Zivaisms: the strategy and translation challenges behind proverb and idiom twisting in NCIS
Résumé
Proverbially, NCIS deserves special attention. This American series, which follows a team from the Naval Criminal Investigation Services, features a foreign character (agent Ziva David) that uses proverbs and idioms profusely but inappropriately. These awkward utterances are so prominent and frequent that they have been named “Zivaisms” by the fans. The purpose of this study is to show the importance of this phenomenon in the TV programme and to what extent this proverb and idiom twisting habit can be viewed as a strategy from the series makers, and not just a mere idiosyncrasy from Ziva. To do so, I shall begin by separating and defining from a neutral point of view the notions of “proverb” and “idiom”. I shall also discuss the different categories of “proverb-twisting” and propose a simple classification. These preliminaries will help avoid confusion while analysing the corpus, which is composed of Zivaisms on the one hand, and on the other hand, of the “standard” sayings that have been misused by Ziva. The analysis of some Zivaisms will then allow to reveal their function and purpose, thus unveiling a more global scheme. Finally, the difficulties generated by such Zivaisms will be broached, such as the ways to translate them and their surprising but actual translation in the French version of the TV programme
Domaines
Linguistique
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
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