Self-translation and orality: the case of bilingual stand-up comedy

ABSTRACT

Self-translation and orality have independently received much attention in translation studies, but their intersection has been virtually ignored. An opportunity to fill this gap is offered by the case of stand-up comedians who perform in more than one language. Contrary to theories in which the freedom of the self-translator is viewed in purely negative terms, the reflections of J.L. Borges suggest that self-translation represents a means of making the text fluid. This fluidity is also recognised as a distinguishing mark of oral communication, as is shown by the case of stand-up comedy. Oral self-translation, then, grants its (unwritten) text some sort of double fluidity. This hypothesis is corroborated through interviews with bilingual comedians on the issue of the directionality of their translation. The problematic nature of this directionality confirms that, in orally self-translated stand-up comedy, variation and repetition of content can be described as a continuum across time and languages.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-translation
• orality
• stand-up comedy
• oral translation
• performance translation
• Borges

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Giacinto Palmieri is currently completing his PhD in translation studies (on which this article is based) at the University of Surrey. He has also been performing stand-up comedy for many years, both in English and in his native Italian. His article ‘Oral self-translation of stand-up comedy and his (mental) text: a theoretical model’ has been published in Humour. International Journal of Humor Studies.

ORCID

Giacinto Palmieri http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0683-6963

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) under [grant number AH/L503940/1].