Silenc [ciid.dk] is a tangible visualization designed by Norwegian interaction design students Manas Karambelkar, Momo Miyazaki and Kenneth A. Robertsen that highlights the silent letters that occur in the Danish, English and French languages. A silent letter is a letter that appears in a particular word, but does not correspond to any sound in the word’s pronunciation.
The visualization is rather subtle: all silent letters are set in red text. When viewed with a red light filter, these letters disappear, leaving only the pronounced text. A selection of translated works by Hans Christian Andersen is used as the basis of comparison between the different languages.
The work consists of different depictions: one is a full book, in which silent letters are marked up in red yet remain in their original position. In another iteration, silent letters are separated from the pronounced text and exhibited on their own pages in the back of the book, the prevalence of silent letters is clearly evident.
A video documentation is avaliable below. Additional Images of the project are available here.
Article source: http://feeds.infosthetics.com/~r/infosthetics/~3/FZub7J3rFww/silenc_highlighting_the_silent_letters_in_danish_english_and_french.html. Creative Commons (CC)
