Characterisation and Dialects in Dubbing: How Dialects of British Characters Are Dubbed into Finnish in the Animated Film Chicken Run

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to study the different characterisation methods used to maintain the same perceived appearances of the characters in the Finnish dubbed version of the British animated film Chicken Run (2000). The main focus of this thesis was on the original British spoken dialects of the characters as a form of characterisation, and on the methods used to counterbalance the disappearance and changes of these dialectal elements in the dubbed version. The connotations and social values linked to the spoken dialects of these characters naturally affect how they are perceived, and so the same connotations must be evoked for the characters in the target language for them to be perceived in the same manner.

The research material in this thesis is the children’s animated film Chicken Run (2000) by Aardman Animations, and its Finnish dubbed version. The analysis was done by comparing the spoken dialogues of the featured characters with the corresponding Finnish dubbed dialogues, and selecting those featuring the most significant characteristics of the featured dialects. The dialects featured in this film are Received Pronunciation (RP), the Yorkshire dialect, London Cockney and Scottish, as well as General American spoken by one of the characters. Both the selected dialogues and their dubbed counterparts are presented as examples in the analysis section.

The findings demonstrate that the characters whose dialogues present the most dialect-specific features have changed the most by their characterisations in the dubbed version. This is mostly due to the omission of certain dialect-specific elements in the translation, and to the changes in prosodic features such as pitch of voice and rapidness of speech. Although the spoken language of most characters was dubbed to Standard Finnish, there were some creative decisions made to maintain similar appearances in the characters. One of these decisions involved the use of elements of a target language dialect holding similar connotations to the dialect used in the original language.

The findings highlight the difficulty of maintaining the same appearance of a character created through their original dialect in dubbing. As can be seen in this film, dialects form an important part of a character through the connotations linked to them. The possible factors leading to certain decisions in the dubbed film may be linked to the social stereotypes of standard and colloquial spoken language, and on the audiovisual translation norms in Finland.