标点符号产生的认知理据

The Rationale for the Formation of Punctuations

语言学家对标点符号作了很多研究,但有些现象尚待解释,主要是标点符号产生的理据以及为什么英语和汉语标点符号体系的形成分别滞后于书面语言长达2000多年和3000多年之久。文章依据语言的社会性、离散性、结构-边界有界性以及标点符号与科技发展的关系,分析标点符号产生的理据,提出标点符号体系的产生和形成是以科技发展为必要条件,是语言自身发展规律的必然,认知方式的体现。

Great achievements have been made in the study of punctuations. However, there are still some questions waiting for more desirable answers concerning why punctuations are possible and why the shaping of punctuation in English and Chinese respectively lags behind written language for over two and three thousand years. The present study based on language＇s social features, discreteness, boundarization of structure-boundary, and relationship between punctuation and technological development analyzes the motivation of emergence of punctuation and holds that the shaping of punctuation is conditioned by technological development, the necessity of development laws of language itself and the embodiment of cognitive strategies.