Re: CHAT: Dashes

En réponse à Tristan Alexander McLeay <zsau@...>:

>
> > The only language where semicolons are used nicely is Greek. But
> > of course, in
> > Greek it's used as a question mark :) .
>
> In which case it isn't a semi-colon any more than a rho is a P. Do they
> have
> a semi-colon at all? How do all these languages get by without the
> assortment of punctuation of Latin's alphabet?
>
For what I know, Greek uses a raised dot where we use (in French) semicolons.
the only other language I know enough is Japanese, which does very well with
simply the period and the comma, as well as square angles for quotes. It also
borrowed the question and exclamation marks, but uses them very sparingly
(usually question and exclamation are already marked with final particles. The
marks are used only when those particles are absent, and only in modern texts
and mangas). It doesn't have anything that resemble the semi-colon at all and
goes without it pretty well.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr