–56). Conference Proceedings.
McEnery, A. (2006). Swearing in English. Bad Language, Purity and Power from 1586 to the Present. Routledge.
McEnery, A. & Xiao, Z. (2000). Swearing and Abuse in Modern British English. In B. Lewandowska-Tomasczyk & P. Melia (Eds.), Practical Application of Language Corpora, Hamburg (pp. 37–48). Peter Lang.
McEnery, A. & Xiao, Z. (2003). Fuck Revisited. Corpus Linguistics, 28(31), 504–512.
McEnery, A. & Xiao, Z. (2004). Swearing in Modern English: The Case of Fuck in the BNC. Language and Literature, 13, 235–268.
Montagu, A. (1967). The Anatomy of Swearing. Macmillan and Collier.
Netflix. (s.d.). Portuguese (Brazil) Timed Text Style Guide. https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/215600497-Portuguese-Brazil-Timed-Text-Style-Guide
Nobili, P. (2007). Insulti e pregiudizi. Discriminazione etnica e turpiloquio in film, canzoni e giornali. Aracne.
Pavesi, M., & Formentelli, M. (2019). Comparing Insults across Languages in Films: Dubbing as Cross-Cultural Mediation. Multilingua, 38(5), 563–582. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2018-0124
Pavesi, M., & Malinverno, A. L. (2000). Usi del turpiloquio nella traduzione filmica. In C. Taylor (Ed.), Tradurre il cinema (pp. 75–90). EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste.
Perego, E. (2005). La traduzione audiovisiva. Carocci.
Pistolesi, E. (2008). La banalità dell’altro: dallo stereotipo all’insulto etnico. In S. Taviano (Ed.), Migrazione e identità culturali (pp. 227–238). Mesogea.
Preti, D. (2010). A linguagem proibida: um estudo sobre a linguagem erótica. LPB.
Rawson, H. (1989). Wicked Words. Crown Publications.
Ross, H. E. (1960). Patterns of swearing. Discovery, 21, 479–481.
Rossi, F. (2011). Parole oscene. In S. Raffaele, G. Berruto & P. D’Achille (Eds.), Enciclopedia dell’italiano, vol. II (pp. 1060–1062). Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Sagarin, E. (1962). The Anatomy of Dirty Words. Lyle Stuart.
Sánchez, D. (2004). Subtitling methods and team-translation. In P. Orero (Ed.), Topics in Audiovisual Translation (9–17). John Benjamins.
Scandura, G. (2004). Sex, Lies and TV: Censorship and Subtitling. Meta, 49(1), 125–134. https://doi.org/10.7202/009028ar
Soler Pardo, B. (2015). On the Translation of Swearing into Spanish: From Reservoir Dogs to Inglorious Basterds. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Stapleton, K. (2000). Swearing and perceptions of the speaker: A discursive approach. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 381–395.
Tartamella, V. (2006). Parolacce. Perché le diciamo, che cosa significano, quali effetti hanno. Rizzoli.
Taylor, B. (1975). Towards a Structural and Lexical Analysis of Swearing and the Language of Abuse in Australian English. Linguistics, 164, 17–43.
Tibo, E. (2016). Il mat ovvero il turpiloquio russo tra cultura e censura. Antrocom Journal of Anthropology, 12(2), 59–83.
Trudgill, P. (2000). Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. Penguin Group.
Valdeón, R. (2015). The (ab)use of taboo lexis in audiovisual translation: Raising awareness of pragmatic variation in English-Spanish. Intercultural Pragmatics, 12(3), 363–385. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2015-0018
Van Lancker, D. (1973). Language Lateralization and Grammars. In K. Moulton (Ed.), Syntax and Semantics, vol. 2 (pp. 197–204). Brill.
Van Lancker, D. (1987). Non-Propositional Speech: Neurolinguistic Studies. In A. Ellis (Ed.), Progress in the Psychology of Language, Vol. 3 (pp. 49–118). L. Erlbaum.
Van Lancker, D., Corneliu, C. & Kreiman, J. (1989). Recognition of Emotion-Prosodic Meanings in Speech by Autistic, Schizophrenic, and Normal Children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 5(2-3), 207-226. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565648909540433
Van Lancker, D., & Cummings, J. (1999). Expletives: Neurolinguistic and Neurobehavioural Perspectives on Swearing. Brain Research Reviews, 31, 83–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0173(99)00060-0
Vinay, J. P., & Darbelnet. J. (2000). A Methodology for Translation. In L. Venuti (Ed.), The Translation Studies Reader (pp. 84–93). Routledge.
Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M., Bylsma, L. M., & de Vlam, C. (2013). Swearing: A biopsychosocial perspective. Psychological topics, 22(2), 287–304.
Wajnryb, R. (2005). Expletive Deleted: A Good Look at Bad Language. Free Press.
Xavier, C. (2009). Esbatendo o tabu: estratégias de tradução para legendagem em Portugal. [Dissertação de mestrado]. Universidade de Lisboa.
Xavier, C. (2019). Tabu e Tradução Audiovisual: um estudo descritivo de normas de tradução para legendagem de linguagem tabu em contexto televisivo. [Tese de doutorado]. Universidade de Lisboa.
Xavier, C. (2021). On norms and taboo: An analysis of professional subtitling through data triangulation. Target: International Journal of Translation Studies, 34(1), 67–97. https://doi.org/10.1075/target.20020.xav
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Cadernos de Tradução
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Notice
Authors hold the copyright and grant the journal the right for their articles' first publication, being their works simultaneously licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which allows the sharing of such works with its authorship acknowledged and its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are allowed to enter into separate additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or as a book chapter, with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal).