An interdisciplinary approach to studying linguistic variation in audiovisual texts: extrapolating a synergy of Neuropsychology, Semiotics, Performativity, and Memetics to Translation Studies

This paper explores the perceptual power of accent and dialect through an interdisciplinary prism, which renders the utterance of accent performative and the ideological load of accent memetic. The theoretical framework established synergises Neuropsychology, Semiotics, Memetics, Performativity, and Sociolinguistics and is extrapolated to the field of Translation Studies. In light of the performativity of accent and the existence of dialectal memes (often shared ideas around linguistic identities) in lingua-cultural communities, it is posited that speaking in any given accent triggers a chain reaction culminating in perception, whereby preconceived ideas or ‘memory’ associated with the speech variety is activated in the listener, from which point an image of identity is formed in his or her psyche. The use of accentual variation, therefore, to create audiovisual identities in original versions is illustrated and, in turn, the flattening out of cultural dimensions in dubbed versions is attributed to the levelling of accentual variation into a standard. Spatiotemporal and other practical constraints, as well as ideological questions, imposed on dubbing practices are considered with a view to translating linguistic variation. Audiovisual translation practices are considered in the context of English-language productions dubbed into Castilian Spanish.