The Linguistics of Punctuation

The Linguistics of Punctuation PDF Author: Geoffrey Nunberg
Publisher: Center for the Study of Language (CSLI)
ISBN: 9780937073469
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Geoffrey Nunberg challenges a widespread assumption that the linguistic structure of written languages is qualitatively identical to that of spoken language: It should no longer be necessary to defend the view that written language is truly language, but it is surprising to learn of written-language category indicators that are realized by punctuation marks and other figural devices.' He shows that traditional approaches to these devices tend to describe the features of written language exclusively by analogy to those of spoken language, with the result that punctuation has been regarded as an unsystematic and deficient means for presenting spoken-language intonation. Analysed in its own terms, however, punctuation manifests a coherent linguistic subsystem of 'text-grammar' that coexists in writing with the system of 'lexical grammar' that has been the traditional object of linguistic inquiry. A detailed analysis of the category structure of English text-sentences reveals a highly systematic set of syntactic and presentational rules that can be described in terms independent of the rules of lexical grammar and are largely matters of the tacit knowledge that writers acquire without formal instruction. That these rules obey constraints that are structurally analogous to those of lexical grammar leads Nunberg to label the text-grammar an 'application' of the principles of natural language organization to a new domain. Geoffrey Nunberg is a researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

The Linguistics of Punctuation

The Linguistics of Punctuation PDF Author: Geoffrey Nunberg
Publisher: Center for the Study of Language (CSLI)
ISBN: 9780937073469
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Geoffrey Nunberg challenges a widespread assumption that the linguistic structure of written languages is qualitatively identical to that of spoken language: It should no longer be necessary to defend the view that written language is truly language, but it is surprising to learn of written-language category indicators that are realized by punctuation marks and other figural devices.' He shows that traditional approaches to these devices tend to describe the features of written language exclusively by analogy to those of spoken language, with the result that punctuation has been regarded as an unsystematic and deficient means for presenting spoken-language intonation. Analysed in its own terms, however, punctuation manifests a coherent linguistic subsystem of 'text-grammar' that coexists in writing with the system of 'lexical grammar' that has been the traditional object of linguistic inquiry. A detailed analysis of the category structure of English text-sentences reveals a highly systematic set of syntactic and presentational rules that can be described in terms independent of the rules of lexical grammar and are largely matters of the tacit knowledge that writers acquire without formal instruction. That these rules obey constraints that are structurally analogous to those of lexical grammar leads Nunberg to label the text-grammar an 'application' of the principles of natural language organization to a new domain. Geoffrey Nunberg is a researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

Punctuation in Context - Past and Present Perspectives

Punctuation in Context - Past and Present Perspectives PDF Author: International Pragmatics Association. Conference
Publisher: Linguistic Insights
ISBN: 9783034337908
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The book showcases grammatical, pragmatic, and stylistic functions of punctuation, and shows how punctuation can encode emotion, metalinguistic marking, foregrounding and paralinguistic indications. It also highlights the sensibility of punctuation to genre and the speech-writing continuum, and shows how punctuation conventions change in time.

A Linguistic Study of American Punctuation

A Linguistic Study of American Punctuation PDF Author: Charles F. Meyer
Publisher: Peter Lang Pub Incorporated
ISBN: 9780820405223
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 159

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Book Description


The Penguin Guide to Punctuation

The Penguin Guide to Punctuation PDF Author: R L Trask
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141991585
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
The Penguin Guide to Punctuation is indispensable for anyone who needs to get to grips with using punctuation in their written work. Whether you are puzzled by colons and semicolons, unsure of where commas should go or baffled by apostrophes, this jargon-free, succinct guide is for you.

Linguistic Perspectives on English Grammar

Linguistic Perspectives on English Grammar PDF Author: Martin J. Endley
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1617351709
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
The proposed book is best described as a linguistically oriented textbook taking the grammar of English as its subject matter. It is directed to professional teachers of English (ESL and EFL) and their students, as well as those currently training to become teachers of English. The book is also likely to be of interest to interpreters, translators and other English language professionals. It will explore selected aspects and problem areas of English from a broadly “functional” linguistic perspective. My experience as a teacher and teacher trainer has shown me that this perspective has the potential to inspire teachers and students with a genuine enthusiasm for the grammatical features of English and that it often enables them to “make sense” of the grammar in a way that all too often other approaches signally fail to do. An important focus of the book is on understanding grammar as a series of conventionalized patterns rather than a set of rules (which is how grammar has traditionally been presented). Moreover, unlike many other grammar books, this book emphasizes how the grammatical constructions under consideration are employed in various types of communicative situation, attention being given to the importance of discourse context in interpreting the target forms. In line with contemporary linguists generally, the approach adopted is descriptive rather than prescriptive. While the main focus is on English, I offer occasional comments on how the issue under discussion is expressed in languages other than English. Apart from the inherent interest which I hope such comparisons may have for the reader, I take the view that these can be helpful in casting further light on the grammar of English.

Making a Point

Making a Point PDF Author: David Crystal
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1466865644
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The triumphant concluding volume in David Crystal's classic trilogy on the English language combines the first history of English punctuation with a complete guide on how to use it. Behind every punctuation mark lies a thousand stories. The punctuation of English, marked with occasional rationality, is founded on arbitrariness and littered with oddities. For a system of a few dozen marks it generates a disproportionate degree of uncertainty and passion, inspiring organizations like the Apostrophe Protection Society and sending enthusiasts, correction-pens in hand, in a crusade against error across the United States. Professor Crystal leads us through this minefield with characteristic wit, clarity, and commonsense. In David Crystal's Making a Point, he gives a fascinating account of the origin and progress of every kind of punctuation mark over one and a half millennia and offers sound advice on how punctuation may be used to meet the needs of every occasion and context.

Punctuation

Punctuation PDF Author: Jennifer DeVere Brody
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822342359
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
Punctuation offers playful interpretations of punctuation in relation to aesthetics, performance, and experimental art.

Punctuation Revisited

Punctuation Revisited PDF Author: Richard Kallan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429807201
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Punctuation Revisited is an advanced, comprehensive guide to the importance of punctuation in conveying meaning and augmenting the power of a message. Richard Kallan provides guidance on how to structure sentences accurately and in a manner that enhances their readability and rhetorical appeal. This book discusses in fine detail not just when and how to employ specific punctuation marks, but the rationale behind them. It also notes when the major academic style manuals differ in their punctuation advice. These unique features are designed to benefit beginning, intermediate, and advanced students of standard punctuation practice. Punctuation Revisited is a wonderful resource for students of composition and writing, an essential read for writing center tutors and faculty, as well as the perfect addition to anyone’s professional library.

Because Internet

Because Internet PDF Author: Gretchen McCulloch
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735210950
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!! Named a Best Book of 2019 by TIME, Amazon, and The Washington Post A Wired Must-Read Book of Summer “Gretchen McCulloch is the internet’s favorite linguist, and this book is essential reading. Reading her work is like suddenly being able to see the matrix.” —Jonny Sun, author of everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too Because Internet is for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are. Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time. Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.

The Linguistics of Literacy

The Linguistics of Literacy PDF Author: Pamela Downing
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027229031
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This volume grew out of the Seventeenth Annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Linguistics Symposium, which was held in Milwaukee on April 8-10, 1988. The theme of the conference was the relationship between linguistics and literacy. In this volume, a selection of papers are presented which cluster around three of the major themes that developed during the conference: the linguistic differences between written and spoken genres, the relationship between orthographic systems and phonology, and the psychology of orthography. The volume concludes with a solicited paper by Walter J. Ong which draws together the various strands considered in the other sections of the book and addresses the broader question of the social and psychological consequences of literacy.