A study on Baker’s strategies in subtitling sexual humour: With special reference to the film Jangi Hor¯a

Abstract

Subtitling is a significant yet underrated sub-discipline in translation studies, which plays a vital role in bridging linguistic and cultural differences in languages, allowing films to reach their audiences while preserving their intended meaning. This study examines the strategies employed by translators in subtitling sexual humour in Sinhalese to English, with special reference to the Sri Lankan comedy film, Jangi Hor¯a. As per the methodology, the researcher has accompanied Jam˙ gi Hora¯ (Underpants thief 2021) by Somaratne Dissanayake, as the unit of analysis to identify sexual humour and content analysis is used as the data analysis method, with the categorisation under the eight strategies proposed by Mona Baker. Accommodating a qualitative approach, this study has analysed 29 selected instances of sexual humour from the officially released English-subtitled version of the film. The analysis demonstrates that seven of Baker’s eight strategies were utilised unevenly by the subtitle writer, and omission dominated the analysis data. The findings indicate that censorship considerations occurred due to omission and translation, with neutral/less expressive words strongly influenced by sexual jokes, slang and idioms which create sexual humour in the film. As for the conclusion, the findings shed light on an overlooked aspect of Sri Lankan film subtitling and further suggest the value of examining other strategies and their effects on audience perception.