In a literary form such as comics that combines images and texts punctuation is due to play a specific function. From its invention in the beginning of the 19th century, creators like Topffer or Dore played with it, especially the expressive signs, imitating what happened at the same time in numerous novels. The habit of overloading the images,…

This essay presents a revised history of the punctuation mark ["], drawn from the earliest communities who made it their own. By situating the development of ["] in its historical context, from first uses of the diple [diple] by the Greek scholar Aristarchus, it explains how it was the general applications which persisted into the sixteenth…

At first sight the speech mark would seem to be one of the easiest to use of all punctuation marks. After all, all one has to do is take the piece of speech or written language and surround it with the appropriately shaped marks. But, are speech marks as easy to understand and use as suggested above, especially for young children beginning their…

Dictionary compilers and designers use punctuation to structure and clarify entries and to encode information. Dictionaries with a relatively simple structure can have simple typography and simple punctuation; as dictionaries grew more complex, and encountered the space constraints of the printed page, complex encoding systems were developed,…

This article offers two approaches to the question of "invisible punctuation," theoretical and critical. The first is a taxonomy of modes of punctuational invisibility, identifying "denial, repression, habituation, error" and "absence." Each is briefly discussed and some relations with technologies of reading are considered. The second considers…

Communication is increasingly taking place through written messaging using online and mobile platforms such as email, instant messaging and text messaging. A number of scholars have considered whether these texts reflect spoken or written language, though less is known about the role of punctuation. In fact, it is commonly assumed that punctuation…

Analyzes the verse of the French poets Stephane Mallarme and Guillaume Apollinaire, contrasting their purposes in suppressing normal punctuation in their work. (MM)

Explores one aspect of the relationship between intonation and punctuation. Outlines the historical development of punctuation, and compares twentieth-century punctuation rules with what is known about the division of connected speech into intonation-groups. Suggests that, where syntactic prescription and intonational usage conflict, a return to…

Examines how, under Western influence, punctuation was adopted in Japanese texts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (FL)

Traces the development of the use of the hyphen in printing through the examination of incunabula and reproduction of manuscripts and incunabular printing. (VJ)