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[EASIT intro music]

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EASIT. Easy Access
for Social Inclusion Training.

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This is Unit 3B. Easy to Understand
and audio description.

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Element 2. Linguistic aspects.

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Video lecture:

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Creating intertextual relations:
an example.

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My name is Piero Cavallo.

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I have prepared this video lecture
in collaboration with Rocío Bernabé Caro,

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on behalf of the Internationale
Hochschule SDI München, in Germany.

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In this video lecture,
we are going to give a quick overview

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on what intertextuality is
and how to solve lexical barriers

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that might derive from the use
of specialised terminology

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in a broadcasted news,
with a practical example.

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The focus is on how a standard text
and an E2U text can interact

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to avoid assuming that readers share
the same lexical repertoire

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in the E2U text.

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First of all: what is intertextuality?

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Intertextuality is the characteristic
of a text to have relations

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with other texts.

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Every text has intertextual relations
with other texts.

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These relations can be implicit
or explicit.

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These relations can refer to other texts,
in the form of citations.

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Or they can be implicit
or explicit reference

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to the specificities of the text itself,

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that range from the terminology used,

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to the structure of the text
and the sentences.

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For instance, if a regular reader reads
an article about medicine,

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it is highly probable
that the text will have

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some medical-related words in it.

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This means that the reader expects
to find this type of terminology.

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Likewise, if an experienced reader reads
a newspaper,

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it is immediately clear to him or her,

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that he or she is reading a newspaper,

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because the structure of the text
and sentences is unique

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to that type of text.

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An experienced reader could deduce
this information from the context

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or fill the information that is missing

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either before, during, or after
he or she has read the text.

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For other users,
this task might be difficult.

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In fact, texts that presuppose knowledge
from other texts

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can be complex
for the readers to process.

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This is why, if the information
is relevant to understand the text,

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it should be added directly to the text.

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This is also true for audio-visual
contents, that are texts.

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Every audio-visual content has
its own specificities,

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like texts do.

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For instance, a comedy film is different
than a newscast,

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in terms of terminology and structure.

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If you want to learn more
about intertextuality,

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you can consider watching
the video lecture on this topic,

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from Unit 2, element 4.

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Since we cannot presuppose that users
of easy-to-understand language

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have previous knowledge
on a text subject,

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it can be helpful to provide
short explanations,

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in order to clarify
this previous knowledge.

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This information can be conveyed
through different ways.

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It can be provided as a written
or an audio introduction

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that users can read or listen to
before watching the actual content.

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It can also be provided as a so-called
"extended audio description",

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as defined by the Web Content
Accessibility guidelines 2.2.

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An “extended audio description” is
an enlarged audio description

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that is provided in a video
by pausing it,

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so that there is enough time
to convey additional description

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of what is happening on screen.

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This technique has already been used
in legal texts by Bathia (1983),

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who labels it as "easification".

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The core idea is to maintain
the original text unchanged

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while providing so-called
"easification devices"

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that help information intake.

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In extended audio descriptions,

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the easification devices are
explanatory information.

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But what if a user needs both the support
of easy-to-understand language

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along with audio description
and audio subtitles,

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for audio-visual contents
in a foreign language?

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In this case “extended audio subtitles”
can be provided.

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What are “extended audio subtitles”?

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Audio subtitles, as you may know,

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help people who are unable,

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or have difficulties reading a text,

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but who instead require
the text to be read out.

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The “extended” feature is taken
from the concept

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of “extended audio description”,

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i.e. when the audio description

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of an audio-visual content
needs to be paused

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in case of longer descriptions.

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Following this idea,
extended audio subtitles can be used

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both to read out the subtitles

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and to provide additional contextual
and intertextual information.

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This additional information is necessary

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for the target groups
to understand the content.

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We are aware that this is a new,
hybrid service

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that has not been realised
or studied yet.

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In this video lecture,
we just want to provide an example.

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We also hope to obtain feedback
from reception studies soon

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to share with you.

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In our example,
we show a short video,

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which length was originally
of 1 minute,

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from the Slovenian broadcast
RTV Slovenija.

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The news item is about
how things have changed in hospitals

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for pregnant women

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who are about to give birth
during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

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As you could expect,
the news item presupposes some knowledge,

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related to topics like hospitals,
COVID-19, and pregnancy.

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In our sample,

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we provide easy-to-understand
audio subtitles in English.

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This means
that the subtitles will be read out.

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Furthermore, the video will be paused
to provide additional information,

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as it occurs in the case
of extended audio descriptions.

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The subtitles are also provided
in written form,

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and are burnt-in

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in the video, just for the purpose
of this video lecture.

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The subtitles are the same provided
in the video lecture

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from Unit 3A, Element 2.

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They have been simplified

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following the guidelines
of Inclusion Europe

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and the conventions and style
of journalistic texts.

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Finally, we decided to provide
2 versions of the same example.

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One of them has a slower speech rate.

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This slower version might be more
suitable for a certain segment of users,

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and support the readability.

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the number of characters per second

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(in short, cps)

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in the slower version

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does not exceed the maximum
of 15 cps per subtitle event,

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as recommended in subtitling
for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing people.

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In this way, users that can read
the subtitles can do that more easily.

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Similarly, users that access the content

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through the audio mode only

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can also benefit
from a slower speech rate.

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To maintain the maximum of 15 cps

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also in the written subtitles
of the standard version,

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we decided to leave the subtitles
for a longer time on screen,

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while keeping the audio subtitles
at a standard speech rate,

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and respecting synchrony.

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Of course,
the additional information provided,

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the speech rate,

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and the degree of simplification

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can be adapted
according to the end-users’ needs.

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What should
extended audio subtitles convey?

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The recommendations
for extended audio descriptions

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and subtitles from Inclusion Europe

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remember the importance
to explain the subject clearly

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and also explain any difficult word.

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So, apart from the easy-to-understand
audio subtitles themselves,

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extended audio subtitles
could convey a summary,

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that introduces the general
and specific content to the viewer.

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For the sample we are using,

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it can specify that the viewer is about
to watch a short video

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from a broadcast in another language

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with easy-to-understand
audio subtitles in English.

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It can also specify
what the video is about,

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i.e. the current situation in hospitals

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for pregnant women
during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Similarly, terminology on an expert
subject like this one can be explained.

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In our example, COVID-19,

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or simply COVID,
as it is usually referred to,

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can be explained as a “disease”,
or an “illness”.

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All this additional information
is conveyed by pausing the video,

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as in the case
of extended audio descriptions.

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Now, let’s watch the sample,

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with extended audio subtitles
at a standard speech rate:

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Now, let’s watch the sample,

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with the same extended audio subtitles
at a slower speech rate:

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In this video lecture,

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we have seen that intertextuality is
the characteristic of texts

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to refer to other texts,

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explicitly and implicitly.

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These relations can refer
to the text itself and to the text type.

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Easy-to-understand users might find it
difficult to notice these relations.

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Because of that,

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these relations need to be made explicit
and more easily noticeable,

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which might include making
pre-supposed knowledge explicit.

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One way to make
intertextuality more clear

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can be the use
of extended audio subtitles.

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These can be used to help people
who require audio subtitles

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and also additional information
to explain the context,

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the environment, and also
difficult words or expressions.

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Different speech rates and degrees
of simplification can be offered,

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to be more suitable
to the needs of end-users.

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This video lecture has been prepared
by Piero Cavallo and Rocío Bernabé Caro

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from the Internationale Hochschule
SDI München, in Germany.

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You can reach Rocío Bernabé at

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rocio.bernabe@sdi-muenchen.de

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The project EASIT have received funding
from the European Commission

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under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships
for Higher Education programme,

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grant agreement 2018-1-ES01-KA203-05275.

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The European Commission support
for the production of this publication

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does not constitute
an endorsement of the contents,

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which reflect the views only of the authors,

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and the Commission
cannot be held responsible

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for any use which may be made
of the information contained therein.

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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons

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Attribution-ShareAlike
4.0 International License.

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Partners of the EASIT project:

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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

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Università degli Studi di Trieste.

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Universidade de Vigo.

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Stiftung Universität Hildesheim.

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SDI München.

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Dyslexiförbundet.

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Radiotelevizija Slovenija.

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Zavod RISA.

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[EASIT outro music]

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EASIT. Easy Access
for Social Inclusion Training.