Orality in dubbing vs. subtitling: a corpus-based comparative study on the use of mandarin sentence final particles in AVT

Abstract

ABSTRACT Much research has been done on orality in dubbing, but orality in subtitling remains largely unexplored. This study seeks to address this by examining and comparing translators’ use of Mandarin Sentence Final Particles (SFPs) 啊/呀 (a/ya), 吧 (ba), and 呢 (ne) in both translation modes against the benchmark of how they are used in non-translated Chinese dialogues. The use of SFPs is evaluated by the frequency of their occurrence and collocation patterns. A comparable corpus was compiled for the analysis. Statistical results show that, although subtitling is often assumed to be a mode that prioritises conciseness and brevity over orality, subtitling translators show a stronger tendency to uphold orality by using more selected SFPs than dubbing translators. Examination of the collocation patterns of SFPs in the corpus reveals more similarities than differences between the two AVT modes in using SFPs. Where differences are spotted, the limited cases studied are insufficient for drawing a conclusion about which translation mode is closer to non-translated dialogues. Three factors are identified as being contributive to the findings: institutional working procedures, interference from the source language, and translators’ recourse to simplification.