a corpus-based approach to the language of audio description

In addition, audio description, which is the most used term among experts, is
also often referred to as „audio narration‟ 1 . However, it is worth stressing that
there is an outstanding difference between the words „audio description‟ and
„audio narration‟, although they are often used as synonyms. As Pujol (2007)
explains, the word „description‟ is often used in contrast to the word
„narration‟. Indeed, action does not represent a primary feature for
description, but is of the greatest importance in narration (Pujol 2007). For
this reason, since the action of audio describing implies dealing not only with
actions, the word „audio description‟ should be preferred to „audio narration‟.
In addition, the ultimate goal of audio describing is not telling a story, but
showing and portraying it, that is helping visualize the relevant elements to
understand the plot (setting, costumes, gestures, appearance, movements and
similar elements).
The act of narrating also implies taking a viewpoint from which the
1 The word „audio narration‟ is very often used in the USA not only to indicate a descriptive service
for films and similar products, but also to refer to accessibility of education-related products. As an
example, a Power Point (PP) presentation could be audio narrated through the insertion of an audio
track that presents the content of slides. For more information about this specific use in an
educational context, see http://www.slideshare.net/delhionlineeducation/adding-audio-narration-to-
powerpoint (last accessed 19/02/2011). For a comprehensive tutorial on how to combine the use of
PP with audio narration, see also
http://masterview.ikonosnewmedia.com/2005/08/31/powerpoint_and_audio_narration_a.htm (last
accessed 19/02/2011). In this regard, audio narration can be considered a dramatically important
tool to increase the literacy of disabled persons and to improve their skills. Finally, the word „audio
narration‟ is very often associated to audio books: the narrator is the voice reading aloud the story,
including both the dialogues and the description/narration of the story.
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