Speaking Metaphor in Audio Description for Children

Abstract

The study described here aimed at evaluating how the presence of metaphors in audio description (AD) dedicated to children in early-school age influences their reception of animated films – that is the understanding of the plot and the level of amusement, which may be enhanced by the AD’s figurative language. Above all, however, its goal was to establish whether the presence of metaphors in AD track encourages children to repeat them in their own statements and if children are able to learn the meaning of metaphors by the context introduced by the film’s visual layer and/or by the audio tracks comprising dialogues, background sounds and AD itself. Finally, it wanted to find out if there are any differences (and, if so, what they are) between children with and without visual impairment in the understanding and/or revealing the meaning of the figurative language of AD scripts heard.