Analyzing Intertextuality In Subtitling

As Chinese culture is increasingly encouraged to walk towards the world, film,being an important means of spreading culture, is crucial for the output of Chinese culture. At the same time, subtitling in the film holds the key to the successful output of Chinese culture and values. Unlike translation of other discourse forms such as poems, novels, and commercial advertisements, subtitling has its own distinct features.Not only time and space restraints, but also translation strategies applied by the translators may affect the practical results of subtitling. Scholars have been engaged in the studies of subtitling for a long time and they have gained fruitful achievements.However, previous studies from perspectives of skopos theory, functional equivalence theory or other relevant theories are far from generating a systemic and applicable theoretical framework to guide the practices of subtitling at home. Therefore, we adopt the qualitative research and propose a multi-perspective model by integrating Bhatia’s(2010) patterns of discourse realization in professional contexts and Verschueren’s(1999) Linguistic Adaptation Theory, and then apply this model to the study of the intertextuality involved in the subtitling of the Grandmaster. It is hoped that this study will provide some implications for the future research of subtitling.Since intertextuality refers to the phenomenon that any text is constructed as a mosaic of quotations, or any text is the absorption and transformation of another(Kristeva, 1980: 66), the relationship between subtitling and other elements of the audiovisual work is not just of contextual but also of intertextual nature(Sakellariou,2012: 686). Hence subtitling is in close connection with intertextuality. According to Fairclough(1992), in manifest intertextuality, the intertexts are marked by features on the surface of the text. Manifest intertextuality may take various forms such as citation, parody, presupposition, and so on. However, intertextuality exists not only in the dialogues of linguistic semiotics, but also in the overlapping and integrating of linguistic texts and non-linguistic features, like pictures and sounds. Hence,multimodal intertextuality is actually a special kind of intertextuality. Though multimodal intertextuality was put forward by Royce early in 2006, this kind ofintertextuality has drawn little attention from the public. In consequence, we will explore in detail the application of intertextuality, interdiscursivity, and multimodal intertextuality in the subtitling. Specifically, we will take the film the Grandmaster as the case. Since the Grandmaster, directed by Karwai Wong, has won several international prizes and promoted Chinese culture to the world in a spectacular way.In this thesis, we will answer the following three questions: 1)What are the manifestations of intertextuality involved in the subtitling of the Grandmaster? 2)How does the translator use intertextuality to express the exact meaning in the subtitling of the Grandmaster? 3)Why are the intertextual strategies adopted in the subtitling of the Grandmaster? To answer these three questions, we build up an analytical framework through combining Bhatia’s(2010) patterns of discourse realization in professional contexts with Verschueren’s(1999) Linguistic Adaptation Theory. Based upon this framework, the analysis in the thesis is carried out along three dimensions. First, we identify the manifestations of intertextuality in the subtitling of the Grandmaster, which include manifest intertextuality, interdiscursivity,and multimodal intertextuality. Then, we intend to analyze how intertextuality is applied in the subtitling from the appropriation of practical resources, modal resources,and social-cognitive resources. Finally, we try to explain why intertextual strategies are applied in the subtitling of the Grandmaster from two aspects of adaptation,namely, adaptation to structural variables and to contextual variables.In conclusion, intertextual strategies are frequently used by translators consciously or unconsciously, and intertextuality takes various forms in subtitling such as manifest intertextuality, interdiscursivity, and multimodal intertextuality. In the process of applying intertextual strategies, translators are influenced by practical resources, they are influenced by modal resources while applying multimodal intertextual strategies, and they are influenced by social-cognitive resources while applying manifest intertextual strategies. By using intertextual strategies, translators make two types of adaptations, namely, adaptation to structural variables and to contextual variables. In particular, adaptations to factors of the social world and to language forms are of special weight. Consequently, translators will use theseintertextual strategies consciously or unconsciously to help audiences recognize and understand the important intertextual relationships, and thereby facilitate the in-depth cultural communication and cultural recognition.