Graphetics is a branch of

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

concerned with the analysis of the physical properties of shapes used in

writing Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

. It is an

etic In anthropology, folkloristics, linguistics, and the social and behavioral sciences, ''emic'' () and ''etic'' () refer to two kinds of field research done and viewpoints obtained. The ''emic'' approach is an insider's perspective, which looks ...

study, meaning that it has an outsider's perspective and is not concerned with any particular writing system. It is contrasted with the related

emic In anthropology, folkloristics, linguistics, and the social and behavioral sciences, ''emic'' () and ''etic'' () refer to two kinds of field research done and viewpoints obtained. The ''emic'' approach is an insider's perspective, which looks ...

field of

graphemics Graphemics or graphematics is the linguistic study of writing systems and their basic components, i.e. graphemes. At the beginning of the development of this area of linguistics, Ignace Gelb coined the term grammatology for this discipline;Gelb, ...

, the study of the relation between different shapes in particular writing systems. Graphetics is analogous to

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

; graphetics is to the study of writing as phonetics is to the study of

spoken language A spoken language is a form of communication produced through articulate sounds or, in some cases, through manual gestures, as opposed to written language. Oral or vocal languages are those produced using the vocal tract, whereas sign languages ar ...

. As such, it can be divided into two areas, ''visual graphetics'' and ''mechanical graphetics'', which are analogous to auditory and articulatory phonetics, respectively. Both

printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and Printmaking, images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabon ...

and handwritten language can be the subject of graphetic study.

References

Grammatology {{Ling-stub