 |
The Rebus Principle: Introduction |
|||
|
|
Introduction Rebuses may convey meaning, especially to inform or instruct non-literate people, or they may deliberately conceal meaning to inform only the initiated. Rebuses, then, constitute part of visible language since rebus signs primarily represent phonetic sounds, not by abstract alphabetic signs, but by graphics of the word or words that the sound signifies. Many represent the sound of one word by the graphic representation of another, and although a rebus may represent several words, it remains as a representation of the word or words describing itself. Conversely, the alphabet, although it probably derives from graphics, has lost all connection with words as artifacts, and represents sound by transforming evanescent sound into typographic images in permanent space. Rebuses signify meaning either logogrammatically, phonogrammatically, or semogrammatically. Logograms signify in either figurative or symbolical modes and represent the object that they name. Phonograms signify in homonymic, phonetic, or translational modes and stand phonetically for one or more syllables within a word. Semograms signify in figurative, symbolic, and translational modes through the addition of determinatives. Determinatives (mute reading aids that possess no phonetic value) aid the reader by leading to the correct interpretation of meaning. All modes have rhetorical significance. An early form of rebus occurs in Chinese calligraphy through the metonymic representation of non-depictive abstract words by pictures of objects pronounced the same way. Modern society continues to become less literate and more internationalized. This results in communication becoming more visually dependent than in prior generations. People increasingly communicate through the use of signs based upon symbols rather than signs based upon the alphabet. The computer, however, fulfills a need to accurately and quickly process large amounts of data and rebuses play an important role in the process by providing a means of presenting chaotic databases in understandable graphic form. Consequently, computerized visible language signs invariably allow the more efficient assimilation of complex data by non-literate audiences because they represent familiar symbols. Rebuses (communication devices that have both verbal and visible language attributes) exemplify parallel communication as they determine the congruence (correspondence) of signs from the totality of previous visible experience with similar shapes. Their verbal/visible depiction metonymically relates the name of one object or concept with that of another. Many represent, in visible form, objects whose names resemble in sound that of the represented word or syllable. They comprise metonymic signs and demonstrate combined verbal/visible language as rhetorical devices. Metonymy (literal contiguity) and metaphor (oral similarity) contain the power of rhetoric as two of the master tropes essential in the rebus principle. Metonymy deals with the manipulation of scale in time and space and transforms the power of metaphor. Metaphor deals with the manipulation of meaning by transforming words and graphics from their literal meaning into similes (analogies). Northrop Frye simplifies the distinction between metonymy and metaphor by arguing that metonymy substitutes "this" for "that" whereas metaphor claims "this" exists as "that." Consequently, metonymy provides a nonmetaphoric, stable element that facilitates the projection of normative meaning and overcomes the instability between projection and transformation that exists in metaphor. Kinetographic rebuses consist of illusionary toggle-switches oscillating perpetually between human communication driven by semantics and computerized communications driven by syntactics. Traditionally, the print medium has forced a choice between the poles of bistable illusion by suppressing tensions in time and space; however, kinetographic rebus comprehension occurs in real time and creates equilibrium between the opposing semantic and syntactic forces. Rebuses, therefore, constitute a stable rhetorical link between visible and verbal language and between kinetographic communication and computerized communications. Through rebus punning, metonymy unites the instable oscillations, contained and recognized in metaphor since ancient times, and facilitates modern computerized dissemination of kinetographic communication that requires binomial stability. The rebus principle, then, becomes the vehicle upon which kinetography depends in its parallel verbal/visible relationship with both rhetoric (communication) and technology (communications). Consequently, kinetography based in the rebus principle constitutes a communication link between diverse cultures in technological environments. It supports an ongoing verbal/visible dialog and can only result from mutual acceptance of cultural differences as a basis for change. Conversely, ethnic constituencies must take back their usurped power of communication. Presumed dominance of United States methods of communication over others, the increasing dependence of the United States on the resources and people of other countries, and its hypocritical demands for human rights indicate that Americans must learn and respect ethnic and cultural differences. They must not try to assimilate distinct and established cultural practices into an American amorphous morass. If one wishes to receive the benefits provided by other cultures, then one must communicate in terms of those cultures and cease dogmatically demanding conformity within a nonconformist environment. Americans must accept that other cultures will probably never accede to an unstable American societal algorithm. Educational technology may constitute the means by creating a platform on which communication reciprocity can replace communication dominance and promote the acceptance of existing cultural diversity. Such a platform has existed since the advent of hand composition and printing in Korea many centuries ago and for at least a century in the realm of machine typesetting. A similar platform exists in electronic publishing. The desktop publishing industry has addressed individual character transfer rather than information transfer. They have ignored the rebus diversity of visible language, especially the attributes of pictographic languages, and treated rebus characters as they would the Latin alphabet. They have devised a technology based upon the expediency of obtaining business in other countries rather than information transfer: a technology that supports non-literate production practices rather than literate comprehension. How can educators/instructional designers address this dilemma?
|
|||
|
|
|
Associate Professor, Communication and Rhetoric (Retired) International Federation of Journalists, Brussels (International Press Card) |
|||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||
|
© Copyright 1993 by Paul Trummel |
|||||||||||||||
