Translating Sicilian humour into Maltese : translation and analysis of Sono cose che capitano (morte)

Abstract

The topic of this thesis is the problem of translating humour in the theatre and how these prohlems can be tackled. It will he hased on translating part of the Sicilian-Italian humorous piece Sono cose che capitano written and performed by Ficarra and Picone into Maltese by using different strategies such as lexical grammatical trans-shifting in the text, explaining why they have or have not been used. Although someone knowing a language can understand humour in that language, to the translator, humour can be a translation problem. A translator can be faced with the task of having to translate seemingly untranslatable humour while not reducing the effect, making creative solutions. Looking at this piece, it is clear that some of the humour may seem untranslatable into Maltese for various reasons: cultural meaning, play with words. My thesis will therefore be based on the tusk of translating this piece using various techniques while explaining the application of these techniques (how and why). Although I will be translating for a Maltese audience, I do not intend to domesticate it, but I will be keeping the Sicilian foreign elements. The piece includes various kinds of humour. I will also be looking at the different theories of humour to .analyse the humour in the script, and also using different translation techniques depending on the elements being translated and the sense which must be delivered.