to invoke a desert, pertains to the icon. Chapter V, Part 1
V. Visuality in the
Study of Text and Discourse
V.A.
Visuality in theory and practice
1. The visual aspects in the presentation and reception of text and discourse in the broadest sense can be designated Visuality. I have taken surprisingly long to recognise it as a principle factor of Texts — presented here for the first time, in fact — completing the triad with the factors of Lexicogrammar and Prosody. The quantity and quality of studies addressing Visuality have been far less than befits its vital role in human interaction. Still less than Prosody, Visuality does not fit into the ‘formal’ approaches to language study reviewed in Chapter II, where Phonetics and Phonology highlighted the acoustic factors of language. Even written language, the most ‘linguistic’ mode of Visuality, was left aside because ‘the spoken forms alone constitute the object of linguistics’1 and some linguists even averred that ‘writing is not language’.1 So like Prosody, written language was only addressed in earnest by some ‘functional’ models of language.2
2. On the side of practice, studying the Visuality of Texts can be
difficult. Traditionally, popular books offer appealing ‘illustrations’ by
trained artists, whereas images in non-commercialised academic publications were
until recently limited to black-and-white graphics of letters, numbers, and
lines. Today, desktop publication has reined in such problems, but in the
meantime the Internet has transformed the style and dynamics of images so
dramatically that any compre-hensive study of the Visuality of Texts would need
to be posted on the Internet too. This brief chapter merely seeks to
map out some issues worthy of further study.
3. On the side of theory, semiotics3 could offer a more
congenial home than mainstream linguistics. Its broad conception of the sign
(or ‘signifier’) envisions at least three relations to its ‘referent’
(or ‘signified’).4 A relation that is merely conventional, as
when the word ‘desert’ designates a type of arid climatic region, pertains
to the symbol; this approximates the narrow notions of the ‘sign’ in
linguistics, which dubbed the relation ‘arbitrary’ (II.41) and so elided the
currents of history and etymology, as when the ancients bestowed the Latin name
‘Arabia Deserta’ on the Empty Quarter in Arabia that undoubtedly seemed
‘deserted’. A relation that is
associated within common experience, as when I observed a ‘sandstorm’ while
landing in Abu Dhabi (near the Empty Quarter) and vividly envisioned the desert,
pertains to the index. A relation of perceptible resemblance, such as the
Webdings graphic
to invoke a desert, pertains to the icon.
4. This triad of relations favours Visuality,
as common textbook examples indicate, such as the word ‘locomotive’
(symbol), the smoke of the locomotive (index), and the picture of
the locomotive (they still smoked \when those books were written) on
a railroad crossing (icon). A visual icon is
easier to adduce than an acoustic one, witness routine usages of the term.:
[1394] Madonna
ruthlessly and determinedly made herself an icon, flirting, taunting,
toying with sexual and religious imagery (NME)
Some other ‘icons’ in BNC data are (or were) 'singers', but their persons rather than their sounds were probably the chief iconic factor, e.g., John Lennon, Debbie Harry, and (of course) Elvis. Also, the doomed grins or glowers of ‘icons’ Marilyn Monroe and James Dean confront us in every visual medium.
5. For our studies, a key question might be how these
various semiotic signs relate to texts in general5 and to their
Visuality in particular. To describe the ‘text’ as a ‘complex sign’ or a
‘supersign’ suggests it might be symbolic, indexical, and
iconic all at once, but does not map out the spectrum of its Visuality as an
actual system being seen, read, or imaged. A text should be more ‘readable’
when it also easier to visualise, e.g., my version [97a] versus the original
[97] back in II.132.
[97] Transverse dunes are characterized
by low length:width ratios and marked asymmet-ry, where windward slopes are much gentler than the slip faces associated with lee slopes.
[97a] Dunes formed at a right angle to
the wind are very long but very narrow. They rise gently on the side facing the
wind and drop sharply on the other side.
Presumably,
Visuality is a holistic factor that can help you ‘get the picture’.
6. Not surprisingly, semiotic definitions
of the ‘text’ have been mostly practical and synergetic, if not indeed
serendipitous, e.g.:
[1395] By ‘text’ we mean: magazines, newspapers, books,
poetry, literature, film and music, religious settings and gatherings, and
high-street shopping iconography, [plus] newer texts such as the Internet, including e-commerce websites. (Timothy S. French)www
What
unites or distinguishes these diverse ‘texts’ in semiotic terms remains a
richly data-driven issue for multidisciplinary research on text and discourse.6
7.
One decisive factor in the Visuality of the text is mental imagery, comprising sensory images that pass before the ‘mind’s eye’ while
listening or reading. Extensive commentary and study have produced diffuse
results,7 ranging
from more theoretical or technical discussions8 to practical or
therapeutic counsel on training through imagery, e.g., to ‘cure
both physical and emotional problems’:
[1396]
This book contains instructions for evoking the appropriate imagery to cure
afflictions ranging from acne to warts, and including cancer, haemorrhoids, and
scoliosis.9
We
also find popular books touting mental imagery for better performance in sports
like racing, tennis, golf, and martial arts. So the prospect of controlling your
mental imagery must have a frank appeal. The obscurity and elusiveness of the
underlying processes allow it to be advertised with miraculous powers as a
cure-all.
8. I would rather regard
it as an adventitious and residual activity within the hugely complex and
interconnected organisation of mental storage. The interplay of conscious and
unconscious generates involuntary ‘streams of consciousness’ by spreading
activation.10 Even if the memory exactly records every image, as some
studies of ‘eidetic imagery’ assert,11 mental images can be
endlessly creative like an improvised video, even (or especially) while you
listen to or read stories of exotic places or remote periods of history.
9. These qualities
complicate the study of mental images evoked by discourse. They cannot be
observed or recorded by anyone else; and reporting them interposes the
discursive layer of the reports attempting to stabilise an immensely dynamic
fiend of operations that are transitory, combinatory, and recombinatory all at
once. Although an image appears holistic like a picture, the visual object
cannot be the only unit of processing and is perhaps not even a privileged unit.
Conceivably, the image is constructed or composed on each occasion rather than
simply trotted out of storage as a whole;12 and these processes are
always in motion. Perhaps a similar account may apply to the meaning of
discourse better than the staid metaphor of looking up words and definitions in
a mental dictionary.13 The ‘meaning’ of an image resides in the
process; the ‘meaning of meaning’ may do so too.
10. Leaving the theoretical issues aside
until some means to test them with data can be devised, I will briefly describe
a practical project I ran with mental imagery. As I have long recommended,
literature in the curriculum is likely to be afford cultural enrichment only in
an ambience that welcomes open, creative response (II.193f). If literary texts
indeed create alternative
worlds (II.187), they should activate especially elaborate mental imagery, and
many authors warmly encourage it.
11.
As usual, Shakespeare may excel all other authors in English, not for sheer
quantities of imagery but for creative associations that deconstruct the
commonality of English collocation (cf. VI.10.9.3.). In sample [1397] from Richard II,
Sir Thomas Mowbry, whom the king has banished for life, mourns having to
‘forego his native English’, which was not a ‘world language’ in
1399. (To offset problematic vocabulary for a class of first-year US students, I
annotated the text as shown.)
[1397]
The language I have learnt these forty years,
My
native English, now I must forego;
And
now my tongue’s use is to me no more
Than
an unstringed1 viol2 or a harp; [1 without
strings 2 violin]
Or
like a cunning3 instrument cased up4
[3 refined, requiring skill]
Or,
being open, put into his hands
That
knows no touch to tune the harmony.
Within
my mouth you have engaoled5 my tongue, [5 locked in jail]
Doubly
portcullised6 with my teeth and lips; [6 a iron grating
over a castle gate]
And
dull, unfeeling, barren ignorance
Is
made my gaoler to attend on me.
In
terms of Style, the imagery relies on a simile between the tongue and a musical
instrument, and then a metaphor between the mouth and a gaol, both richly
reflected in the images I obtained. In terms of Lexicogrammar, Cognition gets
severed from Communication and then personified as a Dispositive Agent (‘gaoler’)
of Non-Cognition (‘ignorance’). Prominent Parameters are lexicalised
Negative Polarity and Incapable Belief (‘forego – no more – unstringed –
cased up – no touch – engaoled – unfeeling – barren – ignorance’)
12. I asked the students to read the text
attentively and write down any mental images they registered. Predictably, they
reported images of a person going ‘to a foreign country’. But many images
were more creative: the person is ‘losing his voice’ or totally ‘mute’;
is ‘affected by insanity’; ‘is in a situation where he/she is ignorant and
flabbergasted’; ‘must now give up his way of life’; ‘has perfected
his/her profession and has no more room to grow’; ‘has lost the desire to
learn’; ‘is trapped by a lack of education’; or is ‘not using his
God-given talents’. Or, ‘the person is frustrated with language and the
inability to communicate with others’; ‘he can create thoughts but can’t
relate them through words’; or he lives in a ‘society’ that ‘doesn’t
use the language correctly’ or ‘doesn’t find what he has to say
pertinent’. Or again, learners reported images from the domain of their home
and schooling, such as a family with ‘my mother and father strongly urging me
to keep my alien opinions to myself’; ‘a strict Catholic school where I
can’t express myself freely’; or a classroom ‘trying to learn a foreign
language’ while ‘my teacher has imprisoned my tongue’.
(Spot on, that last.)
13.
In other reports, a person was ‘being silenced by a government’ and ‘no
longer has the freedom of speech’ and is ‘constantly watched and
followed’. The person might be speaking for ‘the American Indian’ or
‘for prisoners of conscience being held worldwide’; or is being ‘held
hostage’ by ‘terrorists’. One image featured ‘a prisoner in a jail in a
foreign country’; he has his ‘hands tied’ and ‘a cloth over his
mouth’; he ‘speaks words to guards’ who are dressed ‘in dull earth tones
and square hats’ and ‘pay no attention’.
14.
Shakespeare’s thematic references to the human mouth elicited images of ‘a
large tongue out of its mouth, on the floor’; ‘a tongue tied down by a piece
of rope’; ‘a deflated, shrivelled tongue lying lifeless at the bottom of a
mouth’; and ‘a mouth full of metal bars and locks’. Extended series of
imagery occasionally indicated a free-flowing ‘stream-of consciousness’
response, e.g.:
[1398]
A
lone
man
in
roomful
of
instruments.
The
man
picks
them
up
and
tries to play them; he fails. He throws them against the wall, breaks the
strings on a violin and bends the neck of a sax. He sits alone with a pile of
broken instruments and the room slowly turns into a cell. Outside are
millions of people and he calls out, but they don’t understand.
[1399]
I see a little frail old man walking slowly down the ramp from a ship to the
docks. Milling around the marketplace are dark-skinned people dressed in flowing
white robes and turbans. Some carry heavy baskets on their heads. The murmuring
of the crowds makes no sense to the elderly man, like a bird chirping. He is
drawn to a music-maker painstakingly threading a fiddle. The old man smiles and
tries to speak but his teeth have become bars.
In
retrospect, I wish I had continued the project. But until I finally recognised
Visuality as a principle factor of Texts, I saw no theoretical frame for
integrating mental imagery.
V.C
Personal images
15. In the purview of semiotics, the personal image
of the producer or the receiver of discourse draws upon a triad: as a visual
symbol for a personal identity with a legal name, personal data, and a life
history; as a visual index of ethnicity, and of style and fashion in apparel,
coiffure, or cosmetics; and as a visual icon for some socially recognised type(s).
This triad is normally focused only on ‘prominent’ people like Naomi
Campbell or David Bowie. But it can make the personal image into a carrier of
potentially complex meanings for almost anyone, even before you say anything,
and can set an elaborate context for what you do say.
16. At all events, ‘modern’ societies seem to
believe in the power of personal images, as when advice and training are
marketed by commercial ‘consultants’ [1400-01].
[1400] Image Self Analysis offers a review of the components that create an
individual’s personal and professional image: body language, appearance (styles, lines, designs,
colors that flatter various body types) and verbal communication. (Karen Mack)
[1401] When we live in a society that is
67% visual, 25% vocal, and 8% verbal, image is everything. […] Image
represents a visual impression of who you are, your lifestyle and profile. […]
Having professional image advisers (hair stylist, make-up artist, designer,
personal shopper, stylist, personal trainer, choreographer, transportation
service and image consultant) is just as important as having good attorney. (Fashion
Word)
Among
the ‘body types’ to be ‘flattered’ in [1400] (with the aid of ‘optical
illusion’) are ‘full-figured women’, portly men’, and ‘petite
individuals’. I also found a website for a university course that helps you
‘learn how to look years younger by applying basic makeup’: ‘camouflaging
wrinkles and lines, evening out skin color, and covering broken capillaries and
dark circles around the eyes’.14
17. Counsel is of course profuse for interviews, viz.:
[1402] If you have trouble maintaining
eye contact, you may be subconsciously telling your interviewer that you are not
an honest, confident, self-assured professional. If you habitually slouch when
seated, this may indicate a sloppy, disinterested attitude. (Being Interviewed)
By
such standards, a traditional Prussian officer would fare the best.
18. In the context of this chapter, the term ‘verbal image’ seems
intriguing, but I didn’t find it in the BNC or BAWC, and the Internet gave
spotty results. One college writing course treats ‘description’ as ‘a
verbal image of a setting, people, events — anything that includes an
author’s realm of vision’15 (not the reader’s?); I notice a
similarity to
the definition of ‘describe’ in Webster’s New World Thesaurus (Third
Edition, 1997), which includes ‘convey a verbal image of’.
Another course vows to enhance ‘vocal and verbal images’ by
‘identifying the five elements of speech’,16 which are not
explained and are unknown anywhere else on the Internet. Hmm.
19. A few websites do treat the ‘verbal
image’ in a sense akin to the present discussion as the discursive projection
of a person [1403] or a business [1404].
[1403]
I have finally discovered the real me spiritually, emotionally and physically. I
like my verbal and non-verbal image.
(Kristel Jenkins, Miss Virginia)www
[1404] Everything that is said during the advertisement is validated by the
managers’ professional visual and verbal
image. […] Establish what elements of your dress, behaviour and
surroundings will fulfil the four dimensions of Credibility, Likeability,
Personal Attractiveness, Dominance (Cap Online)www
But
these sources do not explain in any depth what they mean by ‘verbal image’,
e.g., how on earth you can talk to sound both ‘likeable’
and ‘dominant’.
20. So I must turn to the indirect evidence of
discourse data indicating partici-pants’ beliefs
and attitudes toward the significance and value of images, e.g., whether
they appear ‘aggressive’ [1405], ‘cutesy’ [1406], or ‘made up’ and
‘smiley — like a woman should’ [1407]. (Say what, Fay?)
[1405] The image
is of an aggressive radical tilting against many of the most
powerful and conservative (even Tory) interests in British society. Indeed, this
is Mrs Thatcher’s image of herself. (Thatcherism)
[1406]
Waterman wore the expression of a father seeing his daughter metamorphosing from
girl into woman before his very eyes […] as he stood on the balcony above the
stage where Kylie was ridding herself forever of her cutesy
image. (Kylie)
[1407] I used to think that you should
always be yourself but now I like to be made up,
smile and look
like a woman should. Looking good on your book jackets means that
more people will read you. (Fay Weldon, of all people, in the Scotsman)
Even
appalling smarm like [1407] probably points up a cultural consensus about
personal images and their public value, especially for a woman smiling
[1407-09].
[1408] Thérèse, lowering her lashes like a lacy brown veil and trying not to smile
too obviously, did not look modest. It was the same look
she’d directed at the men all through lunch and they’d loved it. (Daughters)
[1409] The recipient was tall and blonde, with an air of glacier-like
sophistication. […] Then the woman smiled,
and it changed her face completely. ‘Dear Luke’, she said fondly.
(Hunter’s Harem)
21. Large corpora may shed some light on common reactions
to some specific factor of personal appearance like hair colour, a genetic
incident overlaid by rich social implications.17 In BNC data, the
Attitudes are distinctly Ameliorative for red-haired females, who collocate with
Modifiers like ‘gorgeous, attractive, good-looking, dishy, elegant, slender,
sexy, carnal, vivacious, fiery’, whereas the males (among them a ‘lout’
and a ‘yob’) collocate with Pejoratives like ‘tubby, stocky, strange,
frightful, prowling, screaming, mad as a hatter’. Both genders came out
Ameliorative for ‘blonde’ (or ‘blond’) persons, who collocate with
Modifiers like ‘young’ (never ‘old’), ‘beautiful, pretty, lovely,
handsome, splendid, attractive, luscious, bosomy, muscled, blue-eyed’. These
Collocates cluster in the BNC’s ‘imaginative written’ text type —
blondes as iconic commodities in popular fiction. In return, blonde females
carry an image as icons of ‘dumbness’ too. Intellectual disempowerment thus
offsets sexual empowerment [1410], and even the latter has an ominous backlash [1411].
[1410] The royal women have a
second-class place in the Royal Family, and no one more so than the Princess of
Wales, Diana, portrayed as a ‘dumb blonde’
(Today)
[1411]
Despite the hard line taken by the press about the rapists, they were not above
sexualising the raped girls [as] a ‘blue-eyed blonde’ in the Sun
and a ‘pretty blonde’ in the Daily
Mirror, [who might have] brought the rape on themselves. (Sex
Crime)
Once
more, we encounter the widening movement from linguistic into cognitive and
social issues that concern the agenda of ecologism (cf. II.104, 110, 140, 156).
24. The most iconic focus of Visuality is naturally the
face, which is sometimes represented as ‘saying’ [1412],
‘speaking’ [1413], ‘telling’ [1414], ‘expressing’ [1415], or
‘revealing’ [1416] — however you contrive to visualise the way
‘benevolent malice’ or an ‘inch of hurt’ might actually look.
[1412]
his face said plainly enough that it was nothing alarming. (Adam
Bede)
[1413]
Although Dotty had all the words, Dawn’s face
spoke volumes (Awfully Big)
[1414]
every line etched on Britt Ekland’s face
told a story of personal anguish. (Today)
[1415] His pallid bloated
face expressed benevolent malice (Young
Man)
[1416] her face revealed every inch of hurt and pain and anger that she felt. (Garden)
Reciprocally, you can ‘read’
or ‘study’ someone’s face like a text:
[1417] he seemed
leisurely to read my face, as if its features and lines were characters on a page (Eyre)
[1418] She was silent, studying
his face, the bitter eyes and the lines
of debauchery at his mouth. Once, he had
been strong, but the years of competition and jealousy showed on his face
and he was losing, losing fast. (Ungoverned)
25. Evidently, a wide range of iconic meanings can be
conveyed by facial expressions
and gestures.18
[1419] He wrinkled
his nose, half closed his eyes, and then he surveyed Alexei as if he was trying
to understand a bad joke. (Side of
Heaven)
[1420] Frank rubbed his cheek thoughtfully with the heel of his fist (Charnel House)
An
expression or gesture may function as your distinguishing trait:
[1421]
she smiled, rather falsely, [but] realized that her face felt
uncomfortable wearing this expression and reverted to her habitual
frown. (Pillars of Gold)
[1422] ‘Strip in the name of the law’ was not what people wanted to
read about on Sunday morning, […] he concluded with his characteristic weary shrug. (DISASTER!)
Or,
your face and gestures may communicate a social role or function:
[1423] Beatty [was]
the living image of the role-model
Hollywood leading man with dark, mysterious
eyes, classic features, and a huge mop of
hair. (Joker’s Wild)
[1424] Tristan was making a big show,
running a carpet sweeper up and down, straight-ening cushions, […] the very
picture of a harassed domestic. (Vets Might Fly)
An impression of ‘exaggeration’ or ‘extravagance’
can arise:
[1425] He was mugging
terribly, his rubber features running the gamut of exaggerated
emotions from wide-eyed amazement to crumpled despair. (Lucifer Rising)
[1426]
the Prince […] indulged in the most
extravagant expressions and actions — rolling on the floor, striking his
forehead, tearing his hair, falling into hysterics
(George IV)
26.
An intriguing question for discourse study is how facial expressions and
gestures get ‘read’ and evaluated within a culture, social class,
relationship, and so on,19 and how much is either personally inspired
or else trained by mass media like cinema, soap operas, and fashion adverts.
Such studies, though laborious and perhaps soppy, are at least tractable in ways
that studies of mental imagery are not.
V.E.
Emotional displays
27.
Prosody and Visuality interact in the discourse of emotional displays,
where speakers can ‘sound’ or ‘look angry’ [1427-28], ‘happy’
[1429-30], and so on.
[1427] ‘Now piss off and leave me alone.’ He sounded angry. (Goshawk)
[1428] ‘What are you doing here?’ He looked
angry enough to whip her (Dark Sunlight)
[1429]
She sounded happy.20 ‘Dan is
being nicer’. (MurderVictims)www
[1430] James
too looked happy again. ‘A most heavenly thought indeed!’ (Northanger)
I find very few occurrences of someone both
‘looking’ and ‘sounding’ either ‘angry’ [1431] or ‘happy’
[1432], perhaps because one implies the other.
[1431] ‘You come in here and start killing my people and you have the
nerve to ask me what I’m doing
here?’ Athena looked and sounded angry. (The
Battle)www
[1432]
The Department of Education’s Director for Charter Schools looked
and sounded happy with the tour of the building. ‘It looks fantastic.’ (Barnstable
Patriot)www
At least, I could find none at all of anyone looking but
not sounding ‘angry’ or ‘happy’, and vice-versa. I did find some
people with Enactments not matching a displayed Emotion [1433-34] or vice versa
[1435-36], but again fairly few.
[1433]
‘So we postpone the vacation for a few days.’ Jondy said. She smiled
but didn’t look happy (inkyfingers)www
[1434]
I looked at Bubs, who was crying, but didn’t
look sad. (Beast Man)www
[1435]
Mr. Cook was happy, but did
not smile. (dem)www
[1436]
‘I’ll miss you too.’ Mihoshi hugged back, she was sad but didn’t cry (Kiyone’s Leave)www
28.
Emotive Adverbs for Communicative Processes like ‘saying’ might implicate
either Prosody or the Visuality, or plausibly both.
[1437] ‘You’ve put me in
an impossible position’, Modigliani said angrily. ‘You know I
don’t paint at all.’ (Modigliani)
[1438] Will was pleased. ‘Look, Toby, she’s got my eyes’, he said happily. (Life and Times)
[1439] ‘That’s our stupidity’, he said sadly
as if unburdening himself of a great guilt. (Sharp End)
Prosody
or Visuality can be highlighted by an Emotive Modifier for a ‘voice’
[1440-42] or a ‘look’ [1443-45].
[1440] ‘Sam’, said Mr. Pickwick, in an
angry voice,
‘if you say another word, or offer the slightest interference with this
person, I discharge you that instant.’ (Pickwick)
[1441 ‘Let
there always be peace between us?’ she said, speaking in a happy voice.21 (Shared
Roses)www
[1442] She has learned to
enjoy the friendship of people in the local HIV community. ‘They are always
there for me’, she says, in a sad voice. (Unsaid
& Undone)www
[1443]
How dare you climb into my garden and steal my
rapunzel like a thief?" she said with an angry
look. (Rapunzel)www
[1444]
‘I’ll be right there’, Little Bear shouted
with a happy look on his face. (Chief
Black Bear)www
[1445] ‘I
do not know why you are here. I have to follow orders’, he said with a sad look. (American Gestapo)www
Here, an interesting project would be to study how such
Emotional displays are expressed or recognised from various ways of
‘sounding’ or ‘looking’, and especially how far they can or cannot be
controlled. As a working hypothesis, ‘angry’ discourse would be higher in
pitch and louder in volume, and ‘sad’ discourse lower and softer (IV.5). But
representative samples of live data would doubtless again show variations by
culture, social class, and relation (cf. V.26).
V.F
The Visuality of the Text as artefact
29. As I remarked at the outset, Visuality was not
easy to accommodate in studies of language and discourse, including mine. To
promote a dialectic of theory and practice for this purpose, we might propose a
‘linguistic level’ in the subfield of ‘Graphology’ for written language,
corresponding to Phonology for spoken language; its major theoretical units
would be the ‘Graphemes’ that chiefly represent Phonemes, whilst its major
practical units, in most languages, would be the ‘Letters’ (II.46). The
Grapheme would thus be the visual and inscriptive target for the particular or
even peculiar realisations in typeface or handwriting. Other Graphemes could
have Icons as practical units, such as the poplar ‘emoticons’ like J
and
L
or the icons with useful public information like
h
(ambulance) and
É
(telephone).
30. Books and even more, magazines, make strategic use
of pictures as Icons on their covers [1446-48], including the authors [1449].
[1446] Cozy
images of thatched country inns abound on glossy book covers
(Trouble Brewing)
[1447] books in general are nowadays bought on impulse on the design
of the jacket alone, [driven by] a narcissistic concern with visual
appearance (Semi-Literate England)
[1448] Not since the heyday of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis has there been an inter-national
icon to match Diana, the Princess of Wales. Her picture on the cover
of magazines was enough to guarantee phenomenal sales worldwide. (Times
of London)www
[1449] A picture of the
author on the back flap shows Shteyngart garbed in an outfit
right out of Dr. Zhivago (Sara Tan in PopMatters)www
31. Orthographic Letters can take
on iconic functions, as when ‘large letters’ signal Pejorative emphasis
[1450], ‘large handwriting’ signals
‘confidence’ [1451], and ‘red ink’ signals ‘danger’ [1452].
[1450] students […]
give all
the facts
about an
experiment or
test but
come to an abrupt halt.
Tutors are then tempted to write in large
letters: ‘SO WHAT?’ (Guide to Success)
[1451]
Val’s papers were bland and minimal, in large
confident handwriting (Possession)
[1452] Beneath the
black-printed legend […] was a further, even curter message, in official red ink. In black
‘THIS APPLICATION HAS BEEN REFUSED’. In red,
the colour of warning and danger, ‘MATTER TERMINATED’. (Foxbat)
32. Graphics can guide Prosody with orthographic
means to
suggest stronger stress and slower pace, as with italics [1453], bold
[1454], underlining [1455], and BLOCK CAPITALS [1456]. (I use small capitals, since the rest have
other uses.)
[1453]
How did 100,000 U.S. journalists sent to cover the 2000 election fail to
tell vote theft story? […] The story required a reporter to stand up and say
that the big-name politicians, their lawyers and their PR people were freaking
liars. (Best Democracy)
[1454]
You wanna talk smoked? My trigger finger itches when I hear rappin’
fools who be callin’ women bitches (Spanky in Doonesbury)
[1455]
The interview represents a discussion between a superior and an inferior.
(Text and the Pragmatic Aspects of Language)
[1456] The crowd
grew louder — ‘HAIL TO THE THIEF!’ You could see the Secret Service and
Bush’s advisers huddling in the freezing rain… (Stupid White Men)
Weight
can rise from unconventional
orthography, such as repeating letters to sug-gest loud volume and slow pace
[1457-58];
paradoxically, Weight can also rise by omitting some letters from certain widely
disapproved expressions [1459-60].
[1457] ‘You
have known perfectly that I was en-r-r-r-raged!’ It appears impossible for
mademoiselle to roll the letter ‘r’ sufficiently in this word (Bleak
House)
[1458]
‘And he runs awa-a-a-y!’ cried Mrs. MacStinger, with a lengthening
out of the last syllable that made the unfortunate Captain regard himself as the
meanest of men; […] ‘From a woman! […] He hasn’t the courage to meet her
hi-i-i-igh’; (Dombey)
[1459]
G — d d
— n their impenitent souls, may they roast in hell (Mark
Twain)
[1460 ] I’m
going home to newcastle tomorrow. (If you noticed, the ‘N’ in newcastle was
not a capital because the scabby ba****ds don’t deserve it.) (Leeds
United e-mail)BNC
Unfortunately,
the uses of these ‘orthographics’ are not consistent or standardised, and may encounter Pejorative Attitudes, e.g., the disapproved
‘scare italics’:
[1461]
If you use an unauthorised cleaning materials for your monitor, some dealers void
warranties. (advert for a pricey ‘Monitor Cleaner’ for the early PCs)
[1462] Krashen
would be crazy to say so, that, by the same logic, his ‘theory’ also
‘predicts’ that we could fire teachers22
Still,
some matters (and ‘theories’) may be scary enough to warrant them. Also,
political commentators justly use italics to enforce a crucial point:
[1463]
The man at the helm [of the Valdez] would never have hit the reef had he simply
looked as his Raycas radar. Bur he could not because it was not turned on.
The complex Raycas costs a lot to operate, so frugal Exxon management left it
broken (Greg Palast)
[1464] In what
appears to be a mass fraud committed by the state of Florida, Bush, Harris and
company not only removed thousands of black felons from the rolls, but thousands
of black citizens who had never committed a crime in their lives.
(Michael Moore)
Here
too, the Weight of content does seem to justify the highlighting.
Click here to go to Chapter V,
Part 2