YouTube link for this presentation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWo6YUjOtP4
Keynote delivered at Same/Difference: Multilingual Typography Symposium 2011
Bilingual typography in Hong Kong has a long history. While much has been written about bilingualism in Hong Kong from a linguistic point of view, little has been done from a typographic standpoint. Through a systemic approach, this presentation will examine some case studies of Chinese–English bilingual typography in Hong Kong and attempt to establish links between the semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of bilingual typographic communication. Two types of bilingual typography will be explored: 1. where two languages appear to be parallel to each other in terms of their literal meaning; and 2. where one language is embedded into another, termed as ‘code-mixing’ in linguistics. A descriptive and theoretical framework will be presented. These theoretical investigations will afford a glimpse of the socio-political and socio-linguistic evolutions of bilingualism in Hong Kong as well as shed light on the factors which influence the effectiveness of various approaches to bilingual typography.
29. Bilingual typography is all about visual harmony
about how various constituent parts
of each language
interact with each other
under many different contexts
for many different purposes
30. Insert in my secondary school report booklet c1984 (?)
35. A model for investigating typography
Culture
文化
Language Typography Technology
語言 文字信息設計 科技
Aesthetics
美學
Keith Tam 2010
36. Pragmatics, syntactics semantics work in tandem to communicate effectively
visual elements
and principles,
rules of visual
Syntactics perception
how it is
understood,
how meaning
is created
(verbal graphic
language) Semantics Pragmatics how it works for
the user, in terms
of searching and
accessing information
in a given context
37. Typography is a verbal–graphic hybrid language
Visual
Verbal
Keith Tam 2011
38. Typography is a verbal–graphic hybrid language
Multilingual typography becomes a meta language
Language 1 Language 2
Visual Visual
Language 3
Verbal Verbal
Keith Tam 2011
39. Types of bilingualism / bilingual typography
Two languages presented as
Parallel 雙語並行 equivalence of each other
One language is embedded into
Code-mixing 語碼混合 another below the clause level
(words and short phrases)
One language is interweaved into
Code-switching 語碼轉換 another at clause level or above
40. Types of bilingualism / bilingual typography
Two languages presented as
Parallel 雙語並行 equivalence of each other
One language is embedded into
Code-mixing 語碼混合 another below the clause level
(words and short phrases)
One language is interweaved into
Code-switching 語碼轉換 another at clause level or above
41. An analytical model for bilingual typography
Verbal language (content)
Status relationship Semantic structure
Global visual hierarchy Local visual hierarchy
Verbal–graphic language (form)
Keith Tam 2011
42. An analytical model for bilingual typography
global Status Sequence Categorization Grouping
properties 地位 排序 類別 群組
local Hierarchy Sequence Categorization Grouping
properties 層級 排序 類別 群組
Graphical spatial attributes
Keith Tam 2011
43. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967
44. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967
45. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967
46. Is the (swiss) grid the ultimate solution?
Typographie by Emil Ruder c1967
47. Analyzing a sample of bilingual typography
Hong Kong Independent Film Festivl programme guide 2011
49. Are two or more elements the same or different in terms of . . .
Status? Category? Grouping?
Semantic Language? Sequence?
level?
by looking at and comparing graphical spatial attributes
Keith Tam 2011
50. Using cityscapes as an analogy . . .
Hierarchical element – it’s more important than everything else
Distinguishing element – it’s different from everything else
51. Using cityscapes as an analogy . . .
a landmark such as a large cathedral is both a
hierarchical and distinguishing element and it becomes
a focal point of a city
52. Using cityscapes as an analogy . . .
an eceletic cityscape – everything is different from
everything else! Lacks focus and does not facilitating
searching or grouping
53. Our eyes never stay still – they keep looking for patterns and organization
Fixations =
2/10 to 8/10 seconds
Movements between
fixations =
1/100 to 8/100 seconds
Patterson 2002 p.213
54. Difference in run length
Language 1 Language 2
Because of the nature of the
language, a large gap is created
55. Different sequential order
Language 1 prioritized
by order in sequence
Searching for the
starting point of
language 2 becomes
more difficult
56. Same run length, different column width
Language 1 almost becomes a Being more than three times the column
sidebar or margin notes rather width of language 1, the visual precence
than the main text of language becomes greater, hence
more emphasised
63. A comparative descriptive framework (graphical spatial attributes)
Chinese 中文 English 英文 Chinese 中文 English 英文
A Type style 01 Songti or Mingti 宋體或明體 seriffed 襯線體 A Spatial sequence 01 order in vertical sequence 縱向排序 order in vertical sequence 縱向排序
字體風格 02 Heiti 黑體 sanserif 無襯線體或等線體 空間排序 02 order in horizontal sequence 橫向排序 order in horizontal sequence 橫向排序
03 Kaiti 楷體 — 03 sequence assumed via position sequence assumed via position
04 Fang Song 仿宋體 — 位置引申的次序 位置引申的次序
05 cursive 草寫體 cursive 草寫體 04 sequence assumed via graphical attributes sequence assumed via graphical attributes
視覺屬性引申的次序 視覺屬性引申的次序
06 display 標題字 display 標題字
05 order of appearance in linear sequence order of appearance in linear sequence
07 calligraphy 書法 calligraphy 書法
線性流向的出場次序 線性流向的出場次序
08 handlettering 手繪字 handlettering 手繪字
06 reveal or hide after interaction reveal or hide after interaction
09 writing tool ﹠ material 書寫工具及物料
互動後揭示或隱藏 互動後揭示或隱藏
10 typesetting and production method 排字及製作方法
07 transform after interaction transform after interaction
互動後轉化 互動後轉化
B Scale measure 01 actual point size 實際點數
大小及量度 02 appearing size 視覺大小 appearing size 視覺大小 B Configuration 01 linear stream 純線性流動
03 character height 字元高度 cap height 大寫字母高度 配置方法 02 prose (linear interrupted) 段落(線性中斷)
04 — x-height X高度 03 verse (lines broken for sense) 詩句(根據字義換行)
05 — ascender length 上椽長度 04 branching (tree) 分支(樹形結構)
06 — descender length 下椽長度 05 list 列表
07 — baseline 基線 06 matrix 表格
08 Ideographic Character Face (ICF) size —
表意字面(內框)大小 C Reading direction 01 left to right 從左至右
閱讀方向 02 top to bottom, right to left (vertical) —
C Weight density 01 actual stroke width 實際筆畫粗細 從上而下,從右至左(縱向)
粗細及密度 02 weight 重量(粗細) weight 重量(粗細) 03 right to left (horizontal) 從右至左(橫向) —
03 overall density 整體密度 overall density 整體密度 04 — stacked letters, top to bottom
縱向叠起字母,從上而下
D Typographic variants 01 — upper- and lowercase 大小楷
05 sideways, top to bottom 轉側,從上而下
字元變換 02 — all-capitals 全大楷
06 sideways, bottom to top 轉側,從下而上
03 — small-capitals 小型大楷
04 — italic or oblique 草寫斜體或傾斜體 D Alignment 01 justified 左右齊行
05 — swashed characters 花體字 靠齊方法 02 flush left, ragged right 齊左散右 flush left, ragged right 齊左散右
06 — superscript 上標 03 flush top, ragged bottom 齊上散下 —
07 — subscript 下標 04 flush right, ragged left 齊右散左 flush right, ragged left 齊右散左
08 circled framed characters 圓及方框字元 — 05 centered 分中 centered 分中
09 jiazhu (split-column notes) 夾注 —
E Spacing 01 column width 欄寬
10 oblique effect 傾斜 oblique effect 傾斜
空間處理 02 line spacing 行間間距
E Typographic adornments 01 underlining 底線 03 paragraph spacing 段間間距
字元裝配 02 strikethrough 刪除線 04 first line indent 首行縮進
03 paragraph rules 段落嵌線 05 indent 縮進
04 emphasis marks 著重號 — 06 outdent 突出
05 zhuyin (phonetic glosses) 注音 — 07 character spacing 字元間距 —
06 other graphical effects applied to the text 其它字元效果 08 — letterspacing 字母間距
09 — word spacing 字間間距
F Graphical devices 01 text colour 字元顏色
視覺元素 02 background colour 背景顏色
03 border width 線框粗細
04 border style 線框風格
05 border colour 線框顏色
06 other graphical devices 其它標識
Keith Tam 2007–2011
74. Grouping – name Grouping – type of business
Syllable-by-syllable transliteration Translation
Longer English word spans across
Chinese compound word
Restaurant sign, Central, Hong Kong 2007