Translating humorous culture-specific references: domestication strategies in the Italian dubbing of The Nanny

This dissertation investigates the theoretical foundations of translation and their application to audiovisual translation, with particular attention to how humour and cultural identity are negotiated across languages. The first part of the study traces the evolution of translation theory and examines the problem of non-equivalence at the level of words, collocations, idioms and pragmatics. It then develops the distinction between domestication and foreignization as a continuum of translatorial choice, before narrowing the focus to audiovisual translation and dubbing specifically, where technical constraints such as lip-synchronization and isochrony add further layers of complexity. The second part turns to the translation of humour, drawing on the General Theory of Verbal Humour and its application to audiovisual texts through the concept of jab lines, and considers the specific challenge posed by humorous culture-specific references, which often resist direct transfer and demand creative compensation strategies. These theoretical frameworks are then tested through a qualitative and comparative case study of the Italian dubbing of the American sitcom The Nanny, retitled La Tata, chosen as an example of radical domestication. The analysis shows that the domesticating strategies described in the theoretical chapters are enacted concretely through the systematic conversion of the Jewish American identity of the protagonist into an Italian Catholic one, the adaptation of religious references, and the replacement of Yiddish with the Ciociaro dialect as a functional equivalent for marking class and cultural contrast. This produces a tension between the dubbed dialogue and the visual elements retained on screen. Overall, the dissertation argues that dubbing is never an ideologically neutral operation but a form of cultural rewriting, and that the case of La Tata illustrates, in practice, the theoretical tension between fidelity to the source text and the commercial and cultural pressures that drive domestication in audiovisual translation.