Prologue
Have you ever wondered that a great musician is also a great grammarian? Or have you ever questioned yourself how a musician makes it possible to harmoniously arrange complex musical notes into a soothing rhythm?
All musicians use different kinds of notation to orchestrate music and breathe life into melodies. The notations are not mere marks on paper; they are the structures of rhythm—the silent grammar that governs a musician to crafts the perfect melody. A melody often calls for well-structured notes; likewise, a language requires a proper use of punctuation to convey the written message clearly with the harmonious combination of human emotions.
Context
According to Lynne Truss, historically the use of punctuation such as the comma (,) was used by Greek dramatist two thousand years ago to guide actors at breathing points to deliver the dialogue effectively. Later, the painter Rolf Harris used a line, a dot and a curly bit in his painting. This shows that the punctuation evidently emerged from artistic practice.
The proper use of punctuation directs us on how to read in the way musical notations direct a musician’s on how to play. However, I don’t remember being taught punctuation in my school days. Even today, many of us don’t pay much attention to the usage and principles of punctuation. We treat it as if students can learn it themselves or it is not as important as the vocabulary and other grammatical rules. Meanwhile, in the world of Messenger, Viber and WhatsApp, the ignorance of grammar and punctuation obviously doesn’t affect a person’s ability to communicate a message effectively. Today one can communicate quite well by ignoring the proper writing conventions in everyday communication through text e.g.: “Hw r u?”, ‘wht abt u?”,” I’m bg 2day.”
Nonetheless, the use of punctuation should not be perceived as a mere conventional sign. The misplace of punctuation can totally alter the meaning of a text. It makes the world upside down. A simple comma can alter the sense of an entire meaning. To understand how punctuation function and alter the entire meaning in the same text, we can observe the example presented by Lyanne Truss in her book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.”
Statement 1: A woman, without her man, is nothing.
Statement 2: A woman: without her, man is nothing.
The given examples make it clear how placing a simple comma (,) after “man” in the first example, and before “man” in the second, alter the entire meaning. The same number of words- the same sentence- convey two far different meanings, simply due to punctuation.
Generating Meaning
Punctuation transcends the literal meaning in a text. In the example given above, the commas not only alter the meanings, but also carries ideological implications. The first example brings us an image of a patriarchal society; the existence of woman is entirely dependent on her husband. She is not independent and cannot stand on her own; she is vulnerable and needs protection, safeguarding and care from a man. Manhood is praised. On the other hand, the second example just reverses the meaning. It not only just reverses of meaning but also portrays her role as more important and glorified than that of a man through the use of a colon.
Punctuation goes beyond the mere style and literal meaning; It shows how language moves and how language exists in mind. For example, Virginia Woolf used semicolon to convey the flow of consciousness in her writings. Let us observe another example how semicolons bring out a vivid image, feelings and emotions.
“She felt the morning light; it reminded her of childhood; and suddenly she was no longer in the present.”
The semicolons are not mere style here; they communicate a very profound transition and flow of thoughts and experience closely connected to the past experience of “She”. It shows the flow of consciousness and emotion without any stop or interruptions. The first semicolon carries the warm sensation of morning light, which slowly triggers her childhood experience. It gradually creates her sense of emotional dislocation. She is physically at present, but emotionally reaches to her past life. Naturally, the thoughts and memories do not stop suddenly in our head like full stops (.) but progress gradually and strongly which is indicated with a semicolon (;). The semicolon is neither full stop (.) nor comma (,). It is a combination of them. Since a semicolon connects independent clauses, the experience and feeling of ‘She’ can be taken as an independent clause happened in different phases of her life and those feelings are strongly connected to “She”. Here semicolons serve as a medium to emotional continuity presenting how human emotions and feelings move. A full stop stops, but a semicolon lets something progress ahead.
In Nepal, punctuation receives almost no attention especially in English language classrooms. Students are encouraged to speak fluently, memorize vocabularies, apply grammar structures and write essays; however, they are not trained effectively how punctuation functions and controls the meaning of the texts or discourses. Not only in schools, but also in the university’s classrooms punctuation is often the matter to be discussed latter.
If we are preparing students for global market, being able to speak and prepare a resume or curriculum vitae will work for them. However, if we are preparing the communicators who feel the spirit of a language then punctuation matters a lot.
Similarly, English language teachers in Nepal have been emphasizing uniformity in academic writings. They prefer only American or British style in writing. They suggest writers to avoid blending British English with American or vice-versa. However, they also neglect the use of punctuation. For instance, many writers and teachers who prefers British style have also been committing an error while using inverted comma (“…”) or quotation marks.
According to Advanced Oxford Practice Grammar (2017) by George Yule, single inverted comma (‘…’) is put in British English in “Direct speech.” While double quotation marks are used in American English [p.149].
Mark said, ‘I need you here.’ (BrE)
Mark said, “I need you here.” (AmE)
Nonetheless, writers use British spelling throughout a text but quote with American style. This problem has gone unnoticed in our academic field. Moreover, the punctuation such as a colon (:), a semi-colon (;), a dash (–), and a hyphen (-) seem to have been endangered species of signs at present texts.
Key Takeaway
Punctuation, though small and often unnoticed, governs pause, emphasis, emotion, and authority. Thus, language teachers in school levels should not undermine and devalue the proper use of punctuation. Punctuation are not only mere signs but serve as an essential tool to express emotions and remove ambiguity in meaning and expressions.
Author’s Bio: Mr. Dasarath Rai is an English language teacher in Nepal. He has accomplished his master’s degree in English education. As a teacher, researcher and reflective practitioner his interest areas include multiculturalism, multilingualism, cultural identity, critical pedagogy and multimodality in language teaching.
