Theatre and Prefabricated Orality: A Corpus-Based Study of English–Spanish Discourse Marker Translation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ikala.362313Keywords:
prefabricated orality, discourse markers, parallel corpus, theatre translationAbstract
Fictional dialogues, termed prefabricated orality, involve the use of features often associated with spoken language, and discourse markers are frequent markers of orality that pose a challenge for translators due to their multifunctionality. These markers play a crucial role in theatre texts, a multifaceted domain in which translational priorities tend to vary depending on whether the text is intended for either performance or reading. However, the translation of discourse markers in theatrical plays remains largely unexplored. This article seeks to delve into this aspect in the English–Spanish language combination, exploring both performance-oriented and reader-oriented translated texts. To this end, we identified translation solutions for frequent English discourse markers (I mean, well, and now) in the teatrad parallel corpus. Results show that omissions are common in performance-oriented translations while repetition of specific Spanish discourse markers is more common in reader-oriented translations, pointing to distinct translational patterns within the theatrical and literary systems, respectively. Overall, the use of a diverse range of resources was observed in both systems. This study sheds light on the complexity of translating features of spoken language and offers empirical insights into current trends in theatre translation.
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