顺应论视角下幽默翻译原则—以《摩登家庭》为例

赵智勇

The Humour of Subtitling by Adaptation Theory：

Modern Family

ABSTRACT

【中图分类号】H31

In this dissertation， a brief summary of what has been discussed in this work will be presented. Besides， the author will conclude the major findings of the research and the limitations of this work. At last， some suggestions about the further study of The Chinese translation of English humour subtitle will be given.

The author attempts to probe into the humour subtitle translation from the perspective of Verschuerens adaptation theory. Taking the verbal humour subtitles from Modern Family， a TV comedy debuted in 2009， as the study objects， the author also tentatively to prove the feasibility and applicability of this theory through analyzing the purpose and process of translation.

This paper focuses on the investigation of the verbal humour translation in the subtitles. Guided by the adaptation theory， the investigation could be conducted from four aspects： adaptation to contextual correlates， adaptation to structural objects， and dynamic adaptation in translation and salience in translation. Considering the study scope and purpose， the author implemented the study from the perspective of adapting to contextual correlates and structural objects. As for each perspective， the study has been conducted at different levels. Adaptation to communicative context includes adaptation to the physical world， mental world， personality traits and social conventions. While the structural objects covers language style， phonology lexis and syntax. In each section， humour subtitling examples from Modern Family are presented， and detailed systematic analyses are made. Finally a conclusion can be drawn that under the adaptation theory， actually the translation of humour subtitle is a process in which the translator continuously makes choice in words and translating strategies on the basis of adapting to contextual and structural elements of the source text.

Keywords： Adaptation Theory， Subtitling， Modern Family.

摘 要

本文将从顺应论的角度，探讨影视作品幽默台词的翻译，将以《摩登家庭》为探讨的样本。同时亦会就顺应论的实用性，通过分析翻译的目的和过程，予以论证。

本文旨在探究幽默台词翻译。借助于顺应论的指导，研究将从以下几方面开展：对语境的顺应、对文章结构的顺应。也会从具体不同角度进行研究，如：对物质世界、心理世界、个人性格和社会习俗的顺应。以上部分，均会用《摩登家庭》的例子，予以呈现，并附有解释。

最后，以顺应论为指导，幽默台词的翻译，其实基于对语境和结构的调整，译者不断对选词以及翻译策略做出选择的过程，这就是本文的结论。

关键词：顺应理论，字幕翻译，《摩登家庭》

4. Humour translation in the subtitles of Modern Family

4.1 Introduction of Modern Familyendprint

Modern Family debuted on ABC on September 23， 2009 and was created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. This television comedy was depicted in mockumentary style， the fictional characters talk directly into the camera during many situations that arise throughout the series. It was named as a serious contender for the 62nd primetime Emmy Awards， and on January 12， 2010 Modern Family was renewed for a second season by ABC.

The President of the USA， Barack Obama once said it was his favorite show to watch with his family （Westfall， 2011）. The series has also gained positive reviews from critics and won multiple award nominations. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series twice so far， as well as the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series-Musical or Comedy.

Modern Family is mainly about three families-the Pritchett-Delgado family， the Dunphy family and the Tucker- Pritchett family. The Pritchett-Delgado family has three members， Jay Pritchett， Gloria Pritchett and Manny Delgado. Jay Pritchett is the father of Clair and Mitchell， both of whom are family members of the other two families. Jay divorced with DeDe Pritchett， Clair and Mitchells mother， and then married his second beautiful young wife Gloria. He is realistic and has a kind of dry， ironic sense of humour； he is also sometimes a little sensitive about his age because his wife Gloria is much younger than him. Gloria Pritchett is Jays wife and Mannys mother. She is from a small village of Colombia and has a strong Colombian accent which usually arouses humour. She is a very loving wife and mother， kindhearted and always glad to help others. What else needs to be mentioned here is Glorias overall beauty and sexy hot figure are always remarked and complimented by other characters in the show. Manny Delgado， Glorias 13 year old son from her first marriage， is very intelligent， mature and intuitive for his age and is often shown doing adult-like things.

The Tucker-Pritchett Family members are Mitchell Pritchett， Cameron Tucker and their adopted daughter Lily. Mitchell is Jays son， Clairs younger brother. He is a homosexual， low-key and mild-mannered person. Cameron Tucker always called as Cam by others is Mitchells partner of five years. He has a very big dramatic personality， and usually acts exactly the opposite way Mitchell does. They adopted a Vietnam girl Lily and raise her together.endprint

The Dunphy family has five family members， Philip， or Phil， Clairs husband， to whom he has been married for 18 years. He is a henpecked husband and constantly tries to find ways to bond with his three kids. He has a very juvenile attitude， which is referred to by Clair “as a kid”. He creates his own parenting method called “pee-renting” which means talking like a peer but acting like a parent. The mother of Dunphy family is Claire Dunphy， daughter of Jay. She is a loving mother and full-time wife. Before she married Phil she was a successful professional lady with a very strong personality. Now she turns her strong personality and control desire all towards her children and husband， so she is easy to freak out and get angry when family members act the opposite way she wants. Sometimes she fells exhausted and overburdened by stresses from her children and family matters， and lusts for a leisure and fun life. Haley Dunphy is the eldest child of Dunphy family. She is portrayed as a school beauty and a typical treasonous teenager， who is concerned about her social status in school very much and often feels embarrassed by her parents intimate behavior. Alex Dunphy， the second child of Dunphy family， is younger sister of Haley and a top grade student. She often fools her siblings into believing unrealistic things. She is a little socially awkward and has difficulty in making friends， so most of her efforts are spent on study by way of compensation. Luke Dunphy， the youngest child of Clair and Phil， is a naughty boy who often makes trouble but does not always understand the repercussions of his actions. He was once thought to be a little dumb by his parents， but after a psychologists evaluation he is normal. And in some episodes， Luke shows his above-average intelligence and surprises his parents.

These three families are typical modern families： one old husband young wife family， one gay family and one traditional family. They are interrelated by Jay， Clair and Mitchell. Three Families usually get together on important days and festivals. Each member has his or her own personality， all together composing a funny and conflicting family story.

4.2 Humour in Modern Family

As a quite popular TV series which won several important prizes， Modern Family owes its great success to its producer Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan. Through watching this TV comedy， audience may learn a lesson of how to establish a happy family and how to get along with other family members in a happy and warm atmosphere. Besides this， another indispensible ingredient makes this TV show popular by the means of its humour. Robert Bianco， a critic， comments that “not since Frasier （an American sitcom） has a sitcom offered such an ideal blend of heart and smarts， or proven itself so effortlessly adept at so many comic variations， from subtle wordplay to big-laugh slapstick to everything in between” （Bianco， 2010）.endprint

However， humour is a culture related element. Different cultural backgrounds originate different senses of humour. That is why it is hard to translate humour from one language to another， to transfer humour from one culture to another and it is what makes humour a troublesome work for translators. What translators can do is adopting some translation strategies， creatively reoccur the humour which is understandable and well fitted to the target audiences culture.

Modern Family is a rollicking new mockumentary-style series spotlights a chaotic extended family. Each family member has his/her unique personality. Middle-aged Jay who has a sexy second wife Gloria， an open， unaffected stepson Manny， and two grown children： a once-wild but now buttoned-down daughter， Claire， whose nerdy husband Phil always tries， without success， to be hip with their three kids. Another is a worrywart gay son Mitchell， who has adopted a Vietnamese baby with his sensitive partner Cameron. The conflictions between personalities， differences between cultures， gaps between ages， all cause humour. Apart from these， the producers employ various techniques to deliver humour： parody， for example， by imitating Glorias strange Columbian accent； sarcasm； unexpected outcome， e.g. When making mistake， Mitch and Cam shift the blame onto others， just after they say they are honest people； exaggeration； unreasonable sequitur； misunderstanding. Wordplay includes puns； oxymoron； one-liner； cute words， as Luke was once asked by his father to play cute to ease the tense atmosphere between Claire and DeDe. A lot of the humour derives from characters language and requires the comprehension of language and humourous context for true appreciation. That means having a good command of the language and also a good knowledge of American social and culture are two indispensible qualities to enjoy the humour in this comedy.

We may come to a conclusion that the challenges Modern Family poses to translators are both intra-linguistic and extra-linguistic. The former group of humour is created by language-related elements， e.g. wordplay， play cute words， joke； while the later group refers to culture-related humour. What we should also keep in mind is that the challenges come more from cultural elements than linguistic elements since culture breeds language. Producers endeavor causes great trouble for the translators； humour， no matter what kind， may create obstacles during translation.endprint

4.3 Analysis of the humour translation in Modern family from the perspective of adaptation theory

In the last two chapters， the author has given a thorough presentation of Adaptation Theory， and explains the feasibility of applying it into translation field. Apart from this， the author gives an introduction about the previous study of humour subtitle translation both abroad and at home. Scholars probe into this field from many different angles， this work intends to research the translation of verbal humour in Modern Family from the perspective of Adaptation Theory. Through dissecting examples from Modern Family， the author will study and make comments on translation behavior， and how translator makes adaptation at linguistic and extra-linguistic levels， as well as the different translation strategies adopted during this process.

From adaptation theory， a main enlightenment we may get is that translation is a dynamic process of continuous choice-making and adaptation. All the choices are made to meet the communicators needs， which could be satisfied by choosing proper translation strategies and linguistic structures. As for the humour in Modern Family， a comedy， the humourous subtitles are compiled to amuse the audience， the translators main concern should be how to realize those in target text， so the target audience could appreciate and share the same humour as the source audience， which is the research key point of this work as well.

As referred to in the previous chapter， Verschueren concludes that there are four angles of investigating adaptation in using language： contextual adaptability， structural adaptability， and dynamics of adaptability and salience of adaptability. Since this work aims at studying the translation of humour subtitle， this chapter will endeavor to research from the locus of adaptation theory： adaptation to communicative context and adaptation to structural objects of the original subtitle.

4.3.1 Contextual Adaptation in Humour Translation in Subtitling

Verschueren concludes four communicative contexts in his adaptation theory： the language users， the social world， the physical world and the mental world （Verschueren， 2000： 77）. As the research target of this work is subtitle translation， language users in this work may refer to the line utterer， namely the characters， and the translator. One thing should be clarified here is that language user is the core during the communication process. All the other communicative contexts are formed and affected by language users cognition. This section will begin to deal with the example studies on the humour subtitle translation in adaptation to communicative context from those sides.endprint

A. Adaptation to the physical world-culture adaptation

The physical world covers all the things that surround us and the environment we live in. When talking about the audiovisual products， the script writer， the roles， the translator and the target audiences all live in their own environment， surrounded by different culture belonging to their own specific history era. Thus， their understanding of one phenomenon could be different because of different objective factors.

As has been mentioned before， translation is a cross-cultural activity. Many humourous factors involved in the subtitling may only be familiar to the domestic audience and have no point of reference with target audience. Naturally， the implied humour effect could not be sensed or understood， and the communicative purpose would not be fully achieved. Thus， translator as both producer and receptor should make adaptations to the physical world and correctly decode and encode the humour. For example， Jay plans to fly to Pebble Beach with Gloria and Manny to enjoy a holiday and meet some friends. In order to show off before friends， Jay books a private plane to fly to Pebble Beach instead of taking airplane. But Gloria refuses to take the private plane， because she thinks it is unsafe.endprint