Abstract
This paper examines projects in universal communication from the interwar period, including Charles Kay Ogden’s Basic English, Otto Neurath’s Isotype, and László Moholy-Nagy’s typo-photo. The projects under discussion — experiments in language reform, graphic design and photography — were all born from a dissatisfaction with the imprecise, arbitrary and historically-contingent nature of established languages and semiotic systems. A non-arbitrary mode of communication was sought, one that represented reality directly without translation through a cultural code.
DOI
10.21427/D7GT4B
Recommended Citation
Fuller, Robin
(2017)
"Writing in the Language of Reality: Interwar Experiments in Language,"
CALL: Irish Journal for Culture, Arts, Literature and Language:
Vol. 2:
Iss.
1, Article 12.
doi:10.21427/D7GT4B
Available at:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/priamls/vol2/iss1/12