Speech Acts in Drama Translation

Abstract

One of the most important aspects of drama and definitely drama translation is that it should be performable. In order to preserve the performability, the communicative function of linguistic forms should be recognized and conveyed by the translator. As noticed by some translation scholars (e.g. Snell-Hornby [1988] and Hatim [1998]), speech acts have a vital role in this process. Translators may employ different strategies to overcome difficulties in translating speech acts. Knowledge of difficulties of drama translation, speech acts (especially their different linguistic forms in different languages) and the different strategies of translating speech acts can help translators fulfill their duty as communicators. Studying speech acts as linguistic tools which can contribute to the production of better translations and recognition of the strategies adopted by translators in treating speech acts may pave the way for further researches on this neglected genre and may contribute to producing more adequate translations. This research, which was based on parallel and a comparable corpora, intended to present a classification of the linguistic forms representing the most frequently-used speech acts in Persian dramas by analyzing randomly-selected pages of authentic Persian.