Punctuation marks migrate from written to oral text – 09/26/2023 – Thaís Nicoleti

Written texts are increasingly giving way to oral texts. Many people, for various reasons and in different situations, prefer podcasts and videos to the detriment of reading itself. Even so, the influence of written production on oral production seems evident, given, among many other elements, punctuation marks, which often appear – explicitly – in oral speech.

This is the case, above all, with quotation marks, which, although, at least in theory, are typical marks of writing, they appear indicated orally. It is common to hear on TV news the presenter say, before reading a literal transcription of text, “Open quotation marks” and, at the end, “Close quotation marks”. These are types of oral formulas that, naturally born from the convention of written records, demarcate quotations.

This curious punctuation mark has very different uses. In addition to delimiting literal quotations (excerpts from written texts) and, consequently, equally literal statements (excerpts from spoken texts), it is used to indicate some type of semantic displacement (use of a term from the informal register, slang, profanity, foreignism, imprecise use of a word, irony, metalanguage, etc.). In the written text, we just need to use quotation marks to indicate that we consciously make these movements.

Some examples can illustrate this. Suppose that, in a formal text, the author introduces an informal element (We had to recognize that the solution was “timely”; This clause in the contract is, as a certain minister of State would say, “immovable”) or even makes use of an approximate term (this is the “logic” of the mechanism) – in both cases, the quotation marks contain essential information for the correct decoding of the text. In the case of irony, where a word is said to denote its opposite, quotation marks can be very useful (His biggest “flaw” was his generosity).

The perception of this is what explains why, in oral speech, many people explain that the term uttered is “in quotation marks” – there are even those who translate the sign through a gesture made with both hands to simulate the drawing of quotation marks on paper .

Parentheses also migrated to oral speech. How many times have we warned that we are going to introduce a parenthesis, that is, a small digression? In writing, in general, just use the sign. The period, in turn, is used as a metaphor for closing the subject: Let’s put an end to this. The comma, when said, indicates some type of reservation or restriction (He is honest, comma!).

Finally, the verb “punctuate” itself is often used as a metaphor whose referent is the application of punctuation marks in a text. For example: He punctuated his speech with rare words and grandiloquent images – that is, he distributed rare words and grandiloquent images during his speech, in the form of punctuation marks.

In informal communication, carried out on messaging applications, punctuation seems to follow certain rules of etiquette. Apparently, the exclamation point starts to indicate joy and interest in the interlocutor (Good morning!!), and can be repeated to emphasize the feeling, while the full stop suggests a desire to end the conversation (hence it is common to leave sentences without final punctuation). or end them with an emoji), and the ellipsis… well, they serve to leave the subject suspended, create a space of subjectivity, trigger a second meaning.

As you can see, punctuation marks are very much alive in current communication, both in applications, in which they are subject to rules of behavior, and in oral language, which they are used to make communication clearer.

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