ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the semiotic potential of typography in the novel and presents and discusses a methodological framework for doing so. The chapter first introduces, critiques and further develops existing social semiotic tools for typographic analysis. Subsequently, it is demonstrated through analysis how these (adjusted) tools enable detailed systematic analysis of typographic semiosis in the novel and will consequently be valuable additions to the multimodal stylistics toolkit. Analytical examples stem from a wide range of novels, including Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003), Graham Rawle’s Woman’s World (2005), Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy (e.g. 2006b) and Haruki Murakami’s The Strange Library (2014). The methodological framework for typographic analysis builds on van Leeuwen’s (2006) typographic distinctive features and his typographic semiotic principles (2005b). An extended system of distinctive features is presented and the alternative semiotic principles of index, icon, symbol and discursive import proposed. The chapter also considers whether and to what extent typography may be perceived as metafunctional, realising experiential, interpersonal and textual (or compositional) meaning.
