GRAPHOLOGY

Patterns of Written Language

GRAPHOLOG
Y
It describes the general resources of language’s written system,
including punctuation, spelling, typography, alphabet and paragraph
structure, but it can also be extended to incorporate any significant pictorial
and iconic devices which supplement this system.

(Paul Simpson, Language Through Literature. Routledge, 1997)

GRAPHOLOG
Y
The audible ‘noise’ upon which the spoken mode relies for
communication is normally referred to as phonetic substance. Analogously,
the shapes and characters which comprise the written mode are referred to
as graphetic substance.

(Paul Simpson, Language Through Literature. Routledge, 1997)

 PHONOLOGY GRAPHOLOGY
• Different sounds combine into clusters, with • The basic graphological units themselves are
each cluster yielding a particular meaning. The referred to as graphemes.
individual units which signal these differences in • The study of the meaning potential of written
meaning are called phonemes. characters will be enveloped by the term
• The study of the meaning potential of clusters of graphology.
sound is referred to as phonology.
Example: bit-pit
/b/,/p/
<b>, <p>,<i>,<t>

Allograph Logograms
• Individual realisations of a single <&> <@>
grapheme - “stand for” other words
<c>
<c>
<c>
a.
HANDWRITIN
GGraphology
- the study of handwriting, especially when regarded as an expression of
the writer's character and personality
- is interested in the features like page size and layout, line direction,
regularity, angle, space design, etc., including features of calligraphy

Printing (typography) studies the general features or appearance of the

printed (written, pictorial and schematic).
b. DIRECTION OF
WRITING
- conventional left-to-right or marked top-to bottom (in advertisements, neon signs)
c. DIRECTION OF
– linear (novel) or nonlinear (dictionary entries, interactive computer programmes,
READING/VIEWING
computer hypertexts with links in both directions, printed advertisements, newspaper
articles in esp. popular types of press)
d. SURFACE TYPES
- sheets of paper, building walls (graffiti), computer monitor screens, etc.
e. WRITING IMPLEMENTS
(THE TECHNOLOGY OF WRITING)
– chalk, pencil, ink, spray, laser, electronic signal in word processing, etc.
f. LAYOUT OF THE
- spatial organization (title, subtitle, overline, marginal notes, references, etc.) reflects
TEXTthe topical and logical considerations (compare also in the tradition of concrete
poetry)
g. SHAPE, SIZE, AND TYPE
OF FONT
These have direct impact upon readability.
 h.
● TYPOGRAPH
Capitalization draws attention to the words denoting unique objects (proper
names) or important words among others (titles), also conveys loudness
● YBoldface thick lines used for emphasis
 h.
● TYPOGRAPH
Italics letters sloping to the right to separate different kinds of information
● Repetition of letters carries hesitancy in speech representation
● YUnderlining can be used for emphasis or to help draw attention to the text

➢ Daniel Defoe wrote
Robinson Crusoe.
➢ I watched Le Miserable
yesterday.
➢ Discourse, in medieval latin
word discurrere means ‘to
circulate’.
I-I want t-to say sorry for w-what I
said before. I hope you can still f-
f-forgive me.
The meeting will start at exactly 9:30 this afternoon.
Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell.
 i.
‒ PARAGRAPH
It signals thematically relatively independent units of text, introduced by an
indentation, spacing and columnar organization.
ING
 j. TABLES, GRAPHS, and
‒ SCHEMES
Specific genres with their specific features, grammar, and lexis
• Evil men fear
authority; good men
cherish it.
• One small step for a
man, one giant leap
for all mankind.
• The European soldiers
killed six of the
remaining villagers,
the American soldiers,
eight.
k. PHOTOGRAPHS and
ILLUSTRATIONS
 l. SPECIAL SYMBOLS
• A logogram is a written or pictorial symbol that is used to represent an
entire word.
• An asterisk is used in printing or writing as a reference mark, as an
indication of the omission of letters or words, to denote a hypothetical or
unattested linguistic form, or for various arbitrary meanings.
• A subscript or superscript is a character that is set slightly below or
above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than
the rest of the text.
l. SPECIAL SYMBOLS
ASTERISK

LOGOGRAMS
 l. SPECIAL SYMBOLS
SUPERSCRIPT

Ordinal
Numbers Intellectual Property
Symbols
l. SPECIAL SYMBOLS
SUPERSCRIPT
Footnote/Endnote

Mathematics and Science

l. SPECIAL SYMBOLS
SUBSCRIPT
m. ABBREVIATIONS AND
• An abbreviation is any shortened or contracted form of a word or phrase.
ACRONYMS
• An acronym is a specific type of abbreviation formed from the first letters
of a multi-word term, name, or phrase, with those letters pronounced
together as one term.

OPEC - O(rganization of) P(etroleum) E(xporting)

C(ountries)

PAGASA – P(hilippine) A(tmospheric),

G(eophysical, and) A(stronomical) S(ervices)
A(dministration)
n. COLOUR
An important symbolic system with a high communicative value.
*note the symbolism of individual colors in social communication
(white vs. black) and existing cross-cultural differences

Synaesthesia – a sensation produced in one modality when a

stimulus is applied to another modality.
Ex. The hearing of a certain sound brings about the visualization of a
certain colour, a colour (red) incites certain sensations (warmth)
o. GEOMETRICAL PATTERNS AND
-FORMS
square, triangle, circle
- choreograph all the (sub) components of a message in creating a
text as a multilayered structure
GRAPHIC
SYMBOLISM
- Is similar to sound symbolism, is a purposeful manipulation of graphic resources
aimed at achieving an effective transmission of a message or a special effect
(wordplay, humour).
 SPEECH VS.
● ItWRITING
is useful to treat speaking and writing as two principal cultural-social technologies
separately, although the existence of a strict line of demarcation between the two has
often been denied.
● These have evolved into two complementary media with their own distinct properties,
functional justification, and independent spheres of operation
● In particular situations and for particular purposes either one or the other is preferred.
● In the course of human history various systems of writing have been designed (e.g.,
pictographic, ideographic, logographic, syllabic, alphabetic); however, none of them has
managed to attain a perfect correspondence between the spoken (phoneme) and the written
(grapheme) form of language.
● Further, writing provides only a poor system of means for expressing emotional aspects
of a message.
 SPEECH VS.
● WRITING
The system of conventional punctuation marks is used to represent suprasegmental
features like intonation, tempo, timbre, stress, intensity, and to signal the pragmatic
meaning of utterances. Punctuation is an important part of writing, it functions as a
representation of the emotional/personal involvedness.
 SPEECH VS.
WRITING
The essential differences between speaking and writing caused by the conditions in
which communication takes place may be presented in the form of several dichotomies:
a) physical contact: immediate vs. non-immediate,
b) substance: phonic vs. graphic
c) channel: oral-auditory vs. visual
d) level of formality: informality vs. formality,
e) type of feedback: immediate vs. not immediate, delayed (or minimum)
f) redundancy: higher vs. lower
g) degree of preparedness: spontaneous, unprepared vs. planned, prepared
 SPEECH VS.
WRITING
The notion of mode cope with the complex dichotomy of speech and writing. It includes
a complex of linguistic features associated with either one of the two media.For
example, a lecture read before a class is obviously of spoken medium but of written
mode (as it contains a host of features of written language). Conversely, casual e-mail
correspondence or internet chat is produced in the written medium, but its mode is
spoken (cf. Ferenčík 2000). The advantage of this approach is that while medium offers
the either/or choice, mode provides a scale of continuous gradation/trait.

The following is a list of some common linguistic characteristics of speech and writing.
SPEECH
• Looser structure • Filled (fillers: erm, uhm) or unfilled
• Repetition pauses
• Rephrasing • Coordination (parataxis) prevails
• Filler phrases (you know) over subordination
• Hesitations • Ellipsis (omissions enabled by
• Self-corrections redundancy or availability of
missing information in the
situation, background knowledge)
• Slang
• Interjections (wow)
WRITING
• More carefully organized (layout) • Complete structures
• Often elaborate organization • Higher information density
(metalingual/discourse markers • Rich and varied vocabulary
such as first, next, finally)
• Clear sentence boundaries
(punctuation) and easier to survey
the text (layout, typeface
gradation, paragraphing)
• Frequent subordination
(hypotaxis) explicitly signaling
semantic relations (logical
connectors)