From the history of punctuation marks. The history of the emergence of punctuation marks in the Russian language and their modern use in comparison with European punctuation When to put a hyphen

Punctuation marks have been around for a long time. But their number and rules of use gradually changed. There was a time when those who wrote in Russian got by with just one sign - a dot located in the middle of a line between groups of undivided words. It is punctuation that is an important means of formalizing written speech: punctuation marks indicate its semantic division. At the same time, to a large extent, Russian punctuation is built on a syntactic basis, as the wording of most punctuation rules shows. All this gives the Russian punctuation system great flexibility: along with the mandatory rules, it contains instructions that do not have a strict normative nature and allow punctuation options related not only to the semantic side of the written text, but also to its stylistic features. J.K. Grot believed that through the main punctuation marks, “an indication of a large and a smaller connection between sentences, and partly between members of sentences” is given, which serves “to make it easier for the reader to understand written speech.”

After analyzing the edition of Shapiro "Punctuation", we can conclude that punctuation marks are signs that form a special part of the general graphic system of a given language and serve those aspects of written speech that cannot be expressed in letters and other written symbols (numbers, equal sign, sign similarities).

This definition of the role of punctuation marks is a modern generalization. But how did Russian science come to him?

Ancient scribes did not use punctuation marks, and for a long time all words were written together. Punctuation originates in the IV-V centuries. when they start using a space; texts are designed so that each major period begins with a red line and with a capital letter. Most of the Latin monuments are punctuated later.

To indicate the end of a sentence or phrase, a combination of dots and dashes was used: “syllable”, “article”, “rhyme”.

In the most ancient written monuments, other signs were common:

Period in the middle of a string (corresponds to a comma)

Quadruple (a conceivable cross, corresponds to a dot)

Crosses of various types (placed to divide the sacred text into verses).

Interestingly, in part of the text of the Ostromirov Gospel (1056 - 1057), a cross and a wavy vertical line - "serpent" are also used, the functions of which are not clearly defined. "Cross" and "serpent" are written in red, the point - in black, like the text itself. According to the drawing, these signs resemble “kryzh” and “serpent” in ancient notes, and on the first sheets two more signs are added to the cross, also clearly originating from notes: on top - a sign called “horn” in ancient notation, below - “bench” .

In ancient Russian writing, the text was not divided into words and sentences. Punctuation marks (period, cross, wavy line) divided the text mainly into semantic segments or marked a stop in the work of the scribe.

Of great importance for the development of punctuation was the introduction of printing. The setting of characters in printed works was primarily the work of typographic masters, who often did not take into account what the author's handwritten text was in terms of punctuation.

The system of punctuation marks, which was formed in its main features by the 18th century, required the development of certain rules for their use. Back in the 16th - 17th centuries, the first attempts were observed to theoretically comprehend the setting of the punctuation marks that existed by that time. However, the general and particular foundations for punctuation marks in their main features took shape during the 18th century, when the formation of the foundations of the modern Russian literary language ended.

The principles on which the entire system of punctuation rules is based were gradually comprehended.

Most of the ancient writings knew only a “paragraph” or “period” of all punctuation marks. Graphically, they were expressed in different ways, although, apparently, the dot was the most common form. In ancient Russian writing, the most common sign was a dot, used more or less in the sense of our comma and basically dividing, apparently, the text into syntagmas. Those or other signs of a more complex form, which would more or less correspond in meaning to our point, are less common and are something in between our "paragraph" and "point".

As far as can be judged from the testimony of monuments, including printed ones, as well as from grammatical and spelling manuals of the 18th century (mainly for learning foreign languages), the main reason for putting punctuation marks was the presence of longer or shorter pauses in speech. For setting a question mark, the interrogative meaning of the sentence served as the basis, for setting a colon - the transition from the explained part of the sentence to the explanatory one. But these two punctuation marks were not placed in all cases. So, there were significantly fewer punctuation marks in the middle of the 18th century than in our time. By the end of the 18th century, new punctuation marks appeared: dashes, quotation marks, ellipsis. They were usually introduced into the practice of writing by writers and, accordingly, were reflected in textbooks and teaching aids on grammar and spelling. It is known that the sign of the dash (or "line") was the first to use Karamzin. It is still not possible to specify exactly who owns the initiative to use ellipsis and quotation marks in Russian writing.

The beginning of the scientific development of Russian punctuation was laid by the brilliant representative of grammatical science of the 18th century, M. V. Lomonosov, in his work Russian Grammar, written in 1755. M. V. Lomonosov gives an exact list of punctuation marks used by that time in Russian printed literature, sets out the rules for their use in a system, formulating these rules on a semantic and grammatical basis.

The greatest merit in streamlining Russian punctuation in the 19th century belongs to Academician Ya.K. . Grotto sets out in detail the history and principles of Russian writing, difficult cases of spelling, gives a scientifically systematized and theoretically meaningful set of spelling and punctuation rules. The rules for the use of punctuation marks formulated by him are valuable in that they sum up the searches in the field of punctuation of previous authors. Grot's ordered punctuation, as well as spelling, rules have entered the practice of the school and publishing houses and, at their core, with minor changes, are still in effect today.

Some linguists are of the view that Russian punctuation is based on a semantic basis, others on a grammatical basis, and still others on an intonation basis. However, despite the theoretical disagreements of scientists, the fundamental foundations of Russian punctuation remain unchanged, which contributes to its stability, although individual punctuation rules are periodically refined and specified in connection with the development of Russian grammatical theory and the Russian literary language as a whole.

1. 2. Principles of modern punctuation.

Classification of punctuation marks and their characteristics.

Modern Russian punctuation is built on semantic and structural-grammatical foundations, which are interconnected and condition each other. Punctuation reflects the semantic division of written speech, indicates semantic connections and relationships between individual words and groups of words, and various semantic shades of parts of a written text.

Punctuation marks are divided into:

▪ distinguishing marks, which serve to mark the boundaries of a syntactic construction that is introduced into a sentence to supplement, explain its members or the entire sentence, explain its members or the entire sentence as a whole, intonation-semantic allocation of c. - l. part of the sentence, as well as to indicate the boundary of the construction containing the name of the person or object to which the speech is addressed, or expressing the subjective attitude of the writer to his statement, or shaping someone else's statement: two commas - as a single pair sign, two dashes - as a single pair sign , quotes, brackets;

▪ separating signs that serve to distinguish between independent sentences, their parts (main and subordinate clauses, subject groups and predicate groups), homogeneous syntactic elements (homogeneous members of a sentence, subordinate subordinate clauses), as well as to indicate the type of sentence for the purpose of the statement, on the emotional nature of the sentence, for a break in speech: dot, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, ellipsis.

Consider the modern concept of punctuation marks:

1) A period (.) is a punctuation mark placed at the end of a sentence. The period is one of the most ancient punctuation marks. It was used to separate words or larger sections of text from each other. In the same function, a cross or a vertical, wavy line was used. The point was originally placed at different levels: either at the base of the letter, or at the level of its middle. Sometimes a scribe, interrupting work, could put a full stop even in the middle of a word. In modern Russian written speech, a dot is placed at the end of a declarative or motivating sentence: “It was evening. The sky was dark. The waters flowed quietly" (Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"). The dot is used in abbreviated spelling of words (for example: etc., etc.); and in abbreviations, the dot is not put.

2) Question mark - a punctuation mark used to express a question. Initially, a semicolon was used in the meaning of the question mark (this is reflected in the grammars of L. Zizania, (1596), and M. Smotrytsky, (1619), although the question mark was already found in the books of the first half of the 16th century. Finally, the question mark was fixed to express the question of "Russian grammar" M. V. Lomonosov.In modern Russian written speech, an exclamation point is put:

▪ at the end of an interrogative sentence, including after incomplete interrogative sentences following one after another: “Who are you? Live? Dead? (A. Blok, "Poems about a beautiful lady");

▪ in interrogative sentences with homogeneous members after each homogeneous member in order to dismember the question: “Yes, what am I to whom? before them? to the whole universe? (Griboyedov "Woe from Wit");

3) An exclamation mark (!) is a punctuation mark used to express an exclamation. This sign called “surprising” is mentioned in the grammar of M. Smotritsky (1619). In modern Russian written speech, an exclamation point is put:

▪ at the end of an exclamatory sentence: “Long live the revolution, joyful and fast!” (Mayakovsky, poem "V. I. Lenin");

▪ in exclamatory sentences with homogeneous members after each homogeneous member to indicate the emotional discontinuity of speech: “I rejected everything: laws! conscience! faith!" (Griboyedov "Woe from Wit");

▪ after words pronounced with an exclamatory intonation - sentences, appeals, interjections, standing at the beginning (in poetic speech - and in the middle) of a sentence or used independently: “Old man! I heard many times that you saved me from death ”(Lermontov“ Mtsyri ”);

▪ in brackets inside or after a quote to express the author's attitude (irony, indignation, etc.) to the quoted text.

4) Comma (,) - a punctuation mark that serves to separate or highlight words, groups of words and simple sentences as part of a complex one. The appearance of a comma in the monuments of Russian writing dates back to the 15th century. In modern Russian written speech, a comma is the most common punctuation mark, acting as a separating function (one comma) or in an excretory function (paired punctuation mark - two commas). The comma is used:

▪ between homogeneous members of the sentence (connected without unions, repeating or paired unions, non-repeating unions with an opposing or concessive meaning) and between repeated words: “I will put not the clan, but the mind in governors.” (Pushkin "Boris Godunov"); “Winter was waiting, nature was waiting” (Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”);

▪ between simple sentences that are part of a complex non-union or compound sentence: “The sun went behind the mountains, but it was still light” (Lermontov, poem “Demon”);

▪ between the main and the subordinate clause (or to highlight the subordinate clause from both sides), between the subordinate clauses: “Go along the free path, where the free mind leads you” (Pushkin, poem “To the Poet”);

▪ to separate or isolate isolated members of a sentence, with words or groups of words that limit or clarify other words in the sentence: “In the distance, closer to the grove, axes thudded dully” (Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”);

▪ with comparative turns: “like a storm, death takes the groom” (Pushkin “Boris Godunov”);

▪ to separate or highlight words that are not grammatically related to the members of the sentence (introductory words, addresses, interjections, affirmative, negative and interrogative words): “With his eyes, it seems like he would like to eat everyone.”

(Krylov, fable "Wolf in the kennel").

5) Semicolon (;) - a punctuation mark used in a complex and, less often, in a simple sentence to separate its relatively independent parts. It was first introduced by the Italian printer Aldus Manutius in 1449, who used it to separate opposite words and independent parts of compound sentences. Shakespeare already used (;) in his sonnets. In Church Slavonic, the semicolon played the role of a question mark.

▪ “And Esau said: Behold, I am going to die, and this is my preeminence”

▪ “Esau said, Behold, I am dying, what is this birthright to me?”

In modern Russian writing, a semicolon is placed:

▪ in complex non-union and compound sentences, if their parts are widely distributed and contain commas, for example: “The pale gray sky was brighter, colder, bluer; the stars now twinkled with a faint light, then disappeared; the earth is damp, the leaves are sweating” (Turgenev “Bezhin meadow”); “Almost every evening later they went somewhere out of town, to Oreanda or to a waterfall; and the walk went well, the impressions were invariably beautiful, stately every time ”(Chekhov“ The Lady with the Dog ”);

▪ in a simple sentence between homogeneous members of the sentence, if they are widely distributed and contain commas, for example: “In the darkness, the same obscure objects were vaguely represented: in some distance a black wall, the same moving spots; next to me is the croup of a horse, which, waving its tail, widely spread its legs: its back is in a white Circassian coat.

(L. N. Tolstoy, collected works, story "The Raid").

6) Colon (:) - a punctuation mark, in the form of two dots, located one under the other, used in a simple sentence and in a non-union complex sentence. Combinations of several points are noted in the monuments of Russian writing of the most ancient period. These signs were originally used to separate words or larger sections of text from each other. In modern Russian writing, a semicolon is placed:

▪ before listing, if it is preceded by a generalizing word or words, for example, somehow, namely, for example: “A large fish is beating with a sharp edge, such as: pikes, catfish, asps, pike perches” (Aksakov, “Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province ", stories and memoirs of a hunter about different hunts. "Hunting with a spear");

▪ in a complex non-union sentence, if the second part reveals the content of the first part, complements the first or indicates the reason for what is said in the first part, for example: full of people” (Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time”);

7) Dash - (French tiret, from tirer - pull) - a punctuation mark in the form of a horizontal line (-), used in simple and complex sentences. Introduced into use by the Russian writer and historian N. M. Karamzin. In modern Russian written speech, the dash is put:

▪ between the subject and the predicate: “Lgov is a large steppe village” (Turgenev “Notes of a Hunter”);

▪ before a generalizing word after homogeneous members: “Hope and a swimmer - the whole sea swallowed up” (Krylov, works in 2 volumes. “An old man and three young people”);

▪ before a separate appendix, usually standing at the end of a sentence: “I had a cast-iron teapot with me - my only joy in traveling around the Caucasus.”

(Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time");

▪ between members of a sentence to express surprise or opposition: “I wanted to travel around the whole world - and did not travel a hundredth” (Griboyedov “Woe from Wit”);

▪ in a complex non-union sentence to indicate a quick change of events, to express a sharp contrast, to express temporary, conditional-investigative and other relationships: “Ignat lowered his gun - misfired” (Chekhov “White-browed”);

▪ between replicas in a dialogue given without a paragraph, or at the beginning of replicas given from a paragraph;

▪ to indicate the breakdown of a simple sentence into verbal groups, which often happens when a member of a sentence is omitted:

“I ask you: do the workers need to be paid?” (Chekhov "Ivanov");

“Everything is obedient to me, but I am nothing” (Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”);

8) A double dash (a paired punctuation mark acting as a highlighting function) is used to highlight:

▪ introductory and plug-in sentences and constructions: “There is nothing to do here - friends kissed” (Krylov, the fable “Two Doves”);

▪ a common application after the word being defined to emphasize the independent meaning of this application: “In front of the doors of the club - a wide log house - workers with banners were waiting for the guests” (Fedin, novel “An Extraordinary Summer”);

9) Ellipsis - () - a punctuation mark in the form of those adjacent dots, used to indicate the incompleteness or interruption of a statement, as well as omissions in the text. For the first time it was indicated in the grammar of A. Kh. Vostokov (1831) under the name "stop sign". Dots are used:

▪ to indicate incompleteness or a break in the statement caused by the speaker's excitement or an unexpected transition to another thought, as well as to indicate a pause that emphasizes the text following it: "Without receiving an answer, Dunya raised her head and fell on the carpet with a cry."

(Pushkin, prose, "The Stationmaster");

▪ when quoting (before the beginning of a quotation, in the middle or after it) to indicate that a frequently quoted text has been omitted. In order to distinguish a gap in a quote from the author's ellipsis, in some special editions a special technique is used: in the case of a gap, not three, but two dots are placed side by side.

2. 1. General comparison of modern Russian and European punctuation

The punctuation systems of most modern writing systems are the same.

The differences relate only to particulars. Punctuation marks in English, for example, are used less frequently and not in the same way as in Russian. Punctuation in English is a very problematic part of grammar. Unlike Russian, punctuation is not given due attention in English. Many native speakers take such liberties with punctuation in writing that they seem unacceptable.

English punctuation is basically similar to Russian, but its application is very free and not subject to strict, mandatory rules.

The punctuation systems of the Russian and English languages, in addition to their general similarity, have a number of features. The functions of the same punctuation marks, as well as the ways in which similar linguistic phenomena are presented in written speech, often do not coincide. In Russian, punctuation depends mainly on the syntactic structure of a sentence, while in English, syntactic boundaries within a sentence are not necessarily punctuated.

In Russian, the subordinate clause is always separated by a comma from the main clause. In English, this happens much less often, namely:

▪ The subordinate clause is not separated by a comma:

We know that at present all roads lead to Communism.

We know that at present all roads lead to communism.

▪ A relative attributive clause is not separated by a comma if it is not descriptive, but restrictive, i.e. when it distinguishes the word being defined from a number of others:

The historic changes that have occurred in Asia are of cardinal significance.

The historical changes that have taken place in Asia are of paramount importance.

If the attributive clause provides only additional information about the word or sentence being defined and is equivalent to an independent sentence, then it is separated by a comma:

Tsiolkovsky studied many branches of knowledge, which enabled him to become a prominent scientist.

Tsiolkovsky studied many branches of knowledge, which helped him become an outstanding scientist.

The subordinate conditional and adverbial clause is separated by a comma only if it precedes the equal clause (or if it is too long):

If you added less acid, the reaction would not be so violent.

If you had added less acid, the reaction would not have been as violent.

In Russian, quotation marks are placed at the bottom and at the top, in English - only along the top cut of the line:

You don't like this “You don't like the man, man? do you?”

Yes, I don't like it. “No, I don't”

You don't like this “You don't like the man, man? Do you?”

No, I like it. “Yes, I do”

In English, the dash is not used to convey remarks in the dialogue of the interlocutors or between the words of the author and direct speech, as in Russian, in this case quotation marks are enough.

Single dashes perform several functions in English that do not coincide with the functions of a dash in Russian (here it is used to distinguish the subject from the predicate with a zero connective), for example: "Our neighbor is an engineer." There is no such function in English, since there is no link in the declarative sentence in English, then there may not be a dash, for example: “Not a coward!” But in English, a dash is placed where in Russian it does not tend to stand, namely, to indicate an interrupted or for some reason unfinished sentence (in Russian, in such cases, ellipsis is put). Let's analyze the examples: “Marrying Sibil Vane? » cried Lord Henry, standing up and looking at Dorian. “But, my dear Dorian – Yesterday when I heard that Sibil Vane had killed herself -. ” The dash in this case denotes an unfinished presentation, the cause of which is the strong excitement of the speaker, weighing his words. Another difference in the use of dashes in English from Russian. In English, it is not customary to put a dash at the beginning of a dialogue to indicate a change in speaking faces. Thus, we can safely say that the functions and rules for using dashes are different in Russian and English.

Both in English and in Russian, to frame words, phrases of an introductory nature, wedged into the text, to isolate a common application, paired commas or paired brackets are put to close:

He, Martin Eden, was a better man than that fellow.

The old gentleman, her father, was always dabbing on speculation.

Sometimes additions are also highlighted on both sides, which in a conversation have the power of an intonation character.

Similarly, in Russian and English, a comma is placed in compound sentences in the presence of the unions “and”, “but”, “so”.

(“and”, “but”, “so”).

The use of a comma in a complex sentence. In Russian, a comma is always put, and in English it is put only when the subordinate clause ends, which is part of a complex sentence starting with the words “that”, “because”, “as”, “if”, “when”, “after”, “since” - (“this”, “because”, “how”, “if”, “when”, “after”, “since”), etc. But if the main clause comes first, then a comma is not placed before the listed allied words:

When Paul called to see Pearl, she found her still sick.

The day came to an end when they appeared in the distance.

Consider the differences in the use of a comma in English and Russian sentences. In a sentence with a small text of direct speech, a comma is put in the English sentence, and a colon will be in Russian:

She sank down by his side and cried, “Oh, Phil! It's all so horrid!" But if the text of direct speech is long, then a colon is also put, for example:

Lincoln said: “Many years ago our fathers had brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”

In conclusion, it is worth adding that introductory words in English, as in Russian, are necessarily separated by commas:

Namely, it was her natural shyness. (Namely)

Of course, he apologized. (Certainly)

As for the next sign, the colon, in both languages ​​it clarifies, explains, expands or narrows further information.

Sometimes a colon stylistically colors a sentence and indicates its high style and the seriousness of the information. Of course, here there is a slight difference between the use of a comma and a colon, and in English the colon is used more widely, in a slightly different direction, that is, it can be an independent statement, for example:

Oh, don't shout Paul: it really isn't nice.

Mother-in-Law, Sergius: mother-in-law.

The next sign - a semicolon - also approximately coincides in Russian and English, but sometimes a Russian semicolon corresponds to a colon in English. The most important function of a semicolon is to stand at the end of a sentence that expresses an incomplete thought, followed by another simple or complex sentence, completing the sentence, followed by a period. A semicolon can be used several times in a sentence, using the example of one long compound non-union sentence, which includes several simple sentences that are not closely related to each other, so as not to confuse the reader with a long sentence with various complications.

Moreover, it can be noted that errors are made much less frequently on this punctuation mark.

It should also be noted that the function of the period as a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence does not differ at all in different languages, which cannot be said about the dash.

After analyzing the use of punctuation marks in Russian and English, we can come to the conclusion that it is some difference in their use that is the reason for errors.

Punctuation marks are now largely uniform and perform almost the same function in many European and non-European languages. So, for example, in Russian and most European languages, interrogative and exclamatory sentences are fixed, as a rule, with one question or exclamation mark at the end of the sentence, and in Spanish - with two question and exclamation marks - at the beginning and at the end of the sentence. At the same time, an overturned question and exclamation mark are put first:

- "¿Quién fue el autor de la Ilíada?"

-“¡Que me me acuerde de tí!”

- "¿Qué hace ahí?"

In Spanish, all the same characters are used as in Russian, but there are also their own, special ones. What are they called and what role do they play? coma - comma, punto final - dot, punto y coma - semicolon, dos puntos - colon, puntos suspensivos () - ellipsis, principio de interrogación (¿) - initial question mark, fin de interrogación (?) - final question mark , principio de admiración (¡) - initial exclamation mark, fin de admiración (!) - final exclamation mark, paréntesis () - brackets, diéresis o crema (¨) - trema, colon over letter, comillas (""; "") - quotes, guión (-) - hyphen, raya (-) - dash, dos rayas (=) - double dash.

Commas, dots and brackets indicate pauses of different lengths, which, when read, make it possible to understand the meaning of sentences. These signs are used in Spanish in almost the same way as in Russian, with the only difference that complex sentences with many participial and participial phrases in Spanish are not as frequent as in Russian, and they are not distinguished in writing.

A period is the end of a sentence or an abbreviation. Comma - enumeration, conversion, clarification, introductory words and words - bundles (esto es, es decir, o sea, en fin, por último, por consiguiente, sin embargo, no obstante, además, en tal caso, por lo tanto, en cambio, en primer lugar, generalmente, posiblemente, efectivamente, finalmente, en definitiva, por regla general, quizás). In addition, the comma is used in dates, bibliographic data and addresses (Madrid, 25 de enero de 2007. BELLO, Andrés: Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos.)

The semicolon is used to indicate a pause longer than from a comma but shorter than from a colon, and is most often used before a subordinate adversative clause.

The colon is used before the enumeration after the generic word.

Quotation marks indicate quotations, or give figurative meaning to certain words. The hyphen is used to wrap words and to connect parts of compound words.

The dash is used in direct speech, and in all other cases in the same way as in Russian (for lists, for clarifications, pauses, etc.). As for the double dash, this is a rarely used obsolete character used in copies of documents to indicate paragraphs that are given separately in the original.

Conclusion

Russian punctuation can be considered both in a narrow and in a broad sense. In a narrow sense, it includes basic punctuation marks. These are sentence-ending characters (period, exclamation mark, question mark, ellipsis), sentence “middle” characters (comma, semicolon, dash, colon), paired characters (double comma, double dash, brackets, quotation marks). Thus, the main corpus of punctuation marks in Russian includes twelve characters that students should know well. In a broad sense, punctuation marks include signs of the spatial organization of the text: space, paragraph indents, asterisks, etc.

Without the ability to punctuate, it is impossible to master written speech in general, which is why it is so important to know punctuation - a branch of the science of language that talks about their use. And without the development of written language, thanks to which human knowledge and experience are passed on from generation to generation, it is impossible to even imagine life today.

Punctuation marks arose from the need to divide the written text into segments of greater or lesser independence in accordance with the semantic structure of speech. Thus, the first punctuation marks denoted pauses of greater or lesser duration within the written text. It goes without saying that writers could only be satisfied with such primitive punctuation during the initial stages of writing. Indeed, with the development of writing, especially after the introduction and spread of printing, the punctuation system became more complicated and deepened, until, in a relatively short period, it reached the state that is preserved in its main features in modern European languages.

The principles of punctuation are interrelated and in the same punctuation fact we can find a combination of different principles, although the leading one is syntactic (structural). Modern Russian punctuation relies on the meaning, structure, and rhythmic-intonational division of the sentence in their interaction. Therefore, Russian punctuation is quite flexible and, along with mandatory rules, contains indications that allow punctuation options.

Comparison of the punctuation design of texts that are chronologically distant from each other helped to understand the essence of modern Russian punctuation. Punctuation is a living, mobile, developing, historically established system.

After analyzing the history of the use of punctuation marks in the Russian language, considering the norms for the use of punctuation marks in European languages, we can conclude that Russian punctuation is very similar to the punctuation of European languages ​​(Spanish, English).

Summing up the centuries-old history of writing and printing, one can see that it has steadily developed towards an increase in both the number and variety of functions of the signs used - this was facilitated by the improvement of the ways of presenting information, and the complication of human activity and the emergence of its new forms led to the emergence of new categories of written signs that appeared as a response to the need for new types of information:

The invention of printing, the spread of literacy and paper correspondence, the transition of the book from the field of highly specialized, mainly religious texts, to the field of sources of diverse worldly content required the introduction of punctuation marks that help convey intonational and semantic features, dialogues, etc.

The complication of legal practice and the need to compose structured texts led to the development of chapters, paragraphs, paragraphs, footnotes, explanations and the invention of signs to highlight them.

The emergence of computer correspondence and conversational communication without direct contact caused a need for written transmission of emotions, gestures and facial expressions, which contributed to the emergence of emoticons.

To learn how to handle punctuation marks, you need to understand what is the basis for their use. Do you think intonation? Oh no! This is a dangerous shaky approach. Here everyone would have done this in their own way! Remember to write words by ear

So what lies at the basis of Russian punctuation, what signs of a sentence should be used in order to correctly punctuate?

Russian punctuation has a twofold basis. This was pointed out by the great Lomonosov in his "Russian Grammar": Lowercase signs are placed according to the strength of the mind and its location, and unions.

Remember: To put this or that punctuation mark, you must first determine the semantic side of the sentence and then its structure, that is, act according to the formula:

MEANING + STRUCTURE = punctuation marks

Here is an example of how the sign affects the meaning of sentences: There were a lot of people that day. We pushed in the woods, along the shore, settled all the benches: some in tracksuits, some in pajamas, with children, with dogs, guitars. (Yu. Trifonov). Firstly, thanks to the comma, the forest was not on the shore; and second, the comma avoided "pyjamas with kids and dogs".

1. Question mark "?"
2. Exclamation point "!"
3. Octothorpe or sharp "#"
4. Semicolon ";"
5. Parentheses "()"
6. Tilde "~"
7. Dot "."
8. Comma ","
9. Colon «:»
10. "$" sign

Question mark "?"

It has been found in printed books since the 16th century, however, to express the question, it was fixed much later, only in the 18th century.

The mark of the sign comes from the Latin letters q and o (quaestio - search [answer]). Initially, they wrote q over o, which then transformed into a modern style.

Exclamation point "!"

The exclamation mark comes from the expression "note of admiration" (a mark of amazement). According to one theory of its origin, it was the Latin word for joy (Io), written with an "I" above the "o". The exclamation mark first appeared in the Catechism of Edward VI, printed in London in 1553.

Doggy, or commercial floor "@"

The origin of this symbol is unknown. The traditional hypothesis is a medieval abbreviation of the Latin preposition ad (means "to", "on", "up to", "y", "at").

In 2000, Giorgio Stabile, a Sapienza professor, put forward a different hypothesis. A letter written by a Florentine merchant in 1536 mentioned the price of one "A" of wine, with the letter "A" decorated with a scroll and looking like "@" according to Stabila, it was an abbreviation for the unit of measure of volume - the standard amphora.

In Spanish, Portuguese, French, the @ symbol traditionally means arroba - an old Spanish measure of weight equal to 11.502 kg (in Aragon 12.5 kg); the word itself comes from the Arabic "ar-rub", which means "a quarter" (a quarter of a hundred pounds). In 2009, the Spanish historian Jorge Romance discovered the abbreviation of arroba with @ in an Aragonese manuscript of the Taula de Ariza written in 1448, almost a century before the Florentine script studied by Stabile.

Signs similar to @ are found in Russian books of the 16th-17th centuries - in particular, on the title page of the Sudebnik of Ivan the Terrible (1550). Usually this is the letter “az” decorated with a curl, denoting a unit in the Cyrillic number system, in the case of Sudebnik, the first point.

Octothorpe or sharp "#"

The etymology and English spelling (octothorp, octothorpe, octatherp) of the word is debatable.

According to some sources, the sign comes from a medieval cartographic tradition, where a village surrounded by eight fields was designated in this way (hence the name "octothorp").

According to other reports, this is a playful neologism of Bell Labs worker Don Macpherson (born Don Macpherson), which appeared in the early 1960s, from octo- (Latin octo, Russian eight), talking about the eight "ends" of the character, and - thorpe referring to Jim Thorpe (an Olympic medalist McPherson was interested in). However, Douglas A. Kerr, in his article "The ASCII Character 'Octatherp'", says that "octatherp" was created as a joke by himself, as well as by Bell Labs engineers John Schaak and Herbert Uthlaut. The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories (1991) gives the spelling "octotherp" as the original, and credits telephone engineers as its authors.

Semicolon ";"

The semicolon was first introduced by the Italian printer Aldo Manutius (Italian: Aldo Pio Manuzio; 1449/1450–1515), who used it to separate opposite words and independent parts of compound sentences. Shakespeare already used the semicolon in his sonnets. In Russian texts, the comma and the semicolon appeared at the end of the 15th century.

Asterisk, or asterisk "*"

It was introduced in the 2nd century BC. e. in the texts of the Library of Alexandria by the ancient philologist Aristophanes of Byzantium to indicate ambiguities.

Parentheses "()"

Parentheses appeared in 1556 with Tartaglia (for a radical expression) and later with Girard. At the same time, Bombelli used the corner in the form of the letter L as the initial bracket, and as the final one in an inverted form (1550); such a record became the progenitor of square brackets. Curly braces were suggested by Viet (1593). Nevertheless, most mathematicians then preferred to underline the highlighted expression instead of brackets. Leibniz introduced brackets into general use.

Tilde "~"

In most languages, the superscript tilde corresponds to a character derived from the letters n and m, which in medieval cursive were often written above the line (above the previous letter) and degenerated into a wavy li
niyu.

Dot "."

The oldest sign is dot. It is already found in the monuments of ancient Russian writing. However, its use in that period differed from the modern one: firstly, it was not regulated; secondly, the dot was placed not at the bottom of the line, but above - in the middle of it; moreover, in that period, even individual words were not separated from each other. For example: at the time the holiday is approaching ... (Arkhangelsk Gospel, XI century). What is the explanation for the word dot gives V. I. Dahl:

“POINT (poke) f., badge from an injection, from sticking to something with a point, tip of a pen, pencil; small speck."

The dot can rightly be considered the ancestor of Russian punctuation. It is no coincidence that this word (or its root) entered the name of such signs as semicolon, colon, ellipsis. And in the Russian language of the 16th-18th centuries, the question mark was called question mark, exclamatory - surprise point. In the grammatical writings 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 Lawrence Zizanias (1596) the corresponding section was called “On points”.

Comma «,»

The most common punctuation mark in Russian is considered comma. This word is found in the 15th century. According to P. Ya. Chernykh, the word comma- this is the result of substantiation (transition into a noun) of the passive participle of the past tense from the verb commas (sya) - "to hook (sya)", "to hurt", "to stab". V. I. Dal connects this word with the verbs wrist, comma, stammer - “stop”, “delay”. This explanation, in our opinion, seems reasonable.

Colon «:»

Colon[:] as a separating sign begins to be used from the end of the 16th century. It is mentioned in the grammars of Lavrenty Zizaniy, Melety Smotrytsky (1619), as well as in the first Russian grammar of the Dolomonos period by V. E. Adodurov (1731).

The later characters are dash[-] and ellipsis[…]. 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. For the first time, the dash sign [-] under the name "silent woman" was described in 1797 in the "Russian Grammar" by A. A. Barsov.

Ellipsis sign[…] under the name “precedent sign” is noted in 1831 in the grammar of A. Kh. Vostokov, although its use occurs in the practice of writing 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 (hook) sign occurs 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 fully understood. Comparison with the Ukrainian name paws makes it possible to assume that it is formed from the verb quoting - “waddle”, “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 Russian are native Russian, and the term punctuation marks itself goes back to the verb punctuate - "to stop," to delay in motion. The names of only two signs were borrowed. Hyphen(dash) - from it. Divis(from lat. division- separately) and dash (trait) - from French tiret, tirer.

The beginning of the scientific study of punctuation was laid by M. V. Lomonosov in the Russian Grammar. Today we use the "Rules of Spelling and Punctuation", adopted in 1956, that is, almost half a century ago.

"$" sign
There are many versions of the origin of the dollar, I want to tell you about the most interesting ones.

In one of the first, this symbol is directly related to the letter S. Even the Spaniards, in the era of their colonization, put the letter S on gold bars and sent them from the American continent to Spain. Upon arrival, they applied a vertical strip, and upon sending back - another one.

According to another version, the sign S is two Pillars of Hercules, which are entwined with a ribbon, that is, the Spanish coat of arms, symbolizing power and authority, as well as financial stability and steadfastness. The story goes that Hercules erected two rocks on the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar, in honor of his exploits. But the waves washing the rocks represent the letter S.

Another story says that the sign came from the abbreviation US-United States. But, in my opinion, the most interesting and more common is the story about the origin of writing the monetary unit of the peso. During the Middle Ages in Europe, the most common currency was the Spanish Real. They entered the circulation of England, and were referred to as "peso". In the documents, “peso” was shortened to capital letters P and S. And then to everything, people did not want to spend a lot of time writing letters and replaced the letter P, and only the wand remained, and the symbol was $.

Dash (French tiret, from tirer to pull), a punctuation mark in the form of a straight horizontal line with spaces on both sides (in European writing systems). In Russian punctuation, it is used to indicate pauses between words (parts of a sentence); ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Punctuation marks are elements of writing that perform auxiliary functions of separating (highlighting) semantic segments of text, sentences, phrases, words, parts of a word, indicating grammatical and logical relationships between words, ... ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see point. . Period (punctuation mark) Punctuation ... Wikipedia

Dash- a punctuation mark, also used as a conditional sign for replacing repeated words in successive headings of headings and subheadings of auxiliary. pointer. For example: Offset printing paper Types of books: according to the method of material support for printing ... ... Publishing Dictionary

Punctuation mark. It means opposition, it is placed in a simple sentence between the subject and the predicate, in a non-union complex sentence between the opposing parts: “The autumn cold has died - the road is freezing” (A. S. Pushkin). Double dash... Literary Encyclopedia

Dash punctuation mark Dash one of the symbols of the Morse code Dash (Izmir) a city in Turkey See also Tyr ... Wikipedia

- (fr.). One of the punctuation marks in the letter is a dash (), completion of a gap, a small stop. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. dash (fr. tiret tirer pull) 1) punctuation mark in the form of a long ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

dash- (Dash) A single punctuation separator [dot, comma, colon, dash, ellipsis, etc.], used in Russian as a sign of skipping words in a sentence, in direct speech, as a conditional sign for replacing repeated words in going ... ... Font terminology

- [re], unchanged; cf. [French] tiret] 1. A punctuation mark in the form of a long horizontal line. T. between subject and predicate. Put t. Highlight the introductory sentence using a double t. 2. A sign of this kind in Morse code; sound signal,… … encyclopedic Dictionary

Multiple cf. 1. A punctuation mark in the form of a straight horizontal line, used both in a simple and complex sentence and performing various semantic-syntactic functions. 2. Morse code sign in the form of a horizontal dash, which ... ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language Efremova

Books

• A set of tables. Russian language. Spelling. Grades 5-11 (15 tables), . Punctuation marks when addressing. Generalizing words with homogeneous members of the sentence. Comma with homogeneous members. A dash in a non-union complex sentence. Colon in non-union complex ...

One of the most common mistakes of the Russian language in writing is the incorrect placement of non-alphabetic characters. Unfortunately, this phenomenon does not bypass print media. And although each sign is regulated by its own spelling rules, nevertheless, 70% of errors in the text fall on them. Within the framework of this article, we will consider what is the difference between a hyphen and a dash, the history of their appearance in Russian grammar and today's usage standards in writing.

Two different concepts

In order for written speech to be more literate and beautiful, it is necessary to understand the existing difference in the spelling of such characters as dashes and hyphens. The catch is that outwardly they look very similar, representing a horizontal line with a slight difference in length. And the authors of different texts often get confused in writing these symbols, barely distinguishing them. Nevertheless, their fundamental difference is expressed in the functionality of the signs themselves.

The use of a hyphen (-) or a dash (-) in a letter will directly depend on the task in the text: to connect parts of a compound word or to separate parts of a sentence. Writing a dash inside a word, as well as a hyphen between independent words, will be a gross mistake. Also, unlike the dash, the hyphen is a non-alphabetic spelling mark. In other words, the hyphen should be used only according to the spelling rules, while the dash should be used according to the established punctuation norms of the Russian language.

History of the hyphen

Speaking about the difference between a dash and a hyphen, it is impossible not to touch on the history of the appearance of these characters in Russian writing.

The emergence of the spelling mark "hyphen" refers to the period when the spelling of words began to be separated by a space. In primers and various teaching aids of the 18th century, it was called the "sign of unity." And a century later, the first clarifications and adjustments to the use of the sign in the text appeared, proposed by Academician J. Grot. Some of his recommendations (rules) are used to this day.

In Russian, the term "hyphen" arose by the middle of the 19th century, when there was an active borrowing of German typographic terminology. The German word divis comes from the Latin divisio and means dismemberment, division. It is interesting that for a long time the word hyphen was used only in specific literature. And only in the 1930s did it become synonymous with a connecting line.

When to put a hyphen

According to the established rules of the Russian language, the hyphen is used without spaces in the following cases:

• in the formation of complex words (business lunch, online consultant);
• in the formation of adverbs by repetition of identical elements (a long time ago);
• in the formation of complex adjectives (Physics and Mathematics Lyceum);
• with indefinite noun pronouns (someone, somebody);
• when attaching prefixes (in Russian);
• when attaching some particles to a word (come on);
• when wrapping a word to another line;
• when abbreviating words (number).

Whenever the question arises of putting a hyphen or a dash, first of all, you should pay attention to where the hitch occurs directly: within a word or within a sentence.

How did the dash appear

A dash (from the French word tirer - to stretch) is a fairly common punctuation mark used in many languages. The first mention of the dash dates back to the 12th century, when Boncompagno da Signa, an Italian writer, came up with a new proposal for punctuation. The new system offered only two elements, one of which was a dash. The author defined its function only as a sign of completion of the sentence. Although in those days, this was no small achievement. Some researchers are inclined to believe that this particular sign is the ancestor of the modern dash.

In the 18th century, G. R. Derzhavin and N. M. Karamzin began to urgently introduce in Russia the use of a new sign - a dash. Some did not like this innovation, it was received with hostility, since they did not see much need for it. And at first, hardly than a dash was distinguished from a hyphen. It was called differently: black stripe, intersection sign, ruler, line. Step by step, winning their positions, the sign was confidently introduced into the Russian written language.

When to put a dash

In addition to the fact that the dash sign is very subtly capable of expressing the author’s feelings, conveying his thoughts to the addressee without further ado, it has many more functions. Knowing the following rules will help to minimize errors in writing in matters of setting a dash or hyphen.

So, the dash is put:

• before a replica in a dialogue;
• between direct speech and the words of the author;
• between parts of an union-free complex sentence: if the second part of the sentence contains a result or conclusion, if opposition or attachment takes place in the second part, if the first part of the sentence contains the meaning of the condition (or time);

• before the generalizing word after the homogeneous members of the sentence;
• before the appendix at the end of the sentence, if you can insert the construction “namely” without distorting the meaning, for example: in a conversation, only one thing was expected of me - honesty;
• before the words “here”, “this”, “this means” in sentences, where the predicate is a noun in the nominative case (or infinitive);
• when a member of a sentence (often a predicate) is omitted in incomplete sentences as part of a complex one;
• in the absence of a linking verb, for example: art is a reflection of life.

And one more important detail: unlike a hyphen, a dash is always separated by spaces on both sides.

Difficult cases

Even having analyzed all the punctuation and spelling rules of the Russian language, we left many nuances “overboard” that are not always immediately taken into account. Therefore, the issue of writing any words with a hyphen or a dash will periodically be relevant.

Here are a few things that can get in the way:

• Numbers in verbal form with a difference of one unit will be written with a hyphen: one-two or five-six. But in other cases, a dash with spaces is put: five - seven, one - three.
• A hyphen without spaces is always indicated between a number and a word. For example, a 15-kilogram watermelon.
• When the text contains the value "from and to", the correct spelling is a dash. For example, the Moscow-Tashkent plane or the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline.
• A dash is also placed in cases where proper names are indicated in the aggregate giving names to any institutions, laws, documents. For example, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact or the Joule-Lenz law.
• When writing double surnames, a hyphen is put: D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak or A.S. Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky.
• The hyphen is not put if the connection involves a component that has a space. For example, the company is the founder of the project or the house is an architectural monument.

Hyphen and dash in Word

Not always the neglect or incorrect placement of non-alphabetic elements in printed texts comes from illiteracy in this matter. Often, ordinary users simply do not know where to "press". Working in Word or in other programs, there are usually no problems with setting a hyphen. The hypsominus (-) successfully copes with its role, whose location is determined in the upper numerical row. It is interesting that the symbol itself is inferior in size to both the hyphen and the minus, but this does not in the least interfere with the performance of the functions assigned to it.

Difficulties begin when you need to put a dash in the text, not a hyphen. How to be in that case? One of the easiest ways is to use the "Insert" tab in Word, and then "Symbols". And for most users, this is enough. But there is another simple way to get a dash: type the number 2014, and then press the key combination Alt + X. And the number 2013 with the same combination will give a dash of a slightly shorter length.

Dash length

It should be noted that in Russian the length of a dash is not specified by any rules of punctuation (or typography). But today, in connection with the development and spread of computer systems, following the example of English-speaking countries, they began to use long and middle dashes. They differ significantly in their functions: the middle dash connects complex words, is used between words and numbers indicating a range (interval), an em dash helps to highlight an introductory sentence, indicates a narration stop, and more. Typically, em dashes and en dashes are made by type designers with M and N letter widths, respectively, hence the English names em-dash and en-dash.

The Russian typographical tradition has only three types of horizontal lines: dash, minus sign, and hyphen.

• The first spellings of hyphenated words in Russia were recorded in 1703 in the Vedomosti newspaper.
• In the 18th century, it was often assumed that the hyphen served as a dash and ellipsis. It is worth noting that in the texts of that time, the placement of dashes or hyphens was not so important.
• At the end of the 18th century, the dash sign was called the term “silent woman”, for its function to interrupt the speech that was started.
• The popularity of the dash in Russia came through N. M. Karamzin, but Marina Tsvetaeva is considered a true lover of this sign.
• In Russian, the dash appeared later than all other punctuation marks.
• Author's punctuation marks often go beyond the boundaries of general rules and entirely depend on the writer, helping him to convey the desired meaning. Thus, when authors use condensed speech in a text or when they want to strengthen the division of complex sentences, they resort to dashes.

Of the year

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 do not notice them, and therefore cannot appreciate them. Meanwhile punctuation marks live their own life in the language and have their own interesting history.
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 call them? Who is their creator and creator?
Have the words so familiar to us always meant what they mean today? What is the history of their entry into our life and language?
To such a familiar and even to some extent ordinary (due to the fact that we encounter this every day) can be attributed 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.
To the question when did the slavic alphabet, which underlies the Russian alphabet, and who was its creator, many of you confidently answer: the slavic alphabet was created by the brothers Cyril and Methodius (863); the basis of the Russian alphabet was the Cyrillic alphabet; Every year in May we celebrate the Day of Slavic Literature.
And when they appeared punctuation marks? Are all known and so well known 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 you know, in the system of modern Russian punctuation 10 punctuation marks: dot [.], comma [,], semicolon [;], ellipsis […], colon [:], question mark [?], exclamation mark [!], dash [-], brackets [()] and quotes [" "].

https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image004_2.gif" align="left hspace=12" width="343" height="219"> The period can rightly be considered the ancestor of Russian punctuation. It is no accident this word (or its root) entered the name of such signs as a semicolon, colon, ellipsis.And in the Russian language of the 16th-18th centuries, the question mark was called the question point, the exclamation mark was the 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 “about the point mind”, and in the grammar of Lawrence Zizania (1596) the corresponding section was called “On points”.

The most common punctuation mark in Russian, a comma is considered. This word is found in the 15th century. According to the opinion, the word comma is the result of the substantiation (transition into a noun) of the passive participle of the past tense from the verb coma (sya) - “to hook (sya)”, “to hurt”, “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 [:] has been used as a separator since the end of the 16th century. It is mentioned in the grammars of Lavrenty Zizaniy, Melety Smotrytsky (1619), as well as in the first Russian grammar of the Dolomonos period (1731).

The exclamation mark [!] is also noted to express exclamation (surprise) in the grammars of M. Smotrytsky and. The rules for setting the “surprising sign” are defined in the “Russian Grammar” (1755).

The question mark [?] has been found in printed books since the 16th century, but to express a question it was fixed much later, only in the 18th century. Initially, in the meaning of [?] there was [;] .

https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image008.jpg" align="left" width="354" height="473 src=">A paragraph or a red line also applies to punctuation marks. The paragraph serves to highlight significant parts of the text, deepens the previous point and opens up a completely new train of thought.

https://pandia.ru/text/78/123/images/image010_0.gif" alt=". , ? ! ... : ; " align="left" width="692" height="116 src="> Yagodina Anastasia, student of the 4A class of the gymnasium No. 1 in Murmansk