Punctuation in English and Russian languages

Аннотация. Пунктуация или знаки препинания в английском языке, как и в русском, служат для разделения предложений, частей сложных предложений и слов, для выражения интонации и смыслового выделения отдельных слов. В обоих языках пунктуация в тексте подчиняется определенным правилам, но в английском языке эти правила менее строгие. Хорошая пунктуация -- это умение сделать правильный выбор в нужном месте, чтобы читатель мог наилучшим образом понять авторскую интонацию. В статье авторы анализируют использование знаков препинания в английском и русском языках. В статье также продемонстрированы различия и сходства в употреблении знаков препинания.

Ключевые слова: английская пунктуация, русская пунктуация.

In written language, punctuation is an integral part. Without them, the text is difficult to understand, and the message changes from one of intonation to one of stream of consciousness. The addressee and the addressee remain in the same semantic space of the text, largely due to punctuation. Punctuation, however, can be misleading. Incorrectly placed punctuation can radically change the meaning of a sentence or even the entire text. In addition to playing an important grammatical role, punctuation marks determine the intonation and meaning of a sentence. They also play a grammatical role: they differentiate between inserted phrases, isolated phrases, introductory phrases, deictic turns, etc.

The author's illiteracy and disregard for the syntactic norms of the language would be indicated by the absence of punctuation marks in their proper places. You may not omit these punctuation marks; they are mandatory and are not part of the punctuation used by the writer. The structure of punctuation in the Russian language is stricter and clearer than in the English language. In addition, punctuation marks have more meaning in Russian than in English, indicating intonation, rhythmic emphasis, pauses, etc., due to the synthetic structure of the language [1]. english punctuation russian

However, written language does not always use only "grammatical" punctuation, regulated by the established norms of syntax. To increase the emotional effect, to emphasize the abrupt change of events, to create additional meanings, to reflect a "stream of consciousness", etc., author's or unregulated punctuation can often be found in a text. In English, a variety of punctuation solutions is available. There are differences between languages in some situations, despite the frequent overlap in the use of punctuation.

The full stop is a grammatical mark of punctuation. In addition to the fact that in both English and Russian a full stop is placed at the end of a narrative sentence or a sentence containing an indirect question, in both languages a full stop is placed after initials and abbreviations of words. However, not all abbreviations in the English language are written with a full stop at the end. Abbreviations for countries (U.S.A.=USA) and bodies (B.B.C.=BBC) can be written with or without full stops. However, dots are not used if the abbreviation is read as a word, such as NASA. Another nuance is the use of a period between a whole number and a fractional number. Throughout the English-speaking world, the decimal point is used for fractions (0.25, 1.73). In the Russian tradition, it is more common to use a comma, although the dot is also acceptable (5,14 = 5.14). When writing numbers, a comma is used in English to separate classes (3,000,000). In Russian, spaces are used for this purpose [2].

Talking about the use of the comma, first of all, it is necessary to note that it is used to separate homogeneous elements of a sentence. Both English and Russian have this function of the comma. The Oxford, Harvard and serial commas are used in lists of three or more items, before the conjunction 'and', 'or' or 'nor', and before the last item in the list, and have a special significance. There is no need to use the Oxford comma if the homogeneous parts of the sentence are short. For example, in the sentence "He likes pizza, soda, and ice cream," each complement is a single word. However, in the example "I love my friends, Mark Jacobs and Donald Duck" the meaning can be distorted and misunderstood: are friends Mark Jacobs and Donald Duck? In the Russian language it is possible to use an additional comma in front of the conjunction. For example, "England, the USA and the USSR took part in the war against Nazi Germany", it is clear that all three countries took part in the war on an equal footing. But it is worthwhile to add a comma before the conjunction -- "In the war of liberation against Nazi Germany took part England, the USA and the USSR", as the participation of the USSR in the war is emphasized in a special way and is separated from that of England and the USA.

As is well known, the need to facilitate the reader's understanding of the author's intention by marking the rhythmic-intonational division of spoken language led to the use of punctuation marks in the written practice of the English variants under consideration. “Above the sun was shining brightly" in the following example, the sentence contains no punctuation [3]. The reader will read 'Above the sun' together. He will certainly not be able to understand the meaning of the sentence on the first reading. Only when a comma is placed after 'Above' -- 'Above, the sun was shining brightly' -- does the meaning of the sentence become clear. How important and necessary punctuation is sometimes in a text is shown by the above examples.

Continuing with the description of the rules of semicolon placement, let us note its main purpose: to separate the parts of a non-unified compound sentence. In the Russian language we often come across this variant. But in English, which is an analytical language, it is most likely that sentences related to the same topic, but having different bases, will get semicolonized and written as two separate sentences. In a complex, non-unified sentence, a semicolon is used when simple sentences contain homogeneous clauses, introductory words, and other constructions that are separated, for example, by a comma: In 1998, it took a student 4 hours to find and rewrite the necessary information from the library books; in 2017, it takes 2 minutes and several clicks on the Internet.

The colon is used to split the sentence into two semantic parts, one of which explains and clarifies the other. It is not unusual for newspapers or journalism articles to use colons in headlines, such as "When Jim met Carol: royal photographer's cache of unseen images", and in recipes and other similar directions: "Cooking time: about 20 minutes”. In more formal writing, a colon is used between two separate sentences that are connected by a theme or are a continuation of a thought: "Be patient: the author of the novel will be here any minute. When "the following" or "as follows" occurs in a sentence, a colon is placed in the sentence: My attitude toward work is as follows: Work without love is slavery. In American English, a colon is used instead of a comma before direct speech if it is followed by a long statement with complex constructions [4].

The hyphen has the same function -- to join words and their parts - in both Russian and English. Compound nouns can be written with a hyphen: mother-in-law, social democrat, etc. in both languages. Compound words can be formed by the addition of base words: writer-illustrator, major-general; we can also include repetitive or rhyming parts of words: so-so, little by little. However, there are nuances that must be taken into account when writing words: in Russian, complex names, mechanisms, instruments, devices and technical terms with the roots press, stop, crepe, vacuum, block, diesel, dynamo, chamber and others are written with a hyphen: stop-crane, diesel-electric boat. In English, words with the following affixes are hyphenated: all-, ex-, neo-, mid-, pre-, post-, pro-, self-, -elect (e.g. self-education) and with prefixes used with words beginning with a capital letter: anti-slavery company.

The hyphen is used much more often in English than in Russian. It is used to write compound adjectives in front of nouns (middle-class family, kind-hearted person), compound modifiers whose second word is a present or future participle (dance-loving girl), as well as those containing numbers (eighteenth-century architecture). Hyphens are used to join adjectives with adverbs such as better, best, well, ill, little, lower: well-known writer. Hyphens are not used in compound adjectives that are verbs of state or predicate clauses in a sentence: This boy is ill-mannered. It is necessary to remember the cases in which the hyphen is not used in English [5]. A hyphen is not used between two nouns, the first of which describes or explains the second: hockey player. Hyphens are not used when combining an adjective + adverb ly or with adverbs too, very, much: a very expensive car. The hyphen is only used with the prefixes listed above; in all other cases the word is written in the conjunction: unhappy, independent. The analytical structure of the English language sometimes does not allow you to determine the exact meaning of a word without context. There are words that sound the same but have different meanings. Such words can be distinguished with the help of context and special spelling: for example, resign, re-sign.

The dash is divided into two types: the short dash -- n-dash (because its length is equal to the letter n) and the long dash -- m-dash (because its length is equal to the letter m). The short dash is written between numbers without spaces on either side and indicates a range: for example, pages 45-51; or without indicating a range, for example, in a telephone number (numeric dash). The long dash is a punctuation mark. It is always surrounded on both sides by spaces. In both languages, the long dash is used to emphasize an introductory phrase or sentence: for example, "Now, children -- Jill, no more games! -- open your books.

The use of the apostrophe in writing is one of the most problematic areas of punctuation for Russian students. Modern Russian punctuation uses it in a few cases: with foreign names that already have an apostrophe (Scarlett O 'Hara) or to separate Russian endings from Latin words (I'll send you a letter with e-tap). In English punctuation, the scope of the apostrophe is much broader. Writing the possessive case: sister's is one of the main uses of the apostrophe. There are also proper nouns in English that are written with an apostrophe, as mentioned earlier: Scarlett O'Hara. The next function of the apostrophe is to form plural numbers and letters. For example, it's used to dot the i's and cross the t's. The third function of the apostrophe is to abbreviate words. The most common are auxiliary verbs such as to be, to have, will, would, including the not particle: it's, haven't. Another common abbreviation is o 'clock (of the clock) [6].

We did an analysis and comparison of the English and Russian punctuation systems. Both languages contain all the described punctuation marks. Based on the results obtained, we can conclude that the punctuation systems of English and Russian are similar, but even grammatical punctuation marks differ in how they're used. English is more free. Unlike Russian, it does not have a strict way of writing punctuation marks. Currently, there is a tendency to simplify the English punctuation system. It is possible to use different punctuation marks for the same case. The Russian language has adopted some cases of the use of punctuation marks that were not used in the earlier writing, for example, the Oxford comma. Thus, English tends to simplify the punctuation system. Russian tends to borrow and enrich it.

References:

1. Arapieva, L. U. (1985). Theory and Practice of English Punctuation: A University handbook. Checheno-Ingushskii gos. universitet. (in Russian).

2. Valgina, N. S. (2006). Pravila russkoi orfografii i punktuatsii. Moscow. (in Russian).

3. Rushinskaya, I. S. (2014). Angliiskaya punktuatsiya. Angliiskaya punktuatsiya. Moscow. (in Russian).

4. Burchfield, R. (1985). The English Language. Oxford University Press.

5. Salmon, V. (1988). English punctuation theory 1500-1800.

6. Wilson, J. (1868). A treatise on English punctuation. Crosby and Ainsworth.

Список литературы:

1. Арапиева Л. Ю. Теория и практика английской пунктуации: вузовский справочник. Чечено-Ингушский гос. университет, 1985.

2. Валгина Н. С. Правила русской орфографии и пунктуации. М.: Эксмо, 2006. 478 с.

3. Рушинская И. С. Английская пунктуация. Английская пунктуация. М.: Флинта, 2014.

118 с.

4. Burchfield R. The English Language. Oxford University Press, 1985. 194 р.

5. Salmon V. English punctuation theory 1500-1800. 1988.

6. Wilson J. A treatise on English punctuation. Crosby and Ainsworth, 1868.

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