Punctuational division of literary discourse

Жээнбекова Ч. М.

Аннотация. Авторская пунктуация -- это система знаков препинания, выходящая за рамки официального употребления и преследующая определенные художественно оправданные цели. Статья посвящена изучению роли и значения пунктуации в литературном дискурсе. Автор исследует историю и происхождение источников знаков препинания. Также раскрывается сущность литературного дискурса, и описываются способы его передачи. Обосновывается использование тех или иных знаков препинания.

Ключевые слова: пунктуация, запятая, двоеточие, полуточие, дискурс, тире, язык, знаки.

The modern punctuation system has undergone many changes over the centuries. It has been shaped by several factors, among them the author of the text, journalists and the development of technological progress that became the basis of the printing industry. All these factors gradually found ways to make reading more efficient and comprehensible by adding signs to the language. Analyzing the evolution of punctuation can give an idea of what they were aiming for by adding symbols so that we can better understand how they are used today. Punctuation, normalized writing by a system of rules, the application of a system of punctuation marks in a text according to its semantic, logical, syntactic, and intonational features. The dictionaries and encyclopedias devoted exclusively to linguistics, studied in the course of the research, only three contain information about punctuation. In some of them, only one sentence is devoted to this topic. In the third book, one page is devoted to a brief history of punctuation. The International Linguistic Encyclopedia devotes less than two pages to punctuation. In addition, World's Writing Systems, a 922-page multilingual encyclopedia, has a dozen punctuation entries, which may be about three or four pages long, but most of them deal only with diacritics [1].

A Comprehensive Grammar of English, a work in which punctuation is often mentioned, argues that punctuation serves two purposes, division and clarification, and views the features of punctuation as forming a kind of hierarchy. A number of reasons why punctuation works are listed: the punctuation mark defines grammatical, semantic and pragmatic functions. The main problem of studying the punctuation system can be presented as the lack of clear definitions of linguistic features. As already mentioned, the first problem arises when we need to give a clear definition of language and spoken language, and to distinguish between these concepts. Sometimes we can expand to a paragraph, a sentence or a word. The problem is also the origin of the punctuation system, since there is no precise information about it. But it is possible that Sumerian cuneiform may contain the prototype of the modern punctuation system. The modern punctuation system originated in Italy and was created by Aldus Manucius and his grandson. During the nineteenth century, the punctuation system was able to be categorized by hierarchy and basic terms [2].

In the XX century the punctuation system had to be changed in accordance with the needs of computer language. G. I. Abramova [3] noted that the statement is important to consider the style of the text when studying punctuation functions and can be considered an indisputable scientific fact. The content of a scientific message consists in the description of facts, objects, phenomena of the world, their study, explanation, generalization.

From a grammatical point of view, the role of punctuation in a sentence is formally defined and well understood. In semantic analysis, punctuation also plays a crucial role as a way to avoid ambiguity in the message.

Discourse is another word for written or oral communication. It is a broad term that has several different definitions depending on the discipline in which it is used. In literature, discourse means the presentation of thought through language. Discursive language usually contains long, extended sentences that address a particular topic in a formal manner.

Generally speaking, any time someone uses language to communicate, they are using discourse. Thus, a writer's job is one that relies primarily on discourse to tell stories, share ideas, and disseminate information. In essence, without discourse, there would be no literature [4].

However, not all discourses are the same, and literary scholars categorize them into four main types: argument, description, exposition, and narration.

An argument is an attempt to persuade the reader through logic and reasoning. The author makes a specific claim and then presents evidence to support that claim. Description is a sensory experience for the reader, the purpose of which is to help the reader create clear mental images of the information presented. Novels, short stories, and poems depend on the power of description to entertain and engage the reader.

Expository discourse informs the audience about a certain fact but does not seek to influence the audience's opinion of that fact. Expository discourse is neutral in language and tone so as not to persuade the reader or evoke emotion; its purpose is purely informational.

A narrative is a written commentary that presents the story to the reader. In other words, it is the voice of the narrator. A narrative engages the reader through persuasive language that evokes emotion and empathy and keeps the reader turning the page. Narrative is the cornerstone of novels, short stories, and some plays.

In literary discourse it is necessary to use punctuation marks, otherwise some expressions may be ambiguous and deceptive. Punctuation also makes it possible to designate separate logical units into which any complex message can be divided. From this point of view, punctuation marks are more than just technical signs that allow the reader to more easily perceive successive fragments of text. When placed between words, they also acquire meaning and become significant to no lesser extent than, for example, some words that play a mainly grammatical role, such as conjunctions and articles.

Each author has his own peculiarity in expressing his intention. For example, Ernest Hemingway likes a period. Jane Austen loves the comma. And Cormac McCarthy ignores everything except comma, period and question mark [5].

Here we should mention “authorial punctuation”. On the one hand, this term means the peculiarities of punctuation design of texts, which are individual in nature, inherent in a particular writer (a set of signs used by him, the predominant use of one of them, the expansion of the functions of this sign), which, as a rule, do not contradict the rules adopted in this or that period.

Some authors make do with a strictly motivated codified system of signs (although they often use it in their own way), others, on the contrary, resort to additional signs that are absent in the accepted system. Thus, V. Mayakovsky, who considered the usual punctuation “too poor and inexpressive compared to the shades of emotion that the now sophisticated man puts into a poetic work”, invents his own “punctuation mark”, establishing, in his opinion, the correspondence between the intonation of the method of arrangement of the text. “My punctuation is `scaffolding', and let the editor and proofreader put commas as they should”, he declares.

In this connection, the fact of possible “enrichment” (expansion) of punctuation forces to raise the question: what range of graphic means Their role in the artistic text is extremely great. This has been noted more than once by great poets. A. A. Blok wrote that “the soul structure of a true writer is expressed in everything, right down to punctuation marks” [6].

Researchers of punctuation in the sphere of poetic speech proceed, as a rule, from the position that punctuation marks are intended to formalize certain syntactic constructions. Anything that goes beyond that, is considered to be an individual-author's norm of the work, optional use, etc. It is interesting to note, however, that the conclusions that researchers come to as a result of analyzing different idiostyles turn out to be quite similar. They are that in the sphere of artistic speech punctuation serves the purpose of highlighting and emphasizing the most significant elements of the prose text, represents the communicative organization of the statement and the text as a whole.

The current level of linguistic knowledge makes it possible to understand and explain new tendencies in the field of punctuation practice exactly as natural, conditioned by the system of language, although they have to break their way through the obstacles of existing rules.

The transformation of a sentence into an utterance, bringing the sentence into conformity with specific tasks realized in a certain context, is carried out in writing by means of punctuation. From the point of view of topical syntax, within the framework of which “regularities of the actualization of an utterance” are studied, the most important function of punctuation, in our opinion, is the actualization of a sentence. Moreover, the punctuation means, methods and techniques of representation of the topical membership, which are developed in a turn-of-the-mill manner, become in fact not so much the signs of utterance as the signs of the text, providing textual unity, coherence and integrity.

The modern description and interpretation of an artistic text presupposes the identification of those general regularities that bring to the surface, explicate the uniqueness (general linguistic, functional-stylistic, individual-authorial) of the unifying and constituent linguistic consciousness. That is why linguistic theories and concepts of text, code, and discourse cannot be complete without a corresponding theory of textual punctuation, where punctuation should be seen as a hierarchical system of units (punctuation positions, punctuation figures, and punctuation scripts) that organizes the text by combining, dividing, isolating, and deploying linguistic elements, thus embodying the author's view of the world in the form of a detailed linguistic picture [7].

In the punctuation of every language, a number of non-letter spelling symbols are used to separate words, phrases and simple sentences within a complex sentence. These elements are used as separating punctuation marks in written speech: comma, semicolon, dash colon.

For example, the dash is a punctuation mark that very often replaces other marks. Most often, the dash replaces the comma and colon. Let's look at each of these substitutions with examples. The dash as a substitute for the comma is most often used to distinguish the main (main) and secondary parts of a compound sentence. Many writers use the dash as a substitute for the comma.

The dash, which is a substitute for the colon, is used very widely. Most often it can be found both between parts of simple and complex sentences. Many modern authors refrain from using colons with generalizing words and replace them with dashes in all cases, although there is no serious reason for such a substitution.

Colon -- a punctuation mark in the form of two dots placed one above the other, used to indicate that the part of the text after it is connected by causal, explanatory, etc. semantic relations with the part of the text before it. A colon is a punctuation mark that serves several different functions in any artistic language. The main roles of the colon are to separate sentences and to emphasize information.

A semicolon is a separating punctuation mark, which can be placed instead of a comma between homogeneous members, between parts of a complex sentence and in enumerations. A semicolon allows you not to get confused in long constructions where there are many words or other commas.

Thus, one of the reasons for the increasing importance of punctuation in a fiction text is the author's understanding of the significance of this system for the reader. Nowadays, as many years ago, punctuation is perceived as a fixation of the constructive side of speech, that is, its main function is to convey the intonation of oral speech, division and allocation of any parts of the sentence. According to L. M. Koltsova, a well-known researcher in the field of author's punctuation, limiting the functions of punctuation-graphic signs is comparable to “if in mathematics instead of four arithmetic operations in our disposal somehow left only two: subtraction and division”. It is this one-sided approach that makes prose writers and poets use unfamiliar signs in place of any traditional ones or put them in the place where no punctuation mark is provided at all. Only in this case a punctuation unit becomes multifunctional (communicatively and constructively filled).

References:

1. Akhmanova, O. S. (2004). Slovar' lingvisticheskikh terminov. Moscow, (in Russian).

2. Coulson, F. T. (2020). Punctuation. In The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336948.013.115

3. Naumovich, A. N. (1983). Sovremennaya russkaya punktuatsiya: Minsk. (in Russian).

4. Kol'tsova, L. M. (2007). Khudozhestvennyi tekst skvoz' prizmu avtorskoi punktuatsii: avtoreferat. ... d-ra filol. nauk. Voronezh. (in Russian).

5. Shavlukova, B. Yu. (2008). Znakovye kachestva punktuatsii v tekstakh khudozhestvennogo i nauchnogo registrov: avtorskaya punktuatsiya: diss. ... kand. filol. nauki. Makhachkala. (in Russian).

6. Blok, A. A. (1962). Sud'ba Apollona Grigor'eva. Moscow. 487-519. (in Russian).

7. Shapiro, A. B. (2006). Sovremennyi russkii yazyk. Moscow. (in Russian).

Список литературы:

1. Ахманова О. С. Словарь лингвистических терминов. М.: УРСС, 2004. 569 с.

2. Coulson F. T., Babcock R. G. The Oxford Handbook of Latin Palaeography. Oxford Handbooks, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336948.013.115

3. Наумович А. Н. Современная русская пунктуация: Минск, 1983. 256 с.

4. Кольцова Л. М. Художественный текст сквозь призму авторской пунктуации: автореферат. ... д-ра филол. наук. Воронеж, 2007. 377 с.

5. Шавлукова Б. Ю. Знаковые качества пунктуации в текстах художественного и научного регистров: авторская пунктуация: дисс. ... канд. филол. науки. Махачкала, 2008. 142 с.

6. Блок А. А. Судьба Аполлона Григорьева. М.-Л. 1962. С. 487-519.

Шапиро А. Б. Современный русский язык. М.: УРСС, 2006. 292 с.

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