Emphasis can mean almost anything, bold, italics, a slowly articulated phrase, a close-up shot, a pink-haired anime character, etc. Here I will focus on textual emphasis, but these theories may be extended into many other domains, mutatis mutandis.
Each theory of emphasis defines its significance and provides a guide for which parts of a piece of text to emphasise. However, like anything in an arbitrary langauge of symbols, these are never theories in the objective sense, and might as well be called stylistic practices or modes of reading. I call them theories only because it better captures the univocity of communication between the author and the reader. As readers, we make inferences about what theory the writer holds, and accept the same theory for the purposes of understanding the text. However, each theory has its own side effects. A wrong choice of theory could hinder understanding or make the writer seem obnoxious.
Emphatic Informativism
Emphasis always informs. It should never be used except when the writer intends to tell the reader that they consider some facet of the information to be especially important or unique. It is not a matter of style. It is as fundamental to the text as the words.
- Informativisim suits slow and concentrated reading.
- This is the style of most serious non-fiction writings, where emphasis is often very sparse.
- In an emphatically informativist anime, the quirky character would have dyed hair, but the main character might not.
Emphatic Pragmatism
Emphasis can help signal important parts of the text that the reader should take care not to rush over, even when the importance is already obvious from the text itself. It can also be used to avoid mistakes by highlighting words–especially negations–which would significantly alter the meaning if skipped over.
Use black ink or ball-point pen.
If pencil is used for diagrams/sketches/graphs it must be dark (HB or B).
Fill in the boxes at the top of this page with your name, centre number and
candidate number.
Answer all questions and ensure that your answers to parts of questions are
clearly labelled.
Answer the questions in the spaces provided – there may be more space than you need.
– an A-level Maths Paper
- Pragmatism suits quick but complete reading.
- It is often useful in exam questions or instruction manuals, where misunderstandings may lead to irreversible loss, but time and convenience are still valued.
- In an emphatically pragmatist anime, only the main cast would have dyed hair.
Emphatic Synopticism
Assume that some readers will skim over the text. Emphasis highlights sections and phrases that they should nonetheless take care to read. Splicing together all of the emphasised sections should produce a coherent and usable synopsis for the lazy reader.
- Synopticism suits texts that may be read at a broad variety of depths.
- It can sometimes be better to give a separate synopsis, also often emphasised.
- It could even be the case that the dispersed synopsis is easier to read than if it was combined into a block, as it can create the illusion that the reader is getting extra work done.
- In an emphatically synoptic anime, all the filler characters would have boring hair.
Emphatic Contrastivism
No feature is given to be emphatic. Emphasis results from the difference between features. The sparser a feature is in the text, the more contrast and emphasis it will provide to parts it is applied to. If a traditionally emphatic feature is set as the default, its absence will be understood as emphatic. In addition to emphasising the elements themselves, differences between features may also emphasise distinctions between elements.
It's the little things.
Find joy in the small things in life.
– an Inspirational Poster
- Colour coding can be a good method of contastive emphasis.
- Note that de-emphatic features like parenthesis or footnotes may function as a form of emphasis.
- In an emphatically contrastive anime, characters at danger of getting mixed up would be given differently coloured hair.
Emphatic Stylism
Emphasis helps draw the reader's attention to the text as a whole, not just to the emphasised words. Even when arbitralily imposed without relation to the content of the text, emphasis can provide benefits like visual orientation, rhythm, and engagement. However, it may still be better style to apply it in a regular pattern respecting the flow of the text.
A prized fermented tea in china just got better in space. Scientists reported that the space stint improved what people love about the tea. Its health benefits and fragrance where greatly enhanced. The chemical component responsible for the tea’s fragrance meanwhile doubled in space.
– a South China Morning Post Video
- This is the style of attention-grabbing posters and news reports.
- In an emphatically stylistic anime, characters would be given colourful hair at every opportunity and with any available excuse.