A corpus-based study on the naturalness of the Spanish dubbing language : the analysis of discourse markers in the dubbed translation of Friends

Abstract

Research on dubbing has traditionally focused on the description of the dubbing process, its relation to subtitling and the different dubbing constraints. Few authors have undertaken the study of the language used in dubbing and even less have tackled the issue of its naturalness, often regarded as the main potential loss in this type of translation (Gottlieb 2006) and the most important parameter to assess its quality (Chaume forthcoming). With a view to start filling this gap, if only partially, the present thesis aims to investigate whether or not there is lack of naturalness in the use of discourse markers in the Spanish dubbed script of the American sitcom Friends. The choice of discourse markers as objects of study is justified by their condition as key units in the achievement of naturalness in both fictional (Fox Tree and Schrock 1999) and spontaneous dialogue (Gregori-Signes 1996). The naturalness of the dubbed dialogue is analysed by comparing the use of these markers in the dubbing script (parallel corpus) to their use in non-translated fictional dialogue (comparable corpus) and especially in naturally-occurring conversation (reference corpus). The study has been conducted both quantitatively and qualitatively, which includes the application of a specific model for the analysis of audiovisual texts from a translational viewpoint. The results obtained suggest that even though discourse markers seem to be used by the dubbing translator to provide the dubbing script with naturalness, they often add formality to the dialogues, creating a distance between the on-screen characters that was not present in the ST and making the already predictable script more predictable and monotonous, even in instances where there is spontaneity and absolute freedom from a translational viewpoint.