A Study On Audiovisual Translation Of Crosstalk From The Perspective Of General Theory Of Verbal Humor ——A Case Study Of China Showbiz Subtitling

Verbal humor is a unique component of language.It is the artistic processing of language for the purpose of amusement and satire.Given the increasing international influence of audiovisual media,the study of audiovisual translation of verbal humor can promote the understanding and communication of different national languages and cultures.At present,however,there are few studies on audiovisual translation of verbal humor,and most research objects focus on film and television dramas,and most research perspectives come from the theories of linguistics and translation studies.It is rare that audiovisual translation of verbal humor is analyzed from the perspective of humor theories,which opens up the research ideas and direction for this study.In translating the humorous culture-specific references,translators prefer literal translation strategies.According to the theoretical framework of the General Theory of Verbal Humor,this translation strategy caused 55.10% of cases lost humor effects.When translating humorous puns,translators tend to use thick translation with annotations,that is,to clarify the meaning of puns with the help of annotations.In this strategy,58.33% of cases changed its humor effects.When translating humorous language variants,translators give preference to the dialect standardized method,which also results in 61.54% of cases lost its humor effects.Using the Chinese and English subtitles of China Showbiz crosstalk program from 2015 to 2018（there are no Chinese or English subtitles after 2018）,this thesis explores the verbal humor of crosstalk from the perspective of the General Theory of Verbal Humor to investigate the retention,modification,or deletion of crosstalk humor in English subtitles.Finally,this thesis analyzes the effect of different translation strategies on the impact of the humor in order to provide guidance for audiovisual translation of verbal humor in the future.It is noticeable that the verbal humor in the corpus mainly comes from the humorous culture-specific references,humorous puns,and humorous language variants.In translating these three types of verbal humor,the translator applies different translation strategies.