Translating humorous lexical creations in children’s literature: The case of Roald Dahl’s Gobblefunk

Abstract

Children’s literature overflows with examples of lexical creations and linguistic manipulations. Inventing new terms, playing with words and with language in general has indeed become a characteristic of the genre. Although such a tendency has different functions, this paper focuses on the humorous effect that these lexical creations may have on young readers. Using Roald Dahl’s made-up vocabulary called Gobblefunk as a case study, this article first analyzes the linguistic mechanisms behind his creative neologisms and attempts to unravel the author’s intention behind them. It then reflects on the way these lexical creations have been translated into French and comments on their effectiveness to convey the humorous effect of the original text.

Keywords

• children’s literature
• occasionalisms
• humor
• translation
• lexical creativity
• Roald Dahl