Eye Tracking Function and Content Words in Persian Subtitles

Eye-tracking research on language, media and translation has gained ground over the last three decades. Due to their multi-semiotic nature, subtitles have been the subject of a number of eye-tracking studies. Many influential factors such as stylistic features, translation method, lexical frequency, etc. have been analyzed. However, there is still an exponential need for further research on this area, especially in the context of Persian language.

This research aims to compare the attention given to function and content words in Persian subtitles by analyzing four eye-tracking data.

Is there any significant difference between attention allocation to function and content words in Persian subtitles in terms of four eye data (fixation duration, fixation number, first fixation duration and skipping)?

H: Fixation duration, fixation number and first fixation duration are significantly larger for content words compared to function words, while the number of skipped function words is significantly higher compared to content words.

Forty random participants (23 females and 17 males) participated in the study randomly. They had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. A written consent was obtained from the participants prior to the experiment. A scene of Elle was chosen as stimuli for the experiment. The subtitles were made by Subtitle Edit Software. SMI eye tracking device with a sampling rate of 60 Hz was used to collect the eye data after performing a three-point calibration. The areas of interest were determined and BeGaze software was used to extract the data. Finally, the eye data were examined in SPSS software.

The results of the test showed that there was a significant difference in attention allocation to lexical and functional words. The fixation duration, fixation number and first fixation duration were significantly larger for the content words compared to the function words, while the number of the skipped function words was significantly higher compared to the content words.