Emphasis mark

The emphasis mark,[1][2][3] emphasis dot,[4] kenten[5] (圏点[6][7]) or boten[5] (圏点[6], bōten) is a typographic mark used in some East Asian languages to indicate emphasis. The markings can take many forms, such as dots or bullets, circles, or triangles. They were more commonly used historically, but with the rise of modern technology, it is now common to use quotation marks or change the font style.[1]

In Chinese

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An example of emphasis mark used in traditional vertical style writing.
An example of emphasis mark used in traditional horizontal style writing.
An example of emphasis mark used in traditional horizontal style writing.
  1. 事業是出來的,不是出來的。
  2. 看來,他彷佛用一千隻眼睛瞧著。

In China and Hong Kong, the emphasis mark (Chinese: 着重号) is used in textbooks and teaching materials. It is centred under each character highlighted in the horizontal texts, and centred to the right of each character in the vertical texts.

In Japanese

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ここ強調

In Japan, the emphasis mark (傍点 bōten or 圏点 kenten) is usually a dot or a sesame dot and is centred above each character in the horizontal texts and to the right of each character in the vertical texts.

It is not unusual for kenten and ruby to concur on the same side of the main text (usually above or to the right), but this feature has not been possible with CSS.

In Korean

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In South Korea, the emphasis mark (드러냄표 deureonaempyo) usually rules as a dot or circle centred above the characters in the horizontal texts and to the right of the characters in the vertical texts.

Examples:

  • using the CSS text-emphasis property:
    한글의 본 이름은 훈민정음이다.
    중요한 것은 왜 사느냐가 아니라 어떻게 사느냐 하는 문제이다.
  • using positioned characters: :
    한글의 본 이름은 •훈•민•정•음이다.
    중요한 것은 ◦왜 ◦사◦느◦냐◦가 아니라 ◦어◦떻◦게 ◦사◦느◦냐 하는 문제이다.

Characters

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Apart from any single character, the following characters are used as emphasis marks in some implementations.[2]

Glyph Unicode codepoint Unicode name Value for the CSS text-emphasis-style property Name used in Adobe InDesign
U+2022 bullet dot, filled, filled dot small black circle
U+25E6 white bullet open, open dot small white circle
U+25CF black circle circle, filled circle black circle
U+25CB white circle open circle white circle
U+25C9 fisheye double-circle, filled double-circle fisheye
U+25CE bullseye open double-circle bullseye
U+25B2 black up-pointing triangle filled triangle, triangle black triangle
U+25B3 white up-pointing triangle open triangle white triangle
U+FE45 sesame dot filled sesame, sesame black sesame
U+FE46 white sesame dot open sesame white sesame

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b CSS Working Group (2022-05-05) [1999-01-27]. Etemad, Elika J.; Ishii, Koji (eds.). CSS Text Decoration Module Level 3 (Technical report). Candidate Recommendation Draft, 5 May 2022. World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  2. ^ a b "text-emphasis". MDN Web Docs. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  3. ^ "Emphasis Mark for Japanese in Word".
  4. ^ Japanese Layout Task Force (2012). Requirements for Japanese Text Layout. W3C. jlreq.
  5. ^ a b "Format CJK characters". Adobe InDesign Learn & Support. 24 May 2023.
  6. ^ a b "CJK 文字の書式設定". Adobe InDesign ラーニングとサポート (in Japanese). 24 May 2023.
  7. ^ "text-emphasis". mdn web docs (in Japanese).