A Descriptive Study On Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Abstract

ABSTRACT ABACI, Alev. A Descriptive Study on Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Master’s Thesis, Ankara, 2018.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the practice of subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing as an Audiovisual Translation modality and to put forward the subtitling strategies by scrutinizing the studies carried out across the world. In this respect, dark fantasy thriller Byzantium containing interlingual subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing and black comedy Horrible Bosses featuring intralingual subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing will be evaluated; and based on the romantic comedy film 2 Days in Paris available in interlingual subtitling option, the requirements and constraints inherent in subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, and practicable methods and strategies will be addressed. The subtitler confronts with constraints deriving from heterogenous structure of target group composing of deaf and hard of hearing individuals with residual hearing, therefore distinctions in their needs and expectances, plus from their reading speeds, reading and comprehension skills, the requirement for speaker identification, reflection of multilinguism and description of auditory elements by means of subtitles when dealing with subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing. In this study, the methodological framework has been established on the analysis of case studies on the methods and strategies of subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing. Roman Jakobson in recognition of his “three classifications” on translation types and Katharina Reiss with respect to her “functional approaches” based on text types constitute the theoretical framework; as a practical approach, studies by Josélia Neves and Agnieszka Szarkowska on the subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing as well as strategies devised by Paul J Thibault and Anthony Baldry, and Meir Sternberg have been adopted. This study which has addressed the subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing in a descriptive manner within the scope of audiovisual translation is believed to serve as a model for future studies in Turkey. Key words: subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, interlingual translation, intralingual translation, audiovisual translation, multilinguism, speaker identification, auditory elements