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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