Compliment Patterning among Young Speakers: A Diachronic and Translational Study of English and Dubbed Italian Film Dialogue

Abstract

The construction and translation of socio-pragmatic meanings in film speech poses intriguing challenges due to the complex semiotic nature of audiovisual texts. This exploratory case study presents the results of an analysis that aimed to detect and discuss the use of compliments by teenagers in English and dubbed Italian film dialogue as represented in two cult teen movies released in different decades. The results indicate that compliments tend to occur quite frequently both as creative and formulaic structures. Moreover, the formulaic patterns themselves acquire creative features due to the presence of informal and trendy expressions. Hypotheses are made about the motivations behind different distributional patterns between the two movies, thus indicating potential diachronic variations. Translation strategies are also surveyed, and both cases of creativity and dubious solutions are highlighted.