On Phatic Communion Translation in Subtitle from the Perspective of Politeness Principles: A Case Study of the Chinese Subtitle of American TV Series Why Women Kill

Abstract

Phatic communion conversations are culturally-constrained speech acts happening every day and everywhere. Different cultural backgrounds between China and America will lead to the different applications of phatic communion. Considering American TV series as a mass media for cultural exchanges, subtitle plays a vital role in bridging two cultures.

This paper introduces the related researches at home and abroad on phatic communion, summarizes the main methods adopted in translating different types of phatic communion by analyzing all the collected phatic communion conversations in Why Women Kill. The investigation of whether the subtitled phatic communion achieving the same illocutionary meaning that the original speakers trying to convey under the guide of politeness principles has been completed. The conclusion can be drawn as follows: the translator tends to apply different strategies in translating different types of phatic communion such as literal translation, paraphrase, cultural substitution, addition, condensation and specification methods to achieve the pragmatic equivalence between the original and the subtitle.