Systemic functional linguistics and audiovisual translation studies : a conceptual basis for the study of the language of subtitles

Abstract

The present article contemplates two complementary dimensions, namely: (i) Audiovisual Translation Studies; and (ii) Linguistic studies giving direct attention to the language of subtitling to put forward a theoretical basis for studies focusing on The Language of Subtitles. Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) provides theoretical tools to allow for a language-based understanding of the meaning making resources of subtitling on the basis of text analysis. It is argued that this complementarity allows for fruitful comparison and contrast of texts in a translational relationship in that it provides categories for describing similarities and differences emerging from investigations of the choices made in spoken texts translated into written language in subtitles. Investigations carried out along these lines may lead to insights in terms of the construals existent in source and target texts in order to understand the choices made in the realization of the texts.