Literature Review: The Definition Of Pun Translation

Literature Review

The Definition of Pun Pun translation poses as one of the most challenging problem for a literary translator, due to the need of transferring the double meaning of the sentence or word. The double meaning could be a play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar senses or sound of different words. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms defines pun as "an expression that achieves emphasis or humor by contriving an ambiguity, two distinct meanings being suggested either by the same word (see polysemy) or by two similar-sounding words".

Pun and Joke Pun and jokes are not synonymous. Pun is a word play, unlike jokes that might have or have not wordplay. Also, puns can be used for rhetorical effect not only humorous effect.

Types of Puns

According to linguistic phenomena pun can be distinguished as:

1- Homophonic pun: This type uses words that sound the same with different meanings. For example, two and too have the same pronunciation but each one has a different meaning.

2- Homographic pun: This type of pun is often written rather than spoken. It uses words that are spelled the same but sound different. It tricks the reader into reading the “wrong” sound. For example, “You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.” In this case, “tuna fish” is a homophonic pun because it is a homonym for “tune a.”

3- Homonymic pun: Two or more words are identical in spelling as well as in pronunciation ,yet has