Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hela]

Hello teachers,

Here is another easy question. What is meant by articulation in punctuation? Does it have anything to do with the use of commas?

Thank you for your help.
Hela

[Nef]

[Harmony]

Dear Hela,

Thank you for your kindness in sparing us once again!

Here's my short answer:

When an author's written thoughts are read aloud, punctuation helps to ensure that the reader's articulation will convey them accurately. The thoughtful placement of commas is one of the tools an author may use to accomplish this.

Here's my long answer:

I'm sure you're familiar with the definition of punctuation: The use of standard marks and signs in writing and printing to separate words into sentences, clauses, and phrases in order to clarify meaning.

Dictionary.com gives the following definition of articulation: The act of vocal expression; utterance or enunciation. Synonyms include: diction, enunciation, expression, pronunciation, speaking, verbalization, and vocalization

You may wish to read this excerpt from http://www.kidsource.com/ASHA/articulation.html which answers some questions about articulation as it relates to pronunciation (not punctuation):



Quote:

What is articulation? * Articulation is the process by which sounds, syllables, and words are formed when your tongue, jaw, teeth, lips, and palate alter the air stream coming from the vocal folds. What is an articulation problem? * A person has an articulation problem when he or she produces sounds, syllables, or words incorrectly so that listeners do not understand what is being said or pay more attention to the way the words sound than to what they mean. What are some types of sound errors? * Most errors fall into one of three categories- omissions, substitutions, or distortions. An example of an omission is "at" for "hat" or "oo" for "shoe." An example of a substitution is the use of "w" for "r." which makes "rabbit" sound like "wabbit," or the substitution of "th" for "s" so that "sun" is pronounced "thun." When the sound is said inaccurately, but sounds something like the intended sound, it is called a distortion. Is an accent an articulation problem? * It can be for some persons. We all have accents. An accent may be a problem if it interferes with a person's goals in life.


As your question specified "articulation in punctuation", I'm delighted to be able to offer several elegant quotes from Sara van den Berg's essay, Marking his Place: Ben Jonson's Punctuation. I hope they will provide the insight you seek!

From http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/01-3/bergjons.html -
(The italics are mine.)



Quote:

Punctuation conveys the life of a text, its stops paradoxically creating a sense of its motion as utterance and idea. Punctuation, as a system of signs designed to mark where an utterance stops, introduces the illusion of time into the timeless space of written language. Punctuation introduces not only the time of speech but the time of thought into written language, marking the author's personal idea -- its nuances, emphases, and motion. The text preserves the presence of its author; its punctuation signifies the nuances of the human voice at once preserved and suppressed in written language.

Enjoy!

~ ~ ~ Harmony

PS According to the post times, Nef and I must have hit "submit" at exactly the same time. What are the chances of that happening, I wonder?