Pragmatics of Fiction: Lay subtitling and online communal viewing
Aim
The project Pragmatics of Fiction: Lay subtitling and online communal viewing offers a new pragmatic perspective onto processes and products of subtitling. Its central foci are the role of English in making televised Korean dramas accessible to a global audience; the changing paradigms of subtitle production and reception towards more participatory and collaborative practices; the dynamic participation structures of translated artefacts and their effects on cross-cultural communication. While the project draws on research in translation, it is grounded in English linguistics, the pragmatics of fiction and computer-mediated communication. Our aim is to bring linguistic questions about language in use to this research interface.
Team
Principal investigators: Miriam A. Locher and Thomas C. Messerli
Student interns for relational work and timed comments:Elizabeth Adams, Carmelo Cudemo, Giogia Egloff, Christian Feige, Vera Geitz, Luca Lavina, Joël Stocker, Clara Vuille-dit-Bille
Timed comments codebook development: Miriam A. Locher and Andrea Wuest
Journal articles and book chapters
Dayter, Daria, Locher, Miriam A. & Messerli, Thomas C. (2023).Pragmatics in Translation. Mediality, Participation and Relational Work. Elements in Pragmatics Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Chapter 6 on Viki; open access)
Locher, Miriam A. (2020). Moments of relational work in English fan translations of Korean TV drama. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.08.002 (open access)
Locher, Miriam A., Jucker, Andreas H., Landert, Daniela, & Messerli, Thomas C. (2023). Fiction and Pragmatics. Elements in Pragmatics Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (discussion of Viki on pp. 34-35, 43-45; open access)
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2020). Translating the other: Communal TV watching of Korean TV drama. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 20-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.07.002 (open access)
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2023). “This is not the place to bother people about BTS”: Pseudo-synchronicity and interaction in timed comments by Hallyu fans on the video streaming platform Viki. Discourse, Context & Media, 52, 100686. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100686 (open access)
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2024). “what does hyung mean please?”: Moments of teaching and learning about Korean im/politeness on an online streaming platform of Korean TV drama. In Mary Shin Kim (Ed.), Exploring Korean Politenss Across Online and Offline Interactions (pp. 121-153). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50698-7_6 (open access)
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2021). Humour support and emotive stance in comments on K-Drama. Journal of Pragmatics, 178, 408-425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.03.001 (open access)
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2023). Contrastive analysis of English fan and professional subtitles of Korean TV Drama. In Miriam A. Locher, Daria Dayter, & Thomas C. Messerli (Eds.), Pragmatics and Translation (pp. 230-258). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2024). Responding to subtitled K-drama: Artefact-orientation in timed comments. Discourse, Context and Media, 58, 100756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2024.100756 (open access)
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2024). Editorial: Discourse practices of video-oriented textual comments. Discourse, Context & Media. https://https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/discourse-context-and-media/special-issue/105KX26J8TL
Editorial work
Locher, Miriam A. and Maria Sidiropoulou (Eds.). (2021) Special issue: Pragmatics of Translation. Journal of Pragmatics.
Locher, Miriam A., Dayter, Daria, & Messerli, Thomas C. (Eds.). (2023). Pragmatics and Translation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (Eds.). (2024). Special issue: Discourse practices of video-oriented textual comments. Discourse, Context & Media.
Details on the Virtual Special Issue Discourse practices of video-oriented textual comments
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2024). Editorial: Discourse practices of video-oriented textual comments. Discourse, Context & Media. tba
Dutt, Scott, & Graham, Sage L. (2023). Video, talk and text: How do parties communicate coherently across modalities in live videostreams? Discourse, Context & Media, 55, 100726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100726
Liu, Shengnan. (2023). You’re so mean but I like it – Metapragmatic evaluation of mock impoliteness in Danmaku comments. Discourse, Context & Media, 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100700
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas. C. (2023). “This is not the place to bother people about BTS”: Pseudo-synchronicity and interaction in timed comments by Hallyu fans on the video streaming platform Viki. Discourse, Context and Media, 52, 1-10. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100686 (open access)
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2024). Responding to subtitled K-drama: Artefact-orientation in timed comments. Discourse, Context and Media, 58, 100756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2024.100756 (open access)
Song, Le, & Licoppe, Christian. (2023). Closing live video streams: A sequential analysis. Discourse, Context & Media, 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100698
Zhang, Leticia-Tian, & Cassany, Daniel. (2023). From writing to drawing: Examining visual composition in danmu-mediated textual communication. Discourse, Context & Media, 53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2023.100699
Details on the Virtual Special Issue Pragmatics of Translation
Locher, Miriam A., & Sidiropoulou, Maria. (2021). Introducing the special issue on the pragmatics of translation. Journal of Pragmatics, 178, 121-126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.03.007
Interpreting practices in different modes
Dayter, Daria. (2021). Dealing with interactionally risky speech acts in simultaneous interpreting: The case of self-praise. Journal of Pragmatics, 174, 28-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.12.010 (open access)
Mapson, Rachel, & Major, George. (2021). Interpreters, rapport, and the role of familiarity. Journal of Pragmatics, 176, 63-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.01.020
Written translation of fictional and non-fictional texts
Pollali, Christina-Styliani, & Sidiropoulou, Maria. (2021). Identity formation and patriarchal voices in theatre translation. Journal of Pragmatics, 177, 97-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.02.018
Sidiropoulou, Maria. (2020). Understanding migration through translating the multimodal code. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 284-300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.09.020
Kefala, Stavroula. (2021). The pragmatics of translated tourism advertising. Journal of Pragmatics, 173, 88-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.12.001
Subtitling and user generated comments
Guillot, Marie-Noëlle. (2020). The pragmatics of audiovisual translation: Voices from within in film subtitling. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 317-330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.09.015; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378216620302253
Locher, Miriam A. (2020). Moments of relational work in English fan translations of Korean TV drama. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.08.002 (open access)
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2020). Translating the other: Communal TV watching of Korean TV drama. Journal of Pragmatics, 170, 20-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2020.07.002 (open access)
Details on the edited collection Pragmatics and Translation
Chapter 1. Interpreting, translating, transferring: Introducing the collection Pragmatics and Translation, Miriam A. Locher, Daria Dayter and Thomas C. Messerli | pp. 1–28
Part I. Interpreting
Chapter 2. Exploring the potential of implicatures for assessing interpreting quality in the Swiss asylum procedure, Lenny Kaye Bugayong
Chapter 3. Adding connectives to manage interpreted discourse: A corpus-based examination of Hungarian to English interpreting, Andrea Götz
Part II. Translation of fictional and non-fictional texts and spaces
Chapter 4. Impoliteness and pragmatic preferences in German translations of British and Irish children’s fiction, Monika Pleyer
Chapter 5. Translating conflict in written fiction, Simona Nisticò | pp. 97–122
Chapter 6. Politeness in notices translated from Greek into English in Thessaloniki’s public spaces from a cross-cultural perspective and translator/student translator evaluations, Christopher Lees
Part III. Audiovisual translation
Chapter 7. “Don’t talk out loud, you lower the IQ of the whole street”: Impoliteness strategies in Sherlock across AVT modes and languages, Silvia Bruti and Serenella Zanotti | pp. 152–178
Chapter 8. “There is no doubt, you must be right!”: Epistemic modality in film dialogue and audiovisual translation, Vittorio Napoli
Chapter 9. (Im)politeness and plot advancement in screen translation: A pragmastylistic analysis of Korean fiction film subtitling strategies, Kamilla Pak | pp. 201–227
Chapter 10. Contrastive analysis of English fan and professional subtitles of Korean TV drama, Thomas C. Messerli and Mondada Lorenza | pp. 230–258
Part IV. Interactional translation processes and discourses
Chapter 11. From the sensing body to language, and back: Tasting and expressing taste, Lorenza Mondada | pp. 258–289
Chapter 12. Chef knows best: How translations of an immigrant family’s recipes (re)construct a celebrity chef’s epistemic authority, Cynthia Gordon and Naomee-Minh Nguyen | pp. 290–315
Chapter 13. “So my job is translating from professional cook to home cook”: Cookbook writers talk recipes on “Food to Words” podcast, Alla Tovares
Locher, Miriam A. (2018). Moments of relational work in English fan translations of Korean tv drama: “Okay, unni. (Unni = sign of respect or ‘older sister’ from a girl”. Paper presented at the Symposium of Politeness, Valencia, Spain.
Locher, Miriam A. (2019). The pragmatics of fiction: From the challenges of politeness translations to the negotiation of culture in viewer comments on K-drama. Paper presented at the Invited lecture, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
Locher, Miriam A. (2019). The pragmatics of fiction: Making Korean TV drama accessible to an international audience. Paper presented at the Semiosis Lecture Series, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea.
Locher, Miriam A. (2019). Weaving voices in online communal TV watching of K-drama: English as a lingua franca, relational work and identity construction. Paper presented at the i-mean, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. (plenary)
Locher, Miriam A. (2019). Viewer meta-comments on relational work in Korean tv drama. Paper presented at the Symposium of Politeness, Cambridge, UK.
Locher, Miriam A. (2019). Relational work in translation: K-drama through the lens of fan subtitlers and commentators. Paper presented at the Staff Research Colloquium, University of Basel.
Locher, Miriam A. (2019). Politeness in K-drama fiction: From subtitling challenges to fan negotiations of culture. Paper presented at the IV Firsova Readings: “Language in Modern Discourse Practices”, RUDN University, Moscow. (invited)
Locher, Miriam A. (2020). Interpersonal pragmatics in fiction: Approaching politeness from a lay translation perspective in K-drama. Paper presented at the DISCOG, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. (plenary)
Locher, Miriam A. (2021). Relational work negotiations in fiction and their uptake: Communal viewing of K(orean)-Drama on a streaming platform. Paper presented at the Linguistics Research Seminar Series, University of Huddersfield. (invited)
Locher, Miriam A. (2021). “Were they not formal before?”: The Pragmatics of fiction in translated relational work scenes of Korean TV drama and its uptake in timed comments. Paper presented at IPrA, ZHAW, Winterthur, Switzerland. (plenary)
Locher, Miriam A. (2021). Discussing relational work of fictional characters online. Paper presented at the Linguistischen Kolloquium (LingKoll), University of Bayreuth. (invited)
Locher, Miriam A. (2022). Pragmatics and CMC: Discussing relational work of fictional characters online Invited lecture in research seminar, KAIST, Daejeon, South Korea.
Locher, Miriam A. (2022). Pseudo-live comments on K-Drama videos: Fan engagement with the cultural other. Paper presented at the Linguistics Colloquium, University of Freiburg, Germany. (invited)
Locher, Miriam A. (2022). Engaging with the cultural other: Fan translations of Korean TV drama on Viki from a pragmatic perspective. Paper presented at the Jornada sobre la pragmàtica de la traducció des de la perspectiva del català, University of Leipzig. (invited)
Locher, Miriam A. (2022). Learning about Korea(n) by engaging with K-drama: Fan translations and timed comments on Viki. Oxford University, Oxford, Uk. (invited)
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2018). Participatory watching of telecinematic fiction in an international drama viewing platform. Paper presented at the VALS-ASLA: A Video Turn in Linguistics? Methodologie – Analisi – Applications, Basel, Switzerland.
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2018). Relational work and participation structures in interlingual subtitling from the perspective of pragmatics of fiction. Paper presented at the Georgetown University Roundtable in Linguistics, Washington, D.C., USA.
Locher, Miriam A. & Messerli, Thomas C. (2021). “This is not the place to bother people about BTS”: Interaction within timed comments on the video streaming platform Viki. Paper presented at the IPrA, ZHAW, Winterthur, Switzerland.
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2022). "what does hyung mean please?”: Moments of teaching and learning about Korean (im)politeness on an online streaming platform of Korean TV drama IPrA, Gent, Belgium.
Locher, Miriam A., & Messerli, Thomas C. (2023). “OMG I ship them like crazy”: Acts of self-positioning through evaluations in Korean TV-drama fan comments. Paper presented at the IPrA, Brussels, Belgium.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2019). ‘Lol while you watch’ How participatory viewers do humour in comments on Korean TV drama. Paper presented at the International Pragmatics Association, Hong Kong.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2020). Positioning yourself as a Korean Drama fan online: Korean lexical borrowing in multilingual timed comments. Paper presented at the Applied Linguistics in the Digital Age. Vals-Asla Meeting 2020, University of Neuchâtel.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2020). Joint K-Drama Viewing: Community building through fan subtitling and timed comments on Viki. Paper presented at the Discourses of Fictional (Digital) TV Series, University of Valencia, Spain.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2021). Commenting while watching: Synchronous and pseudo-synchronous text-based engagement with and about audiovisual artefacts (Panel). Panel convened at IPrA, ZHAW, Winterthur, Switzerland.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2021). Contrastive analysis of English fan and professional subtitles of Korean TV Drama. Paper presented at the Symposium of Im/Politeness and i-mean, University of Basel.
Messerli, Thomas C., & Locher, Miriam A. (2023). Panel: It’s not what you are like, it’s what you like: Appraisal, stance and evaluation in online fandom. Paper presented at the IPrA, Brussels, Belgium.