Typeface emphasis and information focus in written language

This paper looks at the typographical resource of written emphasis (changing the typeface style on specific words or passages within text)–for signalling information focus. Some investigations into the effects of two conventional typefaces, upper case and italic, for signalling modulatory and contrastive stress upon word content are reported, illustrating the effectiveness of strategies using this resource for economically transmitting intended content from writer to reader. At this time of heightened interest in writing competence, and the potential of electronic writing systems for providing more typographical resources to the author than were available with pen-and-paper or typewriting modes, the function of paralinguistic signalling within written language is suggested as a key issue for research.