Zum Zirkel von Beschreibung und Normierung, dargestellt am Beispiel der deutschen Interpunktionslehre

Abstract

This article offers a sketch of the development of German theory of punctuation. It is shown that within this process of codification of orthographic rules there is an interaction of descriptive and prescriptive approaches which can be regarded as an analogy of the hermeneutic circle. In regard to this, there is no principal difference between the standardization of orthography and the development of grammars. Further, it is shown that the theory of punctuation should be regarded as a part of the Grammar of German written language.

Keywords

• orthography
• punctuation
• descriptive and prescriptive linguistics
• linguistics of written language