The Audiovisual Translation of Fixed Expressions and Idiom-Based Puns

Punning is an intricate and fascinating phenomenon that complicates further when based on longer textual units, rather than on one or two words (Attardo 1994: 132). In this study I concentrate of the creative exploitation of the canonical form(s) of Fixed Expressions and Idioms (hence FEIs, Moon 1998) and their transfer across language and culture. To this end, I analyse some examples taken from the first series of the TV comedy programme Friends (1994-2004, M. Kauffman and D. Crane) and its Italian dubbed version. The analysis of what I named FEI-based puns is preceded by an overview on this phenomenon, which is mainly based on Moon (1998), Veisbergs (1997), Raskin (1985) and Attardo (1994). The combined use of these studies provides a sound approach to the investigation of FEI-based puns and their audiovisual translation. In general, the objective of this work is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to understand how FEI-based are exploited in the ST for humorous purposes, whether they are used according to recurrent patterns and what other function(s) they have within it. On the other hand, it aims to show how the Italian translator(s) confronted and overcame the problems related to the transfer of FEI-based puns at the lexical and cultural level. The analysis of the ST reveals that puns based on FEIs function not only as humour triggers but also as a device for characterisation and to enhance the themes in Friends. In addition, the translation strategies applied in dubbing the Italian TT seem to show that the high level of manipulation of the original text to some extent might result in shifts in the target audience’s perception of some of the characters’ idiosyncrasies.