Offensive language in spanish subtitles: case study of the series Them

El objetivo de esta investigación es determinar si en el corpus elegido se mantiene la tendencia que se ha venido observando en el subtitulado, a saber, la pérdida del significado expresivo en el texto meta cuando el texto original presenta lenguaje ofensivo y tabú. La metodología utilizada consiste en el análisis de un corpus de 201 términos ofensivos y tabú recabados en los diálogos originales en inglés estadounidense de la serie Them (Amazon Prime Video, 2021), que se contrastan con las respectivas traducciones encontradas en el subtitulado en español para América Latina. Tomamos cuatro de las estrategias propuestas por Ávila-Cabrera (2015a) que se usan para realizar el trasvase de la carga ofensiva: mantención, suavización, neutralización y omisión, y clasificamos los datos según cada una de estas categorías, entendiendo que el significado expresivo se pierde tanto en la omisión como en la neutralización. Como resultado, obtenemos un total de 106 ocurrencias (53 %) en las que el significado expresivo del término original no figura en el texto meta. En comparación con el resultado obtenido en un estudio de corpus de Ávila-Cabrera (2015c) de la película Pulp Fiction, hay una diferencia significativa de 11,2 puntos (Ávila-Cabrera encuentra un 41,8 % de significado expresivo no transferido). En la discusión, nos preguntamos acerca de posibles hipótesis para los datos encontrados, así como para la divergencia con respecto al estudio de Ávila-Cabrera. Por otra parte, los resultados encontrados sirven como base para reflexionar acerca de qué tan traducible es la expresividad y si es necesario o no traducirla en los subtítulos (y de ser así, en qué casos es necesario y en cuáles no). De modo más general, contribuyen al análisis de la dimensión expresiva de la lengua natural. Palabras clave: peyoración, expresividad, traducción audiovisual, subtitulado The goal of this research is to determine whether the trend that has been observed in subtitling, namely, the loss of expressive meaning in the target text when the original text contains offensive and taboo language, is maintained in the chosen corpus. The methodology used consists of the analysis of a corpus of 201 offensive and taboo terms collected in the original American English dialogues of the series Them (Amazon Prime Video, 2021), which are contrasted with the respective translations found in the Spanish subtitling for Latin America. We take four of the strategies proposed by Ávila-Cabrera (2015a) used when performing an offensive load transfer: maintenance, softening, neutralization and omission, and classify the data according to each of these categories, with the understanding that expressive meaning is lost in both omission and neutralization. As a result, we obtain a total of 106 occurrences (53 %) in which the expressive meaning of the original term does not appear in the target text. In comparison with the result obtained in a corpus study by Ávila-Cabrera (2015c) of the movie Pulp Fiction, there is a significant difference of 11.2 points (Ávila-Cabrera finds 41.8 % of expressive meaning not transferred). In the discussion, we wonder about possible hypotheses for the data found, as well as for the divergence from the Ávila-Cabrera study. On the other hand, the results found serve as a basis for reflecting on how translatable expressivity is and whether it is necessary to translate it in subtitles (and if so, in which cases it is necessary and in which cases it is not). More generally, they contribute to the analysis of the expressive dimension of natural language. Keywords: pejoration, expressivity, audiovisual translation, subtitlingThe goal of this research is to determine whether the trend that has been observed in subtitling, namely, the loss of expressive meaning in the target text when the original text contains offensive and taboo language, is maintained in the chosen corpus. The methodology used consists of the analysis of a corpus of 201 offensive and taboo terms collected in the original American English dialogues of the series Them (Amazon Prime Video, 2021), which are contrasted with the respective translations found in the Spanish subtitling for Latin America. We take four of the strategies proposed by Ávila-Cabrera (2015a) used when performing an offensive load transfer: maintenance, softening, neutralization and omission, and classify the data according to each of these categories, with the understanding that expressive meaning is lost in both omission and neutralization. As a result, we obtain a total of 106 occurrences (53 %) in which the expressive meaning of the original term does not appear in the target text. In comparison with the result obtained in a corpus study by Ávila-Cabrera (2015c) of the movie Pulp Fiction, there is a significant difference of 11.2 points (Ávila-Cabrera finds 41.8 % of expressive meaning not transferred). In the discussion, we wonder about possible hypotheses for the data found, as well as for the divergence from the Ávila-Cabrera study. On the other hand, the results found serve as a basis for reflecting on how translatable expressivity is and whether it is necessary to translate it in subtitles (and if so, in which cases it is necessary and in which cases it is not). More generally, they contribute to the analysis of the expressive dimension of natural language