Phil Jones

Bio: Phil Jones is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Embodied cognition & Typography. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 3 citations.

Italicization and Understanding Texts through Metaphoric Projections of Movement

Abstract: Bellantoni and Woolman (2000) note that "Italic and oblique typefaces possess a kinetic quality because of their slant to the right." But what is the nature of this kinetic quality and why is it imparted in this way? This paper explores kinetics, not as a property of italics, but as a manifestation of cognitive work involving metaphoric projection, for which the typeface is but a cue. It will use concepts from cognitive semantics (Lakoff and Johnson, 1999; Fauconnier and Turner, 2002) to posit the idea that the dynamic quality of italics arises from preconceptual structures (such as image schemas) related to embodied experiences of writing and running. These structures forming the basis for higher level metaphors to be constructed in cognition. Consequently, a layout incorporating italics is metaphorical to the extent that the concept of running is used (consciously or unconsciously) to understand an arrangement of type characters. Furthermore it is argued that the meaning we construct from italic type is not a simple correspondence between slanted letters and the body in motion, but is situated; resulting from a blend of concepts triggered by such things as the meanings of the words italicized and the site/s where they appear. Introduction Italic and oblique typefaces possess a kinetic quality because of their slant to the right. Bellantoni and Woolman, 2000, p.35 The kinetic quality of oblique forms in general and italicized and oblique letterforms in particular has been commented on by practitioners and theorists (Arnheim, 1954 /1975; Bellantoni and Woolman, 2000) and this quality is often discussed as something belonging to the form itself; something intrinsic, for example, to letters on the page. This paper uses theories and concepts from cognitive linguistics (Coulson, 2001; Fauconnier and Turner, 2002; Johnson, 1987; Lakoff, 2006; Lakoff and Johnson, 1999; Talmy, 2000), to explore an alternative account of italicization and kinetics. An account in which the dynamic quality of these letterforms is constructed in cognition, and where an association with motion arises not because of some universally evident property of italics, but because of our shared bodily faculties and experiences which we utilize both consciously and unconsciously to make and to read typographic designs. It will be argued that the use of the body in these designs is metaphorical to the extent that a source domain (the body) is utilized to understand a different torget domain (the letter). Furthermore that this embodied understanding of letterforms contributes to the dynamics we associate with italics. This interest in metaphorical associations between letter and body stems from a concern to make both the designer's and the user's conceptualizations explicit in order to improve communication. In many cases the mental processes investigated are preconceptual, but their functioning is fundamental rather than trivial, and the nature of the links between body and letter are not fixed and predetermined, but are situated in the cognitive work involved in acts of communication. This paper describes some aspects of an ongoing practice-based master's project concerning the metaphorical associations between italicization and the body. Such associations, though often unconscious, may be reflected in the way that we communicate (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980/2003); for example we might talk of 'running text' or type 'ieaning to the right.' These are both cases of understanding letters in terms of what we can do with our bodies. There are many such ways of talking about typography that make reference to the body. It is argued here that these ways of talking about type are what Lakoff and Johnson refer to as metaphorical expressions: that is, statements that are structured by an underlying conceptual metaphor (in this case LETTER IS BODY). Logan has identified similar conceptual metaphors in 'metaphor based discourses' (2006, p. …

Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind

Abstract: (1988). Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 59, No. 6, pp. 698-699.