The Translation of Pitch Movement in Dubbed Dialogue

Abstract

The present article investigates the role of pitch movement in fictive orality with special reference to translation for dubbing. The focus of analysis is placed on how characters say what they say, especially on the way they use tonal patterns to add implicational meaning to their words. By means of a comparative analysis of English and Spanish intonation in a parallel corpus derived from the Spanish dubbed version of a US sitcom, this paper analyses and discusses the extent to which the implicatures attached to source text (ST) pitch movements have been transmitted in the dubbed version or lost in translation. Where loss or variation of meaning is detected, the purpose is to ascertain whether and how such potential losses can be offset in the target language. The findings obtained reveal that a high percentage of the implicatures added by tone in the original version has not been rendered in the target text or has been transferred with significant variations in meaning.