Abstract
AbstractPhonosymbolic elements such as ideophones and interjections test the translator’s ability in various ways. These forms would, in theory, require a complete change of form and substance of the source text but this has not always been possible because of graphical, cultural and linguistic reasons, and this led, in certain cases, to a foreignized target-text environment. Recent research has started to consider the relationship between verbal and visual modes as beneficial and not just as a mere constraint for the translator. This research aims to align itself with this approach in order to analyze how verbal and visual modes in Disney comic books have come together to welcome sound symbolic forms and how translators have dealt with them in Italian Disney comics, in particular. In order to clarify the behavior, function, translation and use of expressive sound symbolic devices in Italian Disney comics, this article will offer a diachronic analysis of these strategies as found in a diachronic bidirectional corpus compiled through extensive archival research.
Highlights
Phonosymbolic elements such as ideophones and interjections test the translator’s ability in various ways
In order to clarify the behavior, function, translation and use of expressive sound symbolic devices in Italian Disney comics, this article will offer a diachronic analysis of these strategies as found in a diachronic bidirectional corpus compiled through extensive archival research
The reason for choosing Disney comics relied on the fact that, since the 1930s, imported (American) English Disney comics have been institutionalizing the use of sound symbolic forms, especially ideophones, in Italian mass media, offering an original use of the device that had previously been employed mainly, and relatively infrequently, in Italian poetic and narrative compositions rather than paired with images
Summary
Phonosymbolic elements such as ideophones and interjections test the translator’s ability in various ways. There is an impelling need for translators of sound symbolic forms to get accustomed to dealing with ‘standard expressions in both source and target languages before making strategic decisions on whether, or how, to translate such a vivid use of language’ (Lathey 2016, 64). Lupenga Mphande (1992, 119) emphasizes this point when he uses the expression ‘textual genocide’ when discussing the translations of African ideophones in the hands of missionaries and disciples This ‘disappearing act’ (Casas-Tost 2014, 40) is not as visible in other language pairs. When it comes to translating English ideophones into Romance languages, despite some retention of source text material, there are generally scattered efforts to localize ideophones for the target audience (Valero Garcés 1996, 229)
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