The Translation Of Persian Ta’ărof Into English: A Case Study Of The Subtitles Of Ostensible Speech Acts In Selected Iranian Films

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Date
2017-03
Authors
Yagubi, Mojde
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Persian-English subtitling of Iranian films deals with the challenges of understanding and transferring the pragmatic meanings of utterances such as those of ostensible speech acts (OSAs). Both linguistic and cultural variations of these elements in Persian and English are expected to create difficulties for subtitlers as there are different features in both languages and cultures. Although several studies with pragmatics approach have been conducted to interpret the meaning of ta’ārof, in general, and Persian OSAs, in particular, both ta’ārof and Persian OSAs have been ignored in the fields of translation and subtitling. This study concentrates on the translation of ta’ārof in the subtitles of 80 Persian OSAs from selected Iranian films. It aims to identify Persian OSAs, develop a categorization of translation strategies applied in transferring the locutions or forms of Persian OSAs, investigate the effective factors on transference of the meaning of Persian OSAs into English subtitles analyze the TT audiences’ perceptions of subtitled OSAs and propose a guideline for Persian-English subtitlers as a way to assist the transfer of the intended meaning of OSAs. Based on the results of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses, first, a collection of four OSAs namely offer, invitation, apology and refusal of invitation along with different strategies and features were established. Second, six locution translation strategies, namely ‘literal translation’, ‘functional equivalence’, ‘explicitation’, ‘paraphrase’, ‘modulation’ and ‘implicitation’ were used to transfer the locutions of OSAs. Third, different factors such as translation strategy and context, co-text, polysemiotic and situational compensation proved to be effective on the transference of the meaning of Persian OSAs into English. Fourth, based on audience comprehension of 14 subtitled OSAs, five subtitled OSAs proved to be better understood than the rest. Finally, the analyses show that facial expressions and familiarity with the Iranian culture were the most effective factor in understanding all five OSAs while the factor of subtitle was the most effective only in the case of the understanding of one ostensible invitation. Based on the findings obtained in all stages of the analysis, a guideline for subtitlers which will help them to transfer the meaning of Persian OSAs into English is proposed.
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The translation of persian ta’ărof , into English
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