On Translation Of Verbal Humor In Funny Names From "The Big Bang Theory" And"2Broke Girls"

The present thesis explores verbal art of humor and focuses on the case study of funny names translation in two US sitcoms The Big Bang Theory and2Broke Girls. In order to gain a better understanding of the complexity of humor translation, this thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach, investigating the birth and realization of humorous effect in the light of humor typology and KR system (established as the metric of joke similarity) proposed in the General Theory of Verbal Humor, whose validity and prevalent significance of guidance in humor translation has been verified in a series of case analyses. Specifically, it is aimed at funny names triggered by language techniques, such as wordplay, mispronunciation and allusion. After proposing two necessary conditions for successful translation of humor in this special form—"consistency in incongruity" and "consistency in formality", it suggests an effective translation strategy "conversion to homogeneous technique", or reproduction by a same/similar humor-eliciting technique in the TL. Through the preservation of humor typology in both internal humor mechanism and external form as names for people, this approach assists the translator in his/her effort of implementing the "sameness" of humor in the translated name and achieving an integration of form and content. Employing linguistic theories of humor and offering practical strategies in its analysis, this study is devoted to a concrete research on semantic mechanisms and preservation of verbal humor in translation with an attempt to achieve a fuller understanding of the topic of humor translation.