The Dictionary
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: 2019
Artist: Xiaoying Liang; 梁晓盈
Dimensions:
Duration: 3.4 min - duration is 3 minutes and 24 seconds
Object number: GD.2019.109.CC
DescriptionAnimated film about language by Xiaoying Liang.
Work statement by designer:
My project explores the concepts of prescriptivism and descriptivism in linguistic theory in the perspective of a graphic designer. My work is a set of moving images of words from the alphabet, This is an ongoing project and presently, I have completed the letters A, B, C, and P(arrow, button, chair and pen). Each of the moving images is an experiment at destabilizing, stretching, and interrogating the boundaries of day-to-day objects the Oxford English dictionary definitions has created, in order to deal with the ambiguity and complexity in words that are either relatively ‘static’ or ‘clear’.
My work captures my changes and struggle on positions during research, which is a conversation on prescriptivism and descriptivism.
Language is the beginning of learning about the world. It categorizes everything we see and understand, and translates them into definitions and labels them with words. Therefore, at my initial exploration, I believed that dictionary has always been the authority on language. However, I believed that the world is constantly changing. The real world possesses more complexity and ambiguity than what a dictionary provides through its definitions. Initially, I considered dictionary definitions as representing majority of items that belong to a categorical system. My work involves playing with what is on the edge of the boundaries of a word as well as the items that cross those boundaries.
In further research, I discovered a debate involving linguistic theory, prescriptivism, and descriptivist. Prescriptivism argues that people should follow all instructions and rules written in books. Descriptivism describes the language and how speakers was used during a certain time period. However, descriptivism does not require language to be used in a certain way. Even though people deem the dictionary as being ‘correct’, in reality, the Oxford English dictionary is not prescriptive, but descriptive. It adds words every year and update its definitions, and only presents what is deemed as accurate.
This concept pair can be understood in a linguistic perspective and also in a broader sense. The subject itself is also a projection of my definition in graphic communication design as a discipline. The label of graphic communication design includes not only book binding and poster making etc, but also animations, sound design and any kind of possibilities. After years of learning graphic design before my MA course, I now have the opportunity to define graphic design myself, which makes this project more of a self-discovery.
First, I broke down every dictionary definition of an object and began to write a script. Then, I collected elements from magazines, brochures, newspaper (print materials) to make collages. I also used photoshop to edit every image in the timeline, frame by frame.
Work statement by designer:
My project explores the concepts of prescriptivism and descriptivism in linguistic theory in the perspective of a graphic designer. My work is a set of moving images of words from the alphabet, This is an ongoing project and presently, I have completed the letters A, B, C, and P(arrow, button, chair and pen). Each of the moving images is an experiment at destabilizing, stretching, and interrogating the boundaries of day-to-day objects the Oxford English dictionary definitions has created, in order to deal with the ambiguity and complexity in words that are either relatively ‘static’ or ‘clear’.
My work captures my changes and struggle on positions during research, which is a conversation on prescriptivism and descriptivism.
Language is the beginning of learning about the world. It categorizes everything we see and understand, and translates them into definitions and labels them with words. Therefore, at my initial exploration, I believed that dictionary has always been the authority on language. However, I believed that the world is constantly changing. The real world possesses more complexity and ambiguity than what a dictionary provides through its definitions. Initially, I considered dictionary definitions as representing majority of items that belong to a categorical system. My work involves playing with what is on the edge of the boundaries of a word as well as the items that cross those boundaries.
In further research, I discovered a debate involving linguistic theory, prescriptivism, and descriptivist. Prescriptivism argues that people should follow all instructions and rules written in books. Descriptivism describes the language and how speakers was used during a certain time period. However, descriptivism does not require language to be used in a certain way. Even though people deem the dictionary as being ‘correct’, in reality, the Oxford English dictionary is not prescriptive, but descriptive. It adds words every year and update its definitions, and only presents what is deemed as accurate.
This concept pair can be understood in a linguistic perspective and also in a broader sense. The subject itself is also a projection of my definition in graphic communication design as a discipline. The label of graphic communication design includes not only book binding and poster making etc, but also animations, sound design and any kind of possibilities. After years of learning graphic design before my MA course, I now have the opportunity to define graphic design myself, which makes this project more of a self-discovery.
First, I broke down every dictionary definition of an object and began to write a script. Then, I collected elements from magazines, brochures, newspaper (print materials) to make collages. I also used photoshop to edit every image in the timeline, frame by frame.