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It’s not all about you: New perspectives on address research
Edited by Bettina Kluge and María Irene Moyna
[Topics in Address Research 1] 2019
► pp. 47–74

On translating pronominal and nominal terms of address

State of the art and future directions

How to translate forms of address – a puzzling question for almost every translator – is a largely neglected topic in the linguistic analysis of forms of address, and, until recently, even in translation studies. This contribution provides an overview of the existing literature and suggests ways to overcome some of the shortcomings identified. Research on translated terms of address (ToA) so far shows a marked bias towards fictional data, often involving English as either a target or a source language. Most research also focuses either on pronominal or nominal address, but it is clear that both need to be analyzed together for a thorough understanding of the translated text and its intention. The chapter argues for a cross-linguistic approach and provides further evidence for the observation (e.g., by Berger 2005; Sinner 2011) that the translation of pronominal address reflects the address practices of the target language, while in the translation of nominal address, the address practices of the source language ‘shine through’.

Keywords: terms of address, nominal address, pronominal address, translation, audiovisual translation, shining-through effect
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.State of the art
    • 2.1Some gaps in previous research
    • 2.2Translation strategies for pronominal and nominal address: Shining-through effects?
      • 2.2.1Pronominal address
      • 2.2.2Translation of nominal address
    • 2.3On the interplay between nominal and pronominal address
  • 3.Additional functions of ToA in fictional genres: Localizing in place and time
  • 4.The special case of subtitling and dubbing
  • 5.Translation of ToA in non-fictional genres and contexts
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tar.1.02klu
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