Goltsova Nina Grigorievna, professor
Today it is difficult for us to imagine that books were once printed without the well-known icons called punctuation marks.
They have become so familiar to us that we simply don’t notice them, which means we can’t appreciate them. Meanwhile punctuation marks live their own independent life in the language and have their own interesting story.
IN everyday life We are surrounded by many objects, things, phenomena, so familiar that we rarely think about the questions: when and how did these phenomena appear and, accordingly, the words that name them? Who is their creator and creator?
Have the words so familiar to us always meant what they mean today? What is the story of their entry into our lives and language?
Such familiar and even to some extent ordinary (due to the fact that we encounter it every day) include Russian letter, more precisely, the graphic system of the Russian language.
The basis of the graphic system of the Russian language, like many other languages, are letters and punctuation marks.
When asked when the Slavic alphabet, which is the basis of the Russian alphabet, arose and who was its creator, many of you will confidently answer: the Slavic alphabet was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius (863); The Russian alphabet was based on the Cyrillic alphabet; Every year in May we celebrate the Day of Slavic Literature.
And when did they appear punctuation marks? Are everyone famous and so familiar to us? punctuation marks(period, comma, ellipsis, etc.) appeared at the same time? How did the punctuation system of the Russian language develop? What is the history of Russian punctuation?
Let's try to answer some of these questions.
As is known, in the system of modern Russian punctuation 10 punctuation marks: period [.], comma [,], semicolon [;], ellipsis […], colon [:], question mark [?], exclamation point [!], dash [–], parentheses [()] and quotes [" "].
The oldest sign is dot. It is already found in monuments of ancient Russian writing. However, its use in that period differed from modern use: firstly, it was not regulated; secondly, the dot was not placed at the bottom of the line, but above – in the middle of it; In addition, at that time even individual words were not separated from each other. For example: the holiday is approaching... (Arkhangelsk Gospel, 11th century). This is the explanation of the word dot gives by V.I. Dal:
“POT (poke) f., an icon for an injection, from sticking to something with the point, tip of a pen, pencil; small speck."
The period can rightfully be considered the ancestor of Russian punctuation. It is no coincidence that this word (or its root) was included in the names of such signs as semicolon, colon, ellipsis. And in the Russian language of the 16th–18th centuries, a question mark was called interrogative point, exclamation – point of surprise. In the grammatical works of the 16th century, the doctrine of punctuation marks was called “the doctrine of the power of points” or “of the point mind,” and in the grammar of Lawrence Zizanius (1596) the corresponding section was called “On points.”
The most common punctuation mark in Russian it is considered comma. This word is found in the 15th century. According to P. Ya. Chernykh, the word comma– this is the result of substantivization (transition into a noun) of the passive past participle of the verb comma (xia) – “to catch”, “to touch”, “to stab”. V.I. Dal connects this word with the verbs wrist, comma, stammer - “stop”, “delay”. This explanation, in our opinion, seems legitimate.
Need for punctuation marks began to be acutely felt in connection with the advent and development of printing (XV-XVI centuries). In the mid-15th century, the Italian typographers Manutius invented punctuation for European writing, which was adopted in basic outline by most European countries and still exists today.
In the Russian language, most of the punctuation marks we know today appear in the 16th–18th centuries. So, brackets[()] are found in monuments of the 16th century. Previously, this sign was called “roomy”.
Colon[:] as a separator begins to be used with late XVI century. It is mentioned in the grammars of Lavrenty Zizaniy, Melety Smotritsky (1619), as well as in the first Russian grammar of the Dolomonosov period by V. E. Adodurov (1731).
Exclamation mark[!] is noted to express exclamation (surprise) also in the grammars of M. Smotritsky and V. E. Adodurov. Rules for staging „ amazing sign“ are defined in “Russian Grammar” by M. V. Lomonosov (1755).
Question mark[?] has been found in printed books since the 16th century, but to express the question it was fixed much later, only in the 18th century. Initially, [;] was found in the meaning of [?].
Later signs include dash[-] And ellipses[…]. There is an opinion that the dash was invented by N.M. Karamzin. However, it has been proven that this sign was found in the Russian press already in the 60s of the 18th century, and N. M. Karamzin only contributed to the popularization and consolidation of the functions of this sign. The dash [–] sign called “silent” was first described in 1797 in “Russian Grammar” by A. A. Barsov.
Ellipsis sign[…] under the name “preventive sign” was noted in 1831 in the grammar of A. Kh. Vostokov, although its use was found in writing practice much earlier.
No less interesting is the history of the appearance of the sign, which later received the name quotes[" "]. The word quotation marks in the meaning of a musical note (hook) sign is found in the 16th century, but in the meaning punctuation mark
it began to be used only at the end of the 18th century. It is assumed that the initiative to introduce this punctuation mark into the practice of Russian written speech (as well as dash) belongs to N. M. Karamzin. Scientists believe that the origin of this word is not entirely clear. Comparison with the Ukrainian name pawka makes it possible to assume that it is derived from the verb to waddle – “to hobble”, “to limp”. In Russian dialects kavysh – “duckling”, “gosling”; kavka – “frog”. Thus, quotes – „traces of duck or frog legs,” “hook,” “squiggle.”
As you can see, the names of most punctuation marks in the Russian language are originally Russian, and the term punctuation marks itself goes back to the verb punctuate - “stop, detain in motion.” The names of only two signs were borrowed. Hyphen(dash) - from it. Divis(from lat. divisio– separately) and dash (trait) – from French tiret, tїrer.
The beginning of the scientific study of punctuation was laid by M. V. Lomonosov in “Russian Grammar”. Today we use the “Rules of Spelling and Punctuation” adopted in 1956, that is, almost half a century ago.
Source: Website of the Open International Russian Language Olympiad
Punctuation (1913)
I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay
Selected works on general linguistics: In 2 volumes - M.: Publishing house Acad. Sciences USSR, 1963.
Punctuation (pp. 238–239). Printed entirely from the manuscript (Archive of the USSR Academy of Sciences, f. 770, op. 3, item 7).
Punctuation marks, elements of writing or written-visual language, associated not with individual elements of the pronunciation-auditory language and their combinations, but only with the division of current speech into separate parts: periods, sentences, individual expressions, words. There are two main categories of punctuation marks.
1) Some of them relate only to morphology of written speech, i.e. to its dismemberment into ever smaller parts. These are: dot(.), separating periods or isolated sentences from one another; in addition, it serves as a sign reductions words (b.ch. instead of “for the most part”, because instead of “since”, etc.); colon(:), used mainly before counting individual parts of what was said before a colon or when a quotation is given, i.e. verbatim text before that expressed by another person or the author himself (see “Colon”); semicolon(;) separates combinations of incomplete [? – nrzb.] sentences or countable parts of a dismembered whole; comma(,) serves to separate from each other sentences that are no longer separated or isolated, intercalated expressions, such as the vocative case, combinations of words or even individual words that impart a certain connotation to a given sentence, etc. (for example, Thus, however etc.).
This also includes: dividing the book into departments, on chapters, on paragraphs(§§), articles...; paragraphs(from the red line); dividing lines; short lines, dash(tiret), connecting two parts of a compound word; spaces, both larger ones, between lines, and the smallest ones, between individual written words; brackets(), containing words, expressions and phrases that are introductory, explanatory, etc.; callouts(*, **, 1, 2...), at the bottom of the pages or at the end of the book, with links or with explanations of individual words of the main text.
2) Another category of punctuation marks, also related to the morphology or dismemberment of written speech, emphasizes mainly semasiological side, indicating the mood of the speaker or writer and his attitude to the content of what is being written. By using quotation marks(“”) differs from someone else’s or supposed with the reservation “as if”, “so to speak”, “they say”, “they say” from one’s own without reservations.
This also includes: question mark(cm.), exclamation mark(cm.). A special sign of irony was also supposed, but so far without success. These last signs are associated with the different tone of speech, that is, they are reflected in the general mental shade of what is spoken. Of course, morphological punctuation marks (dots, spaces...) are reflected to a certain extent in pronunciation, especially at a slow pace: pauses, stops, respites.
Special types of punctuation marks: ellipses(...) when something is left unfinished or implied; a dash replacing an ellipsis (–), which, especially in fictional works, replaces either a comma or parentheses, or quotation marks; apostrophe(cm.). Quotation marks and parentheses are placed on both sides of the given text - both before and after; An exclamation mark and a question mark are placed only at the end. The Spaniards, however, mark not only the end, but also the beginning of an exclamation (I!) or a question (??). The system of punctuation marks adopted in Europe goes back to the Greek Alexandrian grammarians; it was definitively established from the end of the 15th century especially by the Venetian printing family Manutius. U different nations available different ways use punctuation marks, especially commas. In ancient Indian writing (Sanskrit) there are no punctuation marks at all; there the words are written together, and the signs / and // separate either individual verses or individual phrases. Previously, in European scripts, among other things in Church Slavonic, words were written together and without punctuation.
Interpuncture
Interpuncture (lat.) – theory of use punctuation marks in writing and their placement itself. Subject to well-known certain rules, interpuncture makes the syntactic structure of speech clear, highlighting individual sentences and members of sentences, as a result of which oral reproduction of what is written is facilitated. The term interpuncture is of Roman origin, but the very beginning of interpuncture is unclear.Whether interpuncture was known to Aristotle is not clear. In any case, the beginnings of it were among the Greek grammarians. The very concept of interpuncture, however, was different among the ancient Greek and Roman grammarians from the modern one. The interpuncture of the ancients had mainly in mind oratorical requirements (pronouncing a speech, reciting it) and consisted of placing simple periods at the end of sentences or using paragraphs called lines or verses (versus).
The new interpuncture originates not from this ancient one, but from interpuncture. Alexandrian era, invented by the grammarian Aristophanes and developed by later ones. By the end of the 8th century. according to R. Chr. it, however, fell into such oblivion that Warnefried and Alcuin, contemporaries of Charlemagne, had to reintroduce it. At first the Greeks used only one sign - a dot, which was placed either at the top of the line, then in the middle of it, then at the bottom. Other Greek grammarians, like Nicanor (who lived a little later than Quintilian), used other systems of interpunction (Nicanor had eight signs, others had four, etc.), but they all mixed the syntactic side of speech with the logical and did not develop any definite rules (see Steinthal, "Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft bei d. Griechen und Romern", vol. II, Berl. 1891, pp. 348-354).
The same uncertainty prevailed in the Middle Ages, until approximately the 15th century, when the printer brothers Manutius increased the number punctuation marks and subjected their use to certain rules. They, in fact, should be considered the fathers of modern European interpuncture, in which no significant changes have been made since that time. However, the interpuncture of various modern European nations differs in some features from each other. Thus, in English a comma or dash is often placed before and ( And) and is not used at all before relative clauses (as in French). The most complex and most accurate interpuncture is German. Its theory is described in great detail in Becker ("Ausfuhrliche deutsche Grammatik", 2nd ed., Frankfurt, 1842), and its history and characteristics are in Bieling: "Das Prinzip der deutschen Interpunction" (Berlin, 1886).
Russian interpuncture is very close to German interpuncture and has the same advantages. Its presentation can be found in J. Grot: “Russian Spelling”. Old Slavonic interpuncture followed Greek models. In Russian interpuncture the following are used: punctuation marks: comma, semicolon, colon, period, ellipsis, question and exclamation marks, dash, parentheses, quotation marks.
The work was completed by a student of class 4 “A” cadet school 1785 Tagansky Cadet Corps Klyukin Vladislav Vladimirovich. Hello!
A story about punctuation marks Thoughts of a question mark I live in the thicket of mysteries, ready to ask a hundred thousand questions: “Where from?” Who? Where? For what?" After all, my friends, I am a great expert at making riddles. Of course, you recognized me - I am a question mark. I am a Question Mark, living with my brothers and sisters in the area of Punctuation. One day an argument broke out between us. We argued about which of us is more important. Everyone knows that I, period, am the smallest sign in the world, and although a smaller icon cannot be found, I am needed for a reason. Here Comma, our curly little sister, entered the argument. Well, why is this point in the form of a tiny lump, or a tiny ball, or a dark circle? Why is it needed at all? I'm the most important because I finish the sentence. And a declarative sentence tells people a lot of important information. That's why everyone needs me! And I’m Comma - a busy girl, my head is all curled up, I barely have enough time for a day, everyone just calls me. And I point out the relationships between the parts of the sentence. Colon got angry: I’m not like the others, I’m a terribly important sign, look at me. I'm even two-story and a very, very important person - that's me! Right then and there the quotation marks-sisters sang: “We are the most important.” We highlight direct speech and quotes. We are quote-unquote sisters, that’s how it is for us: we walk together, celebrate holidays, we are very, very friendly, people really need us. “No, I’m the most important,” said Hyphen, “since I divide words into semantic parts.” - No, excuse me, friends, I’m still the most important. I am not a devil, not a minus, I ask you not to confuse me with anyone. I'm Tire, I'll be right there!
What are these other things? - said the ellipsis. - We are more important than everyone! And points! We are three dot sisters, if we hold hands, it means there is no end to the line. What nonsense, friends, the most important thing is me! My friends, believe me, I am the elder brother among you, accept my exclamatory ardent greetings! It’s not you, but I’m the most important and important! It is I who give people joy; without me they would not be able to rejoice. They put me at the end of a sentence to express amazement, appeal, excitement. I'm an exclamation point - simply wonderful! But suddenly Brackets came running and squealed: “How did this happen: unknown how the Question Mark took and disappeared among us... All the signs immediately fell silent.” And only Comma cried loudly, saying: “Where did the Question Mark go?” Well, great! - said the Exclamation Mark, - I’m glad to get rid of him completely, since there were a lot of unnecessary questions! I'm tired of this excess! I don’t want to see him - that’s all!
Right! - Ellipsis and Colon shouted very diligently. - See! His! We don't want it! And that's it!!! For a day or two, no questions are heard in the area of Punctuation, but although the Exclamation Mark is not a sage or philosopher, it is difficult for him to do without questions. He wants to know where, say, Dash is, he wants to ask where his beloved little sisters are, only without a Question mark, however, you can’t even ask a simple question. He wanted to know whether lunch would be soon, but there was no way to ask... And, having experienced great inconvenience, he understood the exclamation mark as a result of everything: where there are no questions, there are no answers. And it is impossible to know anything. This is a trifle, says the Exclamation Mark, a mere trifle, the Question Mark. It’s a corrosive sign, and it’s impossible to live without it! Right! - shouted all the punctuation marks diligently. - Us! Without him! Impossible! No way! And hearing all these words, then I come out - the Question Mark. But then Uncle Syntax intervened in our dispute: - Of course, you are all right! You are all important! Each of you provides certain information in a certain sequence, which is necessary for each person. You all perform auxiliary functions of separation, highlighting semantic segments of sentences, phrases, words, parts of words. Point out the grammatical relationships between words, emotional coloring, completeness. So all of you are important and all of you are certainly needed! This is how our kind uncle Syntax reconciled us. And since then, in the field of Punctuation, my brothers and sisters never quarreled again, we all lived very amicably.
Always use punctuation, OTHERWISE:
What sign must be placed between 6 and 7 so that the result is less than 7 and greater than 6? A curl looks like a tiny ear, Telling us to stand a little bit And go on our way.
Wherever you put him, you won’t force him to be indifferent... . Friends! In my works I stand in order to express excitement, anxiety, admiration, victory, triumph! It’s not for nothing that I am the Opponent of Silence from birth! Where am I, those sentences must be pronounced with special expression.
If you ask something, you can’t do it without me. Various questions. I ask everyone: How? where? How many? Why? For what? Where? Where? Which? Why? About whom? What? To whom? Which? Whose? Which? What? I'm such a master, Question Mark!
Years
From the history of punctuation marks
Today it is difficult for us to imagine that books were once printed without the well-known icons called punctuation marks. They have become so familiar to us that we simply don’t notice them, which means we can’t appreciate them. Meanwhile punctuation marks live their own independent life in the language and have their own interesting history.
In everyday life, we are surrounded by many objects, things, and phenomena that are so familiar that we rarely think about the questions: when and how did these phenomena and, accordingly, the words that name them appear? Who is their creator and creator?
Have the words so familiar to us always meant what they mean today? What is the story of their entry into our lives and language?
Such familiar and even to some extent ordinary (due to the fact that we encounter it every day) can include Russian writing, more precisely, the graphic system of the Russian language.
The basis of the graphic system of the Russian language, like many other languages, are letters and punctuation marks.
When asked when the Slavic alphabet, which is the basis of the Russian alphabet, arose, and who was its creator, many of you will confidently answer: the Slavic alphabet was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius (863); The Russian alphabet was based on the Cyrillic alphabet; Every year in May we celebrate the Day of Slavic Literature.
And when did they appear punctuation marks? Are everyone famous and so familiar to us? punctuation marks(period, comma, ellipsis, etc.) appeared at the same time? How did the punctuation system of the Russian language develop? What is the history of Russian punctuation?
Let's try to answer some of these questions.
As is known, in the system of modern Russian punctuation 10 punctuation marks: period [.], comma [,], semicolon [;], ellipsis […], colon [:], question mark [?], exclamation mark [!], dash [-], parentheses [()] and quotes [" "].
https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image004_2.gif" align="left hspace=12" width="343" height="219"> The period can rightfully be considered the ancestor of Russian punctuation. It is no coincidence this word (or its root) was included in the name of such signs as semicolon, colon, ellipsis. And in the Russian language of the 16th-18th centuries, a question mark was called a question mark, an exclamation point - a surprise point. In grammatical works of the 16th century, the doctrine of punctuation marks. was called “the doctrine of the power of points” or “about the point mind”, and in the grammar of Laurentius Zizanius (1596) the corresponding section was called “On points”.
The most common punctuation mark In Russian, a comma is used. This word is found in the 15th century. According to the opinion, the word comma is the result of substantivization (transition into a noun) of the passive past participle from the verb comma (sya) - “to hook”, “to touch”, “to stab”. connects this word with the verbs wrist, comma, stammer - “stop”, “delay”.
https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image006.jpg" align="left" width="178" height="144 src=">
The colon [:] began to be used as a separator at the end of the 16th century. It is mentioned in the grammars of Laurentius Zizaniy, Melety Smotritsky (1619), as well as in the first Russian grammar of the Dolomonosov period (1731).
The exclamation mark [!] is marked to express exclamation (surprise) also in the grammars of M. Smotritsky and. The rules for setting up an “amazing sign” are defined in the “Russian Grammar” (1755).
The question mark [?] has been found in printed books since the 16th century, but it was used to express a question much later, only in the 18th century. Initially, [;] was found in the meaning of [?].
https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image008.jpg" align="left" width="354" height="473 src=">Punctuation also includes a paragraph or a red line. A paragraph serves to highlight significant parts of the text, deepens the previous point and opens up a completely new line of thought.
https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image010_0.gif" alt=". , ? ! ... : ; " align="left" width="692" height="116 src="> Anastasia Yagodina, 4A grade student at gymnasium No. 1 in Murmansk
What are punctuation marks? These are symbols that are used in the text to design it. The functions of these signs are so important because they determine the meaning of each phrase and also separate thoughts from one another. In addition, they emotionally color the sentence, which makes it clear how it ended: interrogative, affirmative, or with an exclamation. Without them, all thoughts are confused, and confusion can result.
A period is used to complete a sentence and separate it from another, as well as to shorten a word. The comma is used when talking about listing or to connect parts complex sentence. An ellipsis is used to indicate a thought that is not finished or a pause.
A question mark is placed at the end of a sentence, it immediately becomes clear that this is a question and an answer is expected. An exclamation mark is also placed at the end of a completed thought, it conveys excitement, joy or surprise, and it can also be placed when addressing someone, this will emphasize individuality. The colon sign is used within a sentence at the moment when words need to be listed, and is also used in direct speech. The dash is considered a substitute sign for the word “this”; it directly takes part in direct speech.
These are the most basic signs used when writing. There are many others, and their significance is important. They make the text come alive, it immediately acquires a certain meaning and is easily perceived by the reader. That's why complete absence These signs may result in the text being misunderstood or appearing unclear. We can easily say that punctuation marks are needed like air, because stopping in speech during a conversation is the same punctuation marks, only in an invisible form.
Post Why punctuation marks are needed 6th, 8th, 9th grade
“Execution cannot be pardoned.” A phrase probably familiar to every person. When in the cartoon the boy had to remember spelling in order to stay alive. This, of course, is a little exaggerated, but the importance of punctuation is still important in the life of a literate and social person.
To clearly explain your thoughts to your interlocutor, we even pause in conversation when speaking. What can we say about the letter? When writing, it is important to highlight particularly important information and focus on the desired concept or phrase. Even expressing your opinion requires punctuation. If you write dialogue without highlighting it with punctuation marks, you will end up with confusion and an incomprehensible set of words. Various signs are used to highlight phrases in dialogue. Direct speech can be distinguished in two ways.
- With the help quotation marks. After the narration there is a colon and quotation marks. Quotes enclose a dialogue phrase on both sides and close the quotes. If the narration continues after direct speech, then a comma and a hyphen are added and the speech continues.
- With the help hyphen. Direct speech begins with new line and begins with setting a dash. After dialogue speech, if there is a narrative after it, a dash is placed again, thereby separating direct and narrative speech. This way the reader will be able to read the dialogue or quote with the necessary intonation.
The most common punctuation mark is a comma. It is used in almost every sentence. Serves as a separator for words with the same root or entire sentences. Separates participial and adverbial phrases. Addresses to any person are also separated by commas. When listing any objects or qualities, you cannot do without the help of a comma. Even the smallest children know the comma. In various cartoons about punctuation marks for children, the main characters are the comma girl and the dot boy.
When a sentence is complex in design, then when listing it may be worth using semicolon. It can also serve as a separator if the listed parts have their own subordinate parts, separated by commas.
When the thought ends, then at the end of the sentence it is advisable to put an end to. It will mark the end of one thought and the beginning of the next.
But sometimes it happens that you want ask a question in a sentence. In this case, to transform a sentence from declarative to interrogative, put a question mark at the end of the sentence.
To add more emotion to the sentence an exclamation point is used. It is an invaluable helper in greeting cards or wishes. When addressing a person, it is also possible to use an exclamation mark.
Using punctuation marks correctly and as intended you can establish yourself as educated, smart and a socially adapted person. Therefore, it is worth remembering that punctuation is necessary not only in school, but also plays an important role throughout life.
Essay on the Russian language Why do we need punctuation marks 4th grade
6, 7, 8, 9 grade
Several interesting essays
- The image and characteristics of the Stranger in the story Sunstroke by Bunin essay
One of the key characters of the work is the beautiful Stranger, without name, age, address, with whom main character found on the deck of a ship.
- Essay on the story Live and Remember Rasputin
The story of Valentin Rasputin Live and Remember rivets you special attention. This story shows the importance of human choice. The choice is especially important in difficult times for all people
- Ivanov's essay in Platonov's story The Return
The main character of the work is Alexey Alekseevich Ivanov, presented by the writer in the image of a Soviet army officer who returned from the war.
Polutykin is a middle-aged man with a short, stocky build. The author talks about him as a person who treats serfs well, by the standards of the general attitude towards them at that time
Our life is made up of our actions and interactions with excess light. Nature plays an important role in the middle world. Vaughn is our mother. This is not just a beautiful look. People resemble nature and are part of it
Period, period, comma...
(From the history of punctuation)
Punctuation marks, which make it possible to say in writing much more than can be written down in letters, helping to express the different meanings of words and the feelings of the one who writes, seem so systematic and familiar that it seems that they have always existed and appeared along with alphabets. But of course this is not true.
The word itself punctuation comes from the Latin punctus - ‘point’. But this word originally had a completely different meaning than we give it now. Until the mid-17th century, punctuation was the use of dots near consonants to indicate vowel sounds in Hebrew text, while writing signs in Latin text was called dotting. And only in the middle of the 17th century. the word punctuation began to be used in its usual meaning.
Development of the punctuation system in Europe
The first evidence of the use of punctuation marks dates back to the 5th century. BC Thus, the playwright Euripides marked the change of the speaking person with a pointed sign, possibly derived from lambda (<); философ Платон иногда заканчивал разделы своих книг знаком, аналогичным современному двоеточию.
The appearance of the first significant punctuation mark is associated with the name of the philosopher Aristophanes, who lived in the 4th century. BC It was a paragraphos - a short horizontal line at the bottom at the beginning of the line. It was used to indicate a change in semantic meaning and, therefore, a new, fairly voluminous section of text, which even today we often call a paragraph, although we denote it with a different sign (§).
The use of punctuation marks to divide text into smaller meaningful segments began around the 2nd century BC. The grammarian and lexicographer Aristophanes of Byzantium, as the head of the Library of Alexandria, invented a system of three points: the point below - comma - was placed at the end of the shortest segment; the dot at the top - periodos - divided the text into large segments, and the dot in the center - colon - into medium ones.
There is an assumption that it was Aristophanes who invented many other punctuation marks, for example, the hyphen for writing compound words, the slash, which he placed next to words with an unclear meaning. Of course, these signs were not widely used; they were used sporadically and rather haphazardly.
The first attempt to eliminate these inconveniences was made by the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin (735-804), who led the court school in Aachen (now a city in Germany). In reforming Aristophanes' system, Alcuin made several additions. It was he who introduced punktum (.) and puktumversus (;) to indicate pauses and changes in intonation. But, despite these improvements, consistency in the use of signs was never achieved, and only in the 15th century. Venetian printer Aldus Manutius began to introduce signs of pauses, inhalation, and changes in intonation into the books he printed, and the most frequently used were periods, semicolons, and colons.
The first person in England to declare the role of punctuation marks in syntactic terms, that is, their use to determine the structure of a statement, was the English playwright Ben Jonson. He did this in his work “English Grammar” (late 16th century).
By the beginning of the 17th century. Most modern signs have already been put into use. The first edition of W. Shakespeare (1623) already uses a period, comma, semicolon, colon, question mark and exclamation mark. At the end of the century, quotation marks appeared in English punctuation.
History of Russian punctuation
At the beginning of its development, the Russian punctuation system was guided by the Greek one, so the main punctuation mark was the dot. Initially, dots were placed arbitrarily, because texts were written for quite a long time without dividing into words and sentences. It could be one point (at the bottom, top or middle of the line) or a combination of them in different versions. Naturally, there were no rules. The meaning of the statement served as a guide, and dots were placed to highlight semantic parts. In addition to dots, in ancient Russian texts there were lines at the bottom of the line (_), serpents (~), as well as various combinations of lines and dots.
The first attempt to streamline the placement of punctuation marks on a semantic basis was made by M. Greek (XVI century). It was he who, in his work “On the literacy of Monk Maximus the Greek of the Holy Mountain declared for subtlety,” showed a desire to indicate the role of such signs as a period, and subdiastole - comma, and subdiastole with a dot - semicolon. The dot was supposed to indicate the end of the statement, the subdiastole was supposed to give the speaker a break when reading, and the sign subdiastole was recommended to indicate a question.
In the same era, articles by anonymous authors appeared in handwritten collections, which either only listed punctuation marks or gave a few tips on their use. Here is a description of such signs as a comma, a sub-column - a comma (how they differed is difficult to establish; in addition, in some works a semi-colon was called a sub-column), kendema (the “sign” at the end of a statement), statiya (~,), etc.
End of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. marked by the publication of printed grammars by Lavrenty Zizaniy (“Grammar of Slovensk...” 1596) and Melety Smotritsky “Grammar of Slovenian correct syntagma” (first edition in 1616, printed in Moscow in 1648), which played a certain role in the development of Russian punctuation system.
Lavrentiy Zizaniy speaks of six punctuation marks - these are the comma (,), term (е), double term (:), subframe (;), connective (-), period. In determining the functions of punctuation marks by L. Zizan, the semantic principle is based on the completeness or incompleteness of the statement. The point is at the end of a complete whole. It is recommended to use comma, term and double as separators in the middle of a sentence. The under-tables are a sign of expressing interrogative intonation. Connective - a sign of word transfer (by the way, without saying anything about the syllabic division of words, L. Zizaniy in the examples given demonstrates taking into account their morphemic structure).
I.I. Sreznevsky rightly noted that “in the grammar of L. Zizania there is often a confusion of terms, commas and doubles, and in some cases the functions of terms and periods are not differentiated.” And yet, the desire to determine the place of each character in the text is a great merit of L. Zizaniya in the development of the punctuation system.
Meletiy Smotritsky has already identified ten “lowercase punctuations” - this is a bar (/), a comma (,), a colon (:), a dot (.), disjointed, unitary (-), interrogative (;), surprising (!), placeholder, call(). As you can see, the naming of punctuation marks is already somewhat different than that of L. Zizania.
M. Smotritsky’s use of “lowercase punctuation” is based on the intonation principle, taking into account the meaning of the statement. So, a trait is a short rest when reading; a comma allows the speaker to pause longer; a colon is used when not the whole thought is expressed, but only part of it, but the parts of the sentence are more independent than when separated by a comma; A period is placed at the end of a complete statement, a question mark is placed at the end of an interrogative statement; disjointed and united are signs of transference.
M. Smotritsky, for the first time in the history of Russian punctuation, identified three new signs: surprising, turn-down and place-holder, clearly defining their functions. Surprising - at the end of a sentence pronounced with a special (exclamatory) intonation; accommodative - includes a less independent part of the sentence; deferred - one that can be completely removed from the sentence.
Despite some imperfections in the description of the rules for using punctuation marks, M. Smotritsky’s grammar has long been the main textbook for students of grammar, spelling and punctuation of the Russian language of that era. Its significance has been repeatedly emphasized by such famous linguists as V.A. Bogoroditsky, V.V. Vinogradov and others.
The next serious stage in the development of Russian punctuation is associated with the name of V.K. Trediakovsky. In 1748, in St. Petersburg, his rather voluminous (460 sheets) work, known to this day, “A conversation between a foreigner and a Russian about ancient and new orthography and about everything that belongs to this matter,” was published. It is V.K. Trediakovsky who is credited with formulating the rules for using signs from the point of view of syntactic features; he established individual cases of the use of signs, taking into account the structure of a simple or complex sentence, with examples of argumentation for each position. In addition, V.K. Trediakovsky introduced a question mark into his text (however, we find a description of its function in M.V. Lomonosov’s “Russian Grammar”) and introduced the use of the semicolon in the modern sense - no longer at the end of interrogative sentences, but to separate parts of a complex sentence and (sometimes) when addressing.
In the middle of the 18th century. “Russian Grammar” by M.V. Lomonosov is published. Chapter V of this work of the great scientist entitled “On Spelling” presents a brief theory of punctuation.
M.V. Lomonosov does not introduce new signs, but defines the basic principle of their use: taking into account not only the meaning of the sentence, but also the arrangement of parts, and the meaning of conjunctions, which serve “to pair and interrelate concepts.” Thus, in punctuation M.V. Lomonosov affirms two closely interrelated principles: semantic and syntactic. But M.V. Lomonosov failed to present complete and detailed rules for the use of punctuation marks. Thus, he defines the function of the comma only to separate homogeneous (“identical”) members of a sentence, but does not formulate other rules for using this sign.
Quotation marks appeared in the 17th century in the form of a quotation mark - “hook sign”, modern pronunciation and spelling with A appeared as a result of the development of akanya and its consolidation in writing.
The history of such a punctuation mark as a dash is interesting. Introduced into use by N.M. Karamzin, described in “Russian Grammar” by A.A. Barsov, where the silent sign was named, then the line, and later the sign of mental separation (A.Kh. Vostokov). All these are former names of the modern dash.
Further development of the punctuation system is aimed at a more detailed development of its foundations in different directions: logical (semantic), grammatical (syntactic) and intonation. “Despite the differences in views among representatives of different directions, what they have in common is the recognition of the communicative function of punctuation as an important means of formatting written speech.”
Thus, punctuation marks arose from the need to divide written text into independent segments (with a greater or lesser degree of independence) in accordance with the semantic structure of the statement. The first punctuation marks indicated pauses of varying lengths; With the development of writing and the spread of printing, the system of punctuation marks became more complex and deepened until it reached a state that is preserved in its basic features in modern European languages.
In Russian, the etymologically proper Slavic terms are such names as dot- the term is formed using suf. -к- (modern -к-) from exactly<…>, ascending to t'ch, which is derived through the theme -ь- from the base t'k-, appearing in t'kati, t'knuti<…>; k front changed to h; comma- origin “from the verb comma - “to prevent, to delay.” Wed. cufflink, puto, obstacle” (please note that the word comma has the same root as the words punctuation mark, stutter, etc.); brackets, quotes(proper Russian) - “kovychka” - formation with the suffix -ьк- (modern -к-) from kovyk; k changed in the past - the word kovyka is still preserved in dialects - ‘interference, hitch’; trait- formed from the same stem as the verbs čersti, čertu - ‘to draw’. Of non-Slavic origin, the modern names of such punctuation marks as dash, hyphen, apostrophe, asterisk. Term dash borrowed in the 19th century from French. First recorded in Dahl's Dictionary. From French tiret - a dash, is derived from tirer - to pull. Word hyphen came into Russian punctuation from the German Divis from the Latin divisio - division, dismemberment. Apostrophe- from the Greek apostrophos - facing to the side or back. Asterisk(*) - from Greek aster - star; We prefer to call this sign the actual Russian word asterisk.
In the development of Russian punctuation, two features attract attention:
Despite the fact that punctuation marks are widely used throughout the world, in quantitative terms the system of punctuation marks has not reached its completeness. The regulatory documents defining the rules for placing punctuation marks in the Russian language contain 10 canonical characters: period, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, question mark, exclamation mark, ellipsis, parentheses, quotation marks, although in fact there are much more of them. As the practice of written speech shows, the hyphen is currently widely used; rarely, but still used are paragraph, slash, and asterisk. In recent years, opinions have been expressed about the adequacy of the names of such signs as two commas - as a single paired sign (in the excretory function), two dashes or a double dash - as a paired excretory sign. These signs serve for internal division of sentence 10