Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction: Unhiding the Art

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Prosody of Dubbed Speech

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting ((PTTI))

  • 243 Accesses

Abstract

This introductory chapter lays the foundation for the study of prosodic features in dubbed speech. Starting with the contextualisation of dubbing within the realm of audiovisual translation, it offers an overview of the avenues of research that have hitherto dominated the academic sphere as well as the new trends showing how this field is evolving. Still a research gap in dubbing, prosody is regarded here as a valuable source of information that affects both the interpretation and production of meaning in a new linguistic and cultural setting. The impact that prosodic features have on the dubbed text and the challenges they can pose to professionals are introduced in this chapter from the point of view of their interlingual translation and their oral delivery by the voice talents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ameri, S., & Khoshsaligheh, M. (2018). Exploring the attitudes and expectations of Iranian audiences in terms of professional dubbing into Persian. Hermes, 30(57), 175–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ameri, S., Khoshsaligheh, M., & Khazaee Farid, A. (2018). The reception of Persian dubbing: A survey on preferences and perception of quality standards in Iran. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 26(3), 435–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baños, R. (2013). ‘That is so cool’: Investigating the translation of adverbial intensifiers in English-Spanish dubbing through a parallel corpus of sitcoms. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 21(4), 526–542.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baños, R. (2019a). Fandubbing across time and space: From dubbing ‘by fans for fans’ to cyberdubbing. In I. Ranzato & S. Zanotti (Eds.), Reassessing dubbing: Historical approaches and current trends (pp. 145–168). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baños, R. (2019b). Parodic dubbing in Spain: Digital manifestations of cultural appropriation, repurposing and subversion. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 32, 171–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernal-Merino, M. A. (2014). Translation and localisation in video games: Making entertainment software global. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bosseaux, C. (2015). Dubbing, film and performance: Uncanny encounters. Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bosseaux, C. (2018). Voice in French dubbing: The case of Julianne Moore. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 27(2), 218–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruti, S., & Zanotti, S. (2017). Exploring the sensory dimension of translated films: An analysis of The King’s Speech. Palimpsestes, 30, 154–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvo, C. (2015). La traducción de los marcadores discursivos en la versión doblada española de la serie “Il commissario Montalbano”. Cuadernos de Filología Italiana, 22, 235–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaume, F. (2012). Audiovisual translation: Dubbing. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaume, F. (2013). Panorámica de la investigación en traducción para el doblaje. Trans: Revista de Traductología, 17, 13–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaume, F. (2018). Is audiovisual translation putting the concept of translation up against the ropes? The Journal of Specialised Translation, 30, 84–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesterman, A. (2002). Pragmatics in translation studies. In I. Helin (Ed.), Essays in translation, pragmatics and semiotics. Helsinki University Translation Series No. 2 (pp. 7–32). Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuevas Alonso, M. (2017). Multimodalidad, comunicación y doblaje. La entonación. In X. Montero Domínguez (Ed.), El doblaje. Nuevas vías de investigación (pp. 49–63). Granada: Comares.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Bonis, G. (2014). Alfred Hitchcock presents: Multilingualism as a vehicle for… suspense. The Italian dubbing of Hitchcock’s multilingual films. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 13, 169–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Higes-Andino, I. (2014). The translation of multilingual films: Modes, strategies, constraints and manipulation in the Spanish translations of It’s a Free World… Linguistica Antverpiensia, 13, 211–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Giovanni, E. (2017). New imperialism in (re)translation: Disney in the Arab world. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 25(1), 4–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Giovanni, E. (2018). Dubbing, perception and reception. In E. Di Giovanni & Y. Gambier (Eds.), Reception studies and audiovisual translation (pp. 159–178). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Di Giovanni, E., & Gambier, Y. (2018). Introduction. In E. Di Giovanni & Y. Gambier (Eds.), Reception studies and audiovisual translation (pp. vii–xii). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Di Giovanni, E., & Romero-Fresco, P. (2019). Are we all together across languages? An eye tracking study of original and dubbed films. In I. Ranzato & S. Zanotti (Eds.), Reassessing dubbing: Historical approaches and current trends (pp. 125–144). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Giovanni, E., & Zanotti, S. (2019, June 17–19). Audiovisual retranslation: A reception study of redubs across space and time. International Conference Media for All 8, Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, J. (2014). Multilingüismo, traducción audiovisual y estereotipos: el caso de Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Prosopopeya, 9, 135–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, J. (2015). Preface. In I. Ranzato (Ed.), Translating culture Specific References on Television. The Case of Dubbing (pp. xiii–xiv). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, J. (2018). Film censorship in Franco’s Spain: The transforming power of dubbing. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 27(2), 182–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, J., & Anderman, G. (2009). Audiovisual translation: Language transfer on screen. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díaz Cintas, J., & Neves, J. (2015). Taking stock of audiovisual translation. In J. Díaz Cintas & J. Neves (Eds.), Audiovisual Translation: Taking stock (pp. 1–7). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dore, M. (2019). Multilingual humour in audiovisual translation: Modern family dubbed in Italian. The European Journal of Humour Research, 7(1), 52–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freddi, M., & Malagori, C. (2014). Discourse markers in audiovisual translation. In A. Maiorani & C. Christie (Eds.), Multimodal epistemologies: Towards an integrated framework (pp. 191–209). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freddi, M., & Pavesi, M. (2009). Introduction. In M. Freddi & M. Pavesi (Eds.), Analysing audiovisual dialogue: Linguistic and translational insights (pp. 1–6). Bologna: CLUEB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghia, E. (2014). “That is the question”: Direct interrogatives in English film dialogue and dubbed Italian. In M. Pavesi, M. Formentelli, & E. Ghia (Eds.), The languages of dubbing: Mainstream audiovisual translation in Italy (pp. 57–88). Bern: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giampieri, P. (2017). Taboo language and censorship in the Italian dubbing of “Ted 2”. Lingue e Culture dei Media, 1(2), 64–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giampieri, P. (2018). (Mis)representations of Motherf** in Italian film dubbing. Altre Modernità, 19, 175–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldsmith, J. (2019, July 19). Netflix wants to make its dubbed foreign shows less dubby. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/arts/television/netflix-money-heist.html.

  • Gottlieb, H. (2005). Multidimensional translation: Semantics turned semiotics. In Proceedings of the Marie Curie Euroconferences MuTra: Challenges of Multidimensional Translation. Saarbrücken, Germany. Retrieved from http://www.euroconferences.ifo/proceedings/2005_Proceedings/2005_Gottlieb_Henrik.pdf.

  • Gutekunst, C., & Gillett, J. (2014). Voice into acting: Integrating voice and the Stanislavski approach. London and New York: Bloomsbury.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heiss, C. (2014). Multilingual films and integration? What role does Film Translation play? In D. Abend (Ed.), Media and translation: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 3–24). Norfolk: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirst, D., Di Cristo, A., & Nishinuma, Y. (2001). Prosodic parameters of French: A cross-language approach. Contrastive Studies of Japanese and Other Languages Series, 7–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilborn, R. (1993). ‘Speak my language’: Current attitudes to television subtitling and dubbing. Media, Culture and Society, 15, 641–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komar, S. (2013). Developing intonation awareness: The case of TV commercials. In J. Przedlacka, J. Maidment, & M. Ashby (Eds.), Proceedings of the Phonetics Teaching and Learning Conference 2013 (pp. 51–54). London, UK. Retrieved from http://wa.amu.edu.pl/kdk/sites/default/files/proceedings_2013.pdf.

  • Kozloff, S. (1999). Genre talk. In P. Brophy (Ed.), Cinesonic: The world of sound in film (pp. 108–128). North Ryde: Australian Film Television & Radio School.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magazzù, G. (2019). Transfering multilingual humour intralingually: The case of “Big Night”. The European Journal of Humour Research, 7(1), 38–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez Sierra, J. J. (2017). Dealing with the N-word in dubbing and subtitling Django Desencadenado: A case of self-censorship? Ideas, 3(3), 39–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matamala, A., Perego, E., & Bottiroli, S. (2017). Dubbing versus subtitling yet again? An empirical study on user comprehension and preferences in Spain. Babel, 63(3), 423–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mateo, M. (2014). Exploring pragmatics and phonetics for successful translation. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11, 111–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mejías-Climent, L. (2018). Multimodality and dubbing in video games: A research approach. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 17, 99–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Méndez, R. (2015). Doblaje y videojuegos: La incidencia de la industria del cine en un nuevo sector de ocio. Quaderns de Cine, 10, 73–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mereu, C. (2016a). The politics of dubbing: Film censorship and state intervention in the translation of foreign cinema in fascist Italy. Oxford: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mereu, C. (2016b). ‘The Italian Color’: Race, crime iconography and dubbing conventions in the Italian-language versions of Scarface (1932). Altre Modernità, 2, 107–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minutella, V. (2015). “Dacci un taglio, vuoi?” Anglicisms in dubbed TV series, then and now. Ricognizioni, 2(4), 261–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minutella, V., & Pulcini, V. (2014). Cross-linguistic interference into the Italian dubbing of TV series: The case of realise, impressive and excited. In A. Molino & S. Zanotti (Eds.), Observing norms, observing usages: Lexis in dictionaries and the media (pp. 331–348). Bern: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mompeán González, J. A., & Monroy Casas, R. (2010). Nuclear tones in English: The case of household consumer products TV commercials. ReVEL, 8(15), 229–241. Retrieved from http://www.revel.inf.br/files/artigos/revel_15_nuclear_tones_in_english.pdf.

  • Monti, S. (2016). Reconstructing, reinterpreting and renarrating code-switching in the Italian dubbed version of British and American multilingual films. Altre Modernità, 2, 68–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nord, C. (1997). Translating as a purposeful activity: Functionalist approaches explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nord, C., Khoshsaligheh, M., & Ameri, S. (2015). Socio-cultural and technical issues in non-expert dubbing: A case study. International Journal of Society, Culture and Language, 3(2), 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parini, I. (2014). ‘I’m going to f***** kill you!’ Verbal censorship in dubbed mafia movies. In G. Iannaccaro & G. Iamartino (Eds.), Enforcing and eluding censorship: British and Anglo-Italian perspectives (pp. 144–166). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavesi, M. (2013). This and That in the language of film dubbing: A corpus-based analysis. Meta: Translator’s Journal, 58(1), 103–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavesi, M. (2015). The translation of conversation and film dubbing as a discovery procedure. Evidence from demonstratives. In E. Miola & P. Ramat (Eds.), Language across languages: New perspectives on translation (pp. 143–171). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavesi, M. (2016). Formulaicity in and across film dialogue: Clefts as translational routines. Across Languages and Cultures, 17(1), 99–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perego, E., Del Missier, F., & Bottiroli, S. (2015). Dubbing versus subtitling in young and older adults: Cognitive and evaluative aspects. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 23(1), 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perego, E., Del Missier, F., & Stragà M. (2018). Dubbing vs. subtitling: Complexity matters. Target: International Journal of Translation Studies, 30(1), 137–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perego, E., Orrego-Carmona, D., & Bottiroli, S. (2016). An empirical take on the dubbing vs. subtitling debate: An eye movement study. Lingue e Linguaggi, 19, 255–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-González, L. (2014). Audiovisual translation: Theories, methods and issues. London and New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pettorino, M, & Vitagliano, I. (2003). Prosodic characteristics of dubbed speech. In Proceedings of the XV International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 2865–2868, Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prieto, P., & Rigau, G. (2007). Prosody and pragmatics. In L. Payrató & J. M. Cots (Eds.), The pragmatics of Catalan (pp. 17–48). Berlin and Boston: Walter De Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranzato, I. (2012). Gayspeak and gay subjects in audiovisual translation: Strategies in Italian dubbing. Meta: Translator’s Journal, 57(2), Special Issue, The Manipulation of Audiovisual Translation, 369–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranzato, I. (2015). “God Forbid, a Man!” Homosexuality in a case of quality TV. Between, 5(9), 1–23. Retrieved from http://ojs.unica.it/index.php/between/article/view/1397/1520.

  • Ranzato, I. (2017). Telling a different story: The rewriting of homosexual narratives in dubbing. In P. Faini (Ed.), Terminological approaches in the European context (pp. 222–235). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranzato, I. (2019). The Cockney persona: The London accent in characterisation and translation. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 27(2), 235–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romero-Fresco, P. (2020). The dubbing effect: An eye-tracking study on how viewers make dubbing work. The Journal of Specialised Translation, 33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Mompeán, S. (2019a, June 17–19). From pre-production onwards: Integrating dubbing into the filmmaking process. International Conference Media for All 8, Stockholm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Mompeán, S. (2019b). Dubbing attitudes through tonal patterns: When tones speak louder than words. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16, 135–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Mompeán, S. (2019c). Prefabricated orality at tone level: Bringing dubbing intonation into the spotlight. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2019.1616788.

  • Sandrelli, A. (2016). The dubbing of gay-themed TV series in Italy: Corpus-based evidence of manipulation and censorship. Altre Modernità, 2, 124–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solé, M. J. (1989). Translating intonation. In J. C. Santoyo (Ed.), Actas XI Congreso Aedean translation across cultures (pp. 181–194). León: Universidad de León Publicaciones.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tench, P. (2009). Intonation, meaning and grammar. Retrieved from http://www.paultenchdocs.co.uk/?m=201308.

  • Valentini, C. (2013). Phrasal verbs in Italian dubbed dialogues: A multimedia corpus-based study. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 21(4), 543–562.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voellmer, E., & Zabalbeascoa, P. (2014). How multilingual can a dubbed film be? Is it a matter of language combinations or national traditions? Linguistica Antverpiensia, 13, 232–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittaker, T. (2012). Locating “la voz”: The space and sound of Spanish dubbing. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 13(3), 292–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zabalbeascoa, P., & Corrius, M. (2014). How Spanish in an American film is rendered in translation: Dubbing Butch Cassidy and the Sundace Kid in Spain. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 22(2), 255–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zabalbeascoa, P., & Voellmer, E. (2014). Accounting for multilingual films in translation studies: Intratextual translation in dubbing. In D. Abend (Ed.), Media and translation: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 25–52). Norfolk: Bloomsbury Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zamora, P., & Alessandro, A. (2016). Frecuencia de uso y funciones de las interjecciones italianas y españolas en el hablado fílmico y sus repercusiones en el doblaje al español. MonTI, 3, 181–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zanotti, S. (2015). Analysing redubs: Motives, agents and audience response. In J. Díaz Cintas & R. Baños Piñero (Eds.), Audiovisual translation in a global context: Mapping an ever-changing landscape (pp. 110–139). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zanotti, S. (2016). Images of youth on screen: Manipulative translation strategies in the dubbing of American teen films. Altre Modernità, 2, 144–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zanotti, S. (2019a). Auteur dubbing: Translation, performance and authorial control in the dubbed versions of Stanley Kubrick’s films. In I. Ranzato & S. Zanotti (Eds.), Reassessing dubbing: Historical approaches and current trends (pp. 79–101). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zanotti, S. (2019b). Investigating the genesis of translated films: A view from the Stanley Kubrick Archive. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 27(2), 201–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zanotti, S., & Ranzato, I. (2019). Intersections: Audiovisual translation at the crossroads of disciplines. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 27(2), 173–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ziem, A. (2014). Frames of understanding in text and discourse: Theoretical foundations and descriptive applications. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Filmography

  • Dark (2017–ongoing), Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, Netflix.

    Google Scholar 

  • How I Met Your Mother (2005–2014), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, 20th Century Fox Television.

    Google Scholar 

  • Money Heist (2017–ongoing), Álex Pina, Netflix (originally produced by Atresmedia).

    Google Scholar 

  • The Rain (2018–ongoing), Jannik Tai Mosholt, Esben Toft Jacobsen and Christian Potalvino, Netflix.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Translation and Interpreting, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain

    Sofía Sánchez-Mompeán

Authors
  1. Sofía Sánchez-Mompeán
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sofía Sánchez-Mompeán .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Sánchez-Mompeán, S. (2020). Introduction: Unhiding the Art. In: The Prosody of Dubbed Speech. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35521-0_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation