Homophonic translation

Homophonic translation renders a text in one language into a near-homophonic text in another language, usually with no attempt to preserve the original meaning of the text. More generally, homophonic transformation renders a text into a near-homophonic text in the same or another language.

Frayer Jerker is a homophonic translation of the French Frère Jacques (1956).^[1] Other examples of homophonic translation include some works by Oulipo (1960–), Luis van Rooten’s English-French Mots D’Heures: Gousses, Rames (1967), Louis Zukofsky’s Latin-English Catullus Fragmenta (1969), Ormonde de Kay’s English-French N’Heures Souris Rames (1980), and David Melnick’s Ancient Greek-English Men in Aida (1983).

Examples of homophonic transformation include Howard L. Chace’s Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, published in book form in 1956.

Other names for this genre include “allographic translation”,^[2] “transphonation”, or (in French) “traducson”,^[3] but none of these is widely used.

Example

Here is van Rooten’s version of Humpty Dumpty:^[4]:

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty Had a great fall. All the king’s horses And all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty Together again.

Un petit d’un petit S’étonne aux Halles Un petit d’un petit Ah! degrés te fallent Indolent qui ne sort cesse Indolent qui ne se mène Qu’importe un petit d’un petit Tout Gai de Reguennes.

Song lyrics

Homophonic translations of song lyrics in music videos for comic effect—also known as soramimi—are popular on YouTube.

Notes

1. ^ Chace, Howard L. (1956). “Frayer Jerker”. Anguish Languish [English Language]. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. OCLC 2539398.
2. ^ Bernard Dupriez, A Dictionary of Literary Devices: Gradus, A-Z, Toronto 1991. ISBN 0802068030. p. 462.
3. ^ cf. Genette, Gérard; Newman, Channa; Doubinsky, Claude. Palimpsests. pp. 40–41.
4. ^ “Luis d’Antin van Rooten’s Humpty Dumpty”. The Guardian. 27 November 2009.

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