A STUDY ON THE INTRA AND INTERLINGUISTIC SUBTITLING CONSTRAINTS OF HISTORICAL DRAMA SERIES

Abstract

There are many boks and articles written on subtitling dealing with different aspects of the practice. Nevertheless, the constraints of subtitling and the potential strategies to be used in specific genres of television series are rarely studied. To illustrate, the subtitling of historical drama TV series, which have become very popular and reach a wide audience across the world, has received little attention. Therefore, the following study aims at presenting a framework for the subtitlers of historical drama TV series for both intra and interlinguistic purposes in consideration of the constraints of subtitling, as well as the features of the practice itself. Following an introduction about historical distance in translation, the linguistic, cultural and discoursal elements used in the production of the field, the constraints of susbtitling are exemplified with a comparative analysis of a historical drama TV series (Mehmed, the Conqueror) and its subtitles in Turkish for the Deaf and hard of hearing viewers and also in English. After focusing on the information collected from the visual track of a particular sequence in the series, how particular words and/or phrases specifically used in historical series are translated is examined based on examples. Considerable attention is devoted to the translation strategies used in deciphering registers and temporal and geographical varieties of language and, the strategies used to convey military, imperial, religious culture and social stratification. In conclusion, the study aims at presenting points of practical use for subtitlers, concerning the subtitling of historical drama TV series focusing on historical distance.