a corpus-based approach to the language of audio description

such as audio description and subtitling belong 26 .
In France, audio description has developed in the late 1980‟s thanks to
Auguste Coppola, brother of Francis Ford Coppola and father of Nicolas
Cage. Auguste Coppola was appointed new doyen of the University of San
Francisco, where in 1975 young professor Gregory Frazier had „invented‟
audio description. Once back to France, Auguste Coppola relied on the
association Valentin Haüy for the development of the so-called Audiovision
system, which is still used today, although not yet systematically. In 1998,
the Audiovision Project changed into ARTE, providing audio description for
both films and theatre performances (Hernàndez and Mendiluce 2004). The
first audio described film was “Tucker” by Francis Ford Coppola in 1988.
Today, Arte provides two audio described films per month since 2000. TF1
and TF2 also provide some films with audio description, but the service is
not systematically organized. On the website of the association Valentin
Haüy 27 (VHA) it is possible to access the catalogue of the DVDs audio
described by the association itself. So far, about 300 titles are available. The
website-blog of French audio describers on VHA‟s website also stresses the
26 More information about the initiatives of the Segretariato Sociale can be found at
http://www.segretariatosociale.rai.it (last accessed 19/02/2011). Despite all efforts to make TV
programmes more accessible, unfortunately this website is not accessible to the blind and the
visually impaired.
27 The website of the association http://www.avh.asso.fr/ is very rich in information about media
access and audio description in France. The VHA provides with specific materials addressing audio
description and also organizes professional courses for future audio describers. The issue of training
will be also specifically addressed in the Chapter 4.
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