Aggressive speech acts or expressions of friendliness? Translating taboo words in Fatih Akins’ Soul Kitchen (2009) into Italian subtitles

Abstract

The paper analyzes the occurrences of taboo words in Fatih Akin’s German comedy Soul Kitchen (2009). The film is particularly rich in taboo and swear words which are mainly used by certain characters and seem to play a specific role. According to a classification of taboo words in central semantic groups and along with the definition of aggressive speech act by Havrlyiv (2017, 2018, 2022) and of insults by Alfonzetti (2017), the paper initially identifies the most recurrent speech acts in the context of their occurrence, investigating the pragmatic functions of taboo words in the original German dialogues of the comedy also in relation to the humorous aims pursued. Next, according to Díaz Cintas and Remael’s (2007) subtitling classification the paper analyzes the Italian subtitles, investigating the translation strategies selected and the solutions adopted. Special attention is paid to the strategies chosen for the translation of cultural-bound elements. The translation of scatological taboo words holds a particular relevance.