UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO Facoltà di Studi Umanistici Corso di Laurea Triennale in Lingue e Letterature Straniere Classe 11 - Lauree in Lingue e Culture Moderne
Diatopic and Diastratic Variations: the Trainspotting case
Relatore : Dott.ssa Ilaria Parini
Elaborato finale di: Martina AVERNA Matr. 799465
Anno Accademico 2014 - 2015
Abstract Introduction Chapter 1. DIATOPIC AND DIASTRATIC VARIATION 1.1. SCOTS 1.1.1. Dialects 1.1.2. Scots alphabet 1.1.3. Scots pronunciation 1.2. COCKNEY 1.3. DIASTRATIC VARIATION 1.3.1. Slang 1.3.2. Taboo Language
Chapter 2. TRAINSPOTTING 2.1. NOVEL 2.2. FILM 2.3. USE OF LANGUAGE 2.3.1. Diatopic Variation 2.3.2. Diastratic Variation 2.4. CHARACTERS
Chapter 3. TRANSLATION 3.1. LITERARY TRANSLATION 3.2. AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION 3.2.1. Dubbing 3.2.2. Subtitling 3.3. LANGUAGE 3.3.1. Obscene and Taboo Language 3.3.2. Slang and Non-Standard Italian 3.4. CHARACTERS Conclusion
Abstract My dissertation aims to describe the role of diatopic and diastratic variations in written works, film, and their translation. In order to highlight these features of the language, I chose to analyse Trainspotting. Trainspotting is a novel written in 1993 and adapted in 1996 in a film. The first chapter provides an overview on what diatopic and diastratic variations are. Starting with Scotland’s diatopic variation: its dialects can be divided into Insular, Northern, Central, and Southern, and each of these divisions include more restricted dialects areas. The chapter continues describing what diastratic variation is, deepening the meaning of slang and taboo language. The second chapter introduces the case studied, Trainspotting. Novel and film are presented, and the study on language is specific of this case. To emphasize the speech used in Trainspotting, this chapter presents a section devoted to character’s language. This division helps to understand how diatopic and diastratic variations affect characters and therefore the novel and the film. The third and last chapter provides a study about
novel’s
translation and film’s dubbing and subtitling. Examples and references will clarify how diatopic and diastratic variations are translated, explaining methods.
Introduction This dissertation is about diatopic and diastratic variations. Diatopic variation concerns the study of how the language is used in different places and regions of the linguistic area, while diastratic variation studies how the communication varies in different social groups. In the diatopic dimension, different dialects are used, while in the diastratic one, different sociolects are involved. The case study,
Trainspotting, is particularly interesting because it presents both characteristics. Indeed, the novel is written in Scots, and the film reflects this use in the screenplay. Moreover, both novel and screenplay present many instances of slang expressions and words. The study focuses also on its translation into Italian, taking ointo consideration the translation of the novel, the translation for the dubbed version of the film, and the translation for the subtitled version of the film. Trainspotting is a novel written in 1993 by Irvine Welsh. It has been widely acclaimed, but reached major success when the movie inspired by it made its appearance in movie theaters. The story line is unconventional as its use of language; it narrates the adventures of a group of heroin addicts and drug users through many episodes often disconnected. As previously stated, this book is particularly interesting from a linguistic perspective because of the use of the Scottish language which is fundamental to convey the lifestyle and the mindset of this group of people. This study analyzes how this language, enriched by Scots, slang and obscene words and expressions, is used to give voice to each character and characterize each of them. The first chapter provides an overview of diatopic and diastratic variation. Starting with the Scottish language: a hint at its historical background and context, an insight in dialects. It also describes Leith’s dialect and pronunciation. Moreover a brief
paragraph will be consecrated to Cockney, a variation present in the novel but not in the film. The overview will continue with an introduction to what slang is, analyzing specifically obscene and taboo languages.
In the second chapter particular attention will be given to the case study, both novel and film. After a brief introduction focused on the plot, the analysis will turn on the language: how the author uses Standard English and Scots, slang and taboo language. Moreover, the character’s language will be inspected, highlighting the different registers. The third and last chapter deals with how the various modes of translation have managed to convey this peculiar language. The analysis will focus on some specific examples, chosen taking into account the difficulty of translation. This chapter concentrates in fact on the translation in Italian, dubbing and subtitling. The goal is to see if the diatopic and diastratic chacacterization have been transposed in the translation process. Due to the variety of curse words, slang terms and Scottish references used both in the book and film, in this section I will focus mainly on those parts of speech, the most difficult ones to translate in this case.
Chapter 1. DIATOPIC and DIASTRATIC VARIATION This chapter analyses the diatopic variation, and specifically how different dialects are spoken in different places and regions of the linguistic area. It is particularly interesting in this case because the author has chosen to render both the speech of the characters and the narration, in Scots, writing the pronunciation. The director of the film, Danny Boyle, has maintained this specific speech conveying it with strong accents and Scots dialect. This strong connotation helps to recognize the characters as belonging to a determined region. Moreover, th chapter will present a paragraph about Cockney, an English dialect, present in the novel but not in the film.
The last section of this chapter focuses on the diastratic variation, analyzing slang and taboo language. More depth will be given to this topic in the second chapter, in relation to the novel and the film.
1.1 SCOTS Scots is one of the languages spoken in the United Kingdom besides English. It is one of the three native languages spoken in Scotland today (with English of course, and Scottish Gaelic), and the third language for number of speakers (1.5 million), after English and Welsh and before Irish, Angloromani, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish and Shelta. This West Germanic language is spoken in Scotland (Scottish Lowlands, Caithness, Northern Isles) and in Northern Ireland,
where it is known as Ulster Scots or Ullans (counties Down, Antrim, Londonderry).1 Scots is descended from the language of the Angles who settled in northern Britain, in an area now known as Northumbria and southern Scotland, in the 5th century AD. The language was originally known as “Inglis” and has been influenced by Gaelic, Norse, Latin, Dutch, Norman French, Standard French and English. It is classified as a "traditional language" by the Scottish Government, and as a "regional or minority language" under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and the Scottish Executive recognizes and respects Scots as a distinct language, and does not consider the use of Scots to be an indication of poor competence in English. 2 Scots has in fact a lot of names depending on the historical period and the connection to a land, as briefly mentioned. I will give a concise clarification on the main names, pointing out their main characteristics. The most common names to define the language are Scotch, Lallans and Doric.3
SCOTCH: Scotch was used by English speakers as a contraction of the English word “Scottish”, as an equivalent for Scots. It has been used through the 18th century during the English cultural domination, but during the 20th century the native form “Scots” was used anew.
1
“Scots”, in “Omniglot, the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages” 2
“What is Scots?”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”, 3
“Names for the Scots language”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”,
LALLANS:
It derives from the “Lawlands”, which means
“Lowlands”, and it is the northern Scots. (The addition of an –s to create an adjective or a language name in Scots is a feature derived from Dutch) Robert Burns in the 1780s it the first to use Lallans as an alternative name for the Scots language in general; in fact Lallans can be applied to any form of Scots. Nevertheless, Lallans is most closely associated with writing formal or literary Scots. DORIC: Often claimed in the North East, mainly in the city of Aberdeen, as the exclusive name for the North East dialect. The poet Allan Ramsay was the first in the 1720s to use the name Doric as an alternative name for the Scots language. This name is different from the other since it hasn’t a geographic connotation. It derives from the spread of Ancient Greek and Roman culture during the 18th century, and the beginning of copying that style. As Scotland joined England in the state of Great Britain in 1707, the Scots language was downgraded to a “provincial dialect”, and it was now compared with the “Doric” speech of ancient Greece, spoken in Doria, while English, the formal language of Britain, became associated with the Attic, the language of the city states. When Ramsay called Scots Doric he meant that it was associated with the countryside, peasantry and working class, a “rustic language”; it was meant with some affection, but people often used it in a derogatory sense, mostly as the name spread to England.
In the usage of Scotland, the name Doric was employed as an alternative name for the Scots language generally. Gradually, during the 20th century, the use of the name Doric fell out of use
in many places, but recently it has taken on new life in the North East where its use has been preferred to Scots.
On the other hand, Inglis and Theuthonica are two forms of Scots characterized by their historical place.
INGLIS: This is an historically characterized name, originated in the Middle Ages and is a variation of the original Anglo - Saxon name for their language, – englisc, literally “Angle-ish” – originally from Danish “Angeln” (‘the corner’). Their linguistic descendants in both England and Scotland continued to use variations of ‘englisc’ throughout the Middle Ages, though the form ‘Englisch’ came to be preferred in the southern half of Britain. As the northern and southern tongues developed, new names came into use to distinguish them: Scots could use the umbrella term Inglis to refer to the related tongues of both Scots-speaking Scotland, and England, but when Scottish people wished to be specific, they spoke of Scots in Scotland and Suddron in England. Today the form Inglis in Scots is only used to refer to English.
THEUTONICA: In the Middle Ages, Latin writers referred to the Lowland language as Theutonica or ‘German’ which recognized that Scots formed part of a Germanic family of languages.4
1.1.1. Dialects Differently from the previous ones, these names are more geographically characterized, and generally more local. They 4
“Names for the Scots language”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”,
describe a certain kind of Scots, a dialect rather than the language as a whole. I chose to list these dialect to give a broader impression of the variety of Scots in the country. There are four main dialect regions sub divided into 10 sub dialects;
Insular (Orkney & Shetland)
Northern (Caithness, North East, East Angus & Kincardine)
Central (East Central North, East Central, South,West Central, & South Central)
Southern (Southern aka Borders)
INSULAR DIALECTS (Orkeny & Shetland) Orcadian: It can refer to anything related to the Orkney islands, including the local dialect of Scots. It is called Orkney in Scots. The language of the Orkney Islands started out being a variant of Norse known as Norroena; the distinctive qualities of the Orkney dialect derive from its sister language of Faroese, developed from Norse and Icelandic. Direct Scots influence in Orkney began from the 1330’s when the reign passed to Malise earl of Strathearn. By the 1468 Orkney was pledged to Scotland as the dowry of Margaret of Denmark, so the Norse was eroded. Scots became then language of governance and Norwegian disappeared, leaving behind specific words and grammatical features. In fact, today’s Orkney dialect is full of Norse words and turns of speech, but it has a rising intonation similar to Welsh or Irish. Orkney dialect differs from Shetland in that Shetland follows Nordic stress patterns whereas Orkney has a rising intonation akin
to Welsh or Irish. Some of the main distinct features of Orkney dialect are:
The use of the verb “to be” as an auxiliary in place of English “to have”, “I'm just meed the tea (I have just made tea)”
Usage of a plural for a singular noun, “This feet is sair but the ither feet is fine (This foot is sore but the other foot is fine)”
The second person singular pronoun thoo is still used in a familiar sense, “Whit dis thoo mak o that? (What do you make of that?)”, “Tak thee tea (Take your tea)”
Compound prepositions at the end of a sentence, “I'm gan oot a luk upbye (I am going out for a look about up the road)”
Prepositions generally at the end of a sentence, “Whar's me breeks at? (Where are my trousers?)”
“Whar” means both “who” and “where”, “Whar's that? (Who's that?/Where's that?)”
“Name” is pronounced “neem”, “table” is “teeble” and “able” is “eeble”.
In Scots generally where words end in -it (-ed in English), the Orcadian takes the form -id, so general Scots “lockit” (locked) and “biggit” (built) become “lockid” and “biggid” The capital of the islands is Kirkwall (Kirkwal), while other notable places include Stromness (Strumniz) and the islands of Rousay (Rousee), Stronsay (Stronsee) and Westray (Westree). Orkney dialect is used nowadays throughout Orkney in every situation: Radio, teaching in schools and College, and writers publish in dialect. 5
5
“Orkeny” in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”
Shetland: The dialect of Shetland. In English it is known as Shetlandic. It is pervaded with Norse words and turns of speech, but it has an intonation similar to Welsh or Irish. Shetland has the characteristic to follow Nordic stress patterns. Some of the most distinctive features taken from Norse are:
The second person singular pronoun: friends, equals and family members are likely to be addressed as “du” instead of you. After du comes the same part of a verb as would appear after he or she: “Du is daft if du believes him!”
The objective form is “dee”: “I dunna laek dee”
Inanimate objects are often called “he” or “she/shö”: “I lost dat book, or maybe Mam dumpit him.” “Da new car? Shö's a lock faster.”
Some Shetland vowel sounds are common in Scandinavia, as “ö”. The distinctive short “ae” sound as in “paet” and “spaek “etc., is found in all areas.
Tendency to use t in place of English or Mainland Scots “th”: “dis” (this), “dat” (that), “dere” (there), “tin” (thin), “tick” (thick), “trive” (thrive)
When talking about the past, it is common practice to use the verb to be: “Is du heard?” “Yes, I'm heard.”
During the 9th century AD the Norse, Vikings, invaded the Shetland Islands that were then peopled by the Picts. After centuries under the Norwegian rule, in 1469 the king of DenmarkNorway pawned Shetland to pay for his daughter Margaret's marriage with James III of Scotland, and the islands have remained under Scottish rule since that time. In the 16th century the Scots language had begun replacing Norwegian as the language of administration and since that time it has been the main
community language. Shetland dialect today is alive and in daily use. The capital of Shetland is Lerwick (Lerrick). The Shetland Isles are also well known for the iconic Shetland Pony, or Sheltie, and the
Norse
past
is
remembered
annually
in
the Uphellya celebrations.6
NORTHERN (Caithness, North East, East Angus & Kincardine) Caithness: Although Caithness faces towards Orkney, it forms part of another, wider dialect known as Northern Scots: it includes all forms of Scots spoken from Caithness to eastern Angus. The main characteristics are:
An “f” is used instead of a “wh”: “fat” (what), “fen” (when)
The “th” at the start of many words is lost: “the”, “that”, “this” and “they” are pronounced “e” “at” “is” and “ey”.
The sounds “ai” “oo” and “u” are replaced by “ee”: “been” (bone), “heer” (hair), “meed” (made), and “meen” (moon).
Few features are derived from cross over with Gaeilc. The sound “ch” is softened to an “s” or “sh” as in “shapel” (chapel). Also, they say “she”, “her” or “hers” instead of “it” and “its”. The well known places of Caithness include Dounreay (Dounerie), John O’ Groats (The Groats), Thurso (Thursa), and Wick (Weik).7
North East/ Buchan: The Buchan is part of the Northern Scots dialect. It is called Buchan in the smaller area between Banff and
6
“Shetland”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid” 7
“Cathniss”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”,
Ellon, and it forms part of the wider Northern Scots dialect, but to many of its speakers it is known as The Doric (see 1.2). The most outstanding features of the dialect are:
the use of “f” rather than “wh”, as in “foo” (how) “fit” (what), “far” (where) and “fan” (what)
“A” before “n” sometimes becomes “ee”: “een” (ane), “leen” (lane)
And the ui of Scots, as in “muin”, “suin”, “guid” is also pronounced as “ee”: “meen” (moon), “seen” (soon), “gweed” (good).
“Nae” is said in all senses. In other dialects there is a distinction between “A’ve nae mair left” but “A’m no comin”, while in the North East people would say the same in both senses: “A’ve nae mair left” and “A’m nae comin.”
The word “gang” (go) is commonly pronounced without the “a” and sounds like “ging”.
There are a number of words that are not used elsewhere: “cappie” (ice-cream cone), “dubby” (muddy), fooge (play truant), and many others. Since Middle Ages there has been a series of languages in this region: Pictish, Gaelic, Scots, and there have been contacts with Scandinavia and the Low Countries, sharing common words across the North Sea. The North East is home to the famous King Macbeth, who died there in 1057. The dialect covers a large area from the Black Isle and Nairn in the west, including the city of Aberdeen (Aiberdeen) and Deeside. Together with Shetland, the North East is arguably one of the two most active and aware dialect communities in Scotland.8
8
“North East/Buchan”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”
East Angus and Kinkardine: This dialect is traditionally called Scots or Scotch, but in the northern part they might tell you they speak “Mearns”, while in the south “Angus”. There is an old rhyme which describes this dialect frontier: “Bi foo, fit, far an fan Ye can tell a Farfar man” This signifies that the town of Forfar stands at the boundary where the Northern “foo”, “fit”, “far” and “fan” (how, what and where and when), typical of North East Scots, change to “hoo”, “whit”, “whaur” and “whan” further west. Other characteristics are:
Forms such as “been” (bone) and “steen” (stone) are used in this dialect rather than the more southern “bane” and “stane”.
Some words are pronounced with a very round sound, as “mune” (moon), “spune” (spoon) and “gude” (good). Pictish, Gaelic and Scots were spoken here during the Middle Ages, as in the Buchan region, though Scots expanded westward.
This dialect covers Kincardine (The Mearns) and the eastern half of Angus; they tradionally fall within the Northern Scotsspeaking, while western Angus falls within Central Scots, so different forms of dialect can be found within the Angus area.9
CENTRAL (East Central North, East Central South, West Central, & South Central) East Central North: The dialect of this region has long been called either Scots (the traditional name) or Scotch, and in the city of Dundee it’s called Dundonian. People in Fife sometimes call
9
“East Angus and Kinkardine”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”
their speech Fife Scots, and you may also hear the term East Neuk Scots. Some characteristics are:
To the north of Dundee and in eastern Angus the pronunciation is as previously said “foo” (how), “fit” (what), “far” (where), and “fan” (when), and “been” (bone), “steen” (stone).
In Dundee and western Angus, Perth, Stirling and Fife, these examples become “hoo” (how), “whit” (what), “whaur” (where), and “whan” (when), and “bane (bone), “stane” (stone).
In the south the sound “I” is usual to words as “miun” (moon) “spuin” (spoon) and “guid” (good. In Angus the same words become “mune”, “spune” and “gude”.
In Dundee there is an unique sound: the “I”, commonly pronounced “ah” in Scots, here is pronounced “eh”. This extends to most of the “ei” sounds, as: “Eh hud meh eh on a peh” (I had my eye on a pie). In this area there are two important royal centres dated back to the 8th – 9th centuries, Dunfermline and St Andrews. Towards the southern edge of the region is Stirling, a fort for the Anglo- Saxon speaking kings of Northumbria. 10
East Central South: This dialect is the one used in the novel and the film. In fact Trainspotting mixes the Scots spoken in Edinburgh and Leith. For this reason more space will be given to its characteristics. The main characteristics of this dialect are:
Words like “where” and “to” are pronounced “whae” and “twae”, while other dialects would say “wha” and “twa”
Yin (or yae before vowels) is used instead of ane (or ae before vowels). 10
“East Central North”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”
East Central speakers split the sound in words like “mune”, “dune”, “fluir”, “spune”, “use”, “abune” and “puir” into two groups according to whether the vowel is long or short, giving “min”, “din”, “spin”, “yiss” and “abin”, but “flair”, “yaise” and “pair”.
In southern parts of this area, it is common to hear the pronoun “ou” instead of “we”.
Many Edinburgh words come from Romany speech, as “radge”, “barry”, more locally specific like “pannie” (river), “chorie” (steal), “lowie” (money), and “deek” (look). “Gadge” (man) is a Romay word too, and ironically it was originally used to indicate an outsider, a non-traveller.
Scots and its ancestor Anglo-Saxon have been spoken In the Edinburgh area since the 7th century AD, but in the early Middle Ages there were people drawn from a number of ethnic backgrounds in the region – Angles, Britons, Danes, Gaels, Flemings, and Normans. The Scots of this region regained prestige when the Scottish government became centralized in Edinburgh, and this dialect became the general Scots standard for written records. The poet William Dunbar was native of East Lothian. The Scots of this region was associated with the Scottish royal court, so there are several writers associated with this dialect, as Dunbar. Many modern and contemporary national writers who use Scots in their works – such as Allan Ramsay, Robert Fergusson, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson – have actually made Edinburgh their home. Indeed, this area’s most famous city is Edinburgh (Embra or Edinurrae); with the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament in
1999, this city has become a significant national political centre once again. 11
West Central: This dialect covers the West Central Scots area. In Glasgow a different dialect is spoken, called The Patter. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the language of this region began to split sharply between city and non-city: the Scots began to be associated with poverty and lack of sophistication, encouraged by English media. Also, there was large scale influence from Highland and Irish migrants on a dialect that had no standard. This resulted in the erosion of the Scots in Glasgow in favour of English forms, and the emergence of a city dialect combining Scots, English and Gaelic (Highland and Irish). Therefore, the Glasgow city region has lost much of its Scots, but has coined many new words absorbed from outside the region. Some characteristics are, in fact:
Glasgow has introduced “The Buroo” (unemployment office) and “Mentions” (graffiti).
In Ayr and Lanark people use traditional Scots as “awa” (away), “braw” (fine), “ken” (know), “nicht” (night), “muckle” (great, much)
In the Glasgow region people say sentences such as “Gaunae no dae it” rather than “Daena dae it” (do not do it) heard in other parts of the dialect.
Canna and daena are here pronounced as “can-ny” and “din-ny” as opposed to “can-ah” and “din-ah” of east and north Scotland
It is common to cut forms as “gae aff” (get off), “gae up” (get up), and “gae ott” (get out) to “g’aff”, “g’up”, and “g’oot”, as well for “watter” and “butter” that become “wa’er” and “bu’er”.
11
“East Central South”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”,
Throughout the whole region people say “wean” (child, from ‘wee ane’ or little one) rather than “bairn” and “wee wean” (baby) This region was the home of the Britons who spoke a language similar to Welsh, and Anglo-Saxon. The introduction of Gaelic began its retreat soon, after the kings of Scots adopted Norman customs, in the 12th century. In this period Glasgow became an important centre, and by the 18th century it began to increase size, due to trade with the Americas, and had become an industrial centre of Scotland, gradually absorbing the smaller surrounding burghs. This dialect covers the region of the city of Glasgow, the districts more south and an outlying group of speech in Argyll.12
South Central: It is closely related to the other dialects of Central area, and among its speakers it is known as Scots, Scotch, or Gallowa in Galloway. This dialect is influenced by many others, coming in from further north, from West Central, and, in Wigtonshire, there has also been some influence from Irish migrants, principally around Stranraer and Wigtown.
People
traditionally
say “blaa” and “craa” instead
of “blaw”
and “craw” (blow and crow)
Through most of the region dialect speakers use pronunciations such as “gyid” (good), “min” (moon), shin (shoes).
Some pronunciations are common in the dialect contracted speech: “I’e’” (in the), “o’e’” (on the), as for example “I’e’ mornin”. The dialect covers Nithsdale, South Ayrshire, Stewartry and Wigtown. Robert Burns, the most famous of the poets in Scots, was born in this dialect region. 13 12
“West Central”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”, < http://www.scotslanguage.com/Central/West_Central__uid667>
SOUTHERN (AKA BORDERS) Southern: It is a main dialect and a sub dialect at the same time. It is called Scots or Scotch, and since it covers the greater part of the Borders, it is commonly known as Borders Scots. Southern Scots has been called the “Yow and Mey dialect” because of the peculiarity of the vowel sounds. In fact its speech is different from the rest of Scotland:
Words ending in the usual sounds –oo and –ee become -ow and – ey-.
Most people in Scots would say “you”, but a Borders speaker would say “yow”
Speakers of Borders say “now” and “down “rather than “noo” and “doun”
The sounds –ai (as in baith, braidor claes) become –eea (as in beeath, breeador cleeaz),
There are a number of Romany words, such as barry (good), or gadgie (man) which were adopted into the dialect This region started from being part of the kingdom of Northumbria, it was then conquered by the Danes in the 9 th century, and it finally settled the frontier with England in 1237. This dialect covers the greater part of the Scottish Borders. The Borders dialect has a long tradition of poetry and song giving rise to the great Border Ballads in Scots, and it can count among its writers the famous Sir Walter Scott.
13
“South Central”, in “Scots Language Centre Centre for the Scots Leid”, < http://www.scotslanguage.com/Central/West_Central__uid667>
1.1.2. Scots alphabet
The “yogh”, the last letter, still appears in Scots personal and place names, though is usually written Z z. In this way, some names have a spelling-based pronunciation, as “Menzies” [mɛnziz] should be [mɪŋʌs], Dalziel [dɪjəɫ] and Monzie [mɔne]
Scots is written and spoken in many ways, there is no standard spelling.14
1.1.3. Scots pronunciation
14
“Scots”, in “Omniglot, the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages”,
“t” can become a glottal stop [ʔ] between vowels or words
In northern dialects “kn” can be pronounced [kn] or [tn] and gn as[gn]
“wh” is pronounced [ʍ], or [xʍ] by older speakers. In northern dialects, such as in Aberdeen, it can be pronounced [f]
“w”r can be pronounced [vr] in northern dialects15
A Sample of a text in Scots Aw human sowels is born free and equal in dignity and richts. They are tochered wi mense and conscience and shuld guide theirsels ane til ither in a speirit o britherheid (Airticle 1 o the Universal Declaration o Human Richts)
Translation All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards
one
another
in
a
spirit
of
brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
1.2 COCKNEY Diatopic variation in Trainspotting can be observed also on occasion of the character’s trip to London, when they talk to a bartender who speaks with a strong Cockney accent. This scene is only present in the novel. Cockney is a very famous British accent, and it originated in the East End of London. The word cockney has a complicated etymology.
15
“Scots”, in “Omniglot, the online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages”, http://www.omniglot.com/writing/scots.htm
In 1362 it was used to refer to a “cock’s egg”, that is, a defective one. The first alternative use was recorded in Chaucer, then defined in the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, as “a mother’s darling”; a cockered child, pet, minion; “a child tenderly brought up”; hence, a squeamish or effeminate fellow, “a milksop”.16 In 1600 the meaning has spread; the reference is not longer just to the working-class Londoner, but to a Bow-bell Cockney. Therefore, a Cockney is “one who has been born within the sound of Bow bells, a reference (..) to the church of Saint Mary le Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London.” 17 In 2000 that area was extended to how far the Bow Bells could be heard, but nowadays, given the post-war emigration of many Cockneys to Essex, that area is now considered larger. Moreover, the original Cockneys were not just those belonging to the working class; in the past all individuals used to speak the London dialect.
Its characteristics are:
Raised vowel in words like trap and cat so these sounds like “trep” and “cet.”
Non-rhoticity
London vowel shift: The vowel sounds are shifted around so that Cockney “day” sounds close to American “die”, and Cockney “buy” sounds like “boy”.
Glottal Stopping: the letter t is pronounced with the back of the throat (glottis) in between vowels; “better” becomes “be’uh”.
L-vocalization: The “l” at the end of words often becomes a vowel sound. “Pal” sounds like “pow”.
16
OED, Oxford English Dictionary, 17 Ibidem
Th-Fronting: The “th” in words like “think” or “this” is pronounced with a more forward consonant depending on the word: “thing” becomes “fing,” “this” becomes “dis,” and “mother” becomes “muhvah.” 18 During the 19th century there have been many efforts to record Cockney as it was spoken. The episodes of “Life in London”, by Pierce Egan, develop into the East End and are narrated in this speech. Charles Dickens, London’s chronicler, has a particular talent on writing down the sound of Cockney speech, picking on phenomenon as the substitution of ‘v’ for ‘w’ and vice versa.
1.3 DIASTRATIC VARIATION The diastratic variation refers to the linguistic variation across social groups. It helps to contextualize characters in a social environment and as belonging to a group. It can be rendered with slang, non-standard variations, and obscene, vulgar or taboo language. With these elements the character gains more credibility and the speech is more similar to the spontaneous one.
1.3.1 Slang Slang defines the language spoken in different social groups according to age, sex, profession, etc. Slang words are non-standard and typified for a particular group of people, often recognizable by few. It has the distinctive trait to outline social space, construct group identity and therefore identify individuals as members of a group.
18
“Dialect Blog”,
The definition of slang is still not very clear for linguistics. Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter try to trace its outline giving the criteria needed for an expression to be considered slang19:
it lowers "the dignity of formal or serious speech or writing"20;
the user or group of users must be familiar with whatever is referred to
"It's a taboo term in ordinary discourse with people of a higher social status"21
It replaces a conventional synonym to avoid discomfort caused by the use of the conventional one .
Slang must be distanced from colloquial and jargon because it implies specific social contexts. Colloquial terms tend to be considered acceptable in speech in a wide range of contexts, while slang on the contrary tends to be considered inappropriate in many contexts. Both jargon and slang can be used to exclude non-group members, but the intention of jargon is to improve conversation with terms that imply technical understanding. Slang has the opposite aim, it tends to emphasize social and contextual understanding to create a division between groups. Most mportantly, colloquialism and jargon do not represent an effort to replace standard language.
This type of speech, being associated with a particular group, plays a role in constructing individualities, and it is often tied to 19
B. K. Dumas and J. Lighter , “American Speech”, Duke University Press, 1978, pp. 5-17.
20
Ibidem.
21
E. Partridge, “A dictionary of slang and unconventional English : colloquialisms and catch phrases, fossilised jokes and puns, general nicknames, vulgarisms and such Americanisms as have been naturalized”, London, Routledge, 2002.
subcultures. Slang defines a group that often does not want to be understood by others, and creates a sense of community. Limits among the different slangs of the various social groups are very flexible, some expressions can be part of the language of several groups. Nonetheless, not all social groups are equally productive ; slang acts a cohesive and identification element within the group, and so the stronger the sense of identity, the more productive the variety of speech.22
Slang, being informal and restricted to special contexts, can be offensive, vulgar or even taboo. The author of Trainspotting and the director of the film use slang also when taboo, so this detail will be analysed with more depth.
Offensive slang is not particularly offensive in general, but some specific words or expressions could be perceived as such by the person they are related to. Vulgar slang words, on the other hand, are more direct and always considered offensive, not depending on the person who is listening. Taboo words are the most shocking in the language and are usually avoided.
22
I. Parini,” Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, p.61
1.3.2. Taboo Language Obscene language is a constant in most cultures and it has some general features not depending on the languages and cultures they belong to. 23 Radtke24 thoroughly explains the origin of linguistics taboo in a society. Every culture has its own taboos,
“realities that are
somehow refused by the members of that society”.25 The process of linguistic tabooization originates from the refusal to name tabooed facts and circumstances. Be that as it may, there still is the necessity to name something which is unnamable, satisfied by the use of two linguistic phenomena, euphemism and dysphemism. Euphemism is a mild or indirect word or expression to attenuate the tabooed ones, making a given reality pronounceable and diminishing its forbiddance. The opposite phenomenon is dysphemism. This phenomenon tends to replace the “normal” part, which does not obey principles of decency, but “is inclined towards a worsening which makes the original idea more pejorative, more obscene, more vulgar”. 26 This process of dysphemization of tabooed standard language originates obscene language. For example, the verb “die” in English is the base lexeme of a tabooed sphere; the expression “to pass away” is one of many 23
I. Parini,” Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, p.141. 24
E. Radtke “Eufemismo e Norma Sociale”, Società Linguistica Italiana, No. 21, 1983, pp. 297-395 .
25
I. Parini,” Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, p.143. 26
Ibidem.
euphemisms, and “to drop dead” or “to snuff it” are the corresponding dysphemisms. Taboo language usually occurs in oral production for a simple reason: written language is permanent, oral language is ephemeral. In language, “taboo is associated with things that are not said, and in particular with words and expressions which are not used”27. Therefore, words are more powerful when written down, and so used more cautiously. Words like “cunt” and “fuck” not so long ago could lead to prosecution, and still today they are not widely used in newspaper. This changes in written works as comics or novels, in fact they usually tend to reproduce spoken language, or belong to genres which deal with tabooed spheres, as in the case of Trainspotting. It is interesting to investigate the diastratic and diaphasic dimensions. This particular language is in fact related to social factors and contesxtual variables. Concerning the diastratic variable, studies conducted by Radtke 28
show that “vulgar language prevails in the production of low
level social classes”. He goes on saying that this derives from the antithetic attitude towards social norms typical of low social classes. This is obviously reflected In their linguistic production. This argument is questioned by Singleton29, as he observes that “oaths, curses, profanities and obscenities have also been a royal and aristocratic prerogative” As for the diaphasic variable, it is proven that situational context plays a fundamental role in the choice to use taboo expressions. In fact the obscene language is more common in very informal social 27
P. Trudgill, “Sociolinguistics.”, London, Penguin Books, 2000, p. 18.
28
E. Radtke “Eufemismo e Norma Sociale”, Società Linguistica Italiana, No. 21, 1983, p. 391.
29
D. Singleton, “Unspeakable Words: the Taboo Fringe of the Lexicon”, in Dynel “Advances in Dicsourse Approaches”, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars publishing, pp. 135-6.
contexts, while in formal situations people tend to use euphemisms rather than dysphemisms. Taboo language has a series of recurrent peculiarities that transcend cultural differences, but it does not mean that taboo languages are similar in all cultures. This type of speech is conceived as a tool to overcome a limit imposed by social conventions and break a taboo. Taboos are different for every culture because they depend on that and the social sphere, so the language used to overcome these realities is different. Studies on the topic have shown that in Western cultures there is a certain correspondence in the areas tabooed by social conventions, and these areas cover sex, religion, excretion, body parts, people’s intellectual abilities and death. 30 Taboo language, slang and non-standard forms characterize many contemporary products, from films to novels. It is due to the fact that in contemporary written works there is the tendency to represent spontaneous spoken language, and such elements contribute to characterizing the language variety. The use of these three devices contribute to construct the speaker’s or the character’s personality. Taboo language is in fact employed to break social codes; this is why Trainspotting is a perfect examples. Trainspotting breaks most of the social codes recognized in Western culture; it uses taboo language for sex, drugs, death, sickness (AIDS), elderly people, violence. The characters belong to low social class and to drug addicts group, thus the language is legitimized.
30
I. Parini,” Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, p.144.
Chapter 2. TRAINSPOTTING 2.1 NOVEL Trainspotting is the first and most famous novel by Irvine Welsh. The novel, released in 1993 is a collection of short stories about a group of friends with different types of addiction. The stories are set mainly in Leith, Edinburgh, save for few chapters that move the scene to London. Its peculiarities lie in the themes that are presented and in the language used. In fact it narrates the stories of a group of friends who are wasting their life with heroin, and it is narrated in Scots, dialect, British English, using many slang terms and taboo expressions, therefore the language is extremely connoted both diatopically and diastratically. As already mentioned, the novel is made up of short stories, which are presented in seven distinct sections:
Kicking
Relapsing
Kicking Again
Blowing It
Exile
Home
Exit
In each section there are multiple chapters with a different focus and narrator. The most frequent narrator is Mark Renton, the main protagonist. Since each chapter changes focus, the type of narration changes with it; changes type of narration; they are all written in a stream of consciousness way, but the language changes with the characters. The chapters narrated by Davies are written in Scottish English, those narrated by Renton in Scots, and the other chapters are written from a third-person omniscient point of view in Standard English.
The narration involves users, pushers, hooligans and desperate parents. The main core is a group of five addicts: Mark Renton, Sick Boy, Spud, Begbie and Tommy. The novel focuses on Mark Renton, a heroin addict who tries many times to detoxify. Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson is a charming character. He himself has stopped using heroin many times, and at the end of the novel he ends up being a pimp. He has an illegitimate daughter, Dawn, who dies a crib death in an horrifying scene. Spud is the innocent friend, made almost simple by the drug abuse, he is sweet and caring. Other friends do not belong to the addicts group but have different types of fixations. Tommy is sex-obsessed, and once he is dumped by his girlfriend will start using drugs and end up dying of HIV. Begbie is an alcoholic sociopath, violent in words and actions, who will have a baby girl from his girlfriend, but is rarely around. Davie is a service-worker who narrates few interesting chapters about the HIV problem.. There are few female characters, all of whom are associated to male ones. Alison, the mother of Sick Boy’s baby is barely mentioned. Nina, Rent’s cousin, appears only in two chapters. The most important female characters, indeed, are Kelly and Diane. Kelly is a strong character, she has casual sex with Renton and displays firm feminist attitudes and weak vulnerabilities. She narrates a chapter near the end of the novel about her pranks to chauvinist customers. Diane is a 14 years old who meets Renton in a club and with whom he has intercourse. She is a strong teenager who convinces Rent she is of age, and manages to entertain a relation with him. In the end all female characters are defined in relation to male characters. Rent then relapses and overdoses, thus is forced by his parents to quit once and for all. After a while his brother Billy is killed by an IRA bomb in Ulster. This episode is important to situate the story in history, and
creates the excuse for Rent to leave Scotland for London. Another interesting section, is the one where Davie contracts HIV and elaborates a plan to take revenge on the man who is responsible. This gives space to the HIV problem that in Scotland was bigger than anywhere else. This topic is deepened in the chapter where Matty, an addict friend of Renton’s, dies. The novel ends with Begbie arranging a heroin deal in London, earning 16.000 pounds with the help of Renton, Spud and Sick Boy. Renton steals the cash and flees to Amsterdam.
2.2 FILM The 1990s have been a crucial time for British films. After a period of crisis, the British film industry was finally gaining prestige thanks to few cult movies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Trainspotting. Trainspotting is a 1996 dark comedy drama film inspired by the homonymous novel by Irvine Welsh. The screenplay was adapted by John Hedge, producer Andrew Macdonald and director Danny Boyle, managing to preserve the peculiar language of the novel. This novel’s sections are not respected in the film; in fact, many episodes are presented in a different order and the story is recreated following a chronological order opposite to the novel that follows a non-linear narration.
This Edinburgh based group of heroin addicts is composed by Mark Renton, Daniel “Spud” Murphy, Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson. The group extends to non-heroin addicts Tommy MacKenzie, an athlete who uses the occasional soft drug, and Francis “Franco” Begbie. Many characters of the novel, such as Matty and Davie, are not mentioned.
The film starts with a monologue that has become cult, narrated in voice-over by Mark as he is seen running from store security guards. This monologue introduces the subculture depicted in the film and immediately sets the mood of the film:
“Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. (…) Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?”
This monologue is presented in voiceover, while Spud and Rent are running. They have just stolen books and are followed by the guards of the store. This section is present in the novel but in a different way: they are arrested and processed. Renton Renton succeeds in defending himself and is sent to methadone treatment, while Spud is sentenced to jail. This scene is particularly interesting and will be analysed in the characters’ section.
Renton then decides to give up heroin and in order to do it he buys opium. He locks himself into a hotel room to get over his withdrawal. Managing to do so, he later goes with his friends to a club since his sex drive has returned (it was gone during his abuse period, due to heroin), and leaves with Diane. The morning after he realizes that she is a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with her parents. She is one of the few female characters of the film, who are so neglected that they do not even have a last name. Tommy, after being left by his girlfriend for Rent’s fault, starts using heroin. One of the most powerful and truly horrifying scenes of
the film is when Lesley, a heroin-addict girl, irrupts into the room screaming and shouting. Their friends run to the next room to see that her daughter, “wee Dawn”, has died from neglect, and is probably been dead for days without anyone noticing. The group is horrified, especially Sick Boy who is probably the father. At this moment of pain, Rent’s solution is to cook heroin. Rent enters a Drug Interventions Programme after he is caught with Spud stealing from a bookshop. Spud does not succeed in defending himself and ends un in prison. This scene is interesting from a linguistic point of view, it will be reported in the section dedicated to the characters. During his recovering period he is not satisfied with methadone and escapes to his drug dealer’s flat, where he nearly dies of overdose. He is then taken home by his parents, who lock him in his bedroom forcing him through withdrawal without any methadone. He has several symptoms and hallucinates vivid images of Diane, his friends and Dawn crawling on the ceiling. After this period of heavy symptoms and pain, his parents take him to get tested for HIV, and despite everything, he tests negative. Unfortunately, his friend Tommy, who is now succumbed to addiction and very ill, is HIV- positive and lives in terrible conditions, abandoned and isolated. Rent, who is now clean, moves to London to start a job as a letting agent. He enjoys his normal life and saves up money. This lifestyle is disturbed by Begbie, who has committed armed robbery and is now hiding at Rent’s place, and Sick Boy, who is now a pimp and drug dealer. While they are in London, Tommy dies from toxoplasmosis due to HIV, and they travel back to Scotland for his funeral. During this time Sick Boy, Renton, Spud and Begbie meet, and he says he has several packages of heroin to sell. So the four decide to go to London and sell the heroin to a dealer for £16,000.
While they are sleeping in the hotel room, after celebrating the transaction at a pub, Rent decides to take the money and abandon them. Spud sees him leave but does not tell anyone. When Begbie wakes up he destroys the hotel room and the police arrive as Spud and Sick Boy leave. Rent goes on to try to live his stable traditional life, and leaves Spud £2,000. The final compensation to Spud is not mentioned in the novel, but in its sequel, “Porno”.
Trainspotting is the reflection of British youth subculture and implicates a large number of issues as the critique to consumerism, Thatcherism (parodied in the first monologue), and class struggles and gender identities. This subculture is reflected in drugs,
music,
language,
and
the
consequent
sense
of
powerlessness that pervades both novel and film. This feature came out in the form of “edgy characters, dialect, heightened surrealistic sound, sharp visuals, speedy narrative, incorporating elements of popular culture and the soundtrack of the film”. 31
2.3. USE OF LANGUAGE In the case of Trainspotting the protagonists belong to a group of heroin addicts, and the language variety they use is typically spoken by the people belonging to this social group. Irvine Welsh has chosen to use many devices to convey their speech: slang, dialect, phonetic representation of pronunciation, and narration both in dialect and in standard English. These choices are maintained in the film. He has followed the style of James Kelman, a writer and winner of the Booker Prize who wrote the language as it is spoken. 31
Rahman O., “The 90’s Drug of Cinematic Change –Trainspotting and the Concept of National Cinema in Britain” in , Academia.edu.
2.3.1. Diatopic Variation Irvine Welsh has chosen to use the East Central South dialect, in particular Leith’s, where he is from32, even if the story takes place in Edinburgh. Leith slang words are mainly derived from Scots dialect, though not many have Celtic/Gaelic etymological roots. As referred to in the first chapter, many Scots words derive from the Romani, in particular in Northumbria, but the slang has spread to all of Scotland. Some words as “Gadge” (woman), “Chavvy” (boy), “Peeve” (drink) are often used in Trainspotting 33.
Leith slang words are mostly spoken and very rarely written, save for Trainspotting. Due to this, spelling is not fixated, and words vary meaning with time and generations.34 As for the adjective “tidy”, when used in Trainspotting it means that the man that it is referred to is a strong fighter, but in a younger generation it means “attractive, handsome or beautiful”, for a man or a woman, or “good”, “useful”, “convenient”. Many Letih slang words have the tendency to add “ey” at the end of names as particular of the region. For example, “Leith Academy” becomes “Leithy”. Some words have followed this pattern and the use has become normal, as in “wifey”, which means woman with or without the “-ey” ending. 35 Heroin addicts slang is pervaded with curse words and terms to name and describe drugs.
33
I .Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996.
34
L. Mountford, “Yer Spraffin' Mince! The Leith Slang Dictionary Online”, in: , University of Leicester, 2005. 35
L. Mountford, “Yer Spraffin' Mince! The Leith Slang Dictionary Online”, in: , University of Leicester, 2005.
This feature signifies a stress on cultural heritage, important in a period when Margaret Thatcher supported one-nationalism, base on political and often violent display of nationalism. Encouraged by this politic, the English nationalism took a radical turn after the years of Thatcherism, thus the form of nationalistic empowerment captured in films in general and in Trainspotting.
2.3.2. Diastratic Variation Moreover, he uses taboo language thoroughly, and the film maintains this use. It is vital to convey the social discomfort of this group: their being out of society is reflected in their speech in every possible way. This use of the language is the perfect way to convey honesty and reality. The representation of the speech as uttered by the characters is fundamental to create involvement and to be plunged in a subculture. Violence, pains and the drug subculture are more vivid by virtue of these linguistic expedients.
it is important to report few lines from the novel, as it is the author’s idea to reflect the language in this peculiar way, and it shows the phonetic transcription.
For example: “The sweat was lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. (…) Ah wanted the radge tae jist fuck off ootay ma visage, tae go oan his ain, n jist leave us."36
From this first sentence, the author’s usage of vernacular and phonetic transposition of pronunciation renders the atmosphere and sets the novel in a particular social group and place.
36
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg. 3.
If translated into Standard English, the diatopic connotation is lost, while the diastratic still can be perceived thanks to the insertion of curse words, exclamation words and use of “us” instead of “me”, which are typical of Renton’s way of speaking.
“The sweat was trickling over Sick Boy; he was trembling. (…) Oh, I say. I wanted the mad man to just fuck off out of my face, to go on his own and just leave us.”37
This writing can be complicated and confusing at times, but it can be helpful to read it out loud and hear that only the pronunciation has changed:
“Naw but, listen the now. (…) Feed thum, gie the cunts cheap bevvy in scabby camp clubs tae keep thum fae gaun intae toon (...). Whin they git intae civvy street, thuv goat tae dae it aw fir thumsells. -Yeah, but likesay, it's different though, cause. Spud tries to cut in, but Renton is in full flight. A bottle in the face is the only thing that could shut him up at this point; even then only for a few seconds”.38
This is a dialogue between Renton and Spud, and it provides a panoramic of the devices used by the author: the syntax is typical of the Leith dialect, some words such as “bevvy” and “scabby” are slang terms, most of the words are just phonetic representation of pronunciation such as “toon” (town), “thuv” (they have”), “thumsells” (themselves), and finally the variety used by the third person narrator is not connoted from a diatopic point of view.
37 38
Dictionary of the Scots Language, Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd., 2004 I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p. 45.
All the main characters are from Edinburgh and speak dialect. Some accents are more complicated and connoted than others. The next paragraph will provide an overview on the characters’ way of speaking.
Each of them have their own peculiar way of speaking, but all of them change when under the influence of drugs or in withdrawal. In these cases the Scottish accent and vernacular become prominent. The language demonstrates the physical and mental states of the characters, and its efficiency lies in this realness..39
2.4. CHARACTERS The characters here analyzed are the ones whose variety turns out to be particularly connoted both diatopically and diastratically and therefore is particularly interesting fro the purposes of the analysis.
Davie Mitchell: he appears only in the novel and has not been represented at all in the film. He is the most “normal” of the group, he has a University degree, a decent job and a straight life unlike the others. He contracts HIV not using, but having sex with a girl that has contracted it from a heroin addict, changing his life. This episode is narrated in the chapter “Bad Blood”, in the “Exile” section. In this chapter the narration is alternated to Davie’s stream of consciousness, in italic.
“Alas, poor Alan, I knew him Nurse. He was a wanker, an infinite pest. I watched, stifling smirks, as he groped for breath. 39
S. Mankoff, Wankers, Burds, and Skag: Heteroglossia in Trainspotting, < http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/literature/wankers-burds-and-skagheteroglossia-in-trainspotting.html> Empty Mirror, 2013.
-S awright mate. Ah’m here, I said. (…) -It was a fuckin pity awright you trash-faced little cunt.. I hissed at his closed eyes.” 40
Here he uses Scottish English with obscene language, using expressions such as “trash-faced”, and “cunt”, but throughout
the chapter his
speech is maintained standard without any particular expressions.
Mark Renton: Renton, often called Rent, is the protagonist of the film and main narrator of the novel. He is the antihero, the voice of “reason” among his friends. He has a cynical eye on the events that he narrates, he is the most balanced character, he is neither as violent as Begbie or as cynical as Sick Boy, but neither as thoughtful and caring as Spud. He is misanthropic and depressed, his drug abuse derives solely from the boredom of life. The chapters narrated by Renton are written with dialect terms spelled phonetically, which conveys the character's accent and use of Scots.
All the other characters present more or less the same background: raised in a poor city, did not develop many interests, and bored by life chose to use drugs. Nevertheless Rent has a peculiarity that affects his speech: he has attended Aberdeen University, where he studied history. This gives him the ability to withdraw from dialect.41 For example, both in the novel and the film, when on trial for shop-lifting, he manages to speak properly and justify the book theft for reading, so not to be incarcerated:
40 I
41
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.247
J. Mullan, “So to Speak, John Mullan on the diverse uses of dialect in Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting”, < http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/31/irvinewelsh>.
“- So you read Kierkegaard. Tell us about him, Mr. Renton, the patronizing cunt sais. - I’m interested in his concepts of subjectivity and truth, and particularly his ideas concerning choice; the notion that genuine is made out of doubt and uncertainty, and without recourse t othe experience or advice of others. (..) But I’m rabbiting a bit here. Ah cut myself short. (…) Yiv goat tae huv fuckin brains tae be a fuckin judge. S no iviry cunt thit kin dae that fuckin joab.”42
From this passage it is clear how Rent can manipulate language, switching from proper English, even cultivated, to Scots dialect and slang. This episode highlights the differences between his speech and Spud’s; it will be shown in the section to him consecrated. When compared with a speech from when he is in withdrawal, the contrast becomes clearer. This segment presents a significant number of occurrences of curse words, slang and a strong accent.
“Ah’ve been oan the peeve fir a couple ay days, mate. Ah’m gaun fuckin radge wi the runs here. Ah need tae shite. It looks fuckin awfay in their, but it’s either that or ma fuckin keks.”43
On another occasion, specifically while he is on a train going to London, Rents switches into received pronunciation. As he is speaking to two students, he addresses them in Standard English:
"I can only suggest that you pursue your complaint with a member of the British Rail staff (…). My friend and I took these seats in good faith.” 44
42
43
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.165 – 166 Ivi, p.25.
As he goes back to talk to Begbie his speech changes direction:
"The lager's loupin. Seems tae huv gone dead flat, ken. Tastes like fuckin pish." 45
Since he does not seem to make any effort to change register, we are persuaded that Rent, despite being a drug addict, sees himself through his speech as a cultivated and intelligent person. In this way the reader accepts him as the most reliable of all narrators in the novel46 These features are preserved in the film.
Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson: Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson –Sick Boy, called so “no because he’ eywis sick wi junk withdrawal, but because he’s just one sick cunt.”47, is a particularly snobbish character: he despises tourists and students visiting the Edinburgh festival, and is fond of films, in particular Sean Connery’s James Bond. He is the most charming and the most promiscuous character, famous for picking up women with ease. By the end of the novel and the film he becomes a pimp for young girls and a drug dealer. He is a borderline villain, who becomes more immoral after his daughter’s death.
He uses a rich speech, pervaded of quotes and slang curse words. He
manifests
his
superiority
complex
with
self-involved
conversations and many monologues with himself. 44
45
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.117 Ibidem.
46
S. Mankoff, “Wankers, Burds, and Skag: Heteroglossia in Trainspotting”, < http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/literature/wankers-burds-and-skagheteroglossia-in-trainspotting.html> Empty Mirror, 2013. 47
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.3.
“Doubtless a collection of zit-encrusted, squeaky-voiced wankers playing oot a miserable pretension tae the arts before graduating to work in the power stations which give local children leukemia or investment consultancies (…). Fucking toss bags, don’t you agree, Sean, ma auld fellow former milk-driving mucker? Yesh Shimon, I shink you may have a strong point their. Auld Sean and I have so many parallels.”48
In this monologue which reports his thoughts he is judging a group of students visiting the Edinburgh Festival, feeling superior. As he goes on insulting them (in his head), he pretends to talk to Sean Connery, and even thinks of the answer he would give him. His language here does not present a particular accent or slang curse words, not as in the other characters. Nevertheless, his discourse changes as he changes state: in withdrawal the speech is more confused, the accent is stronger and curse words multiply.
“Ah’ll gie ye the money tae git it back oot. Is that aw yir sae fuckin moosey-faced aboot? Fifty measley fuckin pence ootay Ritz!”49
Francis Begbie: “Begbie didn't do drugs either, he just did people.”50
Begbie is a violent psychopath. He does not take drugs, his drug is senseless brutality. This inclination for violence is demonstrated on many occasions, and his personality is inferred by its speech. He finds pleasure in assaulting and brutalise anyone who angers
48
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.29
49
Ivi, p.4.
50
“Trainspotting”, Dir. Danny Boyle, Channel Four Films, 1996.
him, even his friends. He has a profound despise for drugs but is an avid consumer of alcohol and amphetamine. The most famous scene involving Begbie, a cult one, is the one where he tosses a glass from mezzanine balcony for no apparent reason and then starts a fight. In the film he had just finished explaining how he lost a game of pool (blaming a stranger), when he decided to create this brawl. The brutality is perfectly conveyed in this film scene, with the passage from a violent story to physical violence.
“ (…)Then this hard cunt comes in. Obviously fuckin fancied himself. Starts staring at me. Lookin at me, right fucking at me as if to say, 'Come ahead, square go.' Well, you ken me, I'm not the type of cunt that goes looking for fuckin trouble but at the end of the day I'm the cunt with the pool cue and I'm game for a swedge. So I squared up, casual like. So what does the hard cunt do, or so-called hard cunt? Shites it.”51
His speech contains a number of curse words which equals to the double of that used by the other characters, and is defined by exclamations and a strong accent. The violence is instilled by the briefness of his sentences and the repeated curse words and obscene language. His discourse does not change when he is under the influence (of alcohol), seen that it is not mainly characterized by drunkenness, but violence. After he throws the glass Begbie goes downstairs and says, in the novel:
“BOY’S BEEN FUCKIN GLESSED! NAE CUNT LEAVES HERE UNTIL AH FIND OOT WHAE FLUNG THAT FUCKIN GLESS!”52
51
52
“Trainspotting”, Dir. Danny Boyle, Channel Four Films, 1996. I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pp. 80.
And in the film:
“All right. Nobody move. The girl got glassed and no cunt leaves here
until we find out which cunt did it!”
The language used is very similar, mostly made of obscene and vulgar terms, and in Scots dialect. In the film it is a girl, “lassie”, who has been glassed.
Daniel “Spud” Murphy: Spud is the most innocent and naïve character. He has a gentle nature and he is often mocked for it. His affection and thoughtfulness are expressed by a sweet nickname by which he calls his friends: “cats”, a feature that does not appear in the film. He narrates several chapters and is a main character both in the film and the novel. His variety is the hardest to decipher without a glossary, but he is also the most effectively portrayed character. He gives a simple vision and often more human and childlike.53 One of his most famous and emblematic speeches is the one he gives during the process. In this scene Spud cannot switch codes like Rent. Even when he is in front of the judge, having to defend himself, he barely speaks and still uses dialect and a strong accent.
“-And you, Mr Murphy, you intended to sell the books (..)? -That’s spot on man… eh… ye goat it, likesay, Spud nodded, his thoughtful expression sliding into confusion.”54
53
S. Mankoff, “Wankers, Burds, and Skag: Heteroglossia in Trainspotting”, < http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/literature/wankers-burds-and-skagheteroglossia-in-trainspotting.html>, Empty Mirror, 2013. 54
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.166.
Another symbolical (and funny) scene is the one of the job interview. Spud has to present himself at an interview, but he panics and decides to use speed beforehand, resulting in a messy dialogue. This speech is present both in the novel and the film.
“Whoah. Likesay, gunnae huv tae stoap ye thair, catboy. The O grades wis bullshit, ken? Though ah’d use that tae git ma fit in the door. Showin initiative, likesay. Ken? Ah really want this job, man. (…) Hey… whatever you say man. You’re the man, the governor, the dude in the chair, so tae speak, likesay. (…)”
“-Ah need the hireys man. -Pardon? The what? -The poppy, likesay, eh… the bread, the dosh n that. Ken?”55
Spud’s way of speaking is the least educated one. He uses many expressions like “likesay” “man” “ken?”, all derived from dialect and slang. His accent is always quite thick, not depending on his drug abuse directly: it shows how he has lost the ability to reason and make a clear speech in standard English in relation to drug abuse. In this example he is under the influence of speed, and his speech is fast and full of unfinished sentences. It is so specific that also the interviewer does not understand a few words, like “the hireys” (money).
55
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pp.66-67.
Chapter 3. TRANSLATION As described by the “Oxford Companion of the English Language”, Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. 56 It is a science that mixes interpreting and writing. The translator has the job to convey the meaning intended by the original writer. Translating a language is difficult, and it is even more to translate ideas or concepts that not always find equivalents in the language of translation. This practice presents many risks, I will list some and their solution.
3.1. LITERARY TRANSLATION Translation of literary works is considered more a literary task than a linguistic one. Translation is an ancient practice and doctrine. It started with the ancient Greeks, who were the firsts to distinguish between metaphrase (literal translation) and paraphrase . This division was adopted by the English poet and translator John Dryden, (1631– 1700), who was the first to see translation as the blending of these two modes when selecting, in the target language, equivalents for the expressions used in the source text. 57
Dryden warned against the concept of imitation. From his point of view, equivalence has to be the key to translation, considering this as adequate as Cicero and Horace’s opinion, who cautioned against translating “word for word”.58
56
“The Oxford Companion to the English Language”, Namit Bhatia, ed., 1992, pp. 1,051–54.
57
Gilman, E. Ward ,"A Brief History of English Usage", Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Springfield, Merriam-Webster, 1998, pp. 7a-11a, 58
Ibidem
The actual practice of translation has hardly changed since those times. Translators still seek equivalents, literal when possible, and paraphrastic where necessary, for the original meaning and style. Translators manage to preserve the context by reproducing the original word order, reinterpreting the grammatical structure if needed, regardless of differences between “fixed-word-order” languages (e.g. English, French, German), and "free-word-order" languages (e.g., Greek, Latin, Polish, Russian).59 The main change lies in the syntax, which is adjusted to the requirements of the target language. Translation demands that the translator must be fluent in both source and target languages and familiar with the topic translated. In fact no dictionary or thesaurus are fully adequate, one must practice reading and listening to the spoken language to entirely know the language and thus be able to translate it. The first successful European translator toward his language, has been Martin Luther, who translated the Bible into German.
60
Literary translation presents many problems. One of the many risks of translation is the inappropriate use of source-language idioms and usage into the target-language translation. However, this risk has helped importing calques and loanwords to enrich target languages, helping shape languages. 61 Other problems are related to the diatopic and diastratic variations.
59
C. Kasparek, "The Translator's Endless Toil", in “The Polish Review” , vol. XXVIII, no. 2, 1983, pp. 84-87. 60
61
Ibidem. Ibidem.
Cultural translation can be applied to any type of written work with a diatopic variation, and the translation tries to emphasize the differences between source and target language and culture. Because of the problems presented by preservation of culture in translation, some critics have assumed that the idea of translation itself could be ethically doubtful, while others have seen the need to strengthen the relationship between the author or text and translator, making it an equal and reciprocal process. As a consequence of these critics the responsibility of the translator has increased, but there is still no clear definition of the concept of ethics in this field. 62
As a way to cope with the difficulty of the translastion of language varieties that are diatopically marked, the translator can draw methods from the wider field of Cultural Translation. This practice involves cultural differences and the translation’s aim is to represent another culture, solving problems linked to culture, such as dialects, food, or architecture. These studies are not only based on language issues, but also on cultural contexts, so it is a field of study both for an anthropologist and a linguist. The professional figure specialized in this field is an anthropological translator, and he/she has the task to respect the source cultural point of view and the target culture. The translation will never be perfect, the middle between the source and the target language does not exist, and in every translation there will be a deformation. Either the translator will stay too close to the original, at the cost of the language of his/her nation, or he/she will adhere too closely to the characteristics of
62
M. Inghilleri, C. Maier, "Ethics." In: “Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies”, New York & London: Routledge, 2001.
his/her
nation,
damaging
the
original.
Consequently,
in
translation, there is always deformation between two cultures63
A problem frequent with diatopical variety, is the presence of new words from slang or dialect. These terms do not usually have an equivalent in other languages, thus when these terms lack, translators borrow them, enriching the language. When encountering problems, translators have few strategies to use. Problem-solving is the most important function of the strategies. Before explaining the strategies, a brief list of problems will be needed. Translation problems can be divided into two main categories: lexical problems and syntactic problems. Lexical problems deal with the fact that a word in one language cannot be substituted with a word in another language when referring to the same concepts or objects. 64
Straight/ denotative meaning
This meaning refers to words of the source text that can be matched with those of the target text without any problem (e.g. mother, father, etc).
Lexical meaning
It refers to words or phrases which seem to be equivalent, but the translator must be aware of the intention beyond the words in order not to misrepresent the author's message.
Metaphorical expression
This subcategory refers to the problematic issues of translating idioms and similar expressions.
Semantic voids
63
M.Z. Haque, Md. "Translating Literary Prose: Problems and Solutions", International Journal of English Linguistics, Vol 2, No 6, 2012, p. 109. 64
S.A. Miremadi, “Theories of Translation and Interpretation”, SAMT, 1991.
This subcategory includes those words and/or expressions that represent concepts that cannot be found in other social groups.
Proper names
Although proper names refer to individuals and can be transcribed from one language into another, sometimes the specific meaning that they carry may be lost.
This is the case of “Sick Boy”. In the first page of the novel, Rent explains “They call um Sick Boy, no because he’s eywis sick wi junk 65
withdrawal, but because he’s just one sick cunt.”
In the translation, the name is preserved, but to the non-english speakers it loses its meaning. However, the same explaination is translated in Italian, but the reference is lost.
“Lo chiamano Sick Boy non perché sta sempre male per crisi da 66
astinenza, a perché è un coglione che ha la testa fuori posto. “
Another main category of translation problems is syntax. Syntactic problems are frequent, since there are no two languages with the exact structural organization. The differences include word classes, grammatical relations, word order, style, pragmatic aspects.
Different strategies are created to overcome these problems. These methods are based on the type of problem. 67
65
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.3
66
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, p. 9
67
D. Bergen, “ Translation strategies and the students of translation”, , pp. 109-125.
Syntactic strategies are solutions to change the grammatical structure of the target text in relation to the original one. Generally the translator tries to follow the source text as closely as possible. Otherwise changes can be made, with loans, transposition of a word class, paraphrases, change of the whole noun phrase or verb phrase structure, and even change of the whole sentence.
Semantic strategies has is own subcategories. These are schemes that the translator uses when not translating literally. Some terms may be substituted with synonyms, antonyms, or hyponyms and hypernym. Many changes are made with these strategies, not preserving the truthful original text. But the strategies that mostly intervene on the text changing it, are the pragmatic ones. These are used in Trainspotting for example to avoid obscene or taboo language, even if literary translation is more open to these variations than the audiovisual industry. Seen that the strategies are many and varied, only a few will be listed. Pragmatic strategies include:
Cultural filtering: This strategy is generally used with texts originating from a very different culture. It implies a domestication of the culture and language.
Explicititness change: Some information of the source text may be added or deleted to make the text more or less explicit. This is frequent in the translation of the novel Trainspotting, and even more usual in the audiovisual adaptation.
Information change: Added information when not implicit in the original text.
Visibility change: It increases the presence of the author or the translator in the text.
3.2 AUDIOVISUAL TRANSLATION Audiovisual translation involves dubbing and subtitling. Italy is traditionally a dubbing country, as a consequence of a Fascist law that forbade the use of any foreign word. Since then the practice has changed at a diatopic, diaphasic and diastratic level, reflecting the effort to make the language spoken in dubbed films as similar as possible to spontaneous spoken Italian. This task is particularly difficult in the Trainspotting case, since it involves slang and Scottish English. Dubbing is still the main mode used in Italy to translate audiovisual works: all screenings at cinemas, imported films and TV products are dubbed. This preference for dubbing rather than subtitling has been debated over the years. Dubbing has been defined as ‘a scandal’68, ‘an acoustic surrogate’69 However, this audiovisual translation practice has become established in Italian culture, and a change seems unlikely. Italians are used to it, and the dubbing allows the viewers to relax and enjoy what they are watching, while subtitled work demands more attention.70 To have a proper translation, it has to be faithful to the original and the translator has to understand and judge when it is necessary to alter a term of a line to remain faithful to the film’s lines. In order to do this the translator has to understand what kind of language was created in the original screenplay. The screenplay and the film create a context in which the languages is
68
G. Fink, “Essere o non essere: la parola e i suoi codici”, in Baccolini, R., Bollettieri Bosinelli, R.M., Gavioli, L., “Il doppiaggio. Trasposizioni linguistiche e culturali”, 1994, Bologna, CLUEB, pp. 29-39 69
M. Antonioni, “La teoria e la pratica. Il Catalogo Tre-Annuario 1981 dello Spettacolo-Cinema e Televisione”, p. 115 70
I. Parini, “The changing face of audiovisual translation in Italy”,in Kemble,I., (ed) The Changing Face of Translation, Portsmouth, University of Portsmouth, 2009. pp.19-21
fundamental. This context is a different reality from the language of the translation, and the characters speak differently and about different topics than those of the Italian reality. An Irish person, Scottish, Cockney, or American, all speak with different accents, but on the Italian screens they have all the same Italian. Consequently characters lose all traits implicated in the original version, that are often important elements to the characterization of the characters. It is possible to recreate a slang or jargon, but it is impossible to establish an analogy between a foreign regiolect and an Italian one.
3.2.1. Dubbing Dubbing aims to let the spectators forge that the voices used are not the original ones. This proceeding presumes a correspondence between actors’ lip movements and dubber’s voice, creating the lip-sync. Usually dubbing consists in more steps: at first the original screenplay is translated literally. The second step is dialogue adaptation, where the text undergoes a series of changes to render dialogues adapt to being used for dubbing, fitting translation to the image. The person that adapts dialogues is the dialogue writer. To respect sync and keep the same length of the original lines, it is useful to measure the translation on the length of the original syllables of the line. “Syncopated” languages present more problems in this process: English for its briefness, German because words are often tied together and is shorter than Italian, and Japanese, that expresses a concept with fewer words than Italian71. 71
F. Bergamo, “Doppiaggio II. Tecniche ed Esperienze”, Città di Castello (PG), Marcon, 1988, p. 361.
3.2.2. Subtitling Film subtitles cannot be a complete translation of the original version’s dialogues, since it takes more time to read than to listen. If the subtitles would reproduce every line, the viewer would not be able to read every word. Therefore, subtitles are a reduced translation of the original version, meant as a guide to understand what is going on in the film: they are not and do not have to be a translation of dialogues. The main characteristic is the summary: the subtitle professional must be able to reduce long sentence maintaining general sense. To do this it is fundamental to deeply understand the film and the characters.
Diatopic Variation: The habit in Italy, concerning the diatopic dimension, is that of “making the language as neutral and unmarked as possible”, so that any diatopic characterization of speech is avoided.
Indeed, Italian regioelcts are used only in two very specific occasions. In the first case, the Sicilian is used to regiolects are Sicilian, used to strengthen the Italian descent of some characters. This device is used with two specific groups: comic characters, to emphasise their speech almost to caricatures, and mobsters, to reinforce the stereotype of the Italian-American criminal. 72 The other case is found in TV series or cartoons. In some cases characters have a peculiar and recognizable accent, alongside with ethnic identity. To maintain this characterization, dubbing is
72
I. Parini, “ The Transposition of Italian-American in Italian Dubbing” in Federici F. “Translating Voices for Audiovisuals”, Rome, Aracne ed,2009, pp. 19- 27.
rendered with another accent, and the peculiarities of that region are transposed to the character. In this last case it is possible to presume that dialects are used “if the purpose it to obey economic principles and make the products more appealing, more common or more familiar to the Italian audience”73.
Diaphasic and Diastratic variations The language spoken in Italian in dubbed films was a standard variety regardless of the character’s social class or origin. This tendency has changed in 1955, with the dubbing of “Guys and Dolls”. In the original version the characters spoke a non-standard variety of American English with slangy characteristics. Therefore the translators tried to convey these connotations in Italian: dubbing professionals invented a variety of slang specifically for this film. With the dubbing of this film, the Italian dubbing professionals realized that “they had to find a way to transpose the connotations linked to the language used in the original.”74 Consequently, Italian dubbing nowadays expresses variations through specific morphsyntactical and lexical choices typical of spontaneous spoken Italian, used also mark low registers. 75 Furthermore, there is a set of common translation norms to observe, related to lexical issues and syntactic structures, to
73
I. Parini, “The changing face of audiovisual translation in Italy”,in Kemble,I., (ed) The Changing Face of Translation, Portsmouth, University of Portsmouth, 2009. pp.19-21 74
75
Ibidem.
M. Pavesi, “Osservazioni sulla (socio)linguistica del doppiaggio”, in Baccolini R., Bollettieri Bosinelli R.M. & Gavioli L. “Il Doppiaggio: Trasposizioni Linguistiche e Culturali”, Bologna, CLUEB, 1994 – pp.129-42.
convey language connotations both at a diaphasic and diastratic level. Such norms involve the use of Italian slang or colloquialisms, marked word order or non-standard grammatical structures (left and right dislocations, cleft sentences, double pronoun structures, prepositional accusative).
3.3. LANGUAGE 3.3.1. Obscene and Taboo e Language The translation of obscene language has seen many changes in its development. There still is a tendency to attenuate the level of obscene language, but there are some progresses. The most common obscene word
in audiovisual works, is
“fucking”. This term has rationally been translated into “fottuto”, influenced by the fact that both words start with the labiodentals fricative /f/, and so the correspondence works better for the lipsynch requirements. The problem is that “fottuto” is diatopically marked, as it is typical of Southern Italy, and almost not used in Northern Italy. This complication has been resolved with the expressions “che cazzo”, “cazzo di”, or just “cazzo”, which is less marked diatopically, more common and natural. In this way the translation reflects the spontaneous spoken Italian. However, the functions of “fuckin”
do not always find a
correspondence in Italian. In fact this is often used as an intensifier or pre-modifier verb, therefore “fuckin” may not be translated because of a lack of semantic and functional correspondence. 76
76
I. Parini, “Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, p.243.
As for Taboo language, the mitigation of it is often due to policies of censorship or self-censorship. Attenuating the level of vulgarity of foreign films is common in Italian dubbing. Comparing some exceprts from the films with taboo language and obscenities, the dubbed versions appear much less vulgar. This happens in subtitling too, but it is often a necessity to cut short the lines.
3.3.2. Non-Standard Italian and Slang Standard Italian: Language spoken in an uniform way, without many differences, among the people of a community and set as a model to imitate in teaching. 77
As for English, the definition refers to the uniformity and diffusion of the standard language. However, in oral production is not possible to define a concept of standard Italian. Many linguists agree in considering the concept of contemporary standard Italian as an abstract concept. 78 In the oral speech, Italian presents many varieties, and none of these can be considered standard, since each has peculiar features that distance itself from the standard as described in grammar.
Non Standard Italian and Non-standard English are on a similar level at a diaphasic level, since this variety of Italian is typical of an informal written production. At a diastratic level the variety of languages do not have a point of contact. Non standard English is related to low social classes, while non standard Italian is more frequent and not related to social class. Since this variety of Italian has become common and 77
Translation from “Il Nuovo Zingarelli. Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana”, Zanichelli, 1988.
78
G.R. Cardona, “Standard Italian”, Mouton, The Hague, 1976, p.3.
frequently used, due to the consolidation of new forms during the eighties, Berruto has suggested the term “Neo Standard”. In fact it is no more perceived as a non-standard variety. 79
In adapted texts in Italian there are often neo-standard forms. Slang is usually called in Italian as gergo, a term frequently used by Italian linguists. The correspondence between slang and gergo can be found on several levels, and it is mainly due to their corresponding relation with standard languages. 80 The slang spoken in Trainspotting is adapted in film and book maintaining the feature of non-standard language. It is the gergo of young people and lower classes, obscene words are used (more in the novel than in the film), but not as often as in the original version. Slang is deprived of its diatopic connotations due to problems previously explained in the dubbing section. However, the diastratic variation is maintained thanks to the use of the gergo, easily recognizable as the language of drug users and young people.
3.4. CHARACTERS The peculiarity of the phonetic transcription is lost in the translation of the novel, and of course the Scots accent is lost in the film dubbing. This weakens the beauty of these products, cutting the diatopic connotation. However, the characters can still be placed in a specific social group thanks to slang and taboo language.
79
80
Berruto, “Sociolinguistica dell’italiano contemporaneo”, Roma, La nuova Italia Scientifica, 1987.
I. Parini, “Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, pp. 254 – 256.
Davie Mitchell: This character is not present in the film. In the novel the translation keeps the intonation and the frequent use of commas to give rhythm to the speech. Every vulgarity is corresponded.
Exile, Bad Blood “Alas, poor Alan, I knew him Nurse. He was a wanker, an infinite pest. I watched, stifling smirks, as he groped for breath. -S awright mate. Ah’m here, I said. (…) -It was a fuckin pity awright you trash-faced little cunt.. I hissed at his closed eyes.”
Esilio, Sangue Marcio “ ’Ah, povero Alan, lo conoscevo bene io, sa, infermiera. Era un vero coglione, un rompipalle odioso.’ Restai a guardarlo, soffocando dei sorrisini di contentezza, mentre lui affannava cercando di respirare. “ ‘tutto bene, sai? Ci sono qua io”, gli dissi. (…) “ ‘Cazzo, un vero peccato, hai ragione, brutto coglione faccia di merda…’ sibilai a denti stretti, rivolto ai suoi occhi chiusi”.81
Mark Renton: This firs extract is from the novel, and it is not present in the film. The first part of this speech is translated almost literally since it is in Standard English, without any variation. The second part, where he talks to himself, is in Scots. This variety is not present in the translation, and the speech goes 81
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, p. 261
from Standard, to informal, to vulgarities of the last sentence, where the curse words are maintained. It is clear that the written work allows more use of vulgarity and obscenity.
Blowing it, Courting Disaster “- So you read Kierkegaard. Tell us about him, Mr. Renton, the patronizing cunt sais. - I’m interested in his concepts of subjectivity and truth, and particularly his ideas concerning choice; the notion that genuine is made out of doubt and uncertainty, and without recourse to the experience or advice of others. (..) But I’m rabbiting a bit here. Ah cut myself short. (…) Yiv goat tae huv fuckin brains tae be a fuckin judge. S no iviry cunt thit kin dae that fuckin joab.”82
Salta tutto, un Disastro Giudiziario “ ‘Lei legge Kierkegard, allora. Ci dica qualcosa su di lui, signor Renton’, mi fa quel coglione, con aria di superiorità. “ ‘Mi interessano i suoi concetti di soggettività e di verità, e in particolare le sue idee sul concetto di scelta; l’idea che una vera scelta può derivare soltanto dal dubbio e dall’incertezza, senza ricorrere all’esperienza o ai consigli degli altri. (…)’ Ma forse sono andato troppo avanti. Meglio fermarsi qui. (..) Ci vuole il cervello per fare il giudice, cazzo. Mica lo può fare un coglione qualsiasi, ‘sto lavoro del cazzo.”83
This second extract involves few Scots words as “Peeve”, “Radge” and “Keks”.”Peeve” means “drink”, and is rendered with a periphrasis, “Sono un paio di giorni che bevo”. Since with just this translation, the low registered is not maintained, the translator has added “sto male, capo”, a gergo expression. Radge, is 82
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pp.165 – 166
83
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, pp. 175-6
translated as “pazzo”, as shown in the glossary. Keks, that means “underpants”, is translated with a periphrasis, “me la faccio sotto”. In this way the phrase loses its Scots connotation but keeps the non standard variety.
Kicking, the first day of the Edinburgh festival “Ah’ve been oan the peeve fir a couple ay days, mate. Ah’m gaun fuckin radge wi the runs here. Ah need tae shite. It looks fuckin awfay in their, but it’s either that or ma fuckin keks.”84
Tirarsi fuori, il Primo Giorno del Festival di Edimburgo “Sto male, capo, sono un paio di giorni che bevo. Mi è venuta una cacarella che mi fa diventar pazzo. Devo cacare. Lo vedo quanto fa schifo là dentro, ma o la faccio là o me la faccio sotto.”85
The next example is from the novel. Renton is talking RP, and this is rendered with a formal Standard Italian speech, translated almost literally. The second sentence, referred no longer to strangers, but to Begbie, is in Scots. “Loupin” and “pish” are Scots words that mean “stinking, stink” and “piss”, so the translation “Questa birra fa schifo” is mostly appropriate. The second sentence in its translation loses “ken”, and the register is not as low as the original. “Fuckin” is then translated, as common use, as “cazzo”.
84
85
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.25 I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, p.32.
Kicking Again, Inter Shitty "Well, I can only suggest that you pursue your complaint with a member of the British Rail staff (…). My friend and I took these seats in good faith.”86
"The lager's loupin. Seems tae huv gone dead flat, ken. Tastes like fuckin pish.”87
Proviamoci Ancora, Intercity di schifo “Beh, forse dovreste presentare un reclamo alle Ferrovie Britanniche. Il mio amico ed io ci siamo seduti qui in buona fede.”88
“Questa birra fa schifo. E’ sfiatata. Sa di piscia, cazzo.”89
This extract from the film shows how slang and curse words are not translated. “Pish”, “Bird” are slang words, that are not translated with gergo terms, but “ubriacarti” and “ragazza”, standard words.
“When you're off it you are suddenly obliged to worry about all sorts of other shite. Got no money: can't get pished. Got money: drinking too much. Can't get a bird: no chance of a ride. Got a bird: too much hassle.”
Subtitles: “Quando ne sei fuori, improvvisamente devi preoccuparti di ogni tipo di stronzate. Non hai soldi, non puoi ubriacarti. Hai soldi, bevi troppo. Non hai una ragazza, niente sesso, hai una ragazza, troppe discussioni.”
86
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.117.
87
Ivi, p. 118.
88
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, p.126
89
Ivi, p. 127.
Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson: Sick Boy has the distinctive trait to quote James Bond movies and Sean Connery. These references, even if they are certainly more recognizable in Scotland and England than in Italy, are maintained.
Kicking, In Overdrive- trovare traduzione “Follow us. Are you going to a show? Yes, you can’t beat the Festival for bringing out the mantovani.”90
Tirarsi Fuori, In Overdrive “Vi accompagno. Andate a teatro? Com’è vero che quando si tratta di far spuntar mignotte, il Festival è imbattibile.”
This segment presents the Scots word “mantovani”. It is slang but does not have a degrading meaning. However, the term is translated as “mignotte”, a gergo word for prostitutes, mostly used in Southern Italy. So a degrading connotation is added in order to maintain the diastratic variation.
Kicking, In Overdrive “Doubtless a collection of zit-encrusted, squeaky-voiced wankers playing oot a miserable pretension tae the arts before graduating to work in the power stations which give local children leukemia (…). Fucking toss bags, don’t you agree, Sean, ma auld fellow former milk-driving mucker? Yesh Shimon, I shink you may have a strong point their. Auld Sean and I have so many parallels.”91
90
I. . Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, p.29
91
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.29.
Tirarsi fuori, In Overdrive “Sarà un mucchio di segaioli brufolosi con la voce a trombetta, che mettono su una cazzata che secondo loro assomiglia a un’opera d’arte. Poi si prendono una laurea e se ne vanno a lavorare in centrali elettriche, che fanno venire la leucemia ai bambini del posto (…). Cazzi pieni d’aria, sei d’accordo con me vecchio Sean, amico mio, ex lattaio anche tu? Certo Simon, direi che il tuo è un argomento molto convincente. Ci sono talmente tante somiglianza tra me e il vecchio Sean.”92
In this segment the syntax is altered in order to preserve meaning and register. In fact the translation is very close to the original. Safe for “Fuckin toss bags”, literally “Cazzo di sacchi per buttare”, translated instead as “Cazzi pieni d’aria”. Of course the Sean Connery’s traits of speech are lost in translation.
In the next sentence Sick Boy’s speech is altered. He is in withdrawal so does no pay attention to what he says and how he says it. The original is written in Scots, pervaded of slang and Scots words as “moosey-faced”, “measley”. “Moosey-faced” is translated as “incazzato”, while it would be more appropriate “muso lungo”, long face. “Fuckin” is here translated as “miseri”, omitting again the obscenity.
Kicking, The Skag Boys, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mother Superior
92
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, pp. 36-7.
“Ah’ll gie ye the money tae git it back oot. Is that aw yir sae fuckin moosey-faced aboot? Fifty measley fuckin pence ootay Ritz!”93
Tirarsi fuori, I Ragazzi del Buco, Jean-Claude Van Damme e la Madre Superiora. “Te li do I soldi per riaffittarla. E’ solo per questo che sei tanto incazzato? Per cinquanta miseri pence?”94
A clear example of how obscene language is omitted in the film as well, is from one of the first sentences said by Sick Boy.
“Fuck off, jealous cunt!” Subtitling: “Fanculo! Sei geloso!”
Francis Begbie: "Ah wis the cunt wi the fuckin pool cue in ma hand, n the plukey cunt could huv the fat end ay it in his pus if he wanted, like." 95
Subtitling: “Ero io quello con la stecca in mano, e avrei potuto ficcargliela in bocca dalla parte dell’impugnatura”.96
This is an extract from the film. In the original segment, obscene and taboo words are the main feature of the language. None of the words and expressions are maintained. Instead, the translator has chosen to use slang words and expressions to keep the register low, but not obscene. The angriness and violence in Begbie’s words are mostly lost. 93
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.4.
94
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, p. 10.
95
“Trainspotting”, Dir. Danny Boyle, Channel Four Films, 1996.
96
Ibidem
Relapsing, the glass “BOY’S BEEN FUCKIN GLESSED! NAE CUNT LEAVES HERE UNTIL AH FIND OOT WHAE FLUNG THAT FUCKIN GLESS!”
“Ah’ll gie ye fackin cheers, ya cunt! he sneers, smacking Double Voddy in the face, knocking him ower. (…) That cunt, that cunt n his fuckin mates back thair, that’s the cunts thit fuckin stabbed ma brar!”97
La Ricaduta, Il bicchiere “CAZZO, GLI è ARRIVATA UNA BICCHIERATA IN TESTA, AL RAGAZZO! DA QUA NON ESCE NESSUNO, CAZZO, SE NON TROVO IL COGLIONE CHE L’HA GETTATO, QUEL BICCHIERE DEL CAZZO!”98
“ ‘Ci vediamo subito, coglione!’ Ghigna, e molla in faccia a Doppia Vodka un cazzotto da stenderlo. (…). ‘Quel coglione, lui e i suoi amici del cazzo là dentro, sono i coglioni che hanno accoltellato mio fratello, cazzo!’ ”99
In this sentence the angriness and violence are maintained, but it has undergone a syntax change. Instead of translating “until” as “fino a che”, it is translated as if it was “if”, “se”. The intention expressed are subtly different. “Fuckin” is always translated in this section, and in fact, one more is added. However, “cunt” is not translated the first time it appears, it is omitted, but is maintained in its second appearance as “coglione”.
97
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.80-82.
98
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano p. 88.
99
Ivi, p. 90.
In the second part “Ah’ll gie ye fackin cheers” is translated as “Ci vediamo subito”, while it is literally “Te li do io i saluti”, that would have sounded more violent. “Cunt” is translated but the repetitions is not kept in the translation.
Daniel “Spud” Murphy: Spud is the character that loses most of its speech features in translation. The first part is an extract from the novel. His repeated use of “likesay”, and “ken” throughout the novel is generally translated as “non per dire” and “capito”. The translation maintains pauses and uncertainties of speech, keeping his naïve character.
Blowing it, Courting Disaster “-And you, Mr Murphy, you intended to sell the books (..)? -That’s spot on man… eh… ye goat it, likesay, Spud nodded, his thoughtful expression sliding into confusion.”100
Salta Tutto, un Disastro Giudiziario “E lei, signor Murphy, intendeva vendere i libri (…)?’ ‘Hai fatto centro, amico.. eh..si, esatto, non per dire’ Spud fa di si con la testa, e la sua espressione assorta si fa sempre più confusa.”
Kicking, Speedy recruitment “Whoah. Likesay, gunnae huv tae stoap ye thair, catboy. The O grades wis bullshit, ken? Though ah’d use that tae git ma fit in the door. Showin initiative, likesay. Ken? Ah really want this job, man. (…) Hey… whatever you say man. You’re the man, the governor, the dude in the chair, so tae speak, likesay. (…)” -Ah need the hireys man. 100
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, p.166.
-Pardon? The what? -The poppy, likesay, eh… the bread, the dosh n that. Ken?”101
Tirarsi Fuori, Trip di lavoro “Ooh-ho. Andiamoci piano qui, gattone, non per dire, eh. Scusi se la interrompo, ma quei voti sono tutta un’invenzione, capito? Mi era sembrata una buona occasione per trovare un’apertura, capito? Per dimostrare un po’ di iniziativa, non so se mi spiego. Capito? Lo voglio veramente ‘sto lavoro, ragazzi. (…) Ehi.. benissimo, ragazzi, se lo dice lei. E’ lei che comanda, non per dire, il capo, il tonto con le chiappe in poltrona, si fa per dire, capito. (…) ‘Mi serve il grano, amico.’ ‘Come? Cosa le serve?’ ‘Il gruzzolo, non per dire.. la grana, i soldi e tutto il resto. Capito?’”102
This sequence presents many features of Trainspotting and Spud’s language. Firstly, “Catboy”, the affection term often used by Spud, is here literally translated as “gattone”. The translator has probably chosen this translation to keep the affectionate term and because there is not a correspondent in Italian. However, “gattone” as a term of affection is very rarely used, maybe in some intimate relationships. This term is not present in the film, since it is not used in Italian, in neither variation. The “O grades” are the Scottish Certificate of Education, and indicate a high grade. Since there is not a precise equivalent in Italian, it is translated as “quei voti”, but without any indication of their level. Here “Bullshit” is translated as “invenzione”, omitting the obscene term.
101
I.Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg.66-67
102
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, traduzione di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano, pp. 74-5
In the next sentence the order of words in English is not standard, the subject is omitted and the terms are not appropriate. In Italian this structure is changed into a standard one, save for the final interrogation “capito?”, typical of the spoken language. “the dude in the chair” is here translated as “il tonto con le chiappe in poltrona”. “Dude” is a colloquial term to refer to a friend or a person, while “tonto” in Italian implies an offense to someone’s intelligence. In the last part Spud refers to money with two Scots words, “hireys”, “poppy”, “dosh”. They are translated with two Italian gergo words, “grana” and “gruzzolo”, since there are fewer gergo words commonly used for money.
Conclusions
Trainspotting is a prominent example of how diatopic and diastratic variation influence a novel and a film. Diatopic variation is indeed, as shown in this dissertation, fundamental to situate the plot in space. It enriches the story and the characters’ background, allowing the reader or the viewer to plunge into the narration. Diastratic variation frames the characters in a particular class or group. It conveys spontaneity and helps the reader or viewer to understand the characters personality. However, it is nearly impossible to maintain these features of speech in translation. The translation of the novel maintains slang terms and diastratic connotation, translating taboo language thoroughly. Subtitles do not maintain this feature. This is due to the immediacy of this communication, but also to the fact that obscene and taboo language is not usually well received. Dubbing omits most of the taboo language but maintains the register compensating with gergo terms and expressions and colloquial terms. Among the three, the most effective to convey the diastratic variation is the translation of the novel since it maintains most of the connotations of speech typical of the characters and of the social group depicted.
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Bergamo F., “Doppiaggio II. Tecniche ed Esperienze”, Città di Castello (PG), Marcon, 1988.
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Cardona G.R., “Standard Italian”, Mouton, The Hague, 1976.
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Parini I.,” Italian American Gangsterspeak. Linguistic Characterization of Italian American Mobsters in Hollywood Cinema and in Italian Dubbing”, Saarbrucken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013.
Radtke E., “Eufemismo e Norma Sociale”, Società Linguistica Italiana, No. 21, 1983, pp. 297-395 .
Singleton D., “Unspeakable Words: the Taboo Fringe of the Lexicon”, in Dynel “Advances in Dicsourse Approaches”, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars publishing, pp. 135-6.
Welsh I., “Trainspotting”, Trad. di G. Zeuli, 1996, TEA, Milano.
Welsh I., “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996.
“Trainspotting”, Dir. Danny Boyle, Channel Four Films, 1996.
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Pavesi M., “Osservazioni sulla (socio)linguistica del doppiaggio”, in Baccolini R., Bollettieri Bosinelli R.M. & Gavioli L. “Il Doppiaggio: Trasposizioni Linguistiche e Culturali”, Bologna, CLUEB, 1994 – pp.129-42.
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Rahman O., “The 90’s Drug of Cinematic Change –Trainspotting and the Concept of National Cinema in Britain” in , Academia.edu.
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APPENDIX GLOSSARY103: Affie – afternoon Bairn – child, baby Bams – jerks Barry – great, terrific Baws – balls Beamer – red faced, embarrassed Bevvy – drink Birl – turn Biscuit-ersed – self-pitying Bog – men’s room Bollocks – testicles Bools – marbles Box – head, as in “ootay yir box” or asshole, as in “he stuck it up his/her box” Brar – brother Brassic – broke Broat – brought Buckin –fucking Bung – to lend someone money, to tip Burd – bird, female friend Caird – card Catboy – “my man” Chibbed – knifed, stabbed Chippy – joiner, carpenter, or chip-shop (fast food outlet) Choc-box – asshole Coffin-dodger – senior citizen 103
I. Welsh, “Trainspotting”, W.w. Norton & Company, New York, 1996, pg. 345 - 349
Collies – drugs Copped – obtained (often female company) Cowpin – shagging, fucking Crack – banter Cunt – all-purpose term for someone else, either friendly or unfriendly Cuntchy – “you cunt that you are” Daft – idiotic, stupid Deek – look Dippet – stupid Dosh – money Doss – real, as in “a doss cunt” Draftpaks – nutters, low-lifes, or a container for alcohol DS – drug squad Durex – condom Eywis – always Fitba – football, soccer Foostie – rancid, poxy Gadge – guy Gaff – apartment Gear – works or clothes, or stolen goods Gig – the scene, or a concert Giro – government unemployment benefit check Giro-drops – bogus addresses for those checks Greet – cry Gunge – messy fluids Gypo – pleb or scruff Hearts, Hibs – football teams Hirays, hireys – money
Hotchin – abundant, packed full of Jellies, jelly tots – tranquilizers in capsules, often injected intravenously Joe baxi – cab Joiner – carpenter Jungle cat – “the man” on the prowl scoping for companionship K.b.ing – being rejected, given the elbow, turned away Keks – underpants Ken, kent – know, known Knob – penis Labdick – cop Likesay – you know Loupin – stinking Lurve – love Mantovani – chicks Minge – as mantovani Muckers – mates, buddies Nash – hurry Nembies – Nembutals NME – New Music Express Nippy – truculent, aggressive Nondy – stupid Ootay – out of Pager – fight Para – paranoid Patter – style Peeve – drink Pips – dialing tone on the telephone Pish – piss
Pished – drunk Plukey-faced – soft Plukes – spots Poppy – money Poxy – sabby, festering Puff – “on one’s puff” is “on one’s own”, but also short for poof or homosexual Punter – bettor or, more generally, fellow Rabbiting – talking incessantly Radge – crazy Rat-arsed – drunk Ride – screw Saps – soft persons Scoobies – stops, shuts up, stumps Scouser – native of Liverpool Scran – food Shag – screw Shan – crap Shoatie – watch Shunky – toilet Skag – heroin Skaggy-nawed – too high on heroin to screw Skint – broke Slag – insult or slut, bastard Snaffles – grabs up Smarmy – lucky Specky – bespectacled Sprog – child Spunk – semen
Square-go – fist fight with no knives or barstools Steamboats – drunk Stroppy – ugly Subbuteo – table soccer game Swedge – fight, brawl Tattie – potato Thrush – minor sexually transmitted disease Tidy – nice Trainspotting – keeping obsessive notes on the arrival and departure of trains Tron – area in Central Edinburgh Voddy – vodka Wanker – masturbator Waster – bum Weedjie – native of Glasgow Whinge – complain Wide-o – term of insult Yin – one Yonks – years
This glossary is transcript from the American edition of Trainspotting. Since some of the words may be recognizable by British readers, and the European public is probably more acquainted with the Scottish accent and culture, this glossary exists only in the overseas edition. In fact, for example, “gig” is currently used in England to refer to a concert, and many curse words as “Cunt” or “Bollocks” are easily understood and known. The glossary includes Scottish slang words as “dosh” (money), “skag” (heroin), and explanations of the written Scottish accent as “eywis” (always), “ken, kent” (know, known), or “ootay” (out of).
As a further aid for the foreign reader, the glossary specifies aspects of European culture, including clarifications of locations, as Weedjie (native of Glasgow), and Tron (area in Central Edinburgh), and also the football teams, Hibbs (Hibernian football club), and Hearts (Heart of Midlothian Football Club).104
The presence of a glossary, on the other hand, slows the rate of reading, so it can be a deterrent. Nevertheless it is useful: with its consultation , the reader can enter the novel and be a part of it, understanding fully the vernacular and culture that the novel depicts. Moreover, as the novel progresses the use of the glossary will not be very much needed, learning the unique language.
Concluding, Trainspotting has managed to be the voice of “the disaffected, postmodern, postindustrial Scottish junkie-as-critic who rejects the romance of his nation’s history in favor of a scathing attack
on Scotland’s historic anti-Englishness.” 105
It has given voice to rebels and portrayed vividly an environment of drug abusing, very common in the 90s in Scotland. It has been rejected for its colorful language, but without it it wouldn’t transmit the same message.
104
S. Mankoff, “Wankers, Burds, and Skag: Heteroglossia in Trainspotting”, < http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/features/literature/wankers-burds-and-skagheteroglossia-in-trainspotting.html> Empty Mirror, 2013. 105
G. Ferrad, “Wankerdom: Trainspotting as a Rejection of the Postcolonial?.” South Atlantic Quarterly, 2004, pg. 215
