Audiovisual translation: American and European pragmatic and conversational strategies in subtitling nominal forms of address

Abstract

Nominal forms of address constitute an open inventory of linguistic items, and their use depends on both pragmatic and social constraints (Fontanella de Weinberg, 1999). From a sociolinguistic perspective, their use varies according to age, schooling, gender and dialect. From a pragmatic point of view, their use varies according to the degree of proximity or hierarchy in a relationship, shared knowledge, degree of colloquiality in an interaction, and the type of speech act they perform. In this study, we analyze the variation in Portuguese (Brazilian and European) and Spanish (Latin and Iberian) subtitling of the film Inside Out: Divertida Mente, Divertida-mente, Intensamente and Del Revés. We compare convergent and divergent choices of translation from the English source text for nominal forms of address, as well as their functions of intensification or attenuation of directive and expressive acts in the dialogues, from a conversational perspective. Results of our analysis indicate that nominal forms of address are kept in subtitles according to the following conversational conditions: (i) addressee selection and turn management; (ii) intensification of expressive speech acts; (iii) linguistic markers of social relations; and (iv) indices in social identity, indexicality.