The present research intends to illustrate the contributions, the newly developed multidisciplinary field of research known as Cultural Linguistics can make to the Translation Studies and the translation of humour as a culturally constructed element. The study starts with explaining the aims and objectives of the research and the key concepts that constitute our model of analysis. Then, as the main objective of this study, we propose a new model for the translation of humour encompassing a typology of conceptual structures for the analysis of humour translation, a large step in Translation Studies, that contributes to the on-going research in translation theory and practice. Later on, we describe how the proposed model and its typology of conceptual structures can be applied to the analysis of examples extracted from novels in translation between English and Persian in comparative studies.

In the present research, we discuss Humour Studies within Linguistics, focusing mainly on linguistic theories of humour including the Semantic Script Theory of Humour (SSTH; Raskin 1985), and the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH; Attardo 1994, 2017b). The study demonstrates different types of cultural conceptualisations (Sharifian 2017a, 2017b) that the interlocutors draw upon, such as cultural categories, cultural metaphors, and cultural schemas to create humour, and we argue that the General Theory of Verbal Humour does not account for culturally-constructed verbal humour. Hence, we argue that it is necessary to fill this gap in the most prevailing theory of verbal humour, the General Theory of Verbal Humour, by demonstrating how cultural conceptualisations must be considered in identifying and analysing instantiations of humour, in moving towards a comprehensive theory of culturally constructed humour.

Using a blend of methods including existing subtitling models in Audiovisual Translation (AVT), Functionalism in Translation Studies, the General Theory of Verbal Humour, Cultural Linguistics (CuL) and careful analysis of numerous examples of Persian humour on social media, i.e. Instagram, the present research aims to demonstrate that there is a compelling argument to be made for updating traditional approaches to translation, subtitling in particular (cf. Zabalbeascoa, 2019). The findings of this study show that in today’s globalised world, in which social media and new technologies are influencing the translation process, the core model of translation, subtitling in particular, in all its actuality, seems to be incomplete, as cultural conceptualisations underlying lexical items are lost in translation. Cultural conceptualisations that are, however, central to meaning construction and humour perception in the target culture. Cultural conceptualisations that are, thus, crucial for translators’ daily task. The study suggests that in order to meet the concerns of the translation profession today, in this globalised world with its new ways of communication, and for successful intercultural communication, cultural conceptualisations underlying lexical items be incorporated into Audiovisual Translation (AVT), subtitling models (cf. Zabalbeascoa, 2019).

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