Language shapes Culture - Culture shapes Language - Role of Semantics in Communication - Readability
In an era when communication has become increasingly diverse and complex, the classic understanding and value of semantics, now is or will be fully revised and updated, distills the relationship between language and those who use it.
When we think about and look at the role of semantics in communication - it is closely linked to the subjects of representation, reference and denotation.
Communication is all around us, but not many of us take the time to truly analyze what effects our communication has on others.
You know the phrase:
There are various forms of communication …
Visual communication is THE methods of communication which we as designers love most 😀 and which takes place through the help of visual aids like color, illustration, graphic design, charts, graphs, drawing, typography, signs and other digital resources.
What ever kind of communication we choose – whatever kind of visual, written or verbal communication we use or speak - it does not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. The structures that exist in our languages profoundly shape how we construct reality and the denotation of space, time, colors, and objects and much more important how people construe events, reason about causality, and experience emotion, reason about other people's minds, choose to take risks, and even in the way they choose professions, private or business relations.
I am in for it and I am for the high jump - that one or two will raise a hue and cry - because they see a racial and social exclusion or unwanted distinction. Same as I got feedback on a similar article seven years ago: Culture vs Behavior vs Language
And I have to say I know where they are coming from - because that was my this idea too.
But the longer I thought about it the more I had to agree - because I do a similar change in my understanding and thinking when I switch languages - - maybe everyone does it - or maybe because I never ever thought in words I always thought in pictures - when I am in Germany and when I am only talk to my family in German or I hear them talking about something I have certain pictures and also a certain kind of thinking in pictures and ordering these pictures and when I am a while in the US and when I am only talk and hear people talk in English I do have other pictures in my head even if the basic meaning is the same. As I also speak a little bit Dutch and Norwegian and when I am in the Netherlands or Norway the same happens. But all of these things also happens when I am Germany and talk or listen for a while to friends or colleagues in one of the languages.
And to be honest I do see beside of the fat that this is making communication more complex only pros - it makes the world more colorful and diverse - and opens your mind for a new perspective - might it be that Russian people have the ability to discriminate shades of blue, or ordering things or orientation, or the gender effect on articles and all the things and aspects which Lera Boroditsky mentioned.
When we think about and look at the role of semantics in communication - it is closely linked to the subjects of representation, reference and denotation.
Communication is all around us, but not many of us take the time to truly analyze what effects our communication has on others.
You know the phrase:
“One cannot not communicate “( Paul Watzlawick, Austrian-American therapist, psychologist, communication theorist, and philosopher – died [1921-2007] )
There are various forms of communication …
- Visual Communication
- Written Communication
- Face-to-Face Communication
- Verbal Communication
- Oral Communication
- Physical Nonverbal Communication
- Paralanguage
Visual communication is THE methods of communication which we as designers love most 😀 and which takes place through the help of visual aids like color, illustration, graphic design, charts, graphs, drawing, typography, signs and other digital resources.
What ever kind of communication we choose – whatever kind of visual, written or verbal communication we use or speak - it does not only reflect or express our thoughts, but also shape the very thoughts we wish to express. The structures that exist in our languages profoundly shape how we construct reality and the denotation of space, time, colors, and objects and much more important how people construe events, reason about causality, and experience emotion, reason about other people's minds, choose to take risks, and even in the way they choose professions, private or business relations.
I am in for it and I am for the high jump - that one or two will raise a hue and cry - because they see a racial and social exclusion or unwanted distinction. Same as I got feedback on a similar article seven years ago: Culture vs Behavior vs Language
And I have to say I know where they are coming from - because that was my this idea too.
But the longer I thought about it the more I had to agree - because I do a similar change in my understanding and thinking when I switch languages - - maybe everyone does it - or maybe because I never ever thought in words I always thought in pictures - when I am in Germany and when I am only talk to my family in German or I hear them talking about something I have certain pictures and also a certain kind of thinking in pictures and ordering these pictures and when I am a while in the US and when I am only talk and hear people talk in English I do have other pictures in my head even if the basic meaning is the same. As I also speak a little bit Dutch and Norwegian and when I am in the Netherlands or Norway the same happens. But all of these things also happens when I am Germany and talk or listen for a while to friends or colleagues in one of the languages.
And to be honest I do see beside of the fat that this is making communication more complex only pros - it makes the world more colorful and diverse - and opens your mind for a new perspective - might it be that Russian people have the ability to discriminate shades of blue, or ordering things or orientation, or the gender effect on articles and all the things and aspects which Lera Boroditsky mentioned.
And I would close the article with pointing to Readability for Design
Design for readability
Readability and legibility are key considerations for all users. For people with disabilities, these attributes can be essential to a successful user experience. For example, some people may have difficultly tracking along a line of text if its line height (a.k.a. leading) is too wide or too narrow. Some people need to enlarge text to read it and will not be able to access content set in a text size that is small or doesn't scale correctly.
For optimal readability:
- Use visual and semantic space. Space is an important visual design tool that helps us identify groups of related content and delineate unrelated content. Non-visual users benefit from "space" that is created using semantic markup (see Solid Structure).
- Provide the right amount of space between lines of text. For most content work, the interline spacing (line-height) is applied automatically.
- Use clean typography. Avoid changing the typeface from that specified by the website.
- Avoid using all caps. Readability is reduced with all caps because all words have a uniform rectangular shape, meaning readers can't identify words by their shape.
- Don’t underline text. Reserve underlining for identifying links.
- Use left-aligned text. A consistent left margin makes reading easier.
- Don’t put 2spaces after a period. Period.
- Support text resizing. Check how your content responds to enlarged text. Avoid using narrow columns of content because they will not respond well to scaling.
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