Utterance Meaning Analysis in Movie Translation: A Case Study on Sherlock Holmes

【摘要】本文旨在对基于电影翻译的话语意义进行简要分析，研究重点是特定语境下的台词及其翻译，以所选影片《大侦探福尔摩斯》为例，对比句子意义与话语意义，探讨影响话语意义的因素以及话语意义在电影台词中的重要性;针对电影翻译这一特殊形式，本文探讨影响电影台词翻译的因素，并指出话语意义与翻译二者的关系。

【关键词】语用学;话语意义;翻译;电影台词

【Abstract】This paper intends to have a brief analysis on utterance meaning based on movie translation， mainly on the lines and their translation in certain contexts. Illustrating with examples in the chosen movie Sherlock Holmes， the author is meant to compare sentence meaning with utterance meaning， probe into the factors that affect utterance meaning and the significance of utterance meaning in movie lines. In view of the movie translation， this paper discusses the factors that affect translation of movie lines and points out the relationship between utterance meaning and translation.

【Key words】pragmatics; utterance meaning; translation; movie lines

【作者簡介】陈柏润，华南师范大学外国语言文化学院。

1. Introduction

Movie translation is one of the forms that are close to life， which includes two parts： recapitulative translation of name and specific translation of lines. This paper focuses on the latter one： translation of lines and the chosen movie is a whodunit film called Sherlock Holmes.

Pragmatics is a study of linguistics discussing language in meaning， which is divided into two parts in pragmatics： one is sentence meaning or what is called grammatical meaning; another one is utterance meaning， which is “used to express the speakers intention by using the utterance in daily communication.” （Yao & Song 2012： 53） The purpose of both translation and pragmatics is to figure out the meaning， whether literal or implicative. As He Ziran （1992： 19-20） says， “Then the pragmatic approach to translation can be adopted to help solve this problem by striving for the pragmatic equivalent effect between the source and target messages.” Therefore， translation and pragmatics shares a lot in common， which makes the subject worthy of research.

2. Analysis of utterance meaning

Utterances exist under certain contexts， between or among addressers and addressees， with different gestures. There are several factors that influence how much addressees can understand addressers： interpersonal relationship， obedience of the cooperative principle， cognitive competence of both sides， etc.. All these procedures can affect conversations and even result in failures.

According to He Ziran （1992： 19）， “In modern linguistics， pragmatics deals with particular utterances in particular situations and is especially concerned with the various ways in which the many contexts of language performance can influence interpretation.” Hence context is a significant factor when studying utterance meaning. This paper focuses on the conversations between two main characters Sherlock and Watson， who are good friends with knowing each other sufficiently. Contexts of conversations are all shown in the movie. Here is an example.

（S： Sherlock; W： Watson; L： Lestrade; H： Hudson; M： Mary; I： Irene）

（1）（Sherlock is almost attacked by an enemy. Watson helps him in time. This scene happens in the very first beginning.）

W： I like the hat.

S： I just picked it up.

……

S： Always nice to see you.

On one hand， interpersonal relationship may lead to quantity change of utterances. As above， it is obvious that Watson does not greet Sherlock as usual by saying hello！ or how are you？. Instead， to indicate the closeness of them， the scriptwriter tactfully chooses the different expression， which makes audience rapidly build the rough knowledge of relationship between two characters. Relationship between addressers and addressees is so significant that it can alter utterances， because when one side is familiar with the others expression habit， he/she can readily get at the opposite side or even speculate what the opposite side is going to touch on. On the other hand， disobedience of cooperation leads to non-correspondence of associated utterances. Sometimes it seems there is little relevance of the context whatsoever. Here is another example.

（2）（Watson persuades Sherlock to get out instead of staying at home in darkness. In addition to Sherlock and Watson， their pet dog Gladstone and Hudson are present.）

H： Hes killed the dog again.

W： What have you done to Gladstone now？

S： I was simple testing a new anesthetic. He doesnt mind.

W： Holmes， as your doctor…

S： Hell be as right as a trivet in no time.

As cited above， apparently Watson is annoyed at Sherlocks experiment on Gladstone in that Watson uses present perfect tense to show his tiredness of Sherlocks long-term habit. Then it comes to the disobedience of cooperation. When Watson begins with another topic： Holmes， as your doctor， Sherlock still touches on the last topic and adds supplement explanation to remove Watsons worry and anger. Exactly， Hell be as right as a trivet in no time has no connection to what Watson is going to say for the reason that such interruption is for reassurance. Hence the utterance meaning is much distinct from its literal meaning. Yao and Song （2012： 53） point out that “understanding of utterance meaning largely relies on proper building of peoples cognitive context.” Here， Sherlock expresses his utterance meaning by changing the predicted order of context.

Consequently， utterance meaning plays an important role in movie because audience understand the whole movie and other subtexts through implicature， the meaning hidden under contexts.

3. Analysis of translation

As Professor Mo Aiping （2011： 88） points out， “Translation， as a special case of language use， is closely related to pragmatics.” According to Hui Cui （2017： 1-2）， translators for movie must pay much attention to this special translation type for three reasons or strategies， two of which are as follows.

A. letters transient

Here it can be explained as the limit of time and space. In terms of time， scenes of movie will be switched in a short time and hence lines cannot be too long to read. In terms of space， size of screen is fixed and thus the space for lines cannot be too long either. Given these two factors， translators must choose the succinct form. In Sherlock Holmes， this strategy is fairly implemented. Here is an example.

（3）I： Well， consider it a wager that you will.

你肯定会接（这个案子）。

In the light of sentence structure， the literal translation must be： 好，我们打个赌，你肯定会接的. Absolutely， this version is too long and the preceding part well， consider it a wager that is to emphasize Irenes affirmation. You will is clear enough to interpret what the whole sentence means.

B. popularity language

It can be understood as movie as a sort of art， is for the audience from all ages of life or different education levels. Therefore， translators must pay much attention to wording which can be readily understood by audience. In order for this aim， translators must use plain words but intelligible to express the content of the movie. This aspect is not so incisively shown in Sherlock Holmes for the reason that it is dated back to the second Industrial Revolution， which is a period of time far away from now. Nevertheless， still some translations are respectable and here is one case.

（4）I： Im Irene Adler again.

我又回到单身了。

The literal translation is： 我又是艾琳·艾德勒了， which will cause confusion because not all people know the name change after marriages. The utterance meaning of this version is： I divorce and you can call me Irene Adler again. Obviously， the translator chooses to use its utterance meaning instead of sentence meaning.

4. Conclusion

Through analyzing utterance meaning and translation of lines based on Sherlock Holmes and combined with examples， this paper strives to become an epitome of movie translation and relevant pragmatics studies. As Lyu Jun （2003： 46） says， “Translation research is to establish a theoretical system of intercultural communication and interlingual transformation on the basis of such reasonable principles， which is the translation view of universal pragmatics.” Translation is a process of cross cultural communication and translation theorists and translators should realize the culture gap and build a bridge connected to two different cultures. Thus， as He Ziran （1992： 25） points out， “The pragmatic approach may serve as a varied standpoint from which the translation theorist and translator may benefit.” Utterance meaning shares common characteristics with liberal translation， which is elucidated partly in this paper and still needs more studies and research. Welcome correction of errors and advice for improvement.

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