Spatial metaphors used in referring to the
written text or to passages within the text
create a textual space with places such as above, and below, center, and
margin. These concepts refer to the
physical and logical form of the written text: the shape as it appears
on the page and the textual
structure itself. On the one hand we have the two-dimensionality of
the page or of the screen with its (visual) borders, on the other hand
there is the one-dimensional linearity
of speech and writing, as far as the result of the linearization process
is concerned, and the one-dimensionality of reading in the sequence of
time. Here we are at the intersection between space and time, when we are
confronted with "the semiotic paradox of the spatial nature of the text"
(cf. Nöth 1995) which contrasts with the linearity of speech in its
temporality.
The metaphors of the written text with loci to which we can refer illustrate
that the text is perceived as a static space. It has parts, sections, headings,and
is bounded by margins, a top, and a bottom to which the text makes reference.
Such references construct connections between
different passages in the text which are semantically
connected but separated in the surface structure in the linearizing
of complex ideas. The reading process follows the linear ordering from
the beginning to the end and can be compared to a way from a starting point
to a goal.
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