Article

Name: Graphics and Paragraphemics: Where is the Boundary Between Linguistics and Paralinguistics of Writing

Authors: Igor E. Kim

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Abstract:

The paper addresses the problem of defining the boundary between linguistic and non-linguistic means of writing. The former are typically studied in graphics or graphemics – linguistic disciplines, while the latter fall within the domain of paragraphemics or metagraphemics as a branch of paralinguistics. The boundary between graphic and paragraphemic means is influenced by many factors, including the understanding of the nature and set of tools of graphics, the nature and set of tools of paragraphemics, and the resolution of the question concerning the relationship between writing and language. It appears that the boundary between graphic and paragraphemic means of writing is blurred and constitutes a large area that includes punctuation marks and other auxiliary writing symbols. The notion of a segmental unit of writing allows us to distinguish the signs of writing that form a text in its linguistic understanding from the non-linguistic means of writing.

Keywords: graphics, paragraphemics, metagraphemics, grapheme, basic and auxiliary signs of writing

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