Graphology
Framework
AS Level English Language
What is graphology?
• Originally, graphology applied only to the
appearance of a person's handwriting
• For the purposes of your course, however, it
applies to any aspect of the form and
appearance of a text that modifies meaning
in any way.
• Importantly, it is the
graphological
qualities of any
written or printed
text that we first
notice.
• For example, on the
text on the right we
can see from the
graphological qualities
that this text is a
newspaper.
• Because these features are what you first
notice you would do well to apply the
graphology framework first in your stylistic
analyses
• Although the graphological framework is not
considered as important as others it is often
overlooked.
• You should not focus too much on this
framework, but properly applied graphological
analysis can be very useful and subtle and add
marks to your analysis.
• When you are analysing a text using the graphological
framework, you will need to consider the following points:
• The nature of the characters – are they handwritten or
printed, upper case or lower case?
• For example:
Uppercase text
Uppercase text
Lowercase text
• Of course, it is not acceptable merely to
comment that the letters on this text are a
mixture of upper and lower case words.
• You will have to say what effect these features
have.
• For example:
• “The main focus of the text is the initial
headline – “BUSH KNEW”, the use of upper
case letters adds emphasis to the statement
and lets the reader know what the article is
about.”
• What could you say about the other examples
pointed out?
• Mentioning what font the text is presented in
is also useful, although you are not required to
know various different font types e.g.
Tahoma, Palatino Linotype, Times New
Roman
• Also mention the font size
• And also the font style, is it in bold,
underlined or in italics
• You will also need to mention graphemes
• Graphemes are the letter or letter combination that
make up a sound (phoneme)
• So for example:
Grapheme
Grapheme
• From the example given, you
can see that ‘AR’ are both
graphemes, BUT, they
represent two different
phonemes
• The AR in HARLEY is a
different sound to the AR in
EARL
• There is much to say about
graphemes as the entire text is
made up of them!
• However in the exam it is
better to comment on a few
related examples or
graphemes that are unusual
• For example:
Grapheme of EZ used instead of
ES – can tie this in with lexis
• Punctuation is a key feature of any written text and it is
important to mention this within the graphology
framework
• For example:
The use of full stops here in
between the words ‘TOMMY
GUN’ replicates the sound and
action of a machine gun.
• Another key feature of graphology is the
organisation of the text
• This basically means how it is laid out on the
page
• Therefore you need to mention such things as:
• Headings, columns, bullet points, numeration,
borders, boxes, paragraph size, line spacing
and use of white space
Again, it is important to mention the effect these
have on the text rather than just saying “there is a
lot of white space in this text”!
Headings – shows clear definition
Bullet points –
showing
organisation
Short, concise
paragraphs
Columns – showing clearly ordered text
White space
making the
advert look
uncluttered
• Finally the last things you need to mention regarding
the graphology framework are:
• Use of colour
• Logos
• Drawings
• Photographs
• Captions
• Diagrams
• Charts
As stated before, you need to state what effect
these features have on the text as a whole and if
they are effective in achieving their aims.
Caption
Pink – the
colour of love
(softness)
Logo – tells
you
instinctively
what the text is
Drawing of a
heart
Mocked up
photograph
Now you have the tools to analyse a text
using the graphology framework!
The End!