Punctuation in Context – Past and Present Perspectives

Acknowledgments

Researchers are increasingly realizing that punctuation is a fascinating area to study! Research on punctuation offers a meeting ground for many approaches in linguistics, stylistics and other fields of investigation. Punctuation is manifested in written language but bears close affinities to spoken language, making it an intriguing interface for investigating the relationship between these mediums. Punctuation rules and conventions are taught to pupils at schools, and yet every writer can express nuances of meaning by applying punctuation marks in idiosyncratic or otherwise unconventional ways. This tension in using punctuation offers opportunities to explore the relationship of the precept and the habits of an individual language user, revealing new information on the innovative potential that is there in linguistic resources. The development of punctuation across centuries is yet another intriguing area of study: Not only usage but also the array of the actual punctuation marks are in constant flux, early punctuation devices falling in oblivion and new devices entering the scene.

The present volume collects together ten original studies of punctuation phenomena in English, with attention paid to German and Latin. Four of the papers were presented at the panel organized by the editors at the International Pragmatics Association Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, in July 2015, while the six others were commissioned especially for this publication.

We are indebted to generous help from research assistants at the Department of English, University of Augsburg, Julian Botzenhardt and Carolina Vasconsellos Billio Manhães de Azevedo, who kindly helped us to edit the chapter files and compile the comprehensive bibliography. We also acknowledge the administrative help at the Department of English, Uppsala University, and the grant from the Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitetsakademien (The Royal Sweden Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities) contributing to covering the production costs of the book. Our thanks also go to the series editor, Professor ←7 | 8→Maurizio Gotti, who encouraged us to pursue this volume. Finally, we are grateful for the support of the editorial staff at Peter Lang.

Introduction: Multiple Functions and Contexts of Punctuation

1. Delimiting punctuation

Punctuation is neither a given nor a self-evident concept. First, for a long time writing made do without punctuation, which only evolved very gradually and is in fact still evolving. It is thus not indispensable to (written) language, but must have been perceived as advantageous by writers (and readers) for it to come into being. Secondly, what counts as punctuation or as a punctuation mark is not necessarily undisputed, i.e. there is no single agreed-on definition or inventory of marks. There is also variation in the use made of punctuation across different languages.

The definition, or better characterisation, of punctuation is usually achieved via giving its functions and listing punctuation symbols (the latter constituting an ‘extensive’ definition). There is agreement that punctuation fulfills both structural and semantic tasks (Parkes 1992: 1; Quirk et al. 1985: 1610–11; Nunberg et al. 2002: 1724), such as indicating grammatical structure and meaning, and resolving potential grammatical and semantic ambiguities. Parkes further points out that punctuation may either produce a certain effect on its own or reinforce an effect already produced by another item (e.g. question marks accompanying declaratives/fragments vs. interrogatives). Quirk et al. hive off the separation of linguistic units (e.g. by commas or parentheses) as a function distinct from more specific grammatical marking (such as indicating genitive) and also add a pragmatic function.¹ An emotive or ←9 | 10→rhetorical function is, however, relegated to the margins by Quirk et al., as is the link to spoken prosody (1611).

This wider outlook on the functional side has consequences for the inventory of the punctuation system to be considered. A larger inventory makes the term ‘punctuation indicator’ of Nunberg et al. useful, which embraces the segmental forms of punctuation marks and spaces, and the non-segmental types of various modifications, such as capitalization or bold-facing (2002: 1724).² The punctuation marks listed by Nunberg et al. (2002: 1726) are provided in Table 1.

Table 1. Punctuation marks according to Nunberg et al. (arrangement ours)