문장부호의 기능적 개념 및 용법

A Study on the Functional Concept of Punctuation and its Usage: With a Focus on Colon, Dash, and Semicolon

Building upon previous research on punctuation, this paper aims to expand the current literature by exploring the functional concept of punctuation. It is of notable interest that the concept suffers a wide range of disagreement, which calls for the need to “revisit” the very basics of the “points.” Although punctuation allows for and must guarantee a certain degree of subjectivity, even arbitrariness in certain cases, it would still be useful to rebuild the concept of punctuation by exploring and accommodating the diverse perspectives and by reflecting the modern tendency. Based on a clearer notion, this paper then seeks to illustrate how individual “relationship-building” punctuation marks－colon, dash, and semicolon－take on the functional role as unique linguistic entities: they will be addressed in alphabetical order, with their functions and usage presented. Such exploration is necessary, as the punctuation marks that are dealt with herein often invite confusion and disagreement. Since more widely-used punctuation marks, such as comma and period, tend to be “fixed” in punctuation practices in rigid molds, they are not covered herein. The data that serves as a basis for the explanation of usage is taken from children’s literature; the punctuation points used in such genre are relatively clear and in conformity with standard usage.