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Abstract:
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Colloquial language is a variety of the language in which spontaneity is the key. In TV series, this spontaneity should be copied in order to make it seem like the actors are having a real colloquial conversation. However, this is not an easy task and it is very common for the language in TV series to be more formal or to look more forced and less natural than it should. Nevertheless, there is a difference between series written and interpreted in Catalan, and translations from other languages and dubbing. This is why we choose to compare The Inbetweeners, a translation, and Merlí, an original. We transcribed the dialogues, located the colloquial characteristics of each one and divided them into four sections: vocabulary, morphosyntax, phonetic and expressivity. Then we analysed them and compared the results of the analysis of the two series. We found out the vocabulary in Merlí is transgressing and not always correct but at the same time adequate considering the context, the morphosyntax is full of errors, which is usual in colloquial language, the phonetic is real and credible and the expressivity seems natural. On the contrary, the vocabulary in The Inbetweeners is almost always correct but not adequate to the context, the morphosyntax is too precise, the phonetic is not convincing and there is almost no expressivity. These results confirmed our hypothesis. In order to make a character in a TV series sound convincing, two factors have to come together: the script has to be colloquial and the actor or dubbing voice has to sound natural, which is very difficult considering there has to be an equilibrium between what is correct and what is natural. |
