Abstracts
Abstract
The present paper aims to analyse the translation of puns from a relevance-theory perspective. According to such theoretical framework, the relation between a translation and its source text is considered to be based on interpretive resemblance, rather than on equivalence. The translator would try to seek optimal relevance, in such a way that he or she would use different strategies to try to recreate the cognitive effects intended by the source writer with the lowest possible processing effort on the part of the target addressee. The analysis carried out in this study is based on two tragedies by Shakespeare – namely, Hamlet and Othello – and on five Spanish and two Galician versions of those two plays. The strategies used by the translators of those versions to render sexual puns have been analysed, focusing not only on the product but also on the process. The selection of strategy is determined, among other factors, by the specific context and by the principle of relevance. In those cases in which there is a coincidence in the relation between the levels of signifier and signified across source and target language, translators normally opt to translate literally and reproduce a pun based on the same linguistic phenomenon as the source text pun and semantically equivalent to it. In the rest of the cases, the translator will have to assess what is more relevant, either content or the effect produced by the pun.
Keywords:
- relevance theory,
- puns,
- Shakespeare,
- Galician,
- Spanish
Résumé
La présente étude vise à analyser la traduction de jeux de mots dans le cadre de la théorie de la pertinence. Selon ce cadre théorique, le rapport entre une traduction et son texte source n’est pas basé sur l’équivalence, mais sur la ressemblance interprétative. Le traducteur essaiera de produire le texte le plus pertinent possible, recourant à diverses stratégies pour tenter de recréer les effets cognitifs induits par le texte source, et ce, en sollicitant le moins d’efforts d’interprétation possible de la part du récepteur du texte cible. L’analyse réalisée dans cette étude est basée sur deux tragédies de Shakespeare, à savoir Hamlet et Othello, ainsi que cinq versions en espagnol et deux en galicien de ces deux oeuvres. Nous avons analysé les stratégies utilisées par les traducteurs de ces versions pour traduire les jeux de mots ayant un contenu à caractère sexuel, nous intéressant non seulement au résultat de l’opération, mais aussi au processus mis en jeu. La sélection d’une stratégie est déterminée, entre d’autres facteurs, par le contexte spécifique et par le principe de pertinence. Dans les cas où les couples signifiant-signifié de la langue source et de la langue cible coïncident, les traducteurs choisissent normalement la traduction littérale, reproduisant un jeu de mots équivalent, sur le plan sémantique, à celui du texte source, et exploitant le même phénomène linguistique que celui qui employé à l’origine. Dans les autres cas, le traducteur devra évaluer ce qui, du contenu sous-jacent ou de l’effet produit par le jeu de mots, est le plus pertinent à conserver dans la traduction.
Mots-clés :
- théorie de la pertinence,
- jeux de mots,
- Shakespeare,
- galicien,
- espagnol
Appendices
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