Article "What’s the point? The role of punctuation in realising information structure in written English" (8th)

Clarisa Livia
16611022

The realization of the information structure differs in different ways of speaking and reading as a result of different physiological processes. While the spoken information unit responds to the potential and constraints of the articulation system, the written unit of information responds to the potential and constraints of the visual system. When written English is read aloud, it is once again subject to oral English limits. Some lists of written English are more in line with this process of transliteration, and some registers, such as drama and news texts, examples of direct speeches in prose, and sermons and speeches, aim to adapt to oral English patterns. However, other written English lists are not designed to read aloud. Legal document readers, many academic texts, or tax return forms may experience great difficulty in articulating complex clauses designed for a maximized eye. The taxonomy survey from Matthiessen (2015) will reveal a register list that is more likely to be written to read, written to speech, spoken and transcribed, spoken and reworked, and so on, to produce information units with predictable patterns.

Intonation provides an information unit suitable for oral mode by facilitating differences in sound flow, with tonic legs being aware of the focus of information, or New, through the natural association of tone changes with the focus of hearing. Punctuation provides an information unit suitable for written mode by facilitating saccade of read eyes, with positions before the punctuation (or compound) is aware of the focus of information, or New, despite the natural association of recognizable fixation points with visual focus. It is a mistake to confuse the two realization modes. Information Units in speech and in reading need not be the same, as both have unnatural natural relationships with related physical and cognitive constraints and the potential ability of independent neurophysiological systems. The final position in the clause has long been known as the default realization of new Information in written English (Fries, 1992; Matthiessen 1995b), but this is only possible as a result of spaces and punctuation that release the written English saccading view of the oral articulatory oral organ, from a clear English-speaking hearing sensation or the ability to make the text written as spoken English. While intonation in spoken English gives the speaker the flexibility to make items that are newsworthy in almost any position, written English provides considerable flexibility through a structure reordering clause to allow news items to appear before punctuation. This is because this single function, the information structure, operates in written English so that we can describe punctuation for grammar and punctuation for prosodies, or punctuation marks for written text to read and punctuation for written text to speak. In the optimal English text written to be spoken, the unit of information in the written text will be limited by the potential of the articulation system. In the optimal English text written to read, the unit of information in the written text will be limited by the potential of the visual system. This is achieved most effectively through punctuation.