Cyberdubbing and Language Variation

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the role of language variation in cyberdubbing, a term that encompasses the diverse dubbing practices that have emerged in the mediascape in the past decades. These include not only fandubbing and amateur parodic dubbing but also non-official dubs undertaken by professionals and trainees. This chapter shows that, while mainstream official dubbing practices have traditionally tended towards standardisation when dealing with language variation, cyberdubs resort often to dialect, slang, swearwords, and overly colloquial register. This is illustrated with examples from existing research on cyberdubs, which often focuses on fandubbing undertaken by amateurs, as well as from material not analysed elsewhere. The discussion reveals how cyberdubs experiment with language variation in many different ways, from dialect and accent substitution to translanguaging. Transgressing traditional dubbing conventions and standards, cyberdubbers not only achieve richer and multifaceted characterisations in their dubs but also challenge dialect stereotypes, providing audiences with a different and more unique experience.