Discourse Markers ‘Well’, ‘You know’ and ‘I mean’ in subtitles

by | Mar 21, 2018 | Literature

 

Considered the following aspects :
1. Introduction
2. To analyze current tendencies in Russian audiovisual translation and subtitling in the Russian context;
3. The notion and functions of Discourse Markers (Well, you know and I mean) in English
4. To build the corpora and see how the Discourse markers ‘well’, ‘you know ‘ and ‘I mean’ operate in subtitles ( their specifics and functions) (in the Big Bang theory ( season 1-3));

The Use of the Discourse Markers ‘Well’, ‘You know’ and ‘I mean’ in subtitles and their Russian Translation (in the American TV show ‘The Big Bang Theory’).

Context
1. Introduction
2. The state and development of audiovisual translation in the Russian context.
2.1. The history of Russian film translation.
2.2. Film subtitling in Russia.
3. The notion and functions of Discourse Markers in English
3.1. Basic characteristics and the use of “Well”
3.2. The use of “You know” and “I mean”
4. Translation strategies of “You know”, “Well” and “I mean” into Russian
in the TV series Big Bang Theory.

Introduction
In this research paper, I attempt to demonstrate the use of Discourse Markers (henceforth DMs) “Well”, “You know” and “I mean” in subtitles and their Russian equivalents. I will also give an insight into the history of Russian film translation and subtitling. With the process of globalization and the increasing numbers of foreign film production in Russia, audiovisual translation has become one of the priority studies. This topic is of current interest because the audiovisual translation is a modern subject, it appeared only in the Twentieth century. Nowadays foreign, mainly Western, film- and video products take the biggest part of the Russian film market. American films and TV series are becoming more popular, so there is a need of delivering a quality translation to Russian viewers. This is an urgent problem, as the number of people who speak a foreign language is not very high, but there are more and more film products that need to be translated. The most popular type of the AVT in Russia and in Eastern Europe is dubbing whereas in Europe, especially in countries with several official languages, it is subtitling. Subtitling is becoming more used in Russia, especially among English learners, that is why I will focus on this type of the AVT. The study of discourse markers has been attracting a growing number of linguists. Although there is no systematic analysis of the discourse markers especially in the context of subtitling. Discourse markers play a big role in conveying the meaning of the utterance. Even if the DMs are thought to be ‘meaningless’ as without them the utterance has the same basic meaning, these linguistic devices can be used to constrain the utterance’s interpretation. The DMs provide contextual coordinates which aid in the production and interpretation of coherent conversation at both local and global levels of organization (Schiffrin 1988). Linguists have been concentrating on the systematic, semantic and pragmatic functions of the different DMs based on different materials. Brinton (1996) points out the two usages of the DM “well” from the perspective of conversational analysis, those of qualifier and frame. Ostman studies the DM you know as pragmatic particle. Schiffrin (1987) claims that every DM except oh and well has a core meaning and argues that a DM has an indexical function that can provide the contextual coordinates for the certain utterance. Fraser (1993) concludes from the results of his research that DMs have a core meaning which is not conceptual but procedural; their more specific interpretations are “negotiated by the context, both of which are linguistic and conceptual.” According to Blakemore, DMs should be analyzed that how they function as constraints to the context from the perspective of linguistics, implying that utterances with same proposition can have different contextual meaning through the use of different DMs.
The choice of DMs well, I mean and you know for this work is influenced by a variety of reasons. First of all, these DMs and their contextual and extra-contextual features have not been studied properly in the context of subtitling. Secondly, these DMs are widely used in a spoken language, that is why I will attempt to analyze them in the context of the TV series ‘The Big Bang Theory’. ‘The Big Bang Theory’ is an American situational comedy on the CBS Network, which depicts the lives of two gifted scientists and their friends. It reflects the real lives of American people and contemporary oral English, as in the TV show the dialogues are as close to real spontaneous language as possible.
The main purpose of this work is to analyze the DMs “Well”, “You know” and “I mean” in subtitles and to give examples of translation into Russian. Accordingly, the purpose states the objectives that need to be taken into consideration:
1. To analyze current tendencies in Russian audiovisual translation;
2. To look at subtitling in the Russian context;
3. To see how the Discourse markers well, you know and I mean operate in subtitles and their specifics;
4. To build the corpora;
5. To look at the ways these DMs are presented in Russian subtitles;
6. Classification of translation strategies of the DMs.

Bibliography that can be used

[1] A. H. Jucker & Y. Ziv (eds.). 1998. Pragmatics and Beyond (No. 57): Discourse Markers [C). John Benjamins.
[2] Blackmore, Danie. 1992. Understanding Utterances. [M]. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
[3] Blackmore, Danie. 2002. Relevance and Linguistic Meaning: the Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse Markers. [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4] Fraser, Bruce. 1996. Pragmatic Markers. [J]. Journal ofPragmatics. (6): 167-190.
[5] Fraser, Bruce. 1999. What are Discourse Markers? [J). Journal ofPragmatics. (31): 931-952.
[6] Grice, H.P. 1989. Studies in the Way of Words. [M].Cambridge. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
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[9] http://www.dioenglish.com/wiki/index.php?edition-view-7457- I .
[10] http://www.icoolen.com/film_veido/bigbang_s1eO1.
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(12) Levionson, S. 1983. Pragmatics. [MJ. Cambridge University Press. 34-55.
[13] Redeker, G. 1991. Review Article: Linguistic Markers of Discourse Structure. [J]. Linguistics. (29):
1139-1172.
[14] Rouchota, V. 1998. Procedural Meaning and Parenthetical Discourse Markers. In Jucker, A.H. & Ziv. Y. (eds). Discourse Markers: Descriptions and Theory. Amsterdam: John Banjamins. 97-126.
[ 15] Schiffrin, Deborah. 1987. Discourse Markers. [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[16] Schiffrin. Deborah. 2001. Discourse Markers: Language, Meaning and Context. In Schiffrin, D. & D. Tannen (ed.). The Handbook ofDiscourse Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell. 54-68.
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Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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