Responding to subtitled K-drama: Artefact-orientation in timed comments

Abstract

This study examines artefact-orientation in timed comments on the streaming platform Viki and contributes to research on text-based video-oriented communication. Commenters post text messages next to the subtitled videos while they are streaming, and their comments thus relate in specific ways to the artefact they complement. We explore what aspects apparent in fan subtitles are taken up in timed comments by comparing our own corpus of such timed comments (KTACC-A) to our corpus of English fansubtitles to the same Korean television-drama (KSUBV-A). Positioning the comments relative to the fan subtitles allows us to explore the linguistic features that characterise timed commenting as a video-oriented practice and to theorise artefact-orientation in terms of transtextuality. Using noun frequency and keyness as measures of comparison, we confirm the importance of sharing emotive stance and humour support. For artefact orientation, we highlight a shared focus between timed comments and subtitles on the events and characters of the plot. However, in comments, evaluation of such plot elements plays a key role, whereas highly descriptive and specific aspects are either omitted or at times referred to by means of deictic expressions. We emphasise that both comments and subtitles are enrichments of the videos that become themselves part of the artefact and point of orientation for subsequent viewers and discuss the transtextual dimension of timed comments and different types of transtextuality as dimensions along which members of the community may understand the overall artefact.