the semiotics of subtitling

The Semiotics of Subtitling

Prof.ssa Laura Liucci

Films are texts of great semiotic complexity in which different sign systemsco-operate to create a coherent story.

Light and sound create two fundamental systems of space, timeand casual interaction: one on the screen before our eyes and another within

a story world that we conceptualize in our heads

(Branigan 1992: 34, in Díaz-Cintas 2007: 45)

Subtitles have to become part of this semiotic system.They are an addition […] and they must interact with and rely on

all the film’s different channels.

(Díaz-Cintas 2007: 45)

UNIVERSALITY OF IMAGES?

“Some film theorists believe that cinema initially represented a universal photographic language that could be understood by all and would have continued

to conquer the world had it not been for the advent of sound, which made translation into different languages necessary”


But images are NOT universalThey are culture-bound references, subject to ideological framing.

Images are NOT universalThey are culture-bound references, subject to ideological framing.

Visually rendered information must be taken into account becauseit is part of the message, but also because all cultures have different visual

as well as oral and linguistic traditions,especially cultures that are geographically further apart


The most difficult situation arises when a linguistic sign refers metaphoricallyto an image that the source and target culture do not share

Delabastita (1989: 199)

He analysed the components that constitute the filmic sign and distinguished the following four categories or communication channels:

1. Visual presentation – verbal sign

(credit titles, street names, documents that appear on screen)

2. Visual presentation – non-verbal sign

(film’s photography)

3. Acoustic presentation – verbal sign

(songs and dialogues)

4. Acoustic presentation – non-verbal sign

(instrumental music and background noises)

All these sign systems work together in the creation of a coherent film story.The degree to which subtitles need to relate to each of these systems will vary

(Díaz-Cintas 2007: 46-47)

CHAUME (2004: 232-237) extends the linguistic concept of textual cohesion to include interaction between the linguistic and the visual channel of a film.


TEXTUAL COHESION “network of surface relations which link words and expressions to other words and expressions in a text” (BAKER 1992: 218)

- Reference (e.g. use or pronouns)

- Lexical choice (e.g. repetition VS variation)

- Use of connectives

- Etc.

SEMIOTIC COHESIONAn ellipsis or gap in the (subtitled) dialogue may be filled with information

the viewer obtains from the images on the screen rather than another passagefrom the (verbal) text





For the semiotic cohesion to keep working in the subtitlesthere must be a form of synchronization between the written target textand the image. Subtitles should therefore never anticipate or be ahead

of visual narration on screen


THE MULTIMODALITY OF LANGUAGE

Another form of semiotic cohesion is at play in the interaction between speechand gesture. This is a feature of the so-called multimodality of language,

of which film makes great use.(Díaz-Cintas 2007: 52)

Luckmann (1990) the full meaning of a statement in a dialogue is first produced by an adequate use of the options of language, but these “options are chosen or routinely employed by the speaker along with body-posture, gestures and facial expressions”

Body-postures and gestures communicate information non-vocallyand are often culture-bound kinesic heritage of different communities.


CAMERA MOVEMENT AND EDITING

Camera movement can also require careful handlingwhen its rhythm somehow conflicts with the linear succession of the subtitles

(Cornu 1996 in Díaz-Cintas 2007: 53)

A conversation between two people often filmed with alternating shots

Subtitlers have two options

Following the camera movement Ignoring the camera positions

But lately the pace of editing has increased considerably(Díaz-Cintas 2007: 53)

CAMERA MOVEMENT AND EDITING

Lately the pace of editing has increased considerably…

…therefore it is impossible and undesirable for the subtitlesto follow the visual pace of the film

While, generally speaking, subtitles follow the rhythm of speech, but are allowed to linger slightly on the screen to offer viewers a more comfortable reading speed…

…in scenes filmed with alternating shots the subtitles must respect the visual narration structure of the film, and disappear with the cut to a new location


It is interesting to note that a relatively high number of peoplehold a negative opinion of the quality of subtitles.

WHY?

COHABITATION OF SOURCE TEXT AND TARGET TEXT

the translated text is presented at the same time as the original,so the viewer can immediately compare both messages

The cohabitation of ST and TT is unusual in translation!


COHABITATION OF SOURCE TEXT AND TARGET TEXT

Are there generally accepted strategiesto face the repercussions of this phenomenon?

- Transfer all those terms from the original that have a strong phonetic or morphological similarities in both languages

- Try and maintain a close sematic and syntactic correlationbetween the dialogues and the subtitles.

- Maximum synchrony should be achieve whenever possible


Gottlieb (1994: 102) Subtitling is an overt type of translation,retaining the original version thus laying itself bare to criticism from everybody

with the slightest knowledge of the original language

Especially if the original language is Englishor if the two languages have very similar linguistic roots

But there are technical limitations that made it difficult to remain completely faithfulto the source text, and TL cannot be infinitely stretched!


Subtitling is unique also because it renders speech in writing

The transition from oral to written mode meansthat some of the typical features of spoken language will have to disappear

Film dialogue does not render all the hesitations and false starts or requests for confirmation that are typical of conversation or speech in general

Subtitling will usually take film dialogue’s simplification one step further!


Subtitling will usually take film dialogue’s simplification one step further!

- Grammar and lexical items tend to be simplified and cleaned up

- Intonation and interactional features are only maintained to some extent


Henrik Gottlieb (1992), a Danish scholar and subtitler,identified five main parameters for subtitling and defined it as:

“written, additive, immediate, synchronous and poly-medial”

WRITTEN: subs are written on screen

ADDITIVE: subs add something to the oral message w/o substituting it

IMMEDIATE: audience reads the subs immediately and continuatively

SYNCHRONOUS: subs appear in synchrony with the spoken lines

POLY-MEDIAL: subtitling is not the only medium in audiovisual products

DÍAZ-CINTAS, JORGE and ALINE REMAEL. 2007. Audiovisual Translation: Subtitling. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

GOTTLIEB, HENRIK. 1992. “Subtitling – A New University Discipline”, in DOLLERUP and LODDEGAARD (ed.). Teaching Translation and Interpreting: Training, Talent and Experience. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John BenjaminsPublishing Company.

the semiotics of subtitling

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