Algumas considerações sobre o tema da pontuação na escrita inicial

Abstract

This article is inspired in my doctorate thesis, whose main subject is punctuation. The interest in the issue was born in the field of early writings: texts with no punctuation at all, or, on the other hand, mysteriously punctuated, with signs showing up in slots were they were not supposed to appear. How can we apprehend this irregular punctuation? How to explain such heterogeneous punctuation episodes through the perspective of normative constraints? Children’s written productions do not correspond to the adult’s regularity expectations. The adult is already “immersed” in the conventions of language use and when his literate logic is projected in the child’s text, a collision takes place: two distinct logics conflict and the expectations of correctness, organization, cohesion, etc. are frustrated. In the text presented below, we discuss the theme of punctuation in regard to the field of language acquisition. Despite being a subject commonly related to proficient writing, punctuation is a very fruitful source of questions concerning the child’s linguistic productions. As mentioned before, childrens’ early writings are characterized by non-predictable, somewhat bizarre occurences, that oblige the investigator to suspend his/her previous knowledge and certainties about language functioning. The strangeness provoked by non-systematic uses of punctuation – or even the absence of it – will be, then, the object of our considerations in this article.

Keywords

• Linguística.