Lynn Prieels

Between language policy and language reality: a corpus-based multivariate study of the interlingual and intralingual subtitling practice in Flanders

ABSTRACT The present study explores how subtitlers in Dutch-speaking Belgium deal with the linguistic tension between the norm-adherent language policy of the broadcaster they work for (VRT) – which is oriented towards the use of Belgian Standard Dutch – and the particular language situation in Flanders, which is characterized by the increasing use of Colloquial Belgian Dutch (CBD) in spoken contexts. Subtitlers, who produce written reproductions of spoken language, therefore need to mediate between the official language policy and language reality. In this context, this study aims to measure the extent to which the language used in Flemish subtitling conforms to the official language policy. Additionally, we analyze which contextual parameters affect the subtitlers’ linguistic choices. The data are extracted from the SoNaR corpus and subjected to profile-based correspondence analysis, visualizing the linguistic behavior, and hence the degree of norm conformity, in the subtitles. The results reveal that subtitles on Flemish television are norm-adherent to a large extent, although certain contextual parameters (source language and program genre) enhance the use of (nonstandard) CBD. These results evidence the spread of CBD features from exclusively spoken registers to a written register that was, until recently, under heavy normative control.