Abstract
A cognitive pragmatic approach to punctuation
Highlights
“There are two extreme views about punctuation
From a cognitive point of view, punctuation signs contribute to the economy of text interpretability indicating points in the text where cognitive processes may operate to construct a pattern which allows its pragmatic interpretation in an efficient, efficacious and appropriate manner
I will try to show that text punctuation assumes more or less marked/ more or less natural configurations depending on some choices along scales of naturalness defined by some semiotic parameters, such as diagrammatic iconicity, transparency and salience
Summary
“There are two extreme views about punctuation. The first is that you dont need it because its perfectly possible to write down what you want to say without any punctuation marks or capital letters and people can still read it youdontevenneedspacebetweenwordsreally they dont exist when we speak to each other after all and yet we none the less understand what people are saying. I would like to explore the following hypothesis: punctuation is a complex dynamic system of signs, adaptable to contexts and sensitive to semantic and pragmatic meanings. The proper domain of investigation of punctuation is neither the word nor the sentence but the text/discourse.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
