On Problem of Modern Tendencies in English Punctuation

Abstract

The basic tendencies found out in modern English punctuation are considered. It is shown that the factors influencing its development include the following: basic principle and purpose of punctuation, colloquial speech, electronic communications, new and unregulated punctuation marks. The leading role of the intonation-rhetorical principle led to the emergence of a tendency of weakened punctuation, the influence of colloquial speech and electronic communications led to a change in the functions of some marks, for example, dot (point “sharpness”), question mark (uptalk), ellipsis (interpreted as “weed” mark), semicolons, dashes, hyphens, underscoring ruler, uppercase letters. The fact that punctuation is a developing system is evidenced by appearance of new marks: interrobang, marks of irony and sarcasm (tilde mark, inverted exclamation mark, snark, ironieteken, SarcMark™ etc.), emoticons etc. Unregulated punctuation marks, often found in fiction, are linked with the manifestation of the author’s personality. The paper also presents some results of comparative analysis of modern trends of Russian and English punctuation systems. It turned out that many of them are observed in both systems, for example, increase in the use of alternative marks, influence of colloquial speech, lower frequency of the use of semicolons, increasing role of dashes up to the universalization of this mark.