Within sign language poetry there is a genre that has not been the subject of scientific research yet, even though it has been around for quite some time: visual vernacular. It differentiates...Show moreWithin sign language poetry there is a genre that has not been the subject of scientific research yet, even though it has been around for quite some time: visual vernacular. It differentiates itself from other types of sign language literature in that it hardly ever uses anything but iconic signs, and this is what makes it internationally comprehensible across sign language borders. It is even understandable to audiences who do not have any knowledge of a sign language. Besides iconic signs, it uses many cinematographic techniques such as role switching from and to different subject or objects within the story. Visual vernacular is different from another type of sign language literature called classifier stories mainly in that the latter uses sign language specific lexicon which visual verancular does not. Another similar form of art, this time outside the sign language realm, is pantomime, but this is different from visual vernacular in many ways, one of the most prominent of which is that pantomime performers are only the storyteller whereas visual vernacular performers swith between the storyteller, main protagonist and any other subject or object in the story. By making a literary overview and using a dataset of different types of visual vernacular stories, this thesis provides an inter and intra sign language poetry genre comparison.Show less
In the globalizing society we live in today, movies are made available to a broad and international audience through the translation of their contents – dubbing, voice-overs and subtitling. Of...Show moreIn the globalizing society we live in today, movies are made available to a broad and international audience through the translation of their contents – dubbing, voice-overs and subtitling. Of these, subtitling has proven to be an effective tool for the transmission of the core message to a different target audience without affecting the original too much. It is common practice in Japan to add Japanese subtitles to American film productions; regardless of genre, motion picture rating and popularity. The same is done for domestic Japanese cartoons (anime) and TV programs through the use of open captions. These types of subtitles are especially appropriate for hearing audiences of whom the people can hear the dialogues, sounds and background music themselves. Subtitles for non-hearing audiences, like deaf and hearing impaired viewers, need a different approach as the translation of sound to (written) language is also necessary. Only with this second layer of translation, can the deaf have a complete cinematic experience and be exposed to all cinematic clues. Nonetheless, in Japan this second layer of translation of American movies is insufficient, if not almost absent. In recent years, this issue has surfaced in the academic field of audiovisual translation studies in Japan. This thesis attempts to contribute to this nascent research area and takes a closer look at the subtitling options for a deaf Japanese target audience and tries to detect areas of improvement.Show less
