Meanings of Writing

Meanings of Writing*

1)Gyudong Yurn **2)

- CONTENTS -

1. Introduction

1.1 Status of the Writing

1.2 Writing and Language

2. Meanings conveyed through Writing

2.1 Meanings through the Visuality of Writing

2.2 Meanings through the Spatiality of Writing

2.3 Meanings through the Signs of Writing

3. Conclusion

1. Introduction

1.1 Status of Writing

Communication between human beings is the process of conveying meanings.

언어학 제 68 호 (2014. 4. 30: 175-196), 사단법인 한국언어학회

* This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant

funded by the Korean Government (MEST) (NRF-2010-361-A00018). The earlier drafts of

this paper were presented at the Yonsei-Fudan Conference at Fudan University, Shanghai,

China in March, 2013 and also at the conference held by the Linguistic Society of Korea

in December, 2013. I have been greatly indebted to those commentators at the two

conferences and to the anonymous reviewers of this journal. All the remaining mistakes

are mine.

** Yonsei University (yurn @chol.com)

176 Gyudong Y u rn

Meanings are primarily conveyed through language, and depending on whether it is

done through writing1) or sound, language is divided into written and spoken

languages. The only difference between these two is the medium through which

meanings are conveyed, and logically both are supposed to be equal.

However, the traditional linguistics has regarded written languages as inferior to

spoken languages, and the raison d' tre of the former has been acknowledged only

when it stands for the latter. The mainstream belief held in the field has been

established on such stances as those made by Ferdinand de Saussure who claimed

that the written language exists to represent the spoken language,2) and by Leonard

Bloomfield, according to whom the written language is meant to record the spoken

language, and the former isn’t a language per se.3) When it comes to the nature of

language, it has been defined as consisting of sound and meaning, and the remarks

there is nothing in between sound and meaning is not putting focus on the writing.

It is I. J. Gelb who raised the necessity of a new discipline on writing and

coined a word “grammatology” for its name. This term grammatology was then

adopted by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida who authored the seminal work

De la Grammatologie, where he vigorously critiques the logo-centric tradition of the

western metaphysics, ranging from Plato to Leibniz. Greatly influenced by the novel,

egalitarian views on the relation between orality and literacy of Walter Ong4) and

Eric A. Havelock, Derrida acclaims writing as one principal vehicle to have made it

possible for mankind to think systematically and as an indispensible agent to have

propelled the progress of civilization.5)

1) In this paper, ‘writing’ basically means “written or printed letters, characters, or symbols;

lettering, an inscription” (Oxford English Dictionary).

2) For example, Saussure says that: “Language and writing are two distinct systems of signs;

the second exists for the sole purpose of representing the first. The linguistic object is not

both the written and the spoken forms of words; the spoken forms alone constitute the

object.” (23~24); and that: “writing obscures languages; it is not a guise for language but

a disguise”(30).

3) Bloomfield notes that: “Writing is not language, but merely a way of recording language

by means of visible marks”(21), and that “For the linguist, writing is … merely an

external device, like the use of a phonograph”(282).

4) “It [writing] is not a mere appendage to speech. Because it moves speech from the

oral-aural to a new sensory world, that of vision, it transforms speech and thought as

well”(85).

5) As for the discussions on this matter in mediology, refer to Jeong and Yoo.

Meanings of Writing 177

1.2 Writing and Language

It can be no longer valid to claim that writing is a mere supplement to, or a

simple replica of language. It is because, as the communicative environment has

rapidly changed in modern times, written languages have become as important as

spoken languages. As a consequence, linguistics is now demanded to adapt itself to

and incorporate these changes in its researches. One of the integral things that

linguistics must do is to accept broader senses of writing that other disciplines of

humanities have already and willingly embraced and deployed as one of their main

concerns.

While the main concerns of the traditional linguistics with the category of

“writing systems” have been to look at the developmental process of discrete scripts

and their varied types, a new study of writing ―however one may call it― will

have to expand the horizons of writing and deal with the relations between language

and writing systems, constituents of writing, impacts of writing on language,

acquisitions of the written language, among others. What is more, linguistics will

also have to take such issues as writing on the internet, text messages on mobile

phones, typography, and writings which are used in the field of advertisements,

designs, screens, publication etc., and the concerns of linguistics have to be

distinguished from those of other disciplines, including semiotics, aesthetics,

mediology, and cultural studies.6)

One primary objective of this paper is to think about how linguistics may adopt

many observations made on writing in the aforementioned disciplines. I will contend

that, while the primary role of writing is to convey the information of the spoken

words, other kinds and layers of information can also be passed on through the

features that writing exhibits. I hope that the ways that I examine writing will throw

light on the multiplicity of the meanings that writing can create, meanings that have

6) Some scholars, including Harris (1995 and 2000) and Kim, have ignited new approaches to

writing in light of the visual and iconographic features of writing. The following remarks

of Gelb suggests that he may have already anticipated this new movement in researches

on writing: “Writing in its broadest sense is a recording system or device by means of

conventional markings or shapes or color of objects, achieved by the motor action of the

hand and received visually by another”(qtd. in Harris 1995, n.8).

178 Gyudong Y u rn

been often overlooked.

2. Meanings Conveyed through Writing

Writing has a feature where symbols can be recorded on surfaces such as stone,

wood, or paper, and symbols convey their meanings through sight via a reader’s

eyes. If writing is merely made up of recorded symbols, it might have no

independent significance, except for representing sound. Does this mean the visual

and spatial existence of writing has no effect on meaning? Does this mean that as

Saussure asserts, “Whether I make the letters in white or black, raised or engraved,

with pen or chisel―all this is of no importance with respect to their signification”?

(120)

Writing can engender meanings through its visuality and spatiality. Unlike the

spoken language that is linear in nature, writing that is spatial in nature can surpass

such lineality of the spoken language. This chapter will feature the ways in which

different features of writing can create different meanings and deliver different

information that the spoken language cannot do.

2.1 Meanings through the Visuality of Writing

2.1.1 Sizes of Writing

Differentiating the size of writing may result in different meanings.

In Figure 1, the character “암,” which means “cancer” in Korean, is bigger than

the rest of the writing, and this arrangement is deliberately made in order that the

reader may receive the information about cancer more lucidly than the rest. It is as

if to speak up that particular word in speech.


Figure 1

In newspaper headlines, the writing written in larger fonts is meant to present

itself earlier than the ones in regular fonts. The left image in Figure 2 is the first

issue of the New York Times, and with the exception of the newspaper name, the

rest of the writing is printed in the same font. On the other hand, when it comes to

the newspaper pictured on the right hand, the headline “MEN WALK ON MOON”

is bigger than the rest of the paper, even including the name of the newspaper. This

makes readers infer that this particular article is supposed to be taken as the most

important article of all. In short, through size of writing, one can prioritize one

information against others.

Figure 2

180 Gyudong Y u rn

In Figure 3, when a passer-by looks at the image from a distance, or looks at it

in passing, the large-sized writing “기분좋은 눈치 작전” is easily visible, and the

smaller writing that reads “기분좋은 눈치우기 작전” may be recognizable only

upon closer inspection. Part of the large writing “눈치작전” gives out a negative

connotation, and therefore readers may wonder why it can be something “pleasant”

(기분좋은). However, when the readers picks up the smaller writing, it reads “Fun

Snow-Clearing Operation”(기분좋은 눈치우기 작전) and thus they will finally

understand that the larger writing was employed in order to address the smaller

writing by sparking their curiosity.

Figure 3

Information that is of little benefit for customers is written in smaller print, as

seen in insurance ads. This too is a form of communication done via writing size.

In the case of the ad, the small writing implies important information that customers

should not overlook. This is comparable to the speech where important or secret

messages are often whispered so that they may not be easily heard to any other

people.

2.1.2. Colors of Writing

Changing the colors of the characters that make up a body of writing can present

information which the spoken language does not have. Let’s take the information


panel for an elevator pictured in Figure 4. Different color indicates which floor the

rider is at. At the bottom of the picture, there is a message that reads, “This is the

4th basement floor.” This confirms the location, but it is a surplus, in that the color

already presents the message.

Figure 4

Figure 5

In Picture 5, the spiciness of a food is indicated through the colors of the

writing. The spicier the food, the redder the writing becomes. There are additional

terms like “feverous,” “sweet and spicy” and “mild,” but even if the readers do not

know what those words mean, they can tell the level of spiciness, based on the

different colors. In Figure 6, the word “약” meaning medicine is of a different color

that allows the viewer to immediately recognize the shop as a pharmacy.

Figure 6

182 Gyudong Y u rn

2.1.3 Shades of Writing

Darkness or lightness of writing can also present different meanings. In Figure 7,

there are two Chinese characters, “心” and “見”, which are respectively part of the

characters “愛” and “親”. Interestingly enough, “心” and “見” are presented in a

lighter shade than the rest of the characters. This is a way of presenting a message

that “love” (“愛”) which lacks “heart” (“心”), and a person who does not “seek

out” (“見”) his “parents” (“親”). In other words, the lighter shade that are used for

the two characters iconically suggest something missing or absent from what are

supposed to be.

Figure 7

Figure 8 is a blood donation poster. In the poster, the letters “ㅎㅎ” are

highlighted while the rest of the words, which reads “헌혈” meaning blood donation,

is dimly treated. The “ㅎㅎ” is double-edged, in that it stands not only for the first

two letters of “헌혈,” it also represents a Korean emoticon for laughter. Accordingly,

the poster aims to associate blood donation with a laughable act.


Figure 8

2.1.4 Fonts of Writing

Fonts can also hold information. Figure 9 features a font that isn’t a general font,

but a font that looks like one used in the past, thereby making the ad stand out and

easier to be spotted.

Figure 9

In Figure 10, the sign looks like the Japanese writing at first glance, but in fact

184 Gyudong Y u rn

it is “go! sushi” written in Roman alphabet, only stylized in Japanese type.

Changing the appearance of the message to resemble the Japanese writing is meant

to convey the fact that this shop specializes in foods that are related to Japan.

Figure 11 features the phrase “La fin de la faim” in Arabic-style Latin alphabet,

expressing that this shop features foods related to the Middle East. Conveying the

same message in the spoken language would require a much more complicated

deployment of the relevant elements.

Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12 has the same label in different fonts. If the labels are read aloud, they

all sound the same. It is however obvious that, despite the identical spelling of the

labels, the different fonts deliver different message.


Figure 12

Figure 13 features a cartoon where a male character changes his voice to scare

other people walking late at night. In order to emphasize that the character is

speaking like a ghost, a different font is used.

Figure 13

2.1.5 Styling of Writing

Writing styling involves bold-facing, italicizing, and/or underlining. The words may

sound the same when it is read aloud, but different styling creates different

186 Gyudong Y u rn

meanings.

Figure 14 features a part of writing that is italicized, and the italicization suggests

that the author is emphasizing the particular part. Italicization can also represent

inner musings of a character, while keeping those thoughts mute to other characters.

Figure 14

In Figure 15, the author uses bold faces to emphasize certain words or phrases,

which can be expressed in other ways in the spoken language.

Figure 15

2.2 Meanings through the Spatiality of Writing

2.2.1 Arrangement of Writing

Figure 16 compares how the same newspaper article can offer different messages,

when laid out differently. The title of the online reads in a single line, “After

Severe Training, Laughter At Last”. But the offline version offers the title in two

lines, where the two words, “악” and “마”, together meaning the devil, are


emphasized. This arrangement of the words suggests that the coach has trained his

athletes very harshly.

Figure 16

2.2.2 Order of Reading

The following list is a transcription of what are written in Figure 17. The

numbering is added for clarity.

① 모든 것이 잘못되었습니다 / Everything went wrong

② 학교의 주장은 결국 / The final claim of the school

③ 정당한 것입니다 / Is legitimate

④ 청소노동자들의 학내파업행위는 / The in-campus protests by the cleaners

⑤ 잘못입니다 / Is wrong

⑥ TNS(용역업체)가 / TNS (service company) is

⑦ 청소노동자들의 실 사용자입니다 / The cleaners’ true employer

⑧ 사실상 학교가 / In fact, the school

....

188 Gyudong Y u rn

When one reads the list in the order that it is shown, one may arrive at the

conclusion that the school is innocent, while the protestors are guilty. However,

when we read the same list reversely, we will get exactly the opposite message that

the school is guilty, while the protestors are innocent. This sort of phenomenon can

be hardly expressed in the conventional speech.

...

⑧ 사실상 학교가 / In fact, the school

⑦ 청소노동자들의 실 사용자입니다 / Is the cleaners’ true employer

⑥ TNS(용역업체)가 / TNS (service company)

⑤ 잘못입니다 / Is at fault

④ 청소노동자들의 학내파업행위는 / The in-campus protests by the cleaners

③ 정당한 것입니다 / Is legitimate

② 학교의 주장은 결국 / The claim of the school

① 모든 것이 잘못되었습니다 / Is all wrong

Figure 17


2.3 Meanings through the Signs of Writing

2.3.1 Use of Different Alphabets

Use of different alphabets can give out additional information. Korean branches of

many foreign companies use the Roman alphabets for their signs, as seen in the left

image of Figure 18. However, in special tourist regions that many foreign tourists

visit, Non-Korean alphabets in signs are not allowed, as seen in the right image of

Figure 18. “STARBUCKS COFFEE” and “스타벅스커피” read and mean the same,

but the different alphabetization indicates distinctive characteristics of the area.

Figure 18

In the left image of Figure 19, right under the Chinese sign “朝花夕拾” is

written “No search result is found” in Korean, but this Korean expression has

nothing to do with the Chinese characters and it even seems that the Korean

sentence is misplaced. However, considering the fact that the shop is located in an

area where most of its customers are Chinese, then the sign can be read from a

different perspective. The Korean writing implies that the shop specializes in imports

from Korea.

Figure 20 includes Korean phrase “대단히”, meaning wonderfully, only to suggest

that the snack is made abroad, and the presence of the Korean word may still

attract customers, even if the meaning is irrelevant to the content of the snack itself.

190 Gyudong Y u rn

Figure 19

Figure 20

The two scenes of Figure 21 feature English transliterations of Korean

expressions. The first one means, “Do it right”, while the next one means,

“Goodness, how long has she been here?” The paralleling of the speech bubbles in

Roman alphabets and the Korean expressions works to highlight the situation that the

foreign worker cannot fully understand the Korean language. This, too, exemplifies

how a different alphabet showing the same vocal content can have different

connotations.

Figure 21

2.3.2 Usage of Pictographs

Figure 22 features a Korean expression which means “Let’s stand up.” It is easily


noticed that this expression ends in the Chinese character “自” meaning “oneself”,

instead of Korean words “자.” When the expression is read out loud, as long as the

reader knows that “自” is read “자” in Korean, it still sounds identical. However,

the usage of the Chinese character works to propose that one can stand up on his

own. Figure 23 features a Korean expression which reads “The face goes mad”. But

the Chinese character “美” meaning “beauty” provides a twist, implying that the face

gets more beautiful. Figure 24 is yet another example, where the word “愛너지”

reading energy in Korean starts with the Chinese character “愛” meaning “love”. By

replacing a character, it suggests that one use energy as if you are in love with

energy. In short, expressing part of the message in Chinese characters can create

richer nuances that are not possible in the regular spoken language.

Figure 22

Figure 23

Figure 24

Figure 25 features the Chinese character “孝,” which means “filial duty.” This

character happens to have as one element another Chinese character “子” meaning

“child.” Interestingly enough, the figure features “子” in a reversed form, thereby

192 Gyudong Y u rn

suggesting “a child who has turned his back from his parents, or a child who

neglects his filial duty.”

Figure 25

2.3.3 Usage of Additional Signs

Figure 26 features dots used next to the writing to emphasize how determined the

man is. Figure 27 features the crossing-out of the prefix “un” in “unaffordable.”

thereby indicating transition from “unaffordable” to “affordable.” This puts a positive

spin on what was originally a negative message. It is almost impossible to vocalize

the elimination of the prefix in speaking.

Figure 26

Figure 27

Figure 28 features an article of which the headline reads “The Same-aged Rival

Mao’s Groans”. One can then easily notice that the word “rival” has been crossed


out in red. Here, crossing out the term “rival” implies that Mao was a rival but she

is no longer now. Accordingly, the title will have to be re-read like “The Same-aged

Mao’s Groans.” The cross sign works to emphasize the conclusion.

Figure 28

Figure 29 is a similar example. This photograph was taken during a march to

commemorate the late Martin Luther King, Jr. and his famous speech “I Have a

Dream.” The boy in the picture is carrying a placard that says “I am the dream”

with the double underlined word “am”. Conveying the message this way on the

placard would proposes that the speaker is the very dream that Dr. King would

dream of.

The so-called air quotation, as shown in Figure 30, is often gestured in

English-speaking regions, as a way to emphasizing part of speech, and it is a visual

representation of the writing-based punctuation.

194 Gyudong Y u rn

Figure 29 Figure 30

3. Conclusion

Thus far, this paper has looked at multiple additional meanings and usages that

writing can have, on top of its primary role as a representation for speech. When

words are written down, their definitions and meanings can be transplanted as they

are, but depending on how the writing appears physically or visually, there can

create additional connotations that regular speech cannot. Mainstream linguistics has

placed emphasis on language that involves the mouth and the ears, but there exists

another language based on writing. Depending on how writing is visualized, it

potentially convey much more messages than speech normally does.

To sum up, writing is the transplantation of sound, but the visual features of

writing can present significances and meanings in ways that sound cannot. This is

the reason why one has to consider the visual elements of the writing. That of

course doesn't mean that writing should be separated from linguistics and placed

under other disciplines such as image researches. Visual and physical aspects of

writing got into the spotlight in different fields like letter art, concrete poetry, and

typography. However, unlike linguistics, these fields do not focus on communication;

instead, they focus mostly on the writing itself. If other disciplines have switched

their emphases in writing from signifié to signifiant7), linguistics will have to pay

7) Yoo, 320.


attentions to “how signifié changes, as the external features and physicality of

signifiant of writing alter.”

This paper aims to demonstrate how the visual factors of writing can generate

various meanings, but there is yet remaining the problems of categorization or

theorization based on the shown images. Hopefully, the paper will spark interests in

the implications of the visual levels of writing among linguists so that more

discussions and debates on the topic will be thriving in the future.

References

Bloomfield(1933), Leonard. Language. New York: Henry Holt.

Coulmas(2003), Florian. Writing Systems: An Introduction to their Linguistic Analysis.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Derrida(1967), Jacques. De la Grammatologie. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit.

Dürscheid, Christa(2006), Einführung in die Schriftlinguistik. 3rd ed. Göttingen: UTB

GmbH.

Gelb, I. J.(1962), A Study of Writing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Harris, Roy(1995), Signs of Writing. London and New York: Routledge.

Harris, Roy(2000), Rethinking Writing. London and New York: Continuum.

Jeong, Hang-Kyun(2012), “typEmotion,” Paju: Munhakdongne Publishing Company. (in

Korean)

Kim, Nam-see(2012), “Writingform ; Beyond the Opppsition of Writing and Image.”

Bulletin of Korean Society of Basic Design & Art 13-4: 17-24. (in Korean)

Ong(1982), Orality and Literacy. London: Methuen & Co.

Saussure, Ferdinand de.(1916), Course in General Linguistics, trans. by Wade Baskin,

Wade(1959). New York: The Philogophical Library, Inc.

Yoo, Hyun-Joo(2013), “Die Schriftlichkeit in der modernen Medientheorie -Von der

kanadischen Schule bis zur Kittlerschen Theorie,” Inmunkwahak (The Journal of

the Humanities) 97: 319-343. (in Korean)

196 Gyudong Y u rn

<Abstract>

Meanings of Writing

Gyudong Yurn

In this paper, I will contend that, while the primary role of writing is to

convey the information of the spoken words, other kinds and layers of

information can also be passed on through the features that writing exhibits. I

hope that the ways I examine writing will throw light on the multiplicity of

the meanings that writing can create, meanings that have been often

overlooked.

This paper has looked at multiple additional meanings and usages that

writing can have, on top of its primary role as a representation for speech.

When words are written down, the definition and meanings can be transplanted

as they are, but depending on how the writing is treated physically or

visually, there can occur additional connotations that regular speech cannot

create. Depending on how writing is presented, it may convey much more

messages than speech can normally do.

Writing is the transplantation of sound, but the visual features of writing

can present significances and meanings in ways that sound cannot. This is the

reason why one has to consider the visual elements of the writing.

Key words: writing, meanings, communication, visuality, spatiality, writingform

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Meanings of Writing

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