Canadian Social Science
On the Translatability of Linguistic Humor
Abstract
In this paper the author is primarily concerned with linguistic, not cultural transfer in the translation of linguistic humor. A classification of linguistic humor is given, based on their translation possibilities and difficulties. We try to determine the relation between translatability and linguistic means. We hold that linguistic humor is on the whole translatable, but in some cases it may be a formidable task. When this happens, adaptation as an alternative can be used, though it is not a panacea.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Attardo, S. (1997). Linguistic theories of humor. New York: Mouton De Gruyter.
Catford, J. C. (1965). A linguistic theory of translation. London: Oxford University Press.
Chiaro, D. (1992). The language of jokes: Analyzing verbal play. London/New York: Routledge.
Ding, L. (Ed.). (1984). The sun shines over the Sanggan river (X. Y. Yang & G. Yang, Trans.). Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.
Fu, L. (1981). Fu Lei lunwenji (essays on Fulei’s translation), Hefei, Chgina: Anhui renmin chubanshe, Anhui People’s Press.
Hu, F. Z. (1987). Youmo yuyanxue (humor linguistics). Shanghai: Shanghai Social Science Academy Press.
Larson, M. L. (1984). Meaning-based translation. Landham (Maryland): University Press of America
Laurian, A. M. (1992). Possible/impossible translation of jokes. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 5(1-2), 111-128.
Lu, X. (1980). Lu Xun selected works (volume two) (X. Y. Yang & G. Yang, Trans., 3rd ed.). Beijing, Foreign Languages Press.
Luo, G. Z. (1991). Three kingdoms (M. Roberts, Trans.). Beijing/Berkeley/Los Angels/Oxford: Foreign Languages Press/University of California Press.
Nash, W. (1985). The language of humour. London/New York: Longman.
Newmark, P. (1982). Approaches to translation. Oxford: Pergamon.
Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. London: Prentice.
Newmark, P. (1991). About translation. Clevedon/ Philadelphia/ Adelaide, Multilingual Matters.
Qlan, Z. S. (1979). Fortress besieged (J. Kelley & N. K. Mao, Trans.). Bloomington/London: Indiana University Press.
Shi, N. A., & Luo, G. Z. (1933). All men are brothers (P. S. Buck, Trans.). New York: The John Day Company.
Vermeer, H. J. (1994). Translation today: Old and new problems. In M. Snell-Hornby. (Ed.), Translation studies: An interdiscipline. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Join Benjamins.
Wang, S. Z. (1933). The Golden Lotus (C. Egerton, Trans.). Bloomington/London: Indiana University Press.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/9848
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2017 Canadian Social Science
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Reminder
- How to do online submission to another Journal?
- If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:
1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author
- Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.
2. Submission
Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard
- Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
- We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org
Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).
Canadian Social Science Editorial Office
Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net
Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 
