[CfP - Vol. 47, Special Issue 1]: Specialized Discourse in Audiovisual Translation

Guest Editors:

Jorge Díaz Cintas (University College London) and Gian Luigi De Rosa (Università Roma Tre)

The proliferation of digital audiovisual media has significantly intensified the circulation of specialized forms of communication, largely due to the exponential growth of content tailored to niche interests and expert domains. Contemporary streaming platforms host an ever-expanding range of creators producing mainstream entertainment as well as highly specialized videos, livestreams, and tutorials that address fields as diverse as astrophysics, medicine, law, gastronomy, or artisan baking. These productions do more than inform as they also shape the way in which audiences acquire, negotiate, and articulate specialized knowledge. Recent research on medical series (Alonso-Bolaños & Hermán-Carvajal, 2025), on scientific narratives in popular cinema (Cesiri, 2025), on the use of cinematic jargon in audio description (Castillo-Flores, 2026), and on the translation of specialized languages and graphic art (Canepari, 2023) demonstrates that audiovisual media increasingly function as privileged sites for the mediation and recontextualization of expert discourse, often blurring the boundaries between expert and lay communication.

This surge in specialized audiovisual content allows users to access complex knowledge in engaging, accessible formats, often presented by experts or passionate enthusiasts. As a result, audiovisual media has become a key driver of specialized communication online, enriching digital spaces with focused information sharing. The translation and adaptation of specialized discourse in the field of audiovisual translation (AVT) poses substantial challenges as it requires not only careful attention to terminological accuracy, but also compliance with the technical and semiotic constraints inherent to audiovisual media. Whether it is medical jargon in hospital dramas, legal terminology in courtroom thrillers, business discourse in corporate series, or scientific explanations in science fiction films, specialized language plays a crucial role in establishing credibility and authenticity. In this special issue, we examine how specialized discourse is conveyed, interpreted, and localized in fictional and non-fictional audiovisual genres, paying special attention to linguistic, cultural, semiotic, and accessibility perspectives.

From a theoretical perspective, specialized discourse has been defined by Cavagnoli (2007, p. 17) as “language-in-texts-in-situations-in-cultural-contexts”, a formulation that encapsulates the different communicative layers that must be considered when analysing specialized linguistic manifestations and highlights the various aspects and relationships that develop between “matter-language-body-action-dialogue-actors” in different interactions. Characterized by its heterogeneity, specialized discourse can be classified according to three distinct levels (Gotti, 2003, 2011; Gualdo & Telve, 2011), namely, (1) scientific, consisting of more ‘specialized’ texts that are produced by experts and aimed exclusively at experts; (2) semi-popularizing, referring to scientific-didactic texts that are intended for educating the public; and (3) popularizing, comprising inherently informative texts aimed at the general public (expert/non-expert). Audiovisual media frequently operate across these levels simultaneously, particularly in translated products, where meaning is reshaped through interlingual, intersemiotic, and inter-epistemic processes (Zou & Blumczynski, 2025).

The aim of this special issue is to bring together interdisciplinary studies that explore how specialized discourse is conveyed, interpreted, and translated in both fictional and non-fictional audiovisual genres within the domains of AVT and media accessibility. The focus goes beyond visions of translation and accessibility as representational, semiotic, or communicative acts, and explores how audiovisual localization confers meanings that resonate and leave their mark on the translated product, the agents of translation, and the audience. We are particularly interested in research that intersects with the transmission of specialized discourse in the various AVT practices, including dubbing, subtitling, voiceover, and audio description.

Topics

We welcome theoretical and empirical studies that explore the following themes and topics related to AVT and media accessibility, while we also encourage other aligned perspectives that broaden these areas of interest:

• Evaluating the role of AVT in the process of transmitting specialized knowledge in the 21^st
• Navigating the translation of specialized discourse in fictional and non-fictional media.
• Probing the challenges posed by the audiovisual translation of specialized discourse such as medical, educational, scientific, legal, technical, corporate and the like.
• Exploring the synergies among the various multimodal dimensions that shape specialized discourse in audiovisual media.
• Interrogating how multimodal cues support or hinder the translation of specialized discourse in audiovisual formats.
• Assessing the use of AI tools in the audiovisual translation of medical, legal, scientific, technical content.
• Examining how multimodal translation shapes the global reach of corporate and marketing discourse.
• Assessing the potential and limitations of machine translation and post-editing in specialized audiovisual contexts.
• Unpacking the challenges of dealing with spontaneous conversation versus prepared spoken language.
• Studying how translation mediates expert knowledge in new digital genres like livestreams, podcasts, and explainers.
• Surveying the rise of citizen science videos and the translation of specialized language for mass audiences.
• Discussing the rise of cybergenres and the democratization of expertise through audiovisual translation.
• Investigating new pedagogical approaches for equipping translators to handle specialized discourse across new media formats.

Submission guidelines

 To propose a paper for the special issue, first send an abstract to the guest editors: j.diaz-cintas@ucl.ac.uk and gianluigi.derosa@uniroma3.it including:

• Provisional title.
• Authors' names, affiliations, e-mail, and Orcid.
• Abstract (max. of 350 words, excluding references) containing information on the research topic, theoretical framework and methodology, as well as the justification and relevance of the research to the field of AVT and media accessibility.
• Five keywords.
• List of preliminary references (following APA 7th edition standards).

After the proposal is approved, authors must submit the full manuscript through the journal’s platform for peer review.

• Submissions will be accepted in English.
• Manuscripts should be up to 10,000 words, excluding bibliographical references.
• Considering the referees’ reports, the guest editors will also read the accepted manuscripts and suggest improvements, if necessary.

Timetable

Submission of abstracts: 13 April 2026
Notification of abstract acceptance: 27 April 2026
Submission of full paper: 7 September 2026
First feedback to paper: 23 November 2026
Submission of revised version of paper: 25 January 2027
Second feedback to paper (if necessary): 15 February 2027
Submission of final version of paper: 15 March 2027
Publication of the special issue: May-June 2027

Contact information

For more information about the special issue, please contact the guest editors at j.diaz-cintas@ucl.ac.uk and gianluigi.derosa@uniroma3.it.

 References

Alonso-Bolaños, V., & Hermán-Carvajal, A. (2025). Estrategias para el acceso del público lego a la terminología especializada en series médicas en inglés y español: el caso de The Resident. Hermeneus, 27, 17-50. https://doi.org/10.24197/6hf0ct87

Canepari, M. (2023). Specialized Languages and Graphic Art: Translating Specialized Discourse Intralingually and Intersemiotically. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b19709

Castillo-Flores, J.L. (2026). A tiered vocabulary system for audio description: building up cinematic jargon in audio introductions. Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 9(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.47476/jat.v9i1.2026.370

Cavagnoli, S. (2007). La comunicazione specialistica. Carocci.

Cesiri, D. (2025). Adapting specialist knowledge on screen to transmit scientific theories: inter-epistemic translation in the 'Jurassic Park' movie saga as case study. Cultus, 18, 59-85.

Gotti, M. (2003). Specialized Discourse. Linguistic Features and Changing Conventions. Peter Lang.

Gotti, M. (2011). Investigating Specialized Discourse. Third Revised Edition. Peter Lang.

Gualdo, R., & Telve, S. (2011). Linguaggi specialistici dell’italiano. Carocci.

Zou, Y., & Blumczynski, P. (2025). Translating knowledge(s) across time and space: audiovisual translation of “traditional Chinese medicine and culture” open course (a case study). Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 8(2), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.47476/jat.v8i2.2025.368