The following text taken out of my proposal formed the background for my major project:
"In the period between 1900 and 1999, the Oxford English Dictionary records about 185.000 new words, and new meanings of old words, that came into the English language. These 185.000 new words reflect a 25 per cent growth in English vocabulary over the last century, making it the period of the biggest expansion since that of the late-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is expanding all the time, with batches of 2,500 new and revised words and phrases being added in quarterly updates. This figure shows the ever-growing nature of language, and the consequence of the need to describe new phenomena that come into daily practise. It also reflects that words are a product of its time. The vast amount of new words entering the dictionary each year indicate the development of society and its need to fresh up language".
I made a selection of five new words that were published by the Oxford English Dictionary. The words are:
Fnarr Fnarr
Giclee
Ruote
Shojo
Yidaki
These new words became the core of my major project, and were used to do typographic experiments with.
Full text for the project:
Introduction
In the period between 1900 and 1999, the Oxford English Dictionary records about 185.000 new words that came into the English language. These 185.000 new words reflect a 25 per cent growth in English vocabulary over the last century, making it the period of the biggest expansion since the late-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is continually expanding, with batches of 2,500 new and revised words and phrases being added in quarterly updates. This figure shows the ever-growing nature of language, and the consequence of the need to describe new phenomena that come into daily practise. It also reflects that words are a product of their time. The vast amount of new words entering the dictionary each year indicate the development of society and the need to refresh language. This pattern reoccurs when new technologies, subcultures, societal changes, dialect, slang etc. shape the need for new words. Words related to internet practice for instance have brought us many new words, such as ‘email’, ‘twitter’, ‘facebook’, ‘online’, and has given a whole new dimension to piracy.
But how do we make sense of words? Is there a theory that investigates the meaning and development of language? Answers surrounding these questions can be found in linguistics and semiotics. Linguistics and semiotics are a part of communication studies that investigate sign systems and modes of representation that humans use to convey feelings, thoughts, ideas, and ideologies.
A characteristic of semiotics is that, contrary to linguistics, it is not considered a field of study that stands on its own but as a method that can be used in a broad range of disciplines, such as art, mass media, literature and also graphic design. The main core of semiotic analysis is its focus on the cultural and psychological patterns that are to be found in these cultural expressions.
In a nutshell, semiotics is based on the idea that a sign consists of a signifier (e.g. the letters that form ‘apple’) and a signified (e.g. the concept of an apple). This division between a physical word and the concept it refers to forms an important element of human thought that runs deep in Western tradition. Starting with the Greek writers and philosophers that built the basis of today’s dominant discourse and linguistic theory, it seems clear that the relation between the sign and its meaning are fundamentally arbitrary. But is this really the case? A recent article in NewScientist has shown that the relationship between a sign and its meaning might not be as arbitrary as it seems. Studies indicate that the shape of certain words do reflect the actual meaning. For example, the word ‘kiki’ is described as spiky, whereas ‘bouba’ is labelled as curvy by 95% of all respondents. Other studies also suggest that the way a word sounds must give clues to their meaning. Words that indicate general movement tend to have more vowels, and are more likely to have glottal consonants (the “h” in behind for example). In addition, so-called sonorant sounds such like “l” and “w” tend to be reflected by the speed of movement, whereas sounds as “ch” or “f” are suggestive of more rapid speeds.
When all current evidence is taken together, there seems to be a strong case for saying that this ‘sound symbolism’ does occur in human language. However, there are some major questions that remain. How common are these types of connections between words and meaning? There may be a few good examples of studies, but other attempts are just stabs in the dark. How fair is it to say whether there exists a universal pattern of word, meaning and sound? In general, more work needs to be done before concrete answers can be given. But these studies, and semiotics in general, offer possibilities that can be applied to this project. Before I discuss this in more detail however, I will first have a look at my design area in the next chapter.
Design Area
The design area for this major project is typography. Within the broad spectrum of typography, this project can be positioned as a speculative and experimental way of looking at words and is based upon two pillars. The first part will investigate how letterpress, screen printing, drawing, and painting can be used to explore the five selected words that form the core of this project. By doing so I would like to examine the different visual outcomes that are possible within a limited set of words. Each technique has its own unique characteristics that will affect the look and feel of a word. The second part is to research the question of arbitrariness of words in the light of the article in NewScientist. The specific details will be discussed in the research methods, but I will ultimately be investigating whether people will be able to know the meaning of words judging on their physical appearance.
Research Question
Language is constantly expanding as is shown by the new words that come out regularly. Jargon, slang, dialects, innovation and subcultures are just a few examples from areas where new words arise. These words give meaning to different practices, trends, moments, places etc, and as such they offer a view on not only the development of language but also on changes in society. I would like to show a part of this change and offer the viewer a look into the constant evolution of language. Also with the help of different techniques I hope to show that the appearance of a word is important for its meaning. What will happen when the context of a word changes? Will it still be the same word or does it convey a different association? Can typography help to explain a word, set the mood or distort? How will a word survive when taken to a giant form, or reduced to a small collection of letters? How will words look without vowels, which are set phonetically or are reversed? Will it be the same word? Has its meaning evolved?
The second pillar will run parallel to this and will investigate how people respond to words and what meaning they will attach to its appearance. This path follows the discussion mentioned in the NewScientist article. Words with certain characteristics or sounds give readers clues to its meaning. The sharp sound and image of the word ‘kiki’ suggests a spiky meaning, whereas the more flowing ‘bouba’ points to a more soft association, hence the curvy meaning. But how will readers respond to random words? Will a similar pattern occur, or is the meaning a wild guess? With the help of an online survey I will try to articulate an answer to this question.
New words form the core of my project. Typographic exploration with the use of different techniques will take place. Alongside, the same words will play a more academic role by developing a survey that questions if readers are able to predict the meaning of words judging their sound and appearance. This results in the following research question:
How will different techniques affect the visual outcome of new words, and will readers be able to predict their meaning based upon its appearance?
Research Methods
In order to keep it graphic, manageable and leaving room for experimentation, the amount of words needs to be decreased. The first step to decrease the enormous amount of words and work towards a manageable number is to make a selection of words that came out in 2011. I will do this by only choosing words that were published in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. This selection gives a small but manageable amount of words that can be used for experiments. Therefore, this project will not focus on a design artefact that people will use in daily life. It is merely a speculative and investigative project regarding the typographic possibilities of a selection of new words from 2011.
Most of the words that get published by the OED are made up of existing words. They are formed of existing words taken together (e.g. eye candy) or as combinations that make up a new word (e.g. securocrat; a combination of security and bureaucrat). A first parameter to make a selection out of the big amount of new words is to select the ones that are fully new. This refers to words that are new in terms of their ‘own’ combination of letters. So I ignore the words that are made up as a combination out of existing words.
Primary research will involve the use of screenprinting, letterpress, drawing, painting and other ways of visual experimentation. A second element is the development of an online survey testing the supposed arbitrariness of language. The secondary research in this project will centre on semiotics and will involve further reading into the discussion surrounding words and meaning. Knowledge from here will be used to guide further experimentation. Consequently, designers and artists will be examined, such as Alan Fletcher, Jonathan Barnbrook, Jan Tschichold and other major designers exploring the boundaries of language and typography.
Outcome and Audience
This project offers great possibilities to make use of the facilities within LCC. Especially screenprinting and letterpress offer unique features that I would like to use. Also large scale painted letters and extensive drawings will be made to stretch the possible visual appearance of the words. The intended audience I want to reach with this project are people interested in language and typography. Also students in English language and/or typography could be helped with an overview of selected words and how different techniques affect the visual character of a word.
Appendix B: On semiotics
This appendix aims to give a short overview of semiotics. Semiotics can be considered as the backbone of my project, since it covers questions surrounding language, words and meaning. Although semiotics might seem to be a recent development, its fundamentals take us back to ancient Greece. Around 400 B.C. there was already an accepted notion that words don’t possess some universal and objective meaning. Plato explored the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign. He introduced the idea that there is separateness between an object and the name that is given to it. Also Aristotle recognized the importance of the linguistic sign, stating that human thought proceeds by the use of signs and that words serve as symbols to the describe the world.
Since the early ideas of important Greek philosophers, other major Western philosophers have been interested in the relationship between the sign and its reference or object. Nowadays there are two major traditions in modern semiotic theory. One of them is grounded in the European tradition that has been led by the Swiss-French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure who lived from 1857 till 1913. The second tradition emerged out of a American philosopher named Charles Peirce (1839-1914). The intention of Saussure was to develop a system that could explain how all elements of a language are taken as components for a larger system of language. This resulted in a theory called semiology. On the American continent Peirce was investigating how people could extract meaning out of signs. Both worked independently on their ideas regarding the fundamentals of language. Saussure coined that the sign is made up of a signifier (or sensory pattern) and a signified (the concept elicited by the signifier). Saussure emphasized that a signifier does not constitute a sign until it is interpreted. In other words, Saussure supported the view once brought to life by Plato that there is an arbitrary association between a sign and what it stands for. Word selection is not a matter of identity, but of difference. And these differences carry signification; a sign is what all the other signs are not. Random collections of letters that make them stand out of the other collection and their learned associations.
Barthes adopted the idea of Saussure but he added a theory that gave a bigger role to the reader. In the 1960’s Barthes introduced the idea of denotation and connotation. Like Peirce and Saussure before him, Barthes identified structural components in signs. He called this denotation and connotation. Denotation is about the physical reality of the signified object. It is all about what is pictured in terms of ‘objective’ elements. This can be a photograph of a child playing in a backyard, a perfume bottle on an advertising poster or a picture of the sun sinking in the sea. Connotation is the other structural part of the meaning of a sign. It is about how the photograph of a child, the perfume bottle or the sunset is interpreted by the reader. The reader applies his existing knowledge to these messages. Consequently, the meaning of a message is influenced by what a reader has learnt about how to understand the message. The same messages can therefore be interpreted differently across communities and cultures.
Written in London, September 2011
"In the period between 1900 and 1999, the Oxford English Dictionary records about 185.000 new words, and new meanings of old words, that came into the English language. These 185.000 new words reflect a 25 per cent growth in English vocabulary over the last century, making it the period of the biggest expansion since that of the late-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is expanding all the time, with batches of 2,500 new and revised words and phrases being added in quarterly updates. This figure shows the ever-growing nature of language, and the consequence of the need to describe new phenomena that come into daily practise. It also reflects that words are a product of its time. The vast amount of new words entering the dictionary each year indicate the development of society and its need to fresh up language".
I made a selection of five new words that were published by the Oxford English Dictionary. The words are:
Fnarr Fnarr
Giclee
Ruote
Shojo
Yidaki
These new words became the core of my major project, and were used to do typographic experiments with.
Full text for the project:
Introduction
In the period between 1900 and 1999, the Oxford English Dictionary records about 185.000 new words that came into the English language. These 185.000 new words reflect a 25 per cent growth in English vocabulary over the last century, making it the period of the biggest expansion since the late-sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is continually expanding, with batches of 2,500 new and revised words and phrases being added in quarterly updates. This figure shows the ever-growing nature of language, and the consequence of the need to describe new phenomena that come into daily practise. It also reflects that words are a product of their time. The vast amount of new words entering the dictionary each year indicate the development of society and the need to refresh language. This pattern reoccurs when new technologies, subcultures, societal changes, dialect, slang etc. shape the need for new words. Words related to internet practice for instance have brought us many new words, such as ‘email’, ‘twitter’, ‘facebook’, ‘online’, and has given a whole new dimension to piracy.
But how do we make sense of words? Is there a theory that investigates the meaning and development of language? Answers surrounding these questions can be found in linguistics and semiotics. Linguistics and semiotics are a part of communication studies that investigate sign systems and modes of representation that humans use to convey feelings, thoughts, ideas, and ideologies.
A characteristic of semiotics is that, contrary to linguistics, it is not considered a field of study that stands on its own but as a method that can be used in a broad range of disciplines, such as art, mass media, literature and also graphic design. The main core of semiotic analysis is its focus on the cultural and psychological patterns that are to be found in these cultural expressions.
In a nutshell, semiotics is based on the idea that a sign consists of a signifier (e.g. the letters that form ‘apple’) and a signified (e.g. the concept of an apple). This division between a physical word and the concept it refers to forms an important element of human thought that runs deep in Western tradition. Starting with the Greek writers and philosophers that built the basis of today’s dominant discourse and linguistic theory, it seems clear that the relation between the sign and its meaning are fundamentally arbitrary. But is this really the case? A recent article in NewScientist has shown that the relationship between a sign and its meaning might not be as arbitrary as it seems. Studies indicate that the shape of certain words do reflect the actual meaning. For example, the word ‘kiki’ is described as spiky, whereas ‘bouba’ is labelled as curvy by 95% of all respondents. Other studies also suggest that the way a word sounds must give clues to their meaning. Words that indicate general movement tend to have more vowels, and are more likely to have glottal consonants (the “h” in behind for example). In addition, so-called sonorant sounds such like “l” and “w” tend to be reflected by the speed of movement, whereas sounds as “ch” or “f” are suggestive of more rapid speeds.
When all current evidence is taken together, there seems to be a strong case for saying that this ‘sound symbolism’ does occur in human language. However, there are some major questions that remain. How common are these types of connections between words and meaning? There may be a few good examples of studies, but other attempts are just stabs in the dark. How fair is it to say whether there exists a universal pattern of word, meaning and sound? In general, more work needs to be done before concrete answers can be given. But these studies, and semiotics in general, offer possibilities that can be applied to this project. Before I discuss this in more detail however, I will first have a look at my design area in the next chapter.
Design Area
The design area for this major project is typography. Within the broad spectrum of typography, this project can be positioned as a speculative and experimental way of looking at words and is based upon two pillars. The first part will investigate how letterpress, screen printing, drawing, and painting can be used to explore the five selected words that form the core of this project. By doing so I would like to examine the different visual outcomes that are possible within a limited set of words. Each technique has its own unique characteristics that will affect the look and feel of a word. The second part is to research the question of arbitrariness of words in the light of the article in NewScientist. The specific details will be discussed in the research methods, but I will ultimately be investigating whether people will be able to know the meaning of words judging on their physical appearance.
Research Question
Language is constantly expanding as is shown by the new words that come out regularly. Jargon, slang, dialects, innovation and subcultures are just a few examples from areas where new words arise. These words give meaning to different practices, trends, moments, places etc, and as such they offer a view on not only the development of language but also on changes in society. I would like to show a part of this change and offer the viewer a look into the constant evolution of language. Also with the help of different techniques I hope to show that the appearance of a word is important for its meaning. What will happen when the context of a word changes? Will it still be the same word or does it convey a different association? Can typography help to explain a word, set the mood or distort? How will a word survive when taken to a giant form, or reduced to a small collection of letters? How will words look without vowels, which are set phonetically or are reversed? Will it be the same word? Has its meaning evolved?
The second pillar will run parallel to this and will investigate how people respond to words and what meaning they will attach to its appearance. This path follows the discussion mentioned in the NewScientist article. Words with certain characteristics or sounds give readers clues to its meaning. The sharp sound and image of the word ‘kiki’ suggests a spiky meaning, whereas the more flowing ‘bouba’ points to a more soft association, hence the curvy meaning. But how will readers respond to random words? Will a similar pattern occur, or is the meaning a wild guess? With the help of an online survey I will try to articulate an answer to this question.
New words form the core of my project. Typographic exploration with the use of different techniques will take place. Alongside, the same words will play a more academic role by developing a survey that questions if readers are able to predict the meaning of words judging their sound and appearance. This results in the following research question:
How will different techniques affect the visual outcome of new words, and will readers be able to predict their meaning based upon its appearance?
Research Methods
In order to keep it graphic, manageable and leaving room for experimentation, the amount of words needs to be decreased. The first step to decrease the enormous amount of words and work towards a manageable number is to make a selection of words that came out in 2011. I will do this by only choosing words that were published in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. This selection gives a small but manageable amount of words that can be used for experiments. Therefore, this project will not focus on a design artefact that people will use in daily life. It is merely a speculative and investigative project regarding the typographic possibilities of a selection of new words from 2011.
Most of the words that get published by the OED are made up of existing words. They are formed of existing words taken together (e.g. eye candy) or as combinations that make up a new word (e.g. securocrat; a combination of security and bureaucrat). A first parameter to make a selection out of the big amount of new words is to select the ones that are fully new. This refers to words that are new in terms of their ‘own’ combination of letters. So I ignore the words that are made up as a combination out of existing words.
Primary research will involve the use of screenprinting, letterpress, drawing, painting and other ways of visual experimentation. A second element is the development of an online survey testing the supposed arbitrariness of language. The secondary research in this project will centre on semiotics and will involve further reading into the discussion surrounding words and meaning. Knowledge from here will be used to guide further experimentation. Consequently, designers and artists will be examined, such as Alan Fletcher, Jonathan Barnbrook, Jan Tschichold and other major designers exploring the boundaries of language and typography.
Outcome and Audience
This project offers great possibilities to make use of the facilities within LCC. Especially screenprinting and letterpress offer unique features that I would like to use. Also large scale painted letters and extensive drawings will be made to stretch the possible visual appearance of the words. The intended audience I want to reach with this project are people interested in language and typography. Also students in English language and/or typography could be helped with an overview of selected words and how different techniques affect the visual character of a word.
Appendix B: On semiotics
This appendix aims to give a short overview of semiotics. Semiotics can be considered as the backbone of my project, since it covers questions surrounding language, words and meaning. Although semiotics might seem to be a recent development, its fundamentals take us back to ancient Greece. Around 400 B.C. there was already an accepted notion that words don’t possess some universal and objective meaning. Plato explored the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign. He introduced the idea that there is separateness between an object and the name that is given to it. Also Aristotle recognized the importance of the linguistic sign, stating that human thought proceeds by the use of signs and that words serve as symbols to the describe the world.
Since the early ideas of important Greek philosophers, other major Western philosophers have been interested in the relationship between the sign and its reference or object. Nowadays there are two major traditions in modern semiotic theory. One of them is grounded in the European tradition that has been led by the Swiss-French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure who lived from 1857 till 1913. The second tradition emerged out of a American philosopher named Charles Peirce (1839-1914). The intention of Saussure was to develop a system that could explain how all elements of a language are taken as components for a larger system of language. This resulted in a theory called semiology. On the American continent Peirce was investigating how people could extract meaning out of signs. Both worked independently on their ideas regarding the fundamentals of language. Saussure coined that the sign is made up of a signifier (or sensory pattern) and a signified (the concept elicited by the signifier). Saussure emphasized that a signifier does not constitute a sign until it is interpreted. In other words, Saussure supported the view once brought to life by Plato that there is an arbitrary association between a sign and what it stands for. Word selection is not a matter of identity, but of difference. And these differences carry signification; a sign is what all the other signs are not. Random collections of letters that make them stand out of the other collection and their learned associations.
Barthes adopted the idea of Saussure but he added a theory that gave a bigger role to the reader. In the 1960’s Barthes introduced the idea of denotation and connotation. Like Peirce and Saussure before him, Barthes identified structural components in signs. He called this denotation and connotation. Denotation is about the physical reality of the signified object. It is all about what is pictured in terms of ‘objective’ elements. This can be a photograph of a child playing in a backyard, a perfume bottle on an advertising poster or a picture of the sun sinking in the sea. Connotation is the other structural part of the meaning of a sign. It is about how the photograph of a child, the perfume bottle or the sunset is interpreted by the reader. The reader applies his existing knowledge to these messages. Consequently, the meaning of a message is influenced by what a reader has learnt about how to understand the message. The same messages can therefore be interpreted differently across communities and cultures.
Written in London, September 2011
