ABSTRACT
Audio description (AD) is one of the access modes of audiovisual translation (AVT). Fryer argues that it is one that has been overlooked with regard to pragmatics. As a step towards redressing this oversight, Fryer revisits theories of implicature in relation to the AD of live events. This chapter explores how a description of Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler might change depending on whether it is described for a theatrical performance or for that same performance, screened live as part of a rapidly-expanding phenomenon called Event Cinema. Emphasis is given to contextual meaning, implicature and differences of expectation based on cultural schemata. The difference between lexical and visual ambiguity is discussed and Fryer suggests that access modes of AVT can help disambiguate pragmatic meaning for people for whom one sensory channel is either fully or partially unavailable. Finally a methodology for the experimental testing of implicatures for film is reworked for testing blind and visually impaired audiences. As an intermodal form of translation, which broadens the scope of studying implicature beyond speaker meaning, Fryer concludes that AD is an important mode of AVT for the future exploration of pragmatics.
