Typographical devices in subtitling (a case study of English and Russian subtitles)

Resum

The paper examines the role of typographical devices in subtitling practices. As subtitling is significantly determined by its temporal and spatial constraints, the verbal part of a subtitle may be rather condensed and incomplete for perception, which requires additional means to modify meaning-making processes and add up information. The research gives a systematic account of typographical devices and their functions in a subtitled filmic text. The common graphical devices featured are typefaces, colour, punctuation marks, and numeric signs. The performed analysis showed that typographical devices do not only assist in dealing with technical considerations, but they may also serve as means of intersemiotic cohesion linking subtitles with visual or acoustic-or both-components of a film and enabling their functional cooperation. The drawn conclusions allow to state that graphical devices in subtitling possess such functions as they contribute to intersemiotic texture of a subtitled filmic text; help to manoeuvre in spatial and temporal circumstances; enhance reading and comprehending.