Humor Translation In Pygmalion Based On The General Theory Of Verbal Humor

Humor comes from life but is beyond life.It has become a fairly popular topic in people’s daily activities.As a kind of language form,humor is shaped by art.Some humorous literary works have received great popularity among researchers.However,scholars still have no clear and consistent interpretations about how humor works.Within the framework of the GTVH and its Extended Theory,this research focuses on verbal humor translation in Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw and its two Chinese versions by Lin Yutang and Yang Xianyi respectively.Through the establishment of bilingual parallel database,it attempts to explore the similarities and differences between two translated versions and to further the study of verbal humor translation.There are four major findings in this research:(1)the six KRs should be kept as much as possible,especially the parameter SO in deep parameters and NS in surface parameters in verbal humor translation;(2)sarcasm and rhetorical question are two major factors in generating humorous effects in terms of the study on humorous dramatical text;(3)five translation methods are used in two translated versions: literal translation,paraphrase,synthesization,substitution and omission,in which literal translation in Lin’s version and paraphrase in Yang’s version are the most effective translation methods.Other translation methods may cause the loss of the humorous effect more or less;(4)both translated versions convey humorous effects of the ST very well although Lin Yutang and Yang Xianyi live in different times.By comparison,Yang’s translated version does slightly better than that of Lin’s.Through the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the database,results show that the GTVH and its Extended Theory play an important role in verbal humor translation of Pygmalion.It could be a reference for later studies on translation of humorous dramatical text.