Subtitling is the most common mode of screen translation in Denmark.

According to
Gottlieb, subtitling can be defined as: ‘Diamesic translation in polysemiotic media in
the form of one or more line of written text presented on the screen in sync with the
original dialogue’ (2008, in Schjoldager: 208).

This definition is broad enough to refer to both intra- and interlingual subtitling, but it
is important to distinguish between the two, though. Whereas intralingual subtitling is
the subtitling of the original dialogue in the same language (thus a translation form
provided particularly for the deaf and hearing impaired), interlingual subtitling is the
translation from one language to another (Gottlieb 1997:71). The latter is the type of
subtitling that is dealt with in this thesis.

Subtitling differs from other types of screen translation by being written. The fact
that this particular translation type renders the original dialogue in a written form
makes it diamesic, seeing that a shift in language mode is involved. Additionally,
interlingual subtitling is diagonal, meaning that it shifts from one language to
another. Thus, the language mode shifts from source language (in the following
referred to as SL) speech to target language (in the following referred to as TL)
writing (Gottlieb in Schjoldager 2008:210).

The subtitler is also restricted in terms of space when translating from speech to
writing, given that a new semantic load is added to the screen in the form of subtitles.
In order for the subtitles not to take up to much space on the screen, they should not
exceed 32-41 characters per line in a maximum of two lines (Cintas & Remael
2007:9).

Another characteristic of subtitling is that it is conveyed in polysemiotic texts . A text

is polysemiotic when meaning is communicated through more than one semiotic
channel simultaneously. Traditionally they employ the following four semiotic
channels simultaneously:

 The verbal acoustic channel: dialogue, background voices, sometimes lyrics

(when meaningful in the given context)
 The non-verbal acoustic channel: music and sound effects
 The verbal visual channel: captions and written signs
 The non-verbal visual channel: picture composition and flow

What is a pun?

Wordplay is the general name indicating the various textual phenomena in which
certain features inherent in the structure of the language used are exploited in such a
way as to establish a communicatively significant, (near)-simultaneous confrontation
of at least two linguistic structures with more or less dissimilar meanings (signifieds)
and more or less similar forms (signifiers).
In this definition, it is stated that the pun is based on the confrontation of linguistic
forms that are formally similar, but have different meanings (Delabastita 1993:58).
The formal similarity is manifested in terms of spelling and pronunciation. It is
therefore the confrontation of similar forms and dissimilar meanings between
linguistic structures that gives rise to ambiguity.

Various criteria can be used to describe and compare puns. They can for instance be
classified in terms of their formal structure or according to the linguistic features in
which they are inherent.

The purpose of classifying puns in terms of their formal structure is to examine how
the pun components (i.e. the word or word group that have more or less similar forms
and more or less different meanings) are related formally. The relation of identity
between the two pun components can be either partial or complete.

 The homonymic pun is comprised of words that are identical both in spelling
and pronunciation. The words have different meaning, though. An example is
the word ‘bear’, which can be a verb (to carry) or a noun (the animal).
 The homophonic pun is based on the exploitation of word pairs which sound
alike, but are different in spelling. An example of such word pair is ‘Carrie’
(proper noun) and ‘carry’ (verb).
 The paronymic pun exploits words that have slight differences in both spelling
and pronunciation. An example of such a word pair is ‘adding in salt/insult to
injury’ (Delabastita 1993:79-80).

Depending on how the pun components are arranged in the text fragment in question,
the pun is either horizontal or vertical.

A pun is vertical when the meanings of it are exposed in one glimpse (Gottlieb
1997:186). The vertical pun is what Delabastita in his earlier-cited wordplay
definition refers to as ‘the simultaneous confrontation of meaning’, seeing that the
two confronting linguistic components are represented simultaneously within the
same portion of text (Delabastita 1993:78-79), even though only one of them is
materially present.

In horizontal puns, on the other hand, the two confronting linguistic components
occur one after another in the text. It is the repetition of a word in context that
triggers the secondary meaning. This is what Delabastita refers to as ‘the near-
simultaneous confrontation of meaning’ in his definition.
Приклади з літератури.
1. «it is the unkindest tied that ever any man tied.» — Це та сама невихована
скотина, яку коли-небудь виховувала людина.
2. -«Not the opera 'Louise'-my niece, Louise Thropplestance. I thought I might
have left her at your house.» - Не оперу «Луїза», а мою племінницю Луїзу
Троппелтенс. Я думала, що могла залишити її у вас у дома.

3. Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. 'It
is a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's
tail; 'but why do you call it sad? - — Моя історія, хвакт звісний, довга і сумна, — з
зітханням промовила Миша. — Як хвіст мій? — перепитала Аліса, не розчувши гаразд
Мишиного “хвакт звісний” (саме так у неї вийшло). Авжеж, він у вас і справді довгий, але чому
сумний — ніяк не збагну.

Приклади з фільмів
1. Rabbit: “Tie them together Piglet can you tie a knot?”
Piglet: “I cannot.”
Rabbit: “Uh, so you can knot?”
Piglet: “No, I cannot knot.

Кролик: «П’ятачок, зв’яжи їх разом ти не вмієш зав’язувати вузол?»

П’ятачок: "Я не вмію".
Кролик: "А, значить, ти не вмієш зав'язувати вузол?"
П’ятачок: "Ні, я не вмію в'язати вузли.

2. “Well I feel sheepish! Okay you baaa’d boy, but no more freebies.”

«Ну, я відчуваю себе дурним! Окей, ти поганий хлопчик, але халяви

більше не буде ».

3. And from his lava came this song of hope that he sang
out loud everyday for years and years.
I wish that the earth, sea, the sky up above
will send me someone to lava.

І з його лави звучала ця пісня надії, яку він співав

Вголос щодня, багато років
Я мрію, щоб земля, море і небо
Подарували мені когось, щоб лава (кохати)

Приклади з реклами.

1. Shave Time. Shave Money – Час бритися. Час економити.

Замість слова save - берегти, тут використали shave – голити.

2. Have a nice trip, buy-buy (An advertisement for a supermarket).

Насолоджуйся покупками в нашому магазині, купуй мерщій, те що
подбається.
Спочатку покупці можуть зрозуміти це, як «Гарної подорожі,
допобачення», але смисл даного слогана інший.
3. Whenever you shop at Four Square, you will like the change(An advertisement
for a shop).
Щоразу, коли ви буде шопитися у Four Square, ми будемо повертати вам
гроші.
Слово «змінити» має інше значення, а саме повернення грошей.