A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends

Using the multimodality approach of Linguistic Landscape, this paper reports a comparative analysis of language composition and typographic treatment of signs found on historic shophouses in Singapore's two distinctive Chinese ethnic enclaves, Bukit Pasoh (Chinatown) and Joo Chiat Ro...

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Main Authors: Yam, Angeline Min-Yee, Tom, Kristina Marie, Ng, Bee Chin
Other Authors: School of Art, Design and Media
Format: Conference or Workshop Item
Language:English
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174307
https://papers.iafor.org/proceedings/conference-proceedings-acah2023/
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1743072024-03-30T16:52:42Z A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends Yam, Angeline Min-Yee Tom, Kristina Marie Ng, Bee Chin School of Art, Design and Media The 14th Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH 2023) Arts and Humanities Linguistic landscape Typography Using the multimodality approach of Linguistic Landscape, this paper reports a comparative analysis of language composition and typographic treatment of signs found on historic shophouses in Singapore's two distinctive Chinese ethnic enclaves, Bukit Pasoh (Chinatown) and Joo Chiat Road. The choice of languages used and typographic treatment on signs are analysed in context of approaches to ‘hipster aesthetics’ in the marketing of nostalgia-based consumption, where private businesses have been observed to capitalize on signs found on traditional shophouses to appeal to consumers with nostalgic experiences. The analysis of signages on both sites utilize a substantial amount of English (both around 80%), followed by a similar significant number of signs displaying Chinese characters (20-30%) and transliteration of local Chinese vernaculars into romanised script (almost to 10%). Despite similarities in the top three languages’ makeup of both sites, further typographic study of the signs reveals that each site has developed its own unique methods for communicating nostalgia through visual means. Signages of businesses in Bukit Pasoh have been noted to retain original typography found on the shophouses as a homage to the site’s ethnic heritage, while Joo Chiat Road signages are mostly stripped of all its original typography, recreating a contemporary form of nostalgia appreciation that pays homage to Singapore’s nostalgia visual communication landscape instead. By examining other modalities such as language and cultural identification in addition to the contextual placement of typography, this paper will demonstrate how the linguistic landscape frameworks can assist designers to understand nostalgic design. Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version The authors would like to thank Nanyang Technological University for their generous support and financial assistance under the MOE Academic Research Fund Tier 1 grant awarded in November 2020 which made this research possible 2024-03-26T01:53:57Z 2024-03-26T01:53:57Z 2023 Conference Paper Yam, A. M., Tom, K. M. & Ng, B. C. (2023). A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends. The 14th Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH 2023), 337-348. https://dx.doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2023.28 2186-229X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174307 10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2023.28 https://papers.iafor.org/proceedings/conference-proceedings-acah2023/ 337 348 en © 2023 The Author(s). Published by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Arts and Humanities
Linguistic landscape
Typography
spellingShingle Arts and Humanities
Linguistic landscape
Typography
Yam, Angeline Min-Yee
Tom, Kristina Marie
Ng, Bee Chin
A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends
description Using the multimodality approach of Linguistic Landscape, this paper reports a comparative analysis of language composition and typographic treatment of signs found on historic shophouses in Singapore's two distinctive Chinese ethnic enclaves, Bukit Pasoh (Chinatown) and Joo Chiat Road. The choice of languages used and typographic treatment on signs are analysed in context of approaches to ‘hipster aesthetics’ in the marketing of nostalgia-based consumption, where private businesses have been observed to capitalize on signs found on traditional shophouses to appeal to consumers with nostalgic experiences. The analysis of signages on both sites utilize a substantial amount of English (both around 80%), followed by a similar significant number of signs displaying Chinese characters (20-30%) and transliteration of local Chinese vernaculars into romanised script (almost to 10%). Despite similarities in the top three languages’ makeup of both sites, further typographic study of the signs reveals that each site has developed its own unique methods for communicating nostalgia through visual means. Signages of businesses in Bukit Pasoh have been noted to retain original typography found on the shophouses as a homage to the site’s ethnic heritage, while Joo Chiat Road signages are mostly stripped of all its original typography, recreating a contemporary form of nostalgia appreciation that pays homage to Singapore’s nostalgia visual communication landscape instead. By examining other modalities such as language and cultural identification in addition to the contextual placement of typography, this paper will demonstrate how the linguistic landscape frameworks can assist designers to understand nostalgic design.
author2 School of Art, Design and Media
author_facet School of Art, Design and Media
Yam, Angeline Min-Yee
Tom, Kristina Marie
Ng, Bee Chin
format Conference or Workshop Item
author Yam, Angeline Min-Yee
Tom, Kristina Marie
Ng, Bee Chin
author_sort Yam, Angeline Min-Yee
title A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends
title_short A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends
title_full A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends
title_fullStr A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends
title_full_unstemmed A comparative analysis of language and typography between two Chinese enclaves in Singapore for nostalgic design trends
title_sort comparative analysis of language and typography between two chinese enclaves in singapore for nostalgic design trends
publishDate 2024
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174307
https://papers.iafor.org/proceedings/conference-proceedings-acah2023/
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