Language/Multiple-languages/Grammar/Punctuation-of-many-languages

From Polyglot Club WIKI
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This lesson can still be improved. EDIT IT NOW! & become VIP
Rate this lesson:
5.00
(2 votes)

Punctuation-in-many-languages2.jpg

Welcome to our lesson on "Punctuation of many languages"! 🌍

In this lesson, we will explore the fascinating world of punctuation across various languages.

Punctuation: it's more than just dots and lines. It's a tool that gives our words shape, adds rhythm to our sentences, and subtly conveys meaning beyond the words themselves. Yet, punctuation isn't the same in every language. It varies, reflecting the unique structures and styles of different languages.

This page is designed to provide you with references and offer comparisons of punctuation usage in various languages.

Symbol[edit | edit source]

The most common[edit | edit source]

Note: the followings are scripts instead of languages.

script comma full stop / period question mark exclamation mark parentheses colon semicolon
  • Adlam
⹁ . πž₯Ÿ … ؟ ! … πž₯ž (…) : ⁏
  • Arabic
،

common

⹁

Sindhi

.

common

Ϋ”

Urdu

؟ ! (…) : Ψ›
  • Armenian
, Φ‰ ՞ ՜ (…) β€€ ;
  • Bamum
κ›΅ κ›³ κ›· ! (…) κ›΄ κ›Ά
  • Bengali
  • Telugu
  • Tamil
  • Gujarati
  • Gurmukhi
  • Malayalam
  • Kannada
  • Oriya
, ΰ₯€

common

.

alternative

? ! (…) : ;
  • Burmese
၊ ။

common

၏

when ends with a verb

း။ ! (…) – ;
  • Cyrillic
  • Georgian
  • Hebrew
, . ? ! (…) : ;
  • Devanagari
, ΰ₯€

common

.

Marathi

? ! (…) : ;
  • Greek
, . ; ! (…) : ‧
  • Ge'ez
፣ ፒ ፧ ! (…) α₯ ፀ
  • Han
, 。 ? ! οΌˆβ€¦οΌ‰ : οΌ›
  • Japanese
、

vertical; horizontal Jichishō standard

,

horizontal Monbushō standard

。 ? ! οΌˆβ€¦οΌ‰ : οΌ›
  • Korean
,

horizontal

、

vertical

. ? ! (…) : ;
  • Khmer
αŸ” αŸ” ? ! (…) αŸ– ;
  • Latin
, . ?

common

¿…?

Spanish, Catalan

!

common

‘…!

Spanish, Catalan

(…) : ;
  • Lisu
κ“Ύ κ“Ώ ? ! (…) : ;
  • Medefaidrin
π–Ί— π–Ί˜ ? ! (…) : ;
  • Mongolian
᠈

Manchu

α ‰

Manchu

? ! (…) : ;
  • N'ko
ίΈ . ? ίΉ (…) : ;
  • Newa
𑑍 . ? ίΉ (…) : ;
  • SignWriting
πͺ‡ πͺˆ πͺ‹ πͺŠ πͺ‰
  • Sinhala
, .

new

ΰ·΄

old

? ! (…) : ;
  • Thai
(none) (space) ? ! (…) : ;
  • Vai
,

new

꘍

old

.

new

꘎

old

꘏ ꘎꘎ (…) : ;

Note:

  • Punctuation in Han and Japanese are full-width
  • Some symbols look the same, but they have different Unicode codes.

Quotation marks[edit | edit source]

language primary secondary spacing
  • English, Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • Welsh
β€˜β€¦β€™ β€œβ€¦β€ English: 1–2 pt

Welsh: 1–2 pt

  • Afrikaans
  • Chinese, People's Republic of China
  • Dutch
  • English, United States of America
  • English, Canada
  • Esperanto
  • Filipino
  • Hindi
  • Interlingua
  • Irish
  • Korean, Republic of Korea
  • Malay, Indonesia
  • Maltese
  • Portuguese, Brazil
  • Spanish, Mexico
  • Tamil
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Urdu
β€œβ€¦β€ β€˜β€¦β€™ English: 1–2 pt

Chinese: fullwidth

Irish: 1–2 pt

  • Lao
  • Vietnamese
β€œβ€¦β€
  • Latvian
β€œβ€¦β€

β€žβ€¦β€

  • Finnish
  • Swedish
”…” ’…’
  • Bosnian
”…”

β€žβ€¦β€

’…’
  • Hebrew
β€žβ€¦β€ β€šβ€¦β€™
  • Serbian
β€žβ€¦β€ ’…’
  • Croatian
β€žβ€¦β€ β€˜β€¦β€™
  • Romanian
β€žβ€¦β€ «…» none
  • Polish
β€žβ€¦β€ »…«
  • Hungarian
β€žβ€¦β€ »…«
  • Czech
  • German, Germany
  • Icelandic
  • Lithuanian
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Sorbian
β€žβ€¦β€œ β€šβ€¦β€˜
  • Bulgarian
β€žβ€¦β€œ ’…’

β€˜β€¦β€™

  • Macedonian
β€žβ€¦β€œ β€™β€¦β€˜
  • Albanian
β€žβ€¦β€œ β€˜β€¦β€™
  • Estonian
  • Georgian
β€žβ€¦β€œ Georgian: none
  • Amharic
  • French, Switzerland
  • German, Switzerland
  • Italian, Switzerland
  • Romansh
  • Uighur
«…» ‏ ‹…› ‏
  • French, France
«…» ‏ β€œβ€¦β€

«…»

ΒΌ em
  • Basque
  • Catalan
  • Galician
  • Greek
  • Italian, Italy
  • Occitan
  • Portuguese, Portugal
  • Spanish, Spain
«…» ‏ β€œβ€¦β€ Catalan: none
  • Azerbaijani
  • Belarusian
  • Mongolian (Cyrillic)
  • Russian
  • Uzbek
«…» ‏ β€žβ€¦β€œ Russian: none

Ukranian: none

  • Ukrainian
«…» β€œβ€¦β€

β€˜β€¦β€™

  • Ido
«…» ‏ β€˜β€¦β€™
  • Norwegian
«…» ‏ ’…’
  • Arabic
  • Armenian
  • Kazakh
  • Khmer
  • Pashto
  • Persian
  • Tigrinya
  • Uyghur
«…»‏ Arabic: optional
  • Mongolian (Mongolian)

γ€Šβ€¦γ€‹

γ€ˆβ€¦γ€‰

  • Danish
»…«

"…"

›…‹

β€šβ€¦β€˜

  • Chinese, Hong Kong
  • Chinese, Republic of China
  • Japanese
γ€Œβ€¦γ€

γ€Œβ€¦γ€

γ€Žβ€¦γ€

γ€Žβ€¦γ€

  • Korean, Democratic People's Republic of Korea
  • New Tai Lue
  • Tai Le
  • Tibetan
γ€Šβ€¦γ€‹ γ€ˆβ€¦γ€‰
  • Lojban
lu … li'u

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark

Decimal separator[edit | edit source]

punctuation . Β· , Ω«
country or region
  • Australia
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Bangladesh
  • Barbados
  • Belize
  • Benin
  • Bermuda
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Botswana
  • Brunei
  • Cambodia
  • Canada (English)
  • Cayman Islands
  • Democratic People's Republic of Korea
  • Dominica
  • Dominican Republic
  • Egypt
  • El Salvador
  • Eswatini
  • Ethiopia
  • Falkland Island
  • Grenada
  • Ghana
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Guatemala
  • Guyana
  • Honduras
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Mann
  • Israel
  • Jamaica
  • Japan
  • Kenya
  • Lebanon
  • Lesotho
  • Libya
  • Liberia
  • Liechtenstein
  • Luxembourg
  • Macau (Chinese)
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Malta
  • Malawi
  • Mexico
  • Montserrat
  • Myanmar
  • Namibia
  • Nepal
  • New Zealand
  • Nicaragua
  • Nigeria
  • Pakistan
  • Palestine
  • Panama
  • People's Republic of China
  • Philippines
  • Puerto Rico
  • Republic of China
  • Republic of Korea
  • Saint Helena, Ascencion and Tristan da Cunha
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • Saint Lucia
  • Saint Martin
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Singapore
  • South Africa
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sudan
  • Switzerland
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • The Bahamas
  • The Gambia
  • Togo
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Turks and Caicos Islands
  • Uganda
  • United States of America
  • United States Virgin Islands
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
  • Ireland
  • Malaysia
  • Philippines
  • Republic of China
  • Singapore
  • Albania
  • Algeria
  • Andorra
  • Angola
  • Argentina
  • Armenia
  • Aruba
  • Austria
  • Azerbaijan
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Benin
  • Bolivia
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Brazil
  • Bulgaria
  • Burkina Faso
  • Burundi
  • Cabo Verde
  • Cameroon
  • Canada (French)
  • Central African Republic
  • Chad
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • CΓ΄te d'Ivoire
  • Croatia
  • Cuba
  • CuraΓ§ao
  • Cyprus
  • Czechia
  • Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Denmark
  • Ecuador
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Estonia
  • Faroes Islands
  • Fiji
  • Finland
  • France
  • French Guiana
  • Gabon
  • Germany
  • Georgia
  • Greece
  • Greenland
  • Guinea
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Haiti
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Indonesia
  • Italy
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kosovo
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Macau (Portuguese)
  • Macedonia
  • Madagascar
  • Malawi
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
  • Moldova
  • Monaco
  • Mongolia
  • Montenegro
  • Morocco
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Netherlands
  • New Caledonia
  • Niger
  • North Macedonia
  • Norway
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Pitcairn Island
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Republic of Congo
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Rwanda
  • San Marino
  • SΓ£o TomΓ© and PrΓ­ncipe
  • Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
  • Senegal
  • Serbia
  • Sierra Leone
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • Suriname
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tajikistan
  • Timor-Leste
  • Togo
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • Turkmenistan
  • Ukraine
  • Uruguay
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vatican City
  • Venezuela
  • Vietnam
  • Afghanistan
  • Bahrain
  • Egypt
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Kuwait
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Sudan
  • Syria
  • United Arab Emirates
punctuation . , Ω«
constructed language
  • Esperanto
  • Ido
  • Interlingua
  • VolapΓΌk

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator

Digit group delimiter[edit | edit source]

punctuation , . ' (space)
country or region
  • Bangladesh
  • Canada (English)
  • Democratic People's Republic of Korea
  • Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Japan
  • Malaysia
  • Malta
  • Mexico
  • New Zealand
  • Pakistan
  • People's Republic of China
  • Philippines
  • Republic of China
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • United States of America
  • Argentina
  • Austria
  • Belgium (Dutch)
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Brazil
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Croatia
  • Denmark
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Indonesia
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Malaysia
  • Netherlands
  • Philippines
  • Republic of China
  • Romania
  • Singapore
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Turkey
  • Vietnam
  • Liechtenstein
  • Switzerland
  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Belgium (French)
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada (English)
  • Canada (French)
  • Czechia
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Hungary
  • Italy
  • Kosovo
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Norway
  • People's Republic of China
  • Peru
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • San Marino
  • Slovakia
  • South Africa
  • Sri Lanka
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Ukraine
  • Vietnam

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator

Usage[edit | edit source]

Space[edit | edit source]

to separate words to separate sentences to separate syllables
  • English
  • French
  • German
β– 
  • Thai
  • Lao
β– 
  • Vietnamese
β– 
  • Chinese
  • Japanese

Comma[edit | edit source]

to separate a series of words, phrases or clauses to form a compound sentence to introduce a quote
  • English
β–  β–  β– 

Enumeration comma[edit | edit source]

to separate words in a list
  • Chinese

Period[edit | edit source]

Question mark[edit | edit source]

to indicate a direct question
  • English
β– 
  • Japanese
β–‘

Exclamation mark[edit | edit source]

to indicate an exclamation to indicate a command to be used with imperative mood
  • English
β–  β– 
  • German
β–  β– 

Quotation marks[edit | edit source]

to indicate direct speech to indicate special meaning
  • English
β–  β– 

Colon[edit | edit source]

to indicate a series of words to indicate description to indicate explanation to indicate definition
  • English
β–  β–  β–  β– 

Semicolon[edit | edit source]

to separate two series of words or phrases to separate two closely related independent clauses
  • English
β–  β– 

Hyphen[edit | edit source]

to form a compound word to connect letters in spelling to connect groups of digit in a nominal number to form an interrupted word
  • English
β–  β–  β–  β– 

En dash[edit | edit source]

to indicate a range of number to separate two scores in a game
  • English
β–  β– 

Em dash[edit | edit source]

to further explain a word, phrase or clause to express an opinion in a sentence
  • English
β–  β– 

Wave dash[edit | edit source]

to indicate a range of number
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
β– 

Ellipse[edit | edit source]

to indicate omission of quote to indicate omission of a series of word to indicate intermittent speech
  • English
β–  β–  β– 

Round brackets[edit | edit source]

  • English

Square brackets[edit | edit source]

  • English

Curly brackets[edit | edit source]

  • English

Angle brackets[edit | edit source]

to indicate a title
  • Chinese

Lenticular brackets[edit | edit source]

  • Japanese

Hex brackets[edit | edit source]

to indicate the serial number of an official document to indicate the nationality or dynasty of the author
  • Chinese
β–  β– 

Slash[edit | edit source]

  • English

Apostrophe[edit | edit source]

to indicate omission of letters to indicate possessive case to separate morphemes to indicate elision to indicate a glottal stop to indicate palatalisation or non-palatalisation
  • English
β–  β– 

Interpunct[edit | edit source]

to separate syllables in confusion to distinguish specific graphemes to separate words of foreign proper names to separate a series of words
  • Catalan
β– 
  • Occitan
β– 
  • Japanese
β–  β– 
  • Chinese
β– 

Musical note[edit | edit source]

to indicate singing
  • Japanese
β– 

Other Lessons[edit | edit source]

Contributors

GrimPixel, Vincent, Maintenance script and AussieInBg


Create a new Lesson