This paper aims to discuss the translation of some instances of emotive language in subtitles. On the basis of the relevant literature (Kovačič 1996; Hatim & Mason 2000) it is assumed that elements that contribute to the conative, emotive and phatic function are generally reduced or even elided in subtitles, due to rigid space and time constraints. The process of simplification (cf. Pavesi and Tomasi 2000; Pavesi 2002) at work in subtitles supposedly affects the elements that can be recovered through non-linguistic communicative channels or those that are less directly connected with the performance of the referential function and are instead linked to the area of expressivity (Searle 1969), e.g. terms of address, discourse markers, politeness formulae, reformulations, dysfluencies, etc. We therefore set out to investigate to what extent linguistic simplification affects the domain of terms of address as an expression of interpersonal dynamics (cf. Braun 1989). Vocatives (i.e. unbound pronouns, names, kinship terms, titles and descriptors) in particular often encode various types of interpersonal meaning that are essential to understand the social forces at play in an interaction.
We have so far extended our investigation to a very small corpus of 4 films (Sliding Doors, The Talented Mr Ripley, Shallow Hal, East is East) comparing the original English soundtracks with the Italian subtitles. The research hypothesis we meant to verify is whether or not vocatives are heavily affected by the simplification process that usually involves expressive elements in subtitles. If so, we will evaluate whether a verbal reduction is somehow compensated by the message conveyed by other communicative channels.
