Bilingual typography considered from the standpoint of Bakhtin’s dialogism

Abstract

This paper deals with the issue of formal-material relation across bilingual letterforms with reference to Bakhtin's dialogism to which the notion of polyphonic form is central. It is commonly held that bilingual typography consists in the coexistence of two linguistically distinct sets of letterforms. Under close observation, this crude definition proves defective for two reasons. First, it does not recognize the characteristic distinction between typographic and written bilingualism. To work out this problem the paper draws a distinction between two categories of properties constitutive of letterforms: linguistic content and formal-material structure. Of these the latter is valorized as the primary object of typography, be it monolingual or bilingual. Second, it takes no account of dialogic quiddity of bilingualism. The coexistence as a relation of simultaneity and contiguity constitutes the necessary but in no way the sufficient condition for bilingualism. This is further elaborated through the analysis of a number of experimental practices taking as their working material two sets of letterforms. The paper concludes that bilingual typography both in theory and practice still stands in need of greater development towards which it is reasoned an exposition of the fundamental structure of letterforms is the necessary point of departure.

Keywords:

• Dialogism
• polyphony
• letterforms
• typographic bilingualism
• linguistic content
• formal-material structure
• dialogic moment

Notes

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