M. B. Parkes · 1992 (UC Press ed. 1993) · PDF · Calibre ID 13526
Resurfaced in Point, Pause, Chapter (2026-09-28).
Role in the triad
The pause: the history, and the baseline claim that punctuation serves the reader. Source of the ¶ = C for capitulum link.
Why this book
The floor under the other two: Szendy takes his history from it and Dames cites it on the ancient K. Its functionalism (‘resolve structural uncertainties’) is what the other two push against; its glossary joins the smallest mark to the largest unit. OCR scan; quotes checked against the OCR layer.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “Its primary function is to resolve structural uncertainties in a text, and to signal nuances of semantic significance which might otherwise not be conveyed at all, or would at best be much more difficult for a reader to figure out.” (Introduction, p. 1)
- “such as a repertoire of intonations, or gestures and facial expressions” (Introduction, p. 2)
- “the readers’ marks record individual interpretations of the texts.” (ch. 1, p. 14)
- “the basic unit in a western text has been the paragraph or capitulum.” (ch. 7, p. 65)
- “although every Reader hath a Right to point an ancient Author as he pleases, since the Art of Punctuation, if it may be so called, is of modern Invention, yet great Exactness is required when it is for public use.” (ch. 7, p. 91, quoting an 18th-c. editor of Horace)
- “Laurence Sterne employs ‘elocutionary’ punctuation to enhance the intimacy between Yorick and the reader” (ch. 7, p. 92)
- “A symbol developed from the letter C (for capitulum q.v.) with a vertical stroke, which largely replaced the paragraphus (q.v.) to indicate the beginning of a paragraph, proposition, stanza or section” (Glossary, paraph, p. 305)
Themes
capitulum · distinctiones · paraph · positurae · punctuation history · scriptio continua · silent reading