A Relevance-Theoretic Approach to the Turkish Translation of Humorous Culture-Specific Itemsin Family Guy

Abstract

Humor is one of the most distinctive aspects of human beings. It plays a significant role in the context of intercultural communication. However verbally expressed humor which is primarily carried by language so as to achieve humorous effect poses a real challenge for the translator. Mostly based on verbally expressed humor rooted in a specific culture and linguistic context, sitcom (i.e. situation comedy) is a TV series consisting of the characters who are involved in amusing situations and it attracts a millions of audiences thanks to the humorous utterances which are often generated through the culture-specific items. The present study aims at exploring how the translation of humorous culture-specific items in the American sitcom Family Guy can be analyzed within the framework of relevance theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson (1986, 1995) and applied to translation by August Gutt (1991).