An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute: A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/ HTML Version(1997)

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II.2.7 A Study of the Form of Characters Printed Horizontally

(Report 24, 1964. 195 pages)
The aim of this survey was to make clear which form of printing-type is the easiest to read when printed horizontally, the oblong, square or rectangular. The surveyors tried four experiments: (1) Test of reading and understanding We prepared test paper with the same sentences printed in the three type faces. Using this test paper, we examined about 1,500 pupils of junior and senior high schools in reading speed and in understanding; thus we compared the effects of the three type faces. The ease of reading fell in the order: rectangular, square, and oblong. (2) Observation of eyeball movement Here we compared the three ways of printing, solid printing in the oblong type face and in the rectangular type face, and word-separated printing in the rectangular type face. With an ophthalmograph we recorded the eyeball movements of eleven subjects. The solid printing in the rectangular type face could be finished in the shortest reading time and occasioned the fewest pauses. The word-separated printing in the rectangular type face occasioned the shortest pauses on the average. The oblong type face was located between them. (3) Cancellation test We compared the three type faces through cancellation tests on every hiragana and on every group of three hiragana. The working volume decreased in the order of the oblong, square, and rectangular. (4) Questionnaire on individual consciousness and opinions By means of a questionnaire we asked 291 university students and 307 adults for their personal impressions of and opinions about the three forms of characters. Generally the square or rectangular types seemed to be most popular. On the whole, it seemed that, when printed horizontally, the oblong type face was advantageous for arranging one-character words or short words, while the rectangular type face is advantageous for arranging sentences. Problems of the superiority of type faces for horizontal printing of a mixture of kana and kanzi had been in the hypothetical stage until this survey explored several methods for investigation. The persons in charge of this survey were NAGANO Masaru, TAKAHASI Taro~ and WATANABE Tomosuke. Concerning the sentences of newspaper, the following studies have been reported on in Annual Reports. An experimental study on kanzi usage- Changing the orthography of newspapers on the market, we made an experimental paper in order to survey people's opinions about the ease of reading, to investigate the resistance to words written in kanzi, and to observe the eyeball movement. (Annual Report VIII, 1957, IX, 1958) The readability of newspaper sentences- We established eight factors of readability and made artificial sentences in order to test vertical writing, horizontal writing, number of characters per line, and the order of introducing facts. We thus examined pupils of senior and junior high schools in reading speed and understanding. An advanced version of this survey is described in Report 28. (Annual Report X, 1959, XI, 1960) In advance of these surveys, there was a short report under the title of "A Basic Study of Readability." This report analyzed the factors of general sentences and of those in textbooks in an attempt to rank them in terms of readability. (Annual Report III, 1952, IV, 1953) Studies of mass communications in addition to those of newspapers have been as follows: A basic study of the establishment of the criteria for the understanding of broadcasting language. (II, 1951) A study of the understanding and effects of spot announcements. (III, 1952) A study of the style of radio news. (IV, 1953, V, 1954) Influences of broadcasts on children's language. (VI, 1955) (These studies were undertaken for the Broadcasting Cultural Institute of Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), and mimeographed reports were published by that Institute.) A study of the sentences of the offical gazette for election. The statements of 1,048 candidates in the general election 1955 were analyzed, mainly in terms of the orthography. (VII, 1956)

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