Languaging Gender and Gendering Language. Euphemism and Dysphemism in Dubbing

The study is concerned with euphemistic and dysphemistic locutions that discursively construct LGBT identities in specific socio-cultural contexts through the medium of cinema. It focuses on the interlingual and cross-cultural translation carried out on a selected corpus of cinematographic dialogues, investigating how specific approaches to dubbing can unveil deeply rooted socio-cognitive mind-sets. At the same time, such translation strategies can challenge previous frames by generating new mind-sets towards gendered discourse (Sunderland 2004) and towards those public discourses on homosexuality (Baker 2005) that involve a constant linguistic ambivalence between (genuine or fake) homophilia and (covert or overt) homophobia. Both socio-cultural and linguistic attitudes highlight issues related to homophily, groupthink (Baron 2005) and group cohesiveness (Eisenberg 2007), as well as to the dynamics of (socio)linguistic in-groupness and out-groupness (Duszak 2002b). Analysis of the translation of taboo words in film dubbing from English into Italian proves effective in understanding cultural gaps, social attitudes, stereotypical “typifying” features, marginalization and dominance factors, especially when dubbing alters, emphasizes or dismisses euphemistic or dysphemistic taboo words. The present analysis intends to underscore the mutual influence of language and given socio-cultural scenarios, describing how society and individuals react to and negotiate homosexuality and the language that represents it. Gender language nourishes, and is affected by, social cognition on the double axis of “languaging gender” and “gendering language.”