OMISSION AS A STRATEGY IN SUBTITLING

In the era of globalization, which is making the world smaller and smaller, audiovisual translation has a key role in bringing cultures closer to each other. One main branch in audiovisual translation is subtitling. Unfortunately, audiovisual translation in general and subtitling in particular are not so far properly dealt with, especially in Iran. This study reported on a corpus-based analysis of omissions in subtitling. The findings were based on a non-evaluative, and comparative analysis was carried on English-Persian parallel corpora with over twenty one thousand words. The research materials were three corpora of the English TV series along with their translations in Persian in the form of subtitles. The theoretical framework of the present study was based on Mona Baker’s (1992, pp.40-86) classification of elements that are subject to omission in subtitling.The purpose of this research was to find out the quantity of omission taking place in subtitles and categorization of omissions based on the aforementioned model. The findings revealed that words or expressions are usually omitted in subtitling. Based on the results, it can be concluded that among the linguistic elements, words or expressions are commonly omitted in subtitling. The present research has profound implications for enriching the studies done in the field of audiovisual translation in general and subtitling in particular. It can provide a source of information and inspiration for the researchers in the field and for the professional translators and subtitlers.