This semiotically-oriented study examined the Chinese subtitle translations for humor in English sitcoms and highlighted the interactions between the verbal and the visual modes. Drawing on the General Theory of Verbal Humor and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this study examined three script opposition types: normal vs. abnormal, actual vs. nonactual, and possible vs. impossible; furthermore, it analyzed three logical mechanism categories: false specification or exemplification; exaggeration or false analogy; and false reasoning on time, space, cause, or condition. It focused on the Chinese subtitles for English verbally-visually expressed humor in the English sitcom Modern Family (Season 5) and found that literal translation and explicitation are the two predominantly employed translation procedures to render script opposition and logical mechanism. This study further demonstrates that the two key concerns for subtitling English verbally-visually expressed humor are highlighting the incongruities embodied in script opposition and triggering the semiotic resolutions represented in logical mechanisms. These findings elucidate the relevance of visual elements for subtitling humor both among subtitle translators and researchers.

这项以符号学为导向的研究检查了英语情景喜剧中幽默的中文字幕翻译，并强调了语言和视觉模式之间的相互作用。本研究借鉴口头幽默的一般理论和系统功能语言学 (SFL)，检查了三种脚本对立类型：正常与异常、实际与非实际、可能与不可能；此外，它分析了三个逻辑机制类别：虚假说明或例证；夸张或错误的类比；以及对时间、空间、原因或条件的错误推理。专注于英文情景喜剧摩登家庭中英文视觉表达幽默的中文字幕（第5季）并发现直译和显化是两个主要采用的翻译程序来呈现脚本对立和逻辑机制。这项研究进一步表明，为英语语言-视觉表达幽默字幕的两个关键问题是突出脚本对立中体现的不协调和触发逻辑机制中代表的符号学解决方案。这些发现阐明了字幕翻译者和研究人员之间的视觉元素与字幕幽默的相关性。