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A case study on puns and wordplay in "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov
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NHA TRANG UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSLATION & INTERPRETATION
Graduation Coursework
A case study on puns and wordplay in

the novel “Lolita” by Vladimir
Nabokov
Supervisor: Nguyen Hoang Ho M.A
Student’s name: Vu Le Ngoc Ha
Student ID: 61132746
Class: 61NNA2
Nha Trang, 2023

NHA TRANG UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSLATION & INTERPRETATION
Graduation Coursework
A case study on puns and wordplay in

the novel “Lolita” by Vladimir
Nabokov
Supervisor: Nguyen Hoang Ho M.A
Student’s name: Vu Le Ngoc Ha
Student ID: 61132746
Class: 61NNA2
Nha Trang, 2023

Table of content
Declaration ____________________________________________________ III
Acknowledgment _______________________________________________ IV
List of Tables, Charts and Figures ___________________________________ V
Abstract ______________________________________________________ VI
Preface _______________________________________________________VII
Chapter I: Introduction _______________________________________ 1
1.1 Rationale ___________________________________________________ 1
1.2 Aims of the Study ____________________________________________ 2
1.3 Scope of the Study ____________________________________________2
1.4 Significance of the Study ______________________________________ 2
1.5 Organization of the Study _____________________________________ 4
Chapter II: Literature review & Methodology ________________5
2.1. Primary sources of the study __________________________________ 5
2.1.1 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov _________________________________ 5
2.1.1.1 The author _____________________________________________ 5
2.1.1.2 The literary work of Lolita ________________________________ 5
2.1.2 Other translated versions of Lolita ____________________________ 6
2.1.2.1 Vietnamese translation ___________________________________ 6
2.1.2.2 Polish translation _______________________________________ 7
2.1.2.3 Russian translation ______________________________________ 8
2.2. Humor in translation ________________________________________ 8
2.2.1 How do we understand humor? _______________________________8
2.2.2 Humor in translation _______________________________________ 9
2.3 Semantic aspect - Puns and wordplay ___________________________11
2.3.1 Wordplay _______________________________________________ 11
2.3.2 Pun ____________________________________________________13
2.4 Strategies to deal with puns & wordplay in translation ____________ 14
2.5. Methodology _______________________________________________ 15
I
2.5.1 Research method _________________________________________ 15
2.5.2 Data collecting procedure __________________________________ 16
Chapter III: Finding & Analysis ______________________________ 17
3.1 Findings ___________________________________________________ 17
3.2 Categorize and analyse Pun & Wordplay cases ___________________ 18
3.2.1 Categorization and analysis of wordplay _______________________18
3.2.1.1 Wordplay on alliteration - External rhyme ___________________ 19
3.2.1.2 Wordplay on assonance alliteration ________________________ 21
3.2.1.3 Wordplay on consonant alliteration ________________________ 24
3.2.1.4 Wordplay on anagram ___________________________________28
3.2.2 Categorization and analysis of pun ___________________________ 29
3.2.2.1 Pun on homophones ____________________________________ 29
3.2.2.2 Pun on homographs ____________________________________ 31
3.2.2.3 Pun on paronyms _______________________________________32
3.3 Conclusion _________________________________________________ 35
Chapter IV: Solution & Implication _______________________ 36
4.1 Solution ___________________________________________________ 36
4.2 Implication _________________________________________________36
Chapter V: Conclusion & Limitation ______________________ 37
5.1 Major Finding ______________________________________________ 37
5.2 Limitation _________________________________________________ 38
5.3 Final conclusion _____________________________________________38
Reference _____________________________________________ 40
Primary sources: _______________________________________ 40
Relevant reading: _______________________________________ 40
Other sources: _________________________________________ 42
II
Declaration
I declare that this paper is an original version of my research, has been written by me
and has not been submitted for any previous degree of any organization. The
experimental work is almost entirely my own work; the collaborative contributions
have been indicated clearly and acknowledged. Due references have been provided on
all supporting literatures and resources.
I guarantee that this graduation thesis was composed by myself, that the work
contained herein is my own except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text, and
that this work has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification.
I will take any penalty punishment from the Department and the Faculty whether any
plagiarism in my work is pointed.
Presenter
Vu Lê Ngoc Ha
III
Acknowledgment
There are names and works that have made significant contributions to this graduation
coursework. Me and myself owe them the greatest debt and will always be grateful for
their contribution.
First and foremost, I would love to express my deepest gratitude to my parents, who
have been mentally and physically supporting me throughout the course. They have
volunteered their time to assist me with all of my housework and to provide spiritual
guidance so that I can devote all of my energy to finishing the final course without
feeling burdened. I am much obliged.
Secondly, this paper can not be fulfilled without the decent instructions from my
supervisor, Mr Nguyen Hoang Ho. With all of his advice and time spent, I
acknowledged with thanks.
I want to express my gratitude to my Russian friend Nikita Kharitonov in particular

for instantly helping me with all of my questions regarding to the Russian translation
of Lolita. The graduation can not reach my expectation without his support.
Last but not least, the help from my classmates and friends are worth to mention.
They were the one who gave me instant responses and guidance when I needed them
most. The time we spent on each other works and individual work together is a
treasure memory. My journey would have been dull and cliche without them.
To me, be alive and have the ability to work is already a privilege. I am grateful for
everything that happened to me, especially this four-year journey of university, where
I have had such wonderful companionship from lecturers and friends. This is a
precious memory that I will wholeheartedly cherish for the rest of my life.
Thank you all
IV
List of Tables, Charts and Figures
List of table:
Table 1 Selection of pun and wordplay objects 18

Table 2 Translations of case L07 20
Table 3 Translation of case L05 22
List of figures:
Figure 1 Data collecting procedure 16
V
Abstract:
Pun and wordplay-both are rhetorical devices that take action on words and are
inseparably linked to sense of humor. Due to the diversity of language, rendering puns
and wordplay seems to be a big struggle for translators, as it may disappear in the
target language or be unable to maintain three translation criteria which are
faithfulness, smoothness and elegance. We can assume that puns and wordplay are
insurmountable difficulties for translators since some puns and wordplay appear as
untranslatable cases into some languages in a specific manner, but it is also true that it
can be perfectly transferred into other languages or in a different manner. The research
with title A case study on puns and wordplay in the novel “Lolita” by Vladimir
Nabokov will focus on analyzing the chosen wordplay cases on its structures and
linguistic features as well as how they were rendered from the source text to
Vietnamese text. Other translated versions in languages such as Russian or Poland are
also might be drawn into the analysis section in order to specify and compare the
strategies that the translators applied to deal with puns and wordplay in the original
novel.
Keywords: humor, puns, wordplay, languages, translate, strategies, Lolita
VI
Preface
“You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style”
(Nabokov 1955)
“Можете всегда положиться на убийцу в отношении затейливости прозы”
(Nabokov 1967)
The confession of a white widow male, stated in the very first chapter of Lolita by
Vladimir Nabokov has predicted an impenetrable story with a complicated style. That
statement somehow describes Nabokov’s prose style since his delicate creation
expresses clearly in every work he accomplished. In Lolita, not only does Humbert
himself own a fancy prose style by trying to convince the reader that his deviant
thought on young nymphets is normal, but the protagonist also has an elaborate sense
of humor when wordplay is used everywhere under his narrative, in order to express
the irony, sarcasm, others unknown intention or simply, to deliver joy. This is one of
the most interesting books that could bring into consideration on wordplay-in-
translation study process because the original book written in English was translated
into the author’s mother tongue by himself, which enables us to compare and study
how puns and wordplay are transferred from this to another language. As language is
splendid and wonderful, how hard could it be to render a fancy prose style
VII
Chapter I: Introduction
In chapter 1, the purpose and motivation of the research will be indicated, along with
the urgency of the topic and the order of chapters included in the research will be
shown as well.
1.1 Rationale
Humor, an ordinary term in humans daily, has been an object of a significant amount
of research in the language, both verbally and semantically. We can simply define it as
the tendency to provoke laughter or cause amusement. It can be said that humor is one
of the indispensable essence of human “pour ce que rire est le propre de l’homme"
[because laughter is characteristic of man] (François Rabelais 1534) . Raskin (1985)
also agreed that humor is a distinctly human phenomenon and that humor’s aesthetic
value and the use of it in literature have occupied the minds of numerous thinkers for
centuries. The use of humor in daily utterances makes the situation less problematic
and creates excitement for the others. When it comes to literature, humor exists in
various forms, still, attach with the aim of laughter. Despite the fact that humor is used
to amuse the readers, it may appear as an insurmountable problem for some of the
translators when it comes under the form of wordplay. Along with the diversity of
language and the variety of untranslatable and non-equivalent cases caused by it
during translation process, puns and wordplay have become a massive field in the
study between linguistics and humor.
In the era of linguistic convergence, the need of exchanging knowledge from different
cultures with distinct languages is at high level. As technology advances, so does the
way we use language. In the globalization era, the crucial role of interpretation and
translation is noticeably affirmed, in order to overcome the language barrier. The proof
is that translators have rendered numerous classic works from the mother tongue to
hundreds of other target languages. And this action helped to recognize the variances
between languages, the untranslatability in translation and also generate what is called
“the loss and gain in translation”.
1
It is difficult to deny that wordplay and untranslatability do not have any relation in the
linguistic aspect. A translator can not fully accomplish a translation if he or she omits
every untranslatable problem caused by wordplay. The omission is not only
considered unfaithful, but is also an elimination of the humor’s aesthetic value in the
author’s work. Understanding that, the study of strategies to deal with untranslatable
cases such as puns and wordplay in literature has been the motivation for many
researchers. As a result, the paper titled “A case study on puns and wordplay” is
chosen to bring the relevant issue into analysis. It takes the abundant wordplay source
from specific book Lolita as examples to analyze and compare to other Lolita
translations.
1.2 Aims of the Study

Studies about humor in translation have been conducted for several purposes. The
object of this research is wordplay in translation. The purpose of the study are: to
develop a formal analysis in terms of exploring the hardships during wordplay
translation process, to figure out how to render humor from SL to TL. In the end, the
following questions are aimed to be fulfilled:
 The loss and gains when translating wordplay?
 Which techniques that have been used to cope with the non equivalences caused
by wordplay?
 Is it an insurmountable task when it comes to humor in translation?
1.3 Scope of the Study

The primary source of the study is the original work of Lolita written in English by
Nabokov and the translated version of Lolita in Vietnamese by Duong Tuong. Every
selected pun is taken in 32 Chapters of Part One of the novel. In addition, The
annotated Lolita will also provide the explanation from the author to the collective
wordplay. Last but not least, two translations from Polish translators may also be
analysed in some cases.
1.4 Significance of the Study
2
International meetings and commercial negotiations benefit from the successful use of
interpreting, while translation helps to convey documents, newspapers, records into the
target language and even the classic works of the era to different readers. Different
authors and writers have their individual concept about translation. Catford (1965: 20)
assumed translation is the replacement of textual material in one language (source
language) by equivalent textual material in another language (target language), while
Hartman & Stock (1972: 713) also shared a similar idea: “Translation is the
replacement of a representation of a text in one language by a representation of
another equivalent text in a second language”. The diversity of opinion on translation
is made clear as Nida & Taber (1974: 12) stated that translation consists in
reproducing in the receptor language, the closest natural equivalent of the source
language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. All in all,
translation is as simple as Peter Newmark (1988: 5) has defined: “Translation is
rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author
intended the text”.
As language is profound and is a distinct feature, the core cultural value and spirit of
each country, still, the process of translation has never been an easy task, especially
when it comes to puns and wordplay. Most puns depend on one or more linguistic
features in the linguistic mechanism: Phonological and graphological structure,
Lexical structure (polysemy), Lexical structure (idiom), Morphological structure,
Syntatic structure (Delabastita 2004: 602-603). As a result, differences between those
languages are likely to affect the formation of puns. Hence, there is no doubt to say
wordplay and puns are a nightmare for translators. For instance, what is the best
English translation for the ambiguity of the homonym in the sentence “đi bắn cung mà
người ta bảo mình vô tâm”?. If translation is only ended at conveying messages across
linguistic and cultural barriers (Tudor, cited in Duff 1989:5), would it be considered
faithful when it comes to puns translating ?
Pun is a common rhetorical device in English literature and is used for jocular and
hilarious effects. It is a witticism that involves the joking usage of a term in several
contexts or of words with different meanings but similar sounds. Nevertheless,
3
whether what kind of pun or wordplay it is, it always creates the linguistic problem of
translatability. Although belongs to the same non-equivalence case, the branch of the
puns & wordplay field receives very little interest. The fact that there are very few in-
depth research on strategies that could be used in this untranslatable situation in Nha
Trang University's theoretical curriculum serves as a shred of evidence. Thus, the case
study on puns and wordplay in Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is generated to give the
solutions for this untranslatable case and contribute the major finding for students in
Interpretation & Translation department of Nha Trang University. This research is
expected to make a contribution to the major graduation theses of translation &
interpretation students nationally. In addition, it hopes to become the reference for Nha
Trang University students when the associated theoretical lessons are limited.
1.5 Organization of the Study

The graduation coursework is divided into 5 chapters. The order of the content starts
with Chapter I with the introduction of the rationale and significance of the study.
Then, Chapter 2 will give a deep research on the primary sources, specifically
illustrating the concept of translation of each translator. The relevant understanding of
humor in translation, puns and wordplay is also written in this chapter. Chapter 3
shows the analysis of each pun case or wordplay case. In Chapter 4, the solutions are
summarized and the implication is drawn. Eventually, the coursework will end in
chapter 5 with limitations during the accomplishment of the process and a final
conclusion.
4
Chapter II: Literature Review & Methodology
In Chapter II, the associated documents and books will be brought into literature
review section and the method of the research, including the method applied to the
research and the data collection method will also be elucidated.
2.1. Primary sources of the study

2.1.1 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2.1.1.1 The author
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977) was a multilingual Russian-American novelist, poet,
professor, translator, and entomologist. Notwithstanding the chaotic political situation
back then, he had a simple childhood along with his family. He grew up in a wealthy,
noble family and could speak fluently three languages: English, Russian and French.
One of their three manor houses, Vyra, where his family spent their holiday time there,
was where Nabokov found his love for the butterflies. Butterfly images can be found
all over the place in Lolita. Knowing Nabokov's interest in lepidopterology, it is easy
to notice the butterfly references in this novel.
Best known as the author of Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov is well-known as a master of

puns. In Lolita, readers are constantly captivated by the punster Nabokov. He was one
of the most productive and creative writers of his era. His novels, short stories, essays,
poems, and memoirs all share his cosmopolitan wit, his love of wordplay, his passion
for satire, and his complex social commentary.
2.1.1.2 The literary work of Lolita

His controversial book Lolita written in 1955, has always been a hot topic for
discussion on plenty of social forums. It has never been simply just a book, but a name,
a girl, a disease, a fashion style, a film, a song and an endless controversy. At first
glance, when the book had its first copies in France, Lolita is tagged with the
“pornography” label. But since 1958 to nowadays, according to an unofficial report,
this literature work has sold 50 million copies. It is undeniable that there is no pure
eroticism literary work that can create such a huge impact and a persistent dispute as
Lolita. It would be easy for readers to define the moral perspective in the story
5
whether this is just about a pedophilia and his victim. But Lolita is rather like a tragic
symphony that describes Humbert’s rotten memory in the past and how it has obsessed
this man. Readers should allow themselves to sit down, enjoy an alluring but hopeless
obsession, and a true connection between two pathetic souls. The book is not written
to transfer any messages or be a dogmatic book, as the father’s novel confirmed, he
did not deliver any moral lesson in Lolita.
The narrative writing, the proficient usage of wordplay and figurative of speech, the
pitfalls of word and logic as well as Nabokov's unique way of visual thinking, all of
these factors conduct to an excellent work of literature, and open plenty of relevant
trends as well as studies on his lifetime novel.
Nabokov's books allow readers to experience enlightenment - both aesthetic and

perceptual - through training the reader to experience beauty in mediocrity. He finds
wonder in all things mundane, and this is his secret in creating such a lavish style.
Nothing is boring, or simple, or ugly to him; Even the ugly parts of human nature are
explored with his artistic hand.
2.1.2 Other translated versions of Lolita

2.1.2.1 Vietnamese translation
Although it is a famous novel, it was not until 60 years after its release that the
Vietnamese edition of Lolita was published. The person responsible for the
Vietnamese translation is no one but Duong Tuong. It is quite challenging to read and
translate Lolita. The Annotated Lolita by Alfred Appel Jr. is required reading for
anyone who wants to comprehend Lolita in-depth but not entirely. It contains
thousands of comparatively in-depth annotations on Nabokov's words, phrases, and
thought processes. As a result, Lolita might vary greatly from translator to translator.
Additionally, the book's Vietnamese translator Lolita acknowledged the difficulty of

the task and the imperfection of his work. He stated that: “I had to deal with all the
general difficulties of translation, then the author's style, the puns, the implicit textual
links, which, in general, were very difficult for anyone to translate. It is possible that
6
80-90% of the puns in Lolita are untranslatable. So the problem here is to find a
strategy that even if it fails, it must be a nice failure”. When the translation was
published, it attracted a lot of reader interest and feedback, which included both
positive and negative remarks. This book must stand out in Duong Tuong's extensive
career as a translator. Readers can now appreciate a classic work thanks to Duong
Tuong's translation. Ignoring the gains and losses in translation, it is clear that
Vietnamese richness is on par with that of all other languages.
2.1.2.2 Polish translation

The novel exists in two Polish translated versions, one by Robert Stiller and one by
Michał Kłobukowski. While Michał translated Lolita solely using the English text,
Robert based his translation on both the English and Russian versions of the original
work by author Nabokov.
Robert Stiller (1928-2016) was a Polish polyglot, writer, poet, translator, and editor.
During his translation career, he believes that syntax must be conveyed well in
translation since, as he claims, it is necessary to properly combine words as well as
utilize them. As a highly experienced writer and polyglot, he knows very well the
complication of the translation process, that it requires the innovation of the translator
and can not be translated word-for-word since the spirit of a faithful translation
depends on the characteristics and cultural aspects of the source language.
His translation of Lolita was published in 1991 and received an amount of criticism.
The intellectual language of Nabokov is not compatible with Stiller because he
frequently uses common speech that occasionally sounds vulgar. In addition, a critic
commented that readers may not understand the special elements in Nabokov’s book
after reading Stiller’s translation.
Michał Kłobukowski is an American and English literary translator and a poet. He

finish his Lolita translation in 1997, six years after the first Polish version of Stiller.
Because the Polish reader already had one translation of Lolita to compare it to, he felt
a lot of pressure as the second translator of the same book. In terms of the art of
7
translation, Kobukowski asserts that he makes an effort to accurately recreate the
world depicted in the book by staying as true to the source as is feasible.
Both Polish translators have their distinctive translation methods which appear clearly
in their text. Hence, this is an excellent possibility to compare the procedures for
rendering wordplay in the source text with those written by the two Polish translators.
2.1.2.3 Russian translation

Lolita in Russian language was published in 1967 in New York. As a multilingual
writer and translator, Nabokov did not entrust anyone to translate the novel into his
mother tongue but himself. After 6 months of painstakingly translating Lolita,
Nabokov humbly admitted the clumsiness of his translation when he became
unaccustomed to his native speech. Furthermore, the spirit of the language into which
the translation is being made also created the unwanted non-equivalence. He admitted
he “was convinced of the loss of much personal essence and many irreplaceable
language skills and treasures, but also came to some general conclusions about the
mutual translatability of two amazing languages” (Nabokov 1967, p.202).
Since Lolita was originally written and published in English before being translated by
the author into Russian, we can learn how to translate puns directly from the author,
making it one of the most fascinating books for wordplay analysis in translation.
2.2. Humor in translation

2.2.1 How do we understand humor?
Humor, can be explained in many ways, but in general, it is “what causes amusement,
mirth, or spontaneous smile and laughter” (Jeroen Vandaele, 2010). But the
differences between laughter and humor are clear through the excerpt:
“One common criterion seems to underlie the working definitions of humor implicitly,
and sometimes explicitly: laughter. The assumption behind this identification of humor
and laughter is that what makes people laugh is humorous, and hence the property is
incorrectly seen as symmetrical-what is funny makes you laugh and what makes you
8
laugh is funny. This leads to the identification of a mental phenomenon (humor) with a
complex neuro-physiological manifestation (laughter).”
(Salvatore Altardo 1994: 10)
From the human psychological perspective, Martin (2007) assumed “humor serves a
number of “serious” social, emotional, and cognitive functions, making it a
fascinating and rewarding topic of scientific investigation”. Yet, we can define the
differences between laughter and humor in their relationship.
Firstly, laughter, the act of laughing, “is one of the first social vocalizations (after
crying) emitted by human infants” (Martin 2007). Humor may cause laughter but not
everything we laugh at is humorous. He believes laughter, as a human phenomenon, is
an inborn instinct. In addition, Deacon (1997) said that during a crucial stage of
human evolution, laughter, a contagious animal call connected to social play, was
crucial in preserving community cohesion and identity. A call [i.e., laughter] that may
primarily have been evolutionarily selected for its role as a symptom of “re-coding”
potentially aggressive actions as friendly social play seems to have been “captured”
by the similar re-coding process implicit in symbol-dependent humor, Deacon added
(1997 :421), and that the components for the condition are the insight, surprise and
removal of uncertainty. So, it is laughter that has been captured as a useful response to
those factors by our symbolic mind.
Humor, on the other hand, is not alike laughter. It links with the primitive parts of the
brain, which are associated with socialization, shared emotions and reduced danger of
hostility (Deacon 1997:419). Due to the different norms of multiple cultures in the
world, humor expresses its appropriation in the suitable subject matter. Under
psychological view, the psychological phenomena of humor is fairly vast and complex,
and it consists of a number of different elements which are cognitive aspect, emotional
component, social or interpersonal aspect, and laughter (Martin 2007).
2.2.2 Humor in translation
9
Humor is known to challenge translators. It is often seen as a paradigm case of
“untranslatability”: “When it comes to translating humor, the operation proves to be as
desperate as that of translating poetry” (Diot 1989: 84). Three criteria of translation
and interpretation are “faithful, accurate, aesthetic”. However, when translating humor,
the translation failure happens when the translator failed to deliver laughter to the
audience although the translation covey an exact message. Humor translation is
particularly difficult since it depends on implicit understanding. Additionally,
communities may come to various understandings about what or who can be the target
of social play. And humor has its own laws and taboos for targeting (telling what or
whom may be laughed at), depending on implicit cultural patterns (to be violated for
incongruous reasons; to be known for the purpose of hilarious "solution").
As for the linguistic untranslatability of humor, scholars point at problems rooted in

linguistic denotation and connotation, and metalinguistic or meta-lingual
communication in which the linguistic form matters (“wordplay,” “puns”). Humor
translation is particularly difficult since it depends on implicit understanding.
Additionally, communities may come to various understandings about what or who
can be the target of social play. And humor has its own laws and taboos for targeting
(telling what or whom may be laughed at), depending on implicit cultural patterns (to
be violated for incongruous reasons; to be known for the purpose of hilarious
"solution").
Consequently, prescriptive researchers and translators frequently contemplate the

question, "How to translate well?". “Should the translator be allowed to make us laugh
at his own ideas rather than at those of the author?” Stackelberg (1988: 12). The
answer is no. This puts considerable pressure on the translator and often leads to
pessimism, that is, to the acceptance of untranslatability. The second question that
Descriptive Translation Studies frequently poses is, "Is it translated?" furthermore,
"How is it translated?" The researcher is then informed about the relationships
between cultures, groups, systems, and interpreters by the answers to these questions.
Descriptive studies will be interested in solutions that reveal something about the
contact between various cultures, groups, and agents when translation is challenging.
10
They will point out, for instance, that comedy may serve a number of textual and
ideological purposes that all merit consideration. Humor is not seen as a homogeneous
category ("that what caused laughter") in a descriptive comparison between a source
and target text; rather, it is examined for its unique cognitive, emotional, social, and
interpersonal features (Vandaele 2002b).
2.3 Semantic aspect - Puns and wordplay

George Yule (2006) stated in The study of Language the definition of semantic study
in language:
“Semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences. In semantic
analysis, there is always an attempt to focus on what the words conventionally mean,
rather than on what an individual speaker might want them to mean on a particular
occasion”
In chapter 9 semantic, George Yule mentioned 3 lexical relations (homophones,

homonyms, polysemy) are the basis of almost wordplay form and are used for the
humorous effect. This is on the grounds that “ambiguity may be exploited for
humorous effect” (Wales 2011 :16). Contextualizing wordplay base on polysemy will
eliminate the ambiguity of the meaning.
For example: Buy a house with a mouse
- Context 1: Buy a house in just one click (on Estate Agent Website).
- Context 2 : a house that has a mouse in it.
2.3.1 Wordplay
Definition of wordplay was given by Delabastita (1996):
“Wordplay is the general name for the various textual phenomena in which structural
features of the language(s) used are exploited in order to bring about a
communicatively significant confrontation of two (or more) linguistic structures with
more or less similar forms and more or less different meanings.”
Delabastita also gave a visualization of wordplay as the intersection of four aspects:
11
- Formal similarity (Rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, jingle, other figures
of sound repetition).
- Semantic dissimilarity (Polytoton and other figures of word repetition).
- Dependence on language structure (Irony, speech-act ambiguity, allusion, allegory,
metaphor, metonymy, referential ambiguity, referential vagueness).
- Communicative significance (accidental ambiguities, unintentional sound echoes,
single-reading sentences)
Salvatore Attardo (2018) assumed that “The field of wordplay is beset by

terminological problems. It is thus useful to begin by clarifying, as much as possible,
the scope of one’s investigation”. He then classifies wordplay in terms of:
- Spelling of words (Scrabble, crossword…).
- Anagram (the letters are arranged to form another word).
- Palindromes (the word phrase is readable from left to right and right to left).
- Acrostic (words or phrases the initials of which form another word).
- Word squares (a type of acrostic on a square grid).
- etc.
On the other hand, Yuldosheva (2022) listed 9 main types of play-on-word:

- Alliteration (repeated initial consonant sounds or vowel sounds in multiple words).
- Homographs (words that spell the same way but have distinct meanings).
- Homophones (words that sound the same but have distinct meanings and spelling).
- Idioms (phrases that have different meaning from its literal one).
- Metaphor (comparing 2 objects base on their similarity).
- Onomatopoeia (words that describe sounds).
- Pun (a literary technique that exploits the unique potential meanings of words).
- Simile (2 entities are brought into comparison despite the similarity or difference).
- Spoonerisms (a speech error that causes the first sounds of two words to be switched
around to create an unintended meaning).
12
The universe of wordplay is vast. It shows an uncountable linguistic utilization. By
exploring different aspects of language, we can gain a better understanding of how
words are used in different contexts.
2.3.2 Pun
In A Dictionary of Stylistics of Katie Wales (2011), puns are defined as words with
several meanings. A pun “involves the use of a polysemous word to suggest two or
more meanings (commonly literal v. figurative); or the use of homonyms, i.e. different
words which look or sound the same but which have different meanings” (Wales,
2011 :349). This word-playing stylistic method gives a dual meaning and the potential
for similarity between two unconnected linguistic components.
Attardo (1994) conceptualized pun as “a textual occurrence in which a sequence of

sounds must be interpreted with a reference to a second sequence of sounds, which
may, but need not, be identical to the first sequence, for the full meaning of the text to
be accessed”.
Ying Wu and Qi Pan (2012) commented that pun is a witticism involving the playful
use of a word in different senses or of words. They agreed that puns utilize words with
several meanings so they can be employed to convey sarcasm and humor. They
categorized pun as homophonic pun, paronomasia, antalaclasis, sylleptic pun and
asteismus.
According to Stefan Kjerkegaard (2011), the term pun refers to a more limited but
equally valid definition or subset of wordplay. The definition of pun is diverse.
Yuldosheva (2022) said “it is a literary technique that exploits the unique potential
meanings of words, and often involves homonyms, words that are identical in sounds
and spelling (or at least in one feature)”. Delabastita 1996 said the pun contrasts
linguistic structures with different meanings on the basis of their formal similarity
and he divided puns into 4 majors, with vertical and horizontal categories for each:
- Vertical homonymy & horizontal homonymy.
- Vertical homophony & horizontal homophony.
- Vertical homography & horizontal homography.
13
- Vertical paronymy & horizontal paronymy.
Pun’s concept is also as broad as play-on-word identification. However, the humor in

it primarily stems from the words' ambiguous connotation. Therefore, obvious
hardship while translating pun is finding the equivalent term in the linguistic storage of
target language.
2.4 Strategies to deal with puns & wordplay in translation

Although Delabastita (2004) assumed wordplay creates linguistic problems since the
language mechanism is not homogeneous, he suggested 8 translation strategies for pun
translation:
- PUN -> PUN : the source-text pun is translated by a target language pun, which
may possibly be significantly different from the original wordplay in terms of their
linguistic basis, formal construction, semantic structure, textual effect and contextual
setting
- PUN -> NON-PUN : the pun is rendered by a non-punning phrase which may
salvage both senses of the wordplay or select one of the senses at the cost of
sacrificing another
- PUN -> RELATED RHETORICAL DEVICE : the pun is replaced by some
wordplay-related rhetorical device (repetition, alliteration, rhyme, referential
vagueness, irony, poetic metaphor, paradox, etc.) which aims to recapture the effect of
the source-text pun
- PUN -> ZERO : the portion of text containing the pun is omitted
- PUN S.T = PUN T.T : the translator reproduces the source text pun and possibly its
immediate environment in its original formulation, i.e. without actually “translating” it
- NON-PUN -> PUN : the translator introduces a pun in textual positions where the
original text has no wordplay, by way of compensation to make up for source-text pún
lost elsewhere (or for some other reasons)
- ZERO ->PUN : totally new textual material is added to the text, containing
wordplay and having no apparent precedent or justification in the source text except as
compensatory device
14
- EDITORIAL TECHNIQUES: explanatory footnotes, the ‘anthological’
presentation of different, supposedly complementary solutions to one and the same
source text problem, etc.
He also mentioned that these strategies can be combined together in various ways. To
render a pun from source language to the target language, the author can use 2
techniques instead of one. The example for this situation will be clear in the analysis
section.
Above are highly refined theories of humor in translation, wordplay and puns, as well
as some strategies to deal with this type of figurative of speech. The theories are aimed
to show the diversity of wordplay and are important for the analysis of pun translating
process. The theories also helpful in the analysis section of puns and wordplay in the
novel Lolita, therefore clarify the flexibility of different authors when dealing with
wordplay.
2.5. Methodology
2.5.1 Research method
The researcher applies qualitative method to the case study, which powers evidence on
words, narratives, descriptors. The method also helps to give the inductive reasoning.
The result of this study is considered subjective. The data will be analyzed base on the
relative study and theories.
15
2.5.2 Data collecting procedure
Read the
primary
reference
Collecting the
wordplay
Find equivalent Find different

case studies on language
wordplay versions of Lolita
Filter out the

puns from other
translations
Analyze
Figure 1 Data collecting procedure

As demonstrated above, the data collecting procedure requires 6 steps in particular.
The researcher, at first, read the primary source carefully. Then, she highlighted the
outstanding wordplay situation. The next step was finding relevant studies on
wordplay to provide the theoretical background for the study. In this step, the
researcher was inspired by the relevant case studies which compared English Lolita
with Polish and Russian translations. Hence, she decided to refer to several foreign
translations to diversify the wordplay translation techniques from various authors. In
total, 5 books of Lolita have become the primary source for her case study. After finish
filtering the puns, she put them in a specific category and analyzed them. The whole
process took a total of 3 months to accomplish.
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Chapter III: Finding & Analysis
In chapter 3, the specific cases of puns and wordplay will be drawn into the analysis.
This chapter gives an illustration of puns and wordplay in Lolita and put them in
specific categories. The researcher will examine each wordplay on the alliteration of
external rhyme, repetition of vowels and phonemes, anagram and clarify pun on
homophone and paronymy. The comparison of the case in multiple languages and the
techniques applied in each translated version will also be illustrated.
3.1 Findings
The examples of puns and wordplay are collected and enumerated in the table below.
The code for each case is named and the location of the object from the book is also
provided.
Location
Code Object
(Part 1)
Lolita, love of my life, fire of my loins. My sin. My
L01 Chapter 1
soul
She had a Nansen, or better say Nonsense, passport
L02 which for some reason a share in her husband's solid Chapter 8
Swiss citizenship could not easily transcend;
I left my betters the task of analyzing glacial drifts,
drumlins, and gremlins, and kremlins, and for a time
L03 Chapter 9
tried to jot down what I fondly thought were
"reactions".
…as the psychotherapist, as well as the rapist, will
tell you.. Chapter 27 &
L04 repeat part 2
The rapist was Charlie Holmes; I am the therapist —a chapter 1
matter of nice spacing in the way of distinction
So Humbert the Cubus schemed and dreamed—and
Chapter 17 &
L05 the red sun of desire and decision (the two things that
chapter 11
create a live world)…
17
…and with a ghastly grin Humbert the Humble beat a
gloomy retreat while she went on wisecracking
streetward.
L06 I produced a small vial containing Papa's Purple Pills Chapter 27
"Where the devil did you get her?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"I said: the weather is getting better."
"Seems so."
"Who's the lassie?"
L07 Chapter 28
"My daughter."
"You lie—she's not."
"I said: July was hot. Where's her mother?"
"Dead."
L08 I spend my doleful days in dumps and dolors… Chapter 11
Or is it because I can imagine so well the rest of the
L09 colorful classroom around my dolorous and hazy Chapter 11
darling…
L10 Lo - and behold Chapter 11
Chapter 20 &
L11 Hour Glass Lake - Our Glass Lake
Chapter 11
L12 Vivian Darkbloom Foreword
Table 1 Selection of pun and wordplay objects
Obviously, there are more puns and wordplay cases in the novel but the researcher
only enumerates the most outstanding puns in chapter 1. These puns will be put into
categorization, along with the analysis and comparison in the next section. Various
translations of puns and wordplay will also be indicated.
3.2 Categorize and analyse Pun & Wordplay cases

3.2.1 Categorization and analysis of wordplay
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3.2.1.1 Wordplay on alliteration - External rhyme
The dialogue in chapter 28 is considered as a classic and tricky wordplay in the entire
novel. The table below exhibits two translated versions of the dialogue including
Vietnamese translation by Duong Tuong and Russian translation by Nabokov.
L07 - Chapter 28
"Where the devil did you get her?"
"I said: the weather is getting better."
"Seems so."
"Who's the lassie?"
English
"My daughter."
"You lie—she's not."
"I said: July was hot. Where's her mother?"
"Dead."
“Trời chứng giám, cô bé con kháu nhẩy.”
“Xin lỗi, ông nói gì?”
“Tôi nói: Trời tháng Tám có vẻ hơn tháng Bảy.”
“Có vẻ thế.”
“Con bé là ai.”
Vietnamese
“Con gái tôi.”
“Có qua mặt đếch được tôi.”
“Xin lỗi ông nói gì?”
“Tôi nói: tháng qua nực chết được thôi. Mẹ nó đâu?”
“Chết rồi.”
“Как же ты еѐ достал?” “How did you find her?”
“Простите?” "Sorry?"
“Говорю: дождь перестал”. “I say: the rain has stopped.”
Russian “Да, кажется”. "Yes, it seems."
“Я где-то видал эту “I have seen this girl somewhere
девочку”. before.”
“Она моя дочь”. "She is my daughter."
19
“Врѐшь — не дочь”. "You're lying - she is not your
daughter."
“Простите?” "Excuse me?"
“Я говорю: роскошная “I say: beautiful night. Where is her
ночь. Где еѐ мать?” mother?”
“Умерла”. "Dead."
Translated by Nikita Kharitonov
Table 2 Translations of case L07
When Quilty asked, “Where the devil did you get her?”, Humbert seemed annoyed,
and asked again, Quilty repeated the question differently "The weather is getting
better", and the same context continue in the following passage. In this dialogue, it can
be understood as a rivalry between two men for a little girl, but it can also be
understood in the way that Humbert's heart is restless, so he unheard what others say
and thought they were lying to him. Readers have the right to understand the context
as the way they want, but the translator must understand the writer's ideas in order to
translate the exact context and intention.
The external rhyme is often used to refer to the case of syllables repetition at the end
of a verse. The dialogue above also uses a similar technique. Nabokov used two pairs
of external rhymes at the end to create the wordplay for Quilty’s utterance. The word
"her" and "better" have the same "er" assonance. Similarly “not” and “hot” have the
same “ot” assonance at the end. Furthermore, the pairs of repeated questions also have
the same number of sounds. As a result, it helps to portray the classic wordplay in the
novel in a natural and logical way.
In the Vietnamese translation, Duong Tuong used the pair “nhẩy” - “bảy” and “đếch” -
“chết” to remain the pun. The Vietnamese author had an intellectual method in this
wordplay translation. Since word-for-word translation method is unable to retain the
wordplay, Duong Tuong used another way to convey the intention of Nabokov, still,
remain the similar detail in the source text. For instance, the detail “July” was only
mentioned in the second wordplay pair, but Duong Tuong has skillfully switched July
20
from the second wordplay pair to make the first alliterative assonance pairs in his
translation, with the aim of delivering the most attached translation as possible.
Clearly, the author has successfully applied the PUN -> PUN technique in this
situation based on Vietnamese language features.
Nabokov recreated his play on word in the Russian version, but with a slight
difference. Of course, this dialogue differs slightly from the original in terms of
content. Nabokov used the word "перестал" (rain), which is a noun related to the
weather, to rhyme with "достал". The difference lies in the second assonance pairs. In
the Russian version, the second wordplay used up to 3 words with similar final
assonance. The author wisely took advantage of the word "дочь" (daughter) to make
the external rhyme for the second wordplay and that creates the alliteration of 3 words
end with assonance "очь". In this situation, Nabokov has also skillfully rendered the
wordplay from his original novel by using PUN -> PUN technique.
3.2.1.2 Wordplay on assonance alliteration

a) L05 - Chapter 17 & 11
Humbert usually name himself with several nicknames, Humbert the Cubus and
Humbert the Humble appeared in chapter 11 and 17 are the examples for this. The
table below gives the Vietnamese translation for these nicknames.
L05 - Chapter 17 & 11
So Humbert the Cubus schemed and dreamed—and the red sun
of desire and decision (the two things that create a live world)…
English
…and with a ghastly grin Humbert the Humble beat a gloomy
retreat while she went on wisecracking streetward.
Như vậy đó, Humbert-Không-Phải-Dâm-Quỉ tính kế va mơ mộng
- và mặt trời đỏ của dục vọng và quyết tâm (hai thứ tạo nên thế
Vietnamese giới sống động)…
…Humbert-Nhục-Nhã buồn bã rút lui, trong khi em tiếp tục cợt
21
nhả với gã đứng dưới đường.
Table 3 Translation of case L05
Pun in nickname is very common in English language. Similarly, in Vietnamese

language, people also create nicknames with wordplay lies on the repetition of the first
consonant.
Ex: Thịnh Thông Thái, Hà Hay Ho,…
Yet, in English, nicknames usually attach with a noun that rhymes with the person’s
name. This is one of the most difficult types of wordplay in the novel when it comes to
translation since the attached noun in nickname must share with the character’s name
at least one equivalent assonance. Furthermore, Nabokov kept the wordplay
continuing on the following verb, based on the rhyme and alliteration of the assonance
of the verbs.
Humbert the Cubus schemed and dreamed
/ˈhʌm.bət/ /kjʊ.bəs/ /skiːmd/ /driːmd/
An interesting point in the second nickname is the first verb from verb couplet starts
with the /b/ consonant, which continues rhyme with the word Humble.
Humbert the Hum-ble b-eat a gloomy retreat
/ˈhʌm.bət/ /ˈhʌm.bəl/ /biːt/ /rɪˈtriːt/
In the first nickname, Humbert named himself Cubus, which was after a demon called
incubus, which is explained in The annotated Lolita as a male evil spirit who seek
sexual intercourse with women in their sleep. Duong Tuong re-displayed the first
nickname by word-for-word translation, which deletes all the rhymes. But in the
22
second nickname, he found the rhyme that connected the adjective humble with
gloomy to bring back wordplay rhyme in a linguistically appropriate manner.
Humbert - Nhục - Nhã buồn bã rút lui
Demonstratively, with one type of wordplay, there are various ways to render it,
whether it will omit all the alliteration or recreate another linguistic pun.
b) L10 - Chapter 11
One of the most interesting play-on-word cases that Nabokov has generated in Lolita
was the dialogue between Lolita and her mom when Lolita wanted to accompany
Humbert and her mother in a driving shopping.
L10 - Chapter 11
English Lo - and behold
Lo-Lẩu Lầu Lâu*
*Nguyên văn: “and behold”. Lolita tiếp nối câu quát trước đó của bà
Vietnamese
Haze: “Lo”, ghép lại thành “Lo and behold”. “Lo and behold” là 1
thành ngữ cổ biểu đạt sự ngạc nhiên, nay thường hàm ý đùa cợt
Russian “Ло - Ло барахло”
Lo is a shortened form of the name Lolita and is pronounced similarly to low /ləʊ/.
The full phrase lo and behold is an interjection (or an idiom) utilized to express
surprise with a humorous effect. After her mother yelled at Lolita, she replied and
behold to tease her mother and ignored the mother’s discomfort. The rhyme lies on the
vowel /əʊ/ in this phrase is noticeable:
Lo and behold
/ləʊ/ /ænd/ /bɪˈhəʊld/
/əʊ/
23
The obstacle here is Lolita created the joke by using an idiom that only available in
English. In this situation, both Duong Tuong and Nabokov re-render the wordplay by
turning it into target language pun. Distinctively, Duong Tuong tagged an explanation
to his pun. Although they have successfully retained the pun, the target language
phrases are completely meaningless. Those puns are rather Lolita’s pointless replies
for the aim of ridicule than a continuation of any phrase.
3.2.1.3 Wordplay on consonant alliteration

a. L01 - Chapter 1
This is the very first line in Lolita, a famous iconic quote help immediately identify the
novel. In this example, the translations of Duong Tuong and Thien Luong are brought
into the case study, in order to figure out the applied technique from each author.
L01 - Chapter 1
English Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin. My soul
Vietnamese 01 Lolita, ánh sáng đời tôi, ngọn lửa hạ bộ tôi. Tội lỗi của tôi, tâm
(Duong Tuong) hồn của tôi.
Vietnamese 02 Lolita, ánh sáng đời tôi, lửa dục lòng tôi. Lầm lỗi của tôi, linh hồn
(Thien Luong) của tôi.
The play-on-word technique used here is complicated. Consider the link of alliteration
in this sentence in the illustration below.
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin. My soul
/lɒlˈiː.tə/, /laɪt/ /əv/ /maɪ/ /laɪf/, /faɪər/ /əv/ /maɪ/ /lɔɪns/. /maɪ/ /sɪn/. /maɪ/ /səʊl/
Alliteration in poetry calls for stressed syllables that start with the same consonant.
Since Lolita by Nabokov is written in prose, we just need to be aware of each word's
primary stress rather than analyzing the metre to identify which syllables are stressed.
In this sentence, we can divide the stress into 2 main groups:
24
- The first group is based on consonant /l/, which lies on Lolita, love, life, loins. The
placement of the /l/ sound on these word creates a regular metre effect for the sentence
as if they were written in poetry. The English name Lolita, by itself, brings out the
upcoming words: light of my life, fire of my loins…By embedding melodies and
musical rhymes into this sentence, the line appears as a ringing bell Lo-li-li-lo. This
opening statement carried a bunch of the effect, including figurative, evocative, and
musical, which are unobtainable when translated into another language.
- The second group is based on the repetition of “my”, which strongly emphasizes
the want and obsession of Humbert to Lolita. By using the repetition of the determiner
“my”, plus, Humbert was the storyteller, readers can understand that Humbert not only
confirmed the mania he had with Lolita but also compared the little girl as his deepest
and darkest fascination. Thus, this alliteration was not simply a wordplay, but also
served as a metaphor since Lolita’s image was strongly attached with Humbert’s
fantasy.
The other wordplay is the alliteration of phoneme s, which is very clear. But the minor
highlight placed on the word life and fire, because life is not only an evocation of
Lolita through the initial phoneme l, but it’s final consonant is also the beginning
consonant of fire. Ultimately, at the very opening for his book, Nabokov has laid a big
problem for other translators, as well as performed his expert skill in writing.
The Vietnamese translation of both authors manifestly deleted all the elaboration from
the wordplay. Duong Tuong failed completely when keeping the familiar word-for-
word method for this sentence. Thien Luong’s phrase is not much better. A slight
distinction is Thien Luong attempted to keep the rhyme 4-4-4-4 in his version, yet
clearly, it did not do much to help.
b. L06 - Chapter 27
L06 is a case of wordplay based on the initial consonant alliteration that is easily
noticeable and intriguing.
L06 - Chapter 27
English I produced a small vial containing Papa's Purple Pills
25
Tôi lấy ra một cái lọ nhỏ đựng những viên Thuốc Tím Thần
Vietnamese
Thông
Polish Purpurowe Pigułki Papy
(Robert Stiller) Means: Papa's Purple Pills
Polish
Tycie Tabletki Tatki
(Michał
means: Tiny Daddy's Pills
Kłobukowski)
я вынул из кармана пузырѐк, содержавший ПАПИНЫ
Russian Пилюли.
Means: I took out of my pocket the vial containing PAPA'S Pills.
Humbert gave Lolita sleeping pills to make her asleep with the aim of carrying out his
attempt on sexual intercourse with his nymphet, calling them "Papa's Purple Pills".
Nabokov uses the father's name's hypocoristic form and alliteration to make this name,
which makes it appear more childish.
In L06, Polish authors provided their own alternative version successfully. The only
dissimilarity is that version from Robert Stiller retained the same consonant /p/, while
Michał Kłobukowski conveyed the pun with the initial /t/ sound. In Vietnamese text,
Duong Tuong deleted the detail Papa in his pun, he added another Vietnamese
adjective that starts with T to create the new pun which was an intelligent idea. In
Russian text, Nabokov seemed to give up on his own pun and translated word-for-
word because the detail purple was erased. This is by the fact that there is no
equivalent adjective for purple in Russian that starts with T or P. In addition,
ПАПИНЫ Пилюли starts with phoneme /p/ so Nabokov accepted to retain 2
alliteration instead of 3.
c. L08 - Chapter 11:

In L08, we easily see another repetition in the first consonant. However, the valuable
detail of this wordplay lies in the meaning of each adjective that starts with the initial
/d/ sound .
26
L08 - Chapter 11
English I spend my doleful days in dumps and dolors…
Vietnamese Trải qua những ngày thê lương trong buồn chán và sầu đau
The official name of Lolita is Dolores Haze. Her first name and surname make a near-
homophone in order with the adjective dolorous and hazy which appear earlier in the
case L09. Consider the translations of L09 in the table below.
L09 - Chapter 11
Or is it because I can imagine so well the rest of the colorful
English
classroom around my dolorous and hazy darling…
Hay vì mình có thể hình dung quá rõ phần còn lại của cái lớp học
đầy màu sắc xung quanh người yêu dấu đau buồn và lãng đãng
Vietnamese sương* của mình
*Ám chỉ tên ho của Lolita: Dolores phái sinh từ “dolor”, “đau buồn”,
Haze “lan sương mỏng”.
Russian “А кроме того, я могу так ясно представить себе остальную
часть этого красочного класса вокруг моей дымчато-
розовой, долорозовой го-лубки.”
Means: And besides, I can so clearly imagine the rest of this colorful
classroom around my smoky pink bird
Translated by Nikita Kharitonov
As mentioned, first name of Lolita, Dolores /dəˈlɔːrəs/, has nearly same pronunciation
and spelling with the adjective dolorous /ˈdɒlərəs/. Although The annotated Lolita did
not explain the wordplay on Lolita’s name, Duong Tuong still observantly recognized
the homophonic pun and made a note to explain the original wordplay in the case L09.
Continuing in that chapter, dolors was used to describe a day of Humbert with the
meaning attached with sadness. The word dolors is an allusion to Lolita. Nabokov
invented it as a shortcut adjective from dolorous and it can not be found in any English
dictionary. Nabokov also took advantage of the rhyme and the meaning of doleful to
27
enhance the sadness when pairing this adjective with dolors. In L08, Duong Tuong
chose to skip all /d/ repetition and translated the meaning literally which led to the
disappearance of wordplay. In return, he was able to retain the dolorous meaning of
the context.
The words' phonetic closeness to the name Dolores Haze would be lost if the meaning
were translated, so in Russian Lolita, Nabokov creates a calque of the adjective
dolorous and changes hazy to hazily-rosy (дымчато-розовой) to keep the pun.
His calque formulation can be explained by using the blending technique in word
formation.
For example: Smoke + fog = smog ( smog is a blend of smoke and fog)
Similarly, Nabokov invented his wordplay by blending 2 words into 1. The only
difference is the meaning of the word is not exist.
Долорез - a surname of Lolita
Розовый - it is a pink color
Долорез + Розовый = Долорозовой
Although wordplay lies on consonant alliteration is easy to realize, it does not mean
translator can optionally choose an equivalent phrase with the same initial alliteration.
In order to translate, it is vital to fully grasp the author's meaning and hidden intentions.
3.2.1.4 Wordplay on anagram

Nabokov installed quite a lot anagrams in his story. Anagrams can show up under
names or variations of noun into verb and vice versa. One of an anagram-matic names
in the novel is Vivian Darkbloom.
L12 - Foreword - Vivian Darkbloom
Vietnamese Vivian Darkbloom
Polish Vivian Darkbloom
Russian Vivian Damor-Blok
28
Quilty Claire is the person killed by Humbert at the end of the story and Vivian
Darkbloom is his female writing partner who plays a minor role in the storyline. It is
hardly to notice that Vivian Darkbloom is an anagram of Vladimir Nabokov. For this
reason, the name shows an elaborate idea of the author. Her name represents for a
personal feature of Nabokov in the novel. By making an anagram from his own name,
Nabokov has defined his unique content for the novel that cannot be confused by any
other book.
Not only depict a play-on-word intention from the author, but Vivian Darkbloom is
also a proper noun that is connected with personal name. Therefore, mostly every
translator will tend to apply the technique of translating proper nouns when it comes to
names. In fact, most of them applied the strategy “copy”, or so-called “borrowing” as
the simplest and the most suitable type of translation for names. This is perhaps due to
copyright issues in which such names are seen as “brands” or “commodities” and as
such they are usually kept unchanged in the TL (Gehringer 2004).
The name Vivian Darkbloom was completely preserved when translated into
Vietnamese and Polish, which was non-pun rendering. But in the Russian translation,
Nabokov once again shuffled the order of the letters and changed it to Vivian Damor-
Blok with the explanation that Damor was her stage name and Blok was after her
husband's surname.
It is clearly that apart from Nabokov, the other translators were faithful to the original
book when translating proper noun. Nabokov, on the other hand, re-rendered the
wordplay by rearranging the character’s name one more time, in order to keep the pun
and create a clearer hint for readers to recognize the pun through the difference when
they compare it to the original version.
3.2.2 Categorization and analysis of pun

3.2.2.1 Pun on homophones
29
An example of homophonic pun is clearly demonstrated in case L11 with the
homophonic couplet “Our Glass Lake” and “Hourglass Lake”.
L11 - Chapter 11-20

English Our Glass Lake - Hourglass Lake
Hồ Our Glass Lake (Hồ Gương)
Hồ Hourglass Lake (Đồng Hồ Cát)*
Vietnamese
*Hourglass Lake (Hồ Đồng Hồ Cát) va Our Glass Lake (Hồ Gương
của chúng ta) đoc lên đồng âm do chữ H câm
Hourglass Lake is a woodlake located in Ramsdale where Humbert, Charlotte and

Lolita usually spend their time at. Puns on homophones are barely recognizable if they
are not written down. This was proven when Humbert mistakenly wrote down the
wrong lake’s name (Our Glass Lake) in the diary (chapter 11) after hearing it from
Lolita’s utterance. Then later in chapter 20, he realized the original name of the lake
was Hourglass Lake and admitted his error in the spelling. The Annotated Lolita
mentioned that this homophonic pun is Nabokov’s solipsism. Whether being spelled in
one or another way, the name Hourglass Lake or Our Glass Lake both carry an
implicit meaning. The first “Our Glass Lake” associated with Humbert’s personal
space and time with Lolita. He figured the true name “Hourglass Lake” when Lolita
was sent to Camp.Q which implies his obsession with time (explicitly through the
image hourglass, a device utilized to measure time), since he has to wait for a long
time to meet her again.
In this homophonic pun, Duong Tuong chose to render it as a proper noun. He

borrowed the original name from the book to put in his translation. Then, he added a
footnote to explain the linguistic feature that shaped this pun. This process is easily
mistaken with non-pun translating because the name of the lake was retained and the
pun material (homophone) was not deleted. In this case, PUN-ZERO technique was
applied. The homophonic couplet was copied originally to the Vietnamese translation
but the portion of the pun was naturally omitted by the target language features.
30
3.2.2.2 Pun on homographs
Wordplay on homographs can include using the homographic words or playing with
parts of words. The homographic pun must be written down in order to recognize the
similarity in spelling. For instance, consider the pun in L04:
L04 - Chapter 27 & repeat part 2 chapter 1
…(as the psychotherapist, as well as the rapist, will tell you).
English
The rapist was Charlie Holmes; I am the therapist —a matter of
nice spacing in the way of distinction
(theo quan điểm của bác sĩ điều trị bằng phương pháp tâm lí,
cũng như kẻ hiếp dâm*).
*Trong từ “psychotherapist” (bác sĩ điều trị bằng phương pháp tâm lí)
Vietnamese có từ “rapist” (kẻ hiếp dâm).
Kẻ hiếp dâm bệnh hoạn la Charlie Holmes cơ; ta la thầy thuốc trị
bệnh - một chút phân biệt tinh tế mà quan trọng
There are 2 times that Nabokov uses the homographs of the rapist to form the pun.
The frequent use of "The rapist" in homographs hints that Humbert is aware of his
wicked intentions towards Lolita but chooses to conceal them by behaving as an
intellectual. In the first wordplay on homograph, the rapist was derived partly from
psychotherapist. The second homograph of the rapist was based on the similarity in
spelling with the word therapist.
As such, it looks completely untranslatable because the pun is mostly based on the
source language spelling. In the same type of homographic wordplay, Duong Tuong
has different conveying methods to deal with this situation. In the first wordplay of the
rapist, he continued using footnote to clarify the original pun. But when the repetition
of the rapist occurred the second time, he chose to translate it based on the meaning of
the sentence and omitted the pun, without adding further clarification.
31
3.2.2.3 Pun on paronyms
a. L03 - Chapter 9
Paronyms are words that are pronounced or written in a similar way but which have
different lexical meanings. The wordplay in cases L03 and L04 is the illustration for
wordplay on paronymy.
L03 - Chapter 9
I left my betters the task of analyzing glacial drifts, drumlins, and
English gremlins, and kremlins, and for a time tried to jot down what I
fondly thought were "reactions".
Tôi để cho những người có thẩm quyền hơn phân tích những trầm
tích băng hà, những drumlin, gremlin và kremlin*, và trong một
thời gian, tôi cố ghi lại những gì tôi hồn nhiên tưởng là “phản
ứng”…
*“Drumlin”: khối băng trôi không xếp lớp, tựa như một quả đồi dài hẹp
Vietnamese hay bầu dục. Còn “gremlin” và “kremlin” nối vào đó thành một chuỗi
điệp vận theo đà trùng âm – như kiểu “ông giẳng ông giăng” – chứ
không có tương quan về nghĩa (gremlin: theo một số phi công dị đoan
hồi Thế chiến thứ hai, là loài yêu quái vô hình gây trục trặc máy móc;
cũng được dùng như một từ đồng nghĩa với “goblin” (yêu tinh);
“kremlin” (điện Kremlin ở Matxcơva).
As stated in The annotated Lolita, “Drumlins is the plural for an elongate or oval hill
of glacial drift. Gremlin is a mischievous little gnome reported by World War II
airmen as causing mechanical trouble in airplanes. Kremlin is the name of the
governing center of Russia”. The word drumlins was added right after the noun glacial
drifts because they have the similarity in meaning. Here, he listed a bunch of paronym
with the similar pronunciation to drumlins but without any meaning relationship. This
is on the grounds of making the auditory and morphological effects. The pun was
created with the aim of providing an auditory jocularity by manipulating language.
32
Duong Tuong decided to keep the wordplay by not translating the phrase “drumlins,
gremlins, kremlins”. He added a footnote to explain the pun in detail. However, it no
longer maintains the relationship between the meanings of two terms “Drumlins” and
“glacial drift”. As a result, the pun may still be there in the target text, but the readers
may not recognize it or grasp the author's meaning.
b. L02 - Chapter 8:
The pun in L02 based on the similarity in pronunciation and spelling of a proper name
and an adjective. The demonstration is as below:
L02 - Chapter 8
She had a Nansen, or better say Nonsense, passport which for
English some reason a share in her husband's solid Swiss citizenship could
not easily transcend;
Nàng có một hộ chiếu Nansen*, thà gọi quách là Nonsense* cho
nhanh, điều này, vì một lí do nào đó, không dễ gì khắc phục, cho
dù nàng có được chia sẻ phần nào quyền công dân Thụy Sĩ vững
Vietnamese
vàng của chồng;
*Một cách chơi chữ. “Nonsense”, na ná chữ “Nansen” có nghĩa là “vô
nghĩa”.
У неѐ оказался дурацкий Нансенский паспорт, и получению визы
почему-то никак не способствовало швейцарское гражданство
мужа
Russian
means: She turned out to have a stupid Nansen passport, and for some
reason her husband's Swiss citizenship did not contribute to obtaining a
visa.
Posługiwała się paszportem nansenowskim (słuszniej można by o
Polish 01 nim powiedzieć nonsensownym)
(Robert Stiller) means: She used a Nansen passport (it might be more correct to call it
nonsensical)
Polish 02
Paszport nansenowski, a raczej nonsensowny …
( Michał
means: Nansen's passport, or rather nonsensical...
Kłobukowski)
33
The paronymic pun is formed based on the name Nansen (the name of Valeries’s
passport) and the adjective nonsense. The similarities in the spelling as well as
pronunciation are noticeable:
Nan-sen /nɑːn.sən/
Non-sense /ˈnɒn.səns/
Since Nansen is a proper name, the authors can only copy the original name from the
source text to their translation. Polish is a language that belongs to Balto-Slavic
languages, a branch of Indo-European languages. Likewise, English develops from
Germanic languages which are also rooted in Indo-European languages. Hence, the
adjective nonsense can be found in an akin form in Polish. Two Polish authors
rendered this pun literally without any problems (as can be seen in the translation table
above). Russian linguistic classification also starts from East Slavic Languages, a
subdivision of Balto-Slavic branch, Indo-European Languages family. Yet strangely,
the Russian Lolita does not replicate this wordplay, despite the fact that Russian does
have the word "nonsense" [Нонсенс], as Anna Ginter noted (2003: 223).
On the other hand, Vietnamese language belongs to Vietic languages, which root in
Austroasiatic languages. Therefore, no equivalent forms of nonsense in Vietnamese
for Duong Tuong to re-render the pun. To deal with this, Duong Tuong chose to
consider nonsense as a proper noun which he borrowed to paste in his Vietnamese
version. In Vietnamese translation, without technically "translating" the pun, the
translator just replicated it in its original form, including any possible surrounding
context. This is the technique PUN S.T -> PUN T.T. He also added EDITORIAL
TECHNIQUES which put an explanatory footnote to the pun. As a result, in this
particular case, the translator needed up to 2 ways to portray the pun.
34
3.3 Conclusion
A diversity of puns and wordplay illustrated above have proven Nabokov’s erudition
in the way he uses language. It is undeniable that his creativity has challenged the
readers’ minds throughout the story. The sophisticated implication in every play-on-
word case is uneasy to decipher. Thus, it shown the complicated mind of the author
and created the obstacles for other translators.
In order to deal with these delicate “traps” from Nabokov, translators have presented
their distinct solutions for each situation, none of them are imitative to each other. It is
an extreme hardship for translators to convey the original meaning of the pun as well
as retain the initial formulation of the pun since the source language and the target
language have distinctive lexical systems. When it comes to humor translation, there
are no proper or ideal way to handle it. However, with their own ideal in translation,
each of them achieved their own version of Lolita through their distinctive features
and personal thoughtful knowledge. Although controversy on their translations varies
from this country to another, they still received the recognition from their loyal readers,
which was already a precious success.
35
Chapter IV: Solution & Implication
This chapter will summarize the authors’ solutions and give the implication of the
wordplay translating process
4.1 Solution
From the analysis section above, several tactics have been used to surpass the
wordplay in translating process. In 8 strategies to deal with puns quoted from
Delabastita, there are 7 techniques that have been utilized by 4 authors, except for the
technique NON PUN -> PUN. This is because none of them used free-style translation
method to convey the book, or yet, there is no self-intention wordplay case has been
found.
However, based on the cases that have been filtered and analyzed above, for the
Vietnamese version, the author frequently used footnotes (EDITORIAL
TECHNIQUES) to explain the untranslatable puns including homophones, paronyms,
and homographs. These typical cases are exceedingly challenging to translate into
other languages, especially if the target language belongs to another separate language
family.
4.2 Implication
The gain and loss in translation through the wordplay situations that were examined
are noticeable. We cannot promise that a translation will accurately capture every
nuance of the original because languages are unpredictable and divergent, thus we
must accept the loss and sacrifice. On the other hand, as language is profound and
wonderful, the gain in translation that the authors achieved are being noteworthy. For
instance, Russian translation of L07 generates 5 vowel alliteration instead of 4, while
Vietnamese version of L06 has 4 repetitions on the first phoneme instead of 3.
36
Chapter V: Conclusion & Limitation
This is the chapter where the final conclusion will be drawn, along with the hardship
during the accomplishment of the process.
5.1 Major Finding

For each of the 12 wordplay analyses in Chapter 3, a total of 32 translations was
provided. These translations make use of various pun translation strategies. The major
finding that can be reached from the analysis section is depicted as below:
- Firstly, wordplay appear in various forms and it does not merely provide humorous
effect. They are not only defined by the explicit rhetorical devices but also by the
author’s implicit concept. As a result, the authors must get the implications from the
source text in order to translate faithfully (example: L07, L08, L09).
- Secondly, each language represents for an individual cultural spirit and national
characteristics. For that reason, the translation method used for English-Vietnamese
Lolita, English-Russian Lolita, or English-any target languages is unalike (example:
L07).
- In addition, even in the same language, each author will deliver a distinct translated
version of themselves. The strategies to deal with puns and wordplay are not limited.
The only limit is the creativity (example L01, L06).
- Thirdly, there are untranslatable puns that can only be borrowed originally and add a
footnote for explanation (example: L11, L03, L02).
- Finally, languages developed from the same family classification can easily find
equivalent vocabulary forms, thus, it is easier for translators to re-produce the
wordplay without using further complicated tactics. On the contrary, translating
languages that vary from the family classification requires the usage of sophisticated
strategies from the translators. Eventually, the problem of wordplay is likely bigger for
Vietnamese translators than the European ones (this theory has been explained in L02).
37
5.2 Limitation
Accomplishing a task that is related to such a vast field as wordplay is extremely
difficult, especially when there are very few official references available. This is
especially true when it comes to documents that require payment or have restricted
access. Additionally, Nha Trang University does not supply any school’s online
sources for NTU students can freely find the needed document. The books found in the
library do not meet the requirements for students. In such cases, it is important for the
university to be creative and build a prestigious source of information for NTU
students to get access to in order to serve this graduation course.
5.3 Final conclusion

The world of wordplay is not only vast and complicated, but also magical and jocular.
By taking advantage of wordplay, the authors can bring out joy and express their
sarcasm in their work, which make an abundant source for other researchers to explore
in case studies.
By giving the research named “A case study on puns and wordplay in the novel
“Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov”, the researcher hopes to deliver a better
understanding about wordplay. Furthermore, she wishes to give a diverse solution
from various authors who have experienced Lolita translating process. The researcher
believes the field related to wordplay translation is vital for NTU students who study
in Translation & Interpretation department. She hopes in the future, the Faculty of
foreign languages can add the theories that help young translators to surpass this
difficulty in translation.
To summarize, although many puns appear untranslatable at first glance, they are
merely untranslatable in terms of semantic equivalence. If we redefine translation to
include cases of formal substitution, most instances of wordplay will be completely
translatable, even if they first offer a challenge to the translator. And, as previously
demonstrated, some puns can be represented semantically, particularly when the
source and target languages are genetically connected (English and German, Polish
and Russian).
38
-THE END-
39
Reference
Primary sources:
1. Tường, Dương. Lolita. Nhà xuất bản hội nhà văn, 2015.
2. Appel, Alfred, Jr., ed. The Annotated Lolita. New York: McGraw, 1970.
3. Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovič. Lolita. Translated by Robert Stiller, Państwowy
Instytut Wydawniczy, 1991.
4. Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovič. Lolita. Translated by Michał Kłobukowski,
Wydawnictwo Da Capo, 1997.
5. Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich. Lolita. Berkley Books, 1985.
6. Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovič. Лолита. Azbuka, 2013.
Relevant reading:
Attardo, S. 2018. Universals in puns and humorous wordplay. In: Winter-Froemel, E.

and Thaler, V. ed. Cultures and Traditions of Wordplay and Wordplay Research.
Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 89-110. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110586374-005
Attardo, Salvatore. Linguistic theories of humor. Mouton de Gruyter, 1994.
Catford J.C (1965). A linguistic Theory of translator. Oxford: OUP
Diot, Roland. "Humor for Intellectuals: Can it Be Exported and Translated? The Case
of Gary Trudeau’s In Search of Reagan’s Brain." Meta, volume 34, number 1, mars
1989, p. 84–87. https://doi.org/10.7202/002570ar
Deacon, Terrence William. The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and
the Brain. W.W. Norton, 1997. Accessed 14 April 2023.
Delabastita, Dirk. 2004. “Wordplay as a translation problem: a linguistic

perspective.” In Übersetzung, translation, traduction, Harald Kittel, Armin Paul Frank,
Norbert Greiner, Theo Hermans, Werner Koller, José Lambert, Fritz Paul (eds.), 600–
606. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
40
Delabastita, Dirk, editor. Wordplay and Translation. St. Jerome Publishing, 1996.
Raskin, Victor. 1985. Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Boston: D. Reidel.
Vandale, Jeroen. Humor of Translation. University of Oslo
Vandaele, Jeroen. 2002b. “Introduction. (Re-)Constructing Humour: Meanings and

Means.” In Translating humour, Jeroen Vandaele (ed.), 149–172.
Fernandes, Lincoln. “Translation of Names in Children’s Fantasy Literature: Bringing

the Young Reader into Play.” New Voices in Translation Studies, vol. 2, 2006, pp. 44-
57.
K. Tarhini, Sarah. “STYLISTIC DEVICES OF VERBAL HUMOUR.” 2021.
Kjerkegaard, Stefan. “Seven Days Without a Pun Makes One Weak. Two Functions of
Wordplay in Literature and Literary Theory.” Journal of Literature, Language and
Linguistic, vol. Volume 3, 2011, p. 9.
Martin, Rod A. The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Elsevier Science,

2007. Accessed 14 April 2023.
Ginter, Anna. Świat za słowami Vladimira Nabokova: zabawy słowne i ich przekład.
Wyd. Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2003.
Rozycka, Julia. “Puns and wordplay in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita in two Polish
translations by Robert Stiller and Michał Kłobukowski.” BA thesis written in the
Department of Anglo-Irish Literature, 2018.
Hartmann, R.R.K & F.C Stock (1972). Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.
Amsterdam: Applied Science.
Nida, E. & C Taber. (1974). The Theory and Practice of Translation. California:
Standford University Press.
Newmark P. (1988). A textbook of Translation. London: Prentice Hall
41
Wales, Katie. A Dictionary of Stylistics. Longman, 2011.
Wróblewski, Janusz. “DOLORES DE LA TRADUCCION, OR LOLITA IN

TRANSLATION.” TRANSLATION AND MEANING, vol. 10, no. NUR 812, 2013, pp.
79-90.
Winter-Froemel, Esme, and Verena Thaler, editors. Cultures and Traditions of

Wordplay and Wordplay Research. De Gruyter, 2018
von Stackelberg, Jürgen. 1988. “Translating Comical Writing.” Translation Review 28:
10–14
Shahriyor Zohidjon Ogli Kholmatov, and Yuldosheva Madaminjon Qizi

Mushtariybegim. "IMPORTANCE OF WORDPLAY IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE (IN
THE EXAMPLE OF PUN)" Academic research in educational sciences, vol. 3, no. 6,
2022, pp. 869-873.
Wu, Ying, and Qi Pan. “Strategies on Translation of English Puns.” Theory and
Practice in Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 10, October 2012, pp. 2133-2138.
Yule, George. The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Other sources:
Phạm, Ly Mi. “'Lolita' - trái cấm không già.” Tiền Phong, 23 March 2012,
https://tienphong.vn/lolita-trai-cam-khong-gia-post570710.tpo. Accessed 30 April
2023.
Vuong Ngo. LOLITA: TÌNH YÊU hay những ÁM ẢNH LỆCH LẠC. 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARb0DdqBTQ&list=LL&index=4.
“Nhà Văn Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov - Tiểu sử, cuộc đời và sự nghiệp.”
Dean2020, 3 February 2023, https://dean2020.edu.vn/nha-van-vladimir-
vladimirovich-nabokov/. Accessed 30 April 2023.
42
Di Nguyen, Hai. “Butterflies and birds in Lolita.” The little white attic, 17 May 2017,
http://thelittlewhiteattic.blogspot.com/2017/05/butterflies-and-birds-in-lolita.html.
Accessed 30 April 2023
Nam, Hoàng. “Lolita” và câu chuyện dịch thuật | Báo Dân trí.” Dân trí, 3 May 2014,
https://dantri.com.vn/van-hoa/lolita-va-cau-chuyen-dich-thuat-1399565300.htm.
Accessed 30 April 2023.
Đình Đăng, Nguyễn. “Tại sao dồn sự chú ý vào chương đầu của bản dịch “Lolita”?”
Nguyen Dinh Dang's blog, 7 May 2019,
https://nguyendinhdang.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/chuong_dau_lolita/?fbclid=IwAR
018BVx4HlWfwUh2EBM5qGwcxsgGplA3fZXvs7GnsiJ6KePfkU4JZndRno.
Accessed 24 May 2023.
“Vladimir Nabokov.” Encyclopedia.com,

https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-literature-
biographies/vladimir-nabokov. Accessed 30 April 2023.
Nhân, Minh. “Dịch giả Dương Tường từng gây bão với "Lolita": Tôi có những niềm
vui nhỏ nhặt khi dịch truyện Kiều sang tiếng Anh.” Kenh14, https://kenh14.vn/dich-
gia-duong-tuong-tung-gay-bao-voi-lolita-toi-co-nhung-niem-vui-nho-nhat-khi-dich-
truyen-kieu-sang-tieng-anh-20190203232510315.chn. Accessed 30 April 2023.
Germanic languages. Wikipedia
Indo-European Languages. Wikipedia
Balto-Slavic Languages. Wikipedia
Vietic Languages. Wikipedia
Austroasiatic Language. Wikipedia
East Slavic languages. Wikipedia
43
iswearenglish. “Lo and Behold Meaning - Lo and Behold Examples - Lo and Behold
Definition - Interjections.” YouTube, 22 November 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdXK4J5dQcg. Accessed 22 May 2023.
44
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A case study on puns and wordplay in "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov

Thesis · May 2023

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A case study on puns and wordplay in

Supervisor: Nguyen Hoang Ho M.A

Student’s name: Vu Le Ngoc Ha

Student ID: 61132746

Nha Trang, 2023

A case study on puns and wordplay in

Supervisor: Nguyen Hoang Ho M.A

Student’s name: Vu Le Ngoc Ha

Student ID: 61132746

Nha Trang, 2023

I want to express my gratitude to my Russian friend Nikita Kharitonov in particular

Table 1 Selection of pun and wordplay objects 18

Figure 1 Data collecting procedure 16

1.2 Aims of the Study

1.3 Scope of the Study

1.4 Significance of the Study

1.5 Organization of the Study

2.1. Primary sources of the study

Best known as the author of Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov is well-known as a master of

2.1.1.2 The literary work of Lolita

Nabokov's books allow readers to experience enlightenment - both aesthetic and

2.1.2 Other translated versions of Lolita

Additionally, the book's Vietnamese translator Lolita acknowledged the difficulty of

2.1.2.2 Polish translation

Michał Kłobukowski is an American and English literary translator and a poet. He

2.1.2.3 Russian translation

2.2. Humor in translation

2.2.2 Humor in translation

As for the linguistic untranslatability of humor, scholars point at problems rooted in

Consequently, prescriptive researchers and translators frequently contemplate the

2.3 Semantic aspect - Puns and wordplay

In chapter 9 semantic, George Yule mentioned 3 lexical relations (homophones,

Delabastita also gave a visualization of wordplay as the intersection of four aspects:

Salvatore Attardo (2018) assumed that “The field of wordplay is beset by

On the other hand, Yuldosheva (2022) listed 9 main types of play-on-word:

Attardo (1994) conceptualized pun as “a textual occurrence in which a sequence of

Pun’s concept is also as broad as play-on-word identification. However, the humor in

2.4 Strategies to deal with puns & wordplay in translation

Find equivalent Find different

Filter out the

Figure 1 Data collecting procedure

3.2 Categorize and analyse Pun & Wordplay cases

Table 2 Translations of case L07

3.2.1.2 Wordplay on assonance alliteration

…Humbert-Nhục-Nhã buồn bã rút lui, trong khi em tiếp tục cợt

Table 3 Translation of case L05

Pun in nickname is very common in English language. Similarly, in Vietnamese

Ex: Thịnh Thông Thái, Hà Hay Ho,…

/ˈhʌm.bət/ /kjʊ.bəs/ /skiːmd/ /driːmd/

/ˈhʌm.bət/ /ˈhʌm.bəl/ /biːt/ /rɪˈtriːt/

Humbert - Nhục - Nhã buồn bã rút lui

3.2.1.3 Wordplay on consonant alliteration

Table 6 Translations of case L06

c. L08 - Chapter 11: