=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3171/paper18
|storemode=property
|title=Practice of Compliance of Punctuation Rules in Internet Communication
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3171/paper18.pdf
|volume=Vol-3171
|authors=Oksana Lytvyn,Liliia Kharchuk,Oksana Mykytyuk,Iryna Mentynska
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/colins/LytvynKMM22
}}
==Practice of Compliance of Punctuation Rules in Internet Communication==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3171/paper18.pdf
Practice of Compliance of Punctuation Rules in Internet
Communication
Oksana Lytvyn, Liliia Kharchuk, Oksana Mykytyuk аnd Iryna Mentynska
Lviv Polytechnic National University, Profesorska Street 1, Lviv, 79013, Ukraine
Abstract
Interpersonal connections in Internet communication presuppose an increase in the level of
freedom and realization of written communication, which affects the requirements for all styles
of the Ukrainian literary language. Conversational and formal business styles have gained a
special influence in the Internet environment, which requires compliance of certain rules and
it is a sign of a conscious attitude to the language system.
Based on the method of experiment and observation on the basis of Google Forms, a survey
of 247 respondents (first- and second-year students of the Lviv Polytechnic National University
(hereinafter LPNU)) aged 17 to 20 years was conducted. The study examines how students of
humanities and technical specialties adhere to punctuation in online communication. It has
been proven that formal business and conversational styles in the Internet environment have
undergone transformations, punctuation in online communication has also changed in use and
in some speech situations ceased to comply of the language laws, which encourages
communicators aged 17-18 to consider punctuation at all is not mandatory for informal
communication and partially mandatory in formal business online communication.
The results of the study confirmed that the hypothesis of the need for punctuation marks in
formal business communication and the hypothesis of numerous deviations from the norms of
punctuation in informal, are characteristic of online communication of students. The hypothesis
of punctuation literacy among students is not confirmed by the research materials.
Keywords1
Internet communication, сomputer-mediated communication, сomputational linguistics,
linguistic norm, punctuation marks, experiment method, official business style, conversational
style.
1. Introduction
Interpersonal and social connections on the Internet involve an increase in the level of freedom in
the implementation of written communication, which affects the requirements for all styles of Ukrainian
literary language. Particularly influential in the Internet environment is the conversational and formal
business styles, the use of which involves compliance of certain rules. If in the colloquial style the non-
codification of lexical elements is permissible, then in the formal-business style it is obligatory, and in
the case of punctuation codification, its variance is impossible in any style. The stability of the
punctuation language system is enshrined in the language code – spelling, compliance of which is a
sign of a conscious attitude to the language system, but today, Internet communicators consciously or
intentionally ignore these rules, which significantly affects language specificity and indicates low
educational or cultural level of communicators. Since punctuation is part of the graphical system of
language, it uses symbols (signs) for written articulation, which help to understand the meaning of what
is written. Punctuation is a tool that divides written speech into parts that cannot be done either
COLINS-2022: 6th International Conference on Computational Linguistics and Intelligent Systems, May 12–13, 2022, Gliwice, Poland
EMAIL: oksana.h.lytvyn@lpnu.ua (O. Lytvyn); liliia.v.kharchuk@lpnu.ua (L. Kharchuk); oksana.r.mykytiuk@lpnu.ua (O. Mykytyuk);
iryna.b.mentynska@lpnu.ua (I. Mentynska)
ORCID: 0000-0002-8549-5123 (O. Lytvyn); 0000-0003-0063-1956 (L. Kharchuk); 0000-0003-3922-4610 (O. Mykytyuk); 0000-0001-7939-
0010 (I. Mentynska)
©️ 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
morphologically or by word order, so they serve as a basis for structuring speech, make the text clear,
emotionally saturate what is said and reproduce intonation rhythms, as scientists say in different
countries [1; 2; 3; 4]. It is worth recalling that the famous quote “It is impossible to kill, pardon” and
“Kill, it is impossible to pardon” becomes the basis for deciding the fate of man and is not a fact of
compliance with punctuation, but motivated by a change in the legal field of conduct.
As official business style genres such as resumes, various types of questionnaires, etc. have become
more active in official business broadcasting on the Internet, they are the ones most affected by spoken
language, so the traditional defining features of each genre are sufficiently leveled. Other genres are
much less affected, in particular, official documents of higher authorities and management are almost
unchanged (except that the text may additionally use tools for ease of use, such as regulations; often
such a tool is hypertext). Thus, the official business style in the Ukrainian language of the Internet at
the level of certain genres is undergoing changes related to the possibilities of technical conditions of
communication and the influence of spoken language [5, p. 133].
It is worth noting that online communication causes the absence of numerous barriers, as many
psycho-emotional factors, such as speech defects, anonymity, physical absence of a particular person,
outside influences, appearance are no longer considered as a problem. As a result, a person loses
vigilance to the very fact of writing, so we have not only spelling mistakes, but also numerous typos
and non-use of punctuation marks, which can sometimes be simply replaced by a smiley face (for
example, instead of a dot).
Punctuation correctness of speech always determines the accent features of expression, is a sign of
compliance with the norms of a particular style and reproduces the uniqueness of a particular national
language. Therefore, the problem of compliance with the rules of punctuation in online communication,
made on the basis of Google Forms through a questionnaire, is a valuable material for linguistics, as it
shows the linguistic specifics of a particular historical period.
The urgency of the research is due to the need to improve punctuation literacy as a basis of linguistic
and cultural heritage of the people. The novelty of the work is that for the first time a new source base
has been developed, which allows to consider student discourse at the level of synchrony and to clarify
the expediency or inexpediency of punctuation requirements in Internet communication in terms of
formal business and conversational styles.
The scientific significance of the work was determined by the subject of research, as the difference
in compliance with punctuation standards by students of humanities and technical specialties was
compared; the interaction of formal and informal styles is shown on the example of respondents, textual
material directly from the student environment is involved, the necessity to create a system of
punctuation check in network communication is proved.
It is important to support professional philological thought to the problem of widespread free-
thinking about punctuation in the student environment. The question of the correctness of the Ukrainian
language (including punctuation) has been raised by Ukrainian linguists since 1892, when the
philologist-naturalist I. Verkhratskyi emphasized that “dilettantism gives nothing.” Thus, the submitted
study, conducted in 2021, once again confirms the need for clear rules, not language arbitrariness.
The subject of our study is punctuation rules in online communication, among which we distinguish
between informal online communication and formal business (formal) communication. This type of
distribution of the research base is motivated by different attitudes of respondents to the letter, which
will be discussed below. In addition, in the official business style, when filling out questionnaires,
resumes and other documents, punctuation marks become a requirement not only for correct speech,
but also a prerequisite for the presentation of the idea.
The aim of our study is to establish compliance of punctuation rules in written online communication
depending on the type of communication (business or informal), to find out the frequency of punctuation
errors, types of most common punctuation errors, to suggest solutions to punctuation problems.
Active introduction of technical means affects the transformation of forms of communication,
diversification of opportunities for the use of verbal and nonverbal means of communication, leads to
the following hypotheses:
1. Modern communicative Internet environment is a new kind of business communication, and
the observance of punctuation rules helps to logically and syntactically divide statements into
separate semantic elements, which allows to achieve the goal of communication.
2. Deviations from the punctuation norms of modern literary language is the main feature of
informal communication of students in the Internet environment.
3. Punctuation marks divide written speech (perform a grammatical function) – fix the end of a
sentence, parts of a complex sentence, reflect the boundary between direct and indirect speech,
complicate the structure of sentences – these are mandatory punctuation rules regulated by Ukrainian
spelling, they are always followed by all online communication; punctuation marks that help the
author to more accurately or figuratively depict objects or phenomena of the objective world, which
contributes to more effective achievement of the purpose of communication (such punctuation marks
are often copyrighted, and their use is often not strictly adhered to punctuation rules), never used on
the Internet.
The material of the research is questionnaires of students of Lviv Polytechnic, in which they
indicate their attitude to the rules of punctuation.
2. Research methods
Material and research methods. We agree with the opinion of M. Vakulenko, who notes that
“The means of research (cognition) is the analytical method, and the material for the study provides
statistical, which determines the material linguistic facts that actually exist” [6].
During the study:
• At the first stage, a system of test questions that cover various punctuation rules was developed
by the method of semantic analysis, as well as provide an opportunity to identify compliance with
such rules.
• At the second stage, 247 respondents (first- and second-year students of Lviv Polytechnic
National University (hereinafter LPNU)) aged 17 to 20 were interviewed and observed on the basis
of Google Forms. Students study in the humanities (journalism, applied linguistics, law, psychology,
social communication) and technical (computer science, software, systems analysis, food
technology, biotechnology, applied mathematics) specialties. Methods of experiment and
observation can detect violations or the presence of punctuation in the student environment.
• At the third stage we use a qualitative (or statistical) method, which is to determine the presence
of a linguistic fact that involves the accumulation of a certain number of such facts. Using the
statistical method, the punctuation practice of LPNU students (humanities and non-humanities) in
Internet communication was investigated. In the process of analyzing the survey data, general
response statistics were taken into account, as well as response statistics on a specific question.
• At the fourth stage we use an analytical method that helps to outline the process of formation
or the presence of certain phenomena or trends. We use an analytical method to analyze the use of
punctuation in formal and informal communication of students in the Internet environment, to
determine the reasons for compliance / non-compliance with punctuation, justification of specific
punctuation in certain situations in formal and informal Internet communication. At this stage, we
also used a specific sociological method, which allows to distinguish the sociolinguistic
characteristics of the purpose of online communication, i.e., formal-business and informal industries
[7; 2].
• At the fifth stage, the observed results were outlined using a descriptive method and methods
of generalization and induction.
3 step 4 step 5 step
1 step 2 step response analysis and conclusion
test questions questionnaire statistics description
Figure 1: Structural and logical scheme covering the main stages (steps) of the study
The study has practical value – the results of the study can be used for improvement of punctuation
systems in online applications for the Internet communication
3. Related research
Undoubtedly, exemplary written speech as a kind of literary language involves strict adherence to
punctuation rules, i.e., the correct use of punctuation, which to achieve the goal of communication helps
to logically and syntactically divide the utterance into individual semantic elements, correlated with
individual words and phrases and goals. Research by both Ukrainian and foreign scientists is valuable
for regulating regulations. Peculiarities of Ukrainian punctuation are clearly revealed in Z. Terlak's
“Punctuation Dictionary-Handbook”, which presented for those who want to improve their written
speech, the normative use of punctuation marks on Ukrainian language material [8].
Noteworthy is the work of British scientist J. Kirkman, who in his study “Punctuation Matters:
Advice on Punctuation for Scientific and Technical Writing” rightly notes that “Punctuation Matters
gives straight answers to the queries raised most frequently by practitioners in computing, engineering,
medicine and science as they grapple with day-to-day tasks in writing and editing” [9]. In this work,
many years of experience during courses on writing and editing texts, the scientist presents
recommendations for the normative use of punctuation in scientific and technical texts.
Research on the use of English allowed Jim McKinley, Heath Rose in his article to provide general
recommendations for unclear standards, ethical considerations for publication in English, which is
valuable for scholars to comply with language norms, including punctuation [10].
Note that in modern linguists the topic of communication in the online format is a priority.
Researchers point out that the functioning of the Internet in all spheres of human life affects the
communicative features of society, leads to the development of new forms of communication, and
changing the format and mode of communication transforms linguistic units, causes certain features in
styles and genres. S. Chemerkin emphasizes that certain graphic signs are used uncodified in Internet
communication. The author points out that dots as a means of creating non-verbal text are mostly used
to denote reflection, uncertainty, surprise, and there are a number of graphic signs, the use of which in
Internet communication is limited, especially quotation marks, semicolons. Their absence is natural for
this type of communication: the first is a clear visual attribute of citation or metaphor, which is not
typical for spoken language, and the second sign is a means to dissect complex syntactic constructions,
which are absent in spoken language [5, p. 129].
In the new conditions of communication, the text is perceived differently, the assessments of the
creation of the verbal text change. Social platforms have become “a tool through which a large number
of users of the global network gets additional opportunities to communicate and disseminate
information” [11, p. 62]. Scholars emphasize that they trace a different attitude to the requirements of
a certain level of literacy, observe a general tendency to reduce the level of compliance with the norms
of the Ukrainian literary language at all language levels [12; 13; 14; 15].
I. Kovalchuk also drew attention to the fact that most users simply try to avoid punctuation marks,
so as not to spend a lot of time choosing the right ones, although the content of what is written depends
on the placement of punctuation marks [16, p. 48].
M. Kronhauz argues that the Internet today is a mass communication, which has never been in the
history of mankind. At the present stage, the main thing is that communication takes place, and we
regulate the language as we see fit, that is, for the sake of simplicity of communication, we can and
should violate the norm. Nowadays, spontaneous spoken language is recorded in writing on the Internet,
and written speech has always been the prerogative of the educated part of the population, so all
mistakes in oral speech “flowed” into the Internet. This may explain the fact that the average level of
literacy of speakers has decreased, although the average level of written literacy of speakers in the
country has increased [17]. It is observed that most researchers also believe that in informal
communication in the field of Internet technology, some relaxation of punctuation rules is acceptable
[18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23].
G. Kliarska emphasizes that often users who write in accordance with the norms of the Ukrainian
literary language, on the Internet enjoy informality, lack of rules, from which the rules of punctuation
suffer [24, p. 51].
It is important to study punctuation in online communication in other languages. In particular, in
Italian punctuation marks are assigned a communicative meaning, thus interpreting its interactive
punctuation mark [25]. Other studies allow punctuation to be used similarly to syntactic criteria [2].
Research is important when commas create text units that allow them to be used rationally and
consistently [1].
Some studies have shown the reaction of students who create syntactic and structural texts in which
there are non-traditional punctuation marks, which leads not only to non-traditional punctuation marks,
but also affects the syntactic structure of the created text. It is proved that non-traditional punctuation
marks in syntactic and structural texts affect students' self-affirmation. F. Busch's article “The
interaction principle in digital punctuation” analyzes the principle of punctuation interaction using
frequency and in-depth sequential analysis based on SMS messages of German adolescents [2].
Punctuation has been proven to be a graphical means of communicative and social contextualization in
digital interactions. Sociolingual analysis of punctuation marks among German students was carried
out in the article “Digital punctuation as an interactional resource: the message-final period among
German adolescents” [7].
It is interesting to study punctuation in English for non-English users. It is proved that it is a tool for
the transfer of text structures and the formation of the tone of conversation [26]. Lisa Hilte's work proves
that Flemish high school students do not worry about the high level of use of the standard language in
the official context [27]. Another experimental study showed that punctuation can convey the social
and pragmatic information that exists during face-to-face conversations [28]. The punctuation system
as a whole is also considered by Kazakh linguists [3].
3.1. Results of the research
Given the multifaceted nature of the issues related to the study of Internet communication, in our
opinion, the use of (compliance) with punctuation rules in Internet communication remains
insufficiently studied. It is worth emphasizing that all types of norms are typical for Internet
communication. If we take into account the lexical norm, it has undergone the greatest changes during
impersonal communication, as englizm, “surzhyk”, slang, and invectives have become popular on the
Internet. As for the orthographic norm, its violation is caused only by the actual linguistic facts.
Violation of punctuation, which is the subject of the description, changes the understanding of the text
and leads to a lack of structuring and forms a communicative barrier, changes the verbal assessment of
the text.
3.1.1. Experimental results of the discussion
The study was conducted on the basis of Google Forms through a questionnaire survey of 247
respondents – students of NULP (first- and second-year students), of 17 – under 20 years. The
questionnaire included 21 questions, among which the dominant for us is written formal, informal
communication and punctuation motivation of respondents related to Internet communication. To
motivate the relevance of the work, we have identified the following blocks: 1) the importance of
punctuation marks that show the boundaries of thought, and 2) the use of punctuation marks (dots,
commas, colons, dashes) in accordance with the rules of punctuation.
Among the respondents, 47.5% are students of humanities (journalists, applied philologists, lawyers,
psychologists, museologists) and 52.5% – technical specialties (biotechnologists, applied
mathematicians, artificial intelligence system engineers, software engineers, systems analysis
engineers, food technology engineers, etc.). For most students (241 people) Ukrainian is their mother
tongue, for six people their mother tongue is Russian. However, five students studied in a Russian
school, one in a Polish school, four students studied in both Russian and Ukrainian, and 231 in
Ukrainian. In everyday speech (in the family, with friends) 13 students speak Russian, one student
speaks the local dialect, nine – “surzhyk”, one student speaks Ukrainian with parents and Russian with
friends, eight students speak both Russian and Ukrainian, 215 students speak only in Ukrainian. Given
that the respondents are students of NULP, and under the conditions of admission they passed the exam
in the Ukrainian language (where a significant percentage of tasks require knowledge of punctuation),
as well as the statistics, it can be argued that respondents studied the Ukrainian language, it is actively
used, in particular, are acquainted with the rules of punctuation.
Regarding punctuation rules, extralingual and intralinguistic factors are important. Among the
extralingual factors, non-compliance of punctuation can be explained by the speed of writing, lack of
eye contact, which makes shyness impossible. Among the intralinguistic factors, non-observance of
punctuation is possible due to the low level of knowledge of the language, lack of automaticity for
typical situations.
It is noteworthy that communicating informally, we see from the study, students do not attach
importance to punctuation. This is primarily explained by the fact that respondents are switching to a
conversational style, which is characterized by free use of literary language, especially punctuation,
because they consider themselves authors of posts, and the use of author's punctuation is not provided
by strict punctuation rules. Thus, the transformation of punctuation marks, on the one hand, diversifies
the text. On the other hand, it forms Internet slang, which destroys the specifics of the language, its
identity and individuality, changes the most primitive structure of the text, which is conveyed by
paragraphs and punctuation. Thus, the telegraph style is formed, which is simplified, does not promote
mental activity, thus simplifies the mechanisms of language thinking and eventually leads to partial or
complete degradation. The lack of standards in online communication destroys the state-building,
voluntaristic, cultural and aesthetic functions of language, and in the first place puts the function of self-
affirming, unfortunately, sometimes not in the best case; the macroimage of language is also disturbed,
because the ideal image of reality will never correspond to verbal expression without all the punctuation
marks [2; 27].
It is worth recalling that non-compliance of punctuation does not create inconvenience for the
younger generation, but, on the contrary, increases self-esteem, removes complexity, because they
interpret any type of error as copyright marks or ridicule of what is written. Instead, the attitude of the
com for most respondents is a waste of time. We believe that creating an online communication style
for which each participant in a polylogue (or dialogue) is responsible requires the use of punctuation
rules.
In modern literary language there is a codified system of punctuation, which perform various
functions in written texts [8, p. 3]. To analyze compliance with punctuation in online communication,
we asked a number of questions to students. The obtained statistical results show (see Table 1, Figure
2) that the punctuation marks that fix the end of the sentence (dot, exclamation mark, question mark)
are always used consistently in business online communication by 90.3% of respondents, and in
informal communication this percentage is much lower – 24.3. It is worth noting that 5.7% of
respondents in business communication do not always use punctuation, which syntactically articulate
written speech, and in informal communication this figure reaches 55.1%. It is interesting to note that
among the respondents there are students who only occasionally use punctuation marks at the end of
the sentence (in formal communication – 3.6%, and in informal – respectively 14.6%). Unexpected are
the results, which show that 0.4% in formal and 6% in informal online communication never put
punctuation marks at the end of a sentence.
Table 1
Do you use punctuation marks that fix the end of a sentence?
Business online Informal communication
communication
As always 90,3% 24,3%
Not always 5,7% 55,1%
Sometimes 3,6% 14,6%
90,3%
55,1%
24,3%
14,6%
6,0%
Informal communication
Business online communication
5,7% 3,6% 0,4%
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
Figure 2: Do you use punctuation marks that fix the end of a sentence?
Among the punctuation rules there are the use of punctuation in complex sentences (reflecting the
boundary between parts of compound, unconnected sentences; between the main and subjunctive part
of complex sentences), the dismemberment of complex syntactic constructions, which are not in
colloquial language. Respondents, as a rule, in business online communication (see Table 2, Figure 3)
always follow punctuation marks in complex sentences (84.6%), not always – 9.7%, sometimes – 5.3%,
and never put punctuation marks in official business texts. – 0.4%. In informal Internet communication
(see Table 2, Figure 3) we see that 21.7% of communicators always consciously relate to the language
norm on the Internet, not always – 41.7%, sometimes – 14.6%, and 22% of students never follow these
punctuation norms.
Table 2
Do you use punctuation marks that reflect the boundary between the main and subordinate clauses
in a compound sentence?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 84,6% 21,7%
Not always 9,7% 41,7%
Sometimes 5,3% 14,6%
No, never 0,4% 22%
84,6%
41,7%
21,7% 22,0%
14,6%
Informal communication
Business online communication
9,7% 5,3% 0,4%
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
Figure 3: Do you use punctuation marks that reflect the boundary between the main and subordinate
clauses in a compound sentence?
Internet communication is characterized by the transformation of oral conversational style into
writing, which has acquired new features – the mass use of graphic signs, single or collective use of
which emotionally colors the text. To analyze the practice of punctuation, we ask students the following
question: do you take into account the components that complicate the structure of the sentence, and
separate them. According to the situation (business / informal online communication) the answers were
as follows (see Table 3, Figure 4): in business online communication 76.1% of respondents always
follow the rules of punctuation, not always – 15.4%, sometimes – 7.3%, never – 1.2 %. In informal
communication, 25.9% of students always place punctuation marks with separate members of a
sentence, not always – 47.8%, sometimes – 17%, never – 9.3% (see Table 3, Figure 4).
Table 3
Do you take into account the components that complicate the structure of the sentence, and separate
them?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 76,1% 25,9%
Not always 15,4% 47,8%
Sometimes 7,3% 17%
No, never 1,2% 9,3%
47,8%
25,9%
17,0%
9,3%
Informal communication
76,1% Business online communication
15,4% 1,2%
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
7,3%
Figure 4: Do you take into account the components that complicate the structure of the sentence, and
separate them?
In the survey questionnaire, we asked whether students follow the rules of direct speech transmission
in Internet communication. Direct speech makes it possible to reproduce all the features of oral speech,
preserving not only the meaning of the utterance, but its lexical, grammatical and stylistic features, is
an attribute of citation. It is worth noting that for the design of direct speech we use a colon, quotation
marks, commas and dashes, a period, depending on the position of the author's words and the actual
direct language, the rules of use of these punctuation change, which requires appropriate knowledge,
attention, time to switch characters on the keyboard. Regarding these punctuation rules, we obtained
the following results (see Table 4, Figure 5): in business online communication, 82.2% always follow
the rules of foreign language transmission, not always – 13.4%, sometimes – 4%, and never – 0.4%. In
informal communication, only 27.9% of respondents always transmit someone else's speech according
to the spelling rules, not always – 43.3%, sometimes – 20.7%, never – 8.1%. It is interesting,
respondents who indicated that they do not use punctuation marks (quotation marks, commas, dashes,
etc.) at all, because citations are not typical for formal business online communication or informal
online communication.
Table 4
Do you follow the rules of direct speech transmission?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 82,2% 27,9%
Not always 13,4% 43,3%
Sometimes 4% 20,7%
No, never 0,4% 8,1%
43,3%
27,9%
19,4%
8,1%
Informal communication
Business online communication
82,2% 13,4% 3,2% 0,4%
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
Figure 5: Do you follow the rules of direct speech transmission?
Speech culture is the mastery of the norms of literary language, the ability to use its means of
expression in various conditions of communication, including Internet communication, in accordance
with the purpose and content of expression. Observance of the rules of use of all punctuation marks
testifies to the culture of written speech. In the study, we analyzed how students use commas, dashes,
colons, parentheses (…), […], quotation marks, semicolons for their intended purpose. Analyzing the
results of the survey, we see that students actively use punctuation in online business communication,
for example (see Table 5): dashes according to the rules are always put 77.3% not always – 16.6%,
sometimes – 5.3%, never – 0.8 %; colon (see Table 6) – always 79.4%, not always – 15.8%, sometimes
– 3.6%, never – 1,2%; quotation marks always – 87.4% not always – 8.1%, sometimes – 3.6%, never –
0.8%, parentheses always (see Table 7, Figure 6) – 70.9% not always – 19%, sometimes – 5.3%, never
– 4.8%. Regarding the use of commas (between homogeneous members of a sentence; before a, but,
but, however; with separate members of a sentence; when addressing), we observe that (see Table 8,
Figure 7) 96% always put this punctuation mark in business speech in Internet communication, not
always – 3.2%, sometimes 0.8%, never 0%; follow the rules of separation of treatment always follow
– 89.5% not always – 8.1%, sometimes – 1.6%, never – 0.8%.
Table 5
Do you put a dash for rules?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 77,3% 24,3%
Not always 16,6% 50,6%
Sometimes 5,3% 16,6%
No, never 0,8% 8,5%
Table 6
Do you follow the rules for using a colons?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 79,4% 26,3%
Not always 15,8% 50,6%
Sometimes 3,6% 16,2%
No, never 1,2% 6,9%
Table 7
Do you use parentheses (…), […] for their intended purpose?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 70,9% 31,6%
Not always 19% 39,7%
Sometimes 5,3% 14,6%
No, never 4,8% 14,1%
39,7%
31,6%
14,6% 14,1%
Informal communication
Business online communication
70,9% 19,0% 5,3% 4,8%
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
Figure 6: Do you use parentheses (…), […] for their intended purpose?
In informal communication, students are more likely to violate punctuation. We observe the
following results: dashes according to the rules are always put by 24.3%, not always – 50.6%,
sometimes – 16.6%, never – 8.5%; colon – always 26.3%, not always – 50.6%, sometimes – 16.2%,
never – 6.9%; quotation marks always – 47.4% not always – 35.6%, sometimes – 6.5%, never – 10.5%,
parentheses always – 31.6%, not always – 39.7%, sometimes – 14.6%, never – 14.1% (see Figure 6).
Regarding the use of commas (between homogeneous members of the sentence; before a, but, but,
however (see Table 8, Figure 7); with separate members of the sentence; when addressing), we observe
that 78.5% always put this punctuation mark in informal communication, not always – 14, 2%,
sometimes 3.7%, never 3.6%. the rules of separation of treatment are always followed – 62.3% not
always – 25.1%, sometimes – 5.7%, never – 6.1%. We observe a fairly high percentage of commas in
informal online communication, because it is always separated by 62.3% of students, not always –
25.1%, sometimes – 5.7%, and never – 6.9%.
Table 8
Do you put anyone in front of what, but, nevertheless?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 96% 78,5%
Not always 3,2% 14,2%
Sometimes 0,8% 3,7%
No, never 0,0% 3,6%
96,0%
78,5%
14,2%
3,7% 3,6%
3,2% 0,8% Informal communication
0,0%
Business online communication
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
Figure 7: Do you put anyone in front of what, but, nevertheless?
Respondents show low punctuation when it comes to using a semicolon for its intended purpose.
This punctuation mark in the rules of online business communication is always put 60.7% not always
– 21.9%, sometimes – 15.3%, never – 2.1%, so it is 17% less than a dash, 10,9% than quotation marks,
36% than a comma, even parentheses are 10.2% more often placed by students according to the rules
in business Internet communication (see Table 9, Figure 8). In informal communication, 15.8% of
students always put a semicolon in accordance with spelling norms, not always – 44.1%, sometimes –
13.8%, and never – 26.3% (see Table 9, Figure 8).
Table 9
Do you use a semicolon for its intended purpose?
Business online communication Informal communication
As always 60,7% 15,8%
Not always 21,9% 44,1%
Sometimes 15,3% 13,8%
No, never 2,1% 26,3%
44,1%
26,3%
15,8%
13,8%
Informal communication
15,3%
Business online communication
60,7%
21,9% 2,1%
As always Not always Sometimes No, never
Figure 8: Do you use a semicolon for its intended purpose?
3.2. Conclusions
The results of the questionnaire prove that the hypothesis about the need for punctuation rules in
formal business communication and the hypothesis about the deviation from punctuation rules in
informal communication is typical for the student environment. Regarding the third assumption
(regarding the grammatical function of punctuation), it turned out that the percentage of people trying
to put punctuation marks was unexpectedly low.
The results of the experiment prove that part of the punctuation rules is basic, for example, signs
that fix the end of a sentence (dot, exclamation mark, question mark) in business online communication
in practice always put 92.3% of students, and 0.4% of respondents never do not use these punctuation
marks. We observe that punctuation marks have undergone transformations and ceased to comply with
the laws of language. There have been changes in the placement of the dot, because if the three dots in
the punctuation rules mean an incomplete sentence, then in online communication they convey
thoughts, procrastination and necessarily involve the continuation of the conversation.
Knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of punctuation in online communication allows you
to see the state of relevance or inappropriateness in the choice of punctuation.
The lack of punctuation rules young people compensate with imaginary punctuation marks that do
not correspond to spelling rules, for example, a parenthesis, which in punctuation rules symbolizes the
insertion word, in informal online communication reproduces a smile, a colon – is often a punctuation
mark incoherent sentences, and in online communication used simultaneously with the parenthesis and
it acquires the meaning of laughter. Unfortunately, users do not perceive language as a means of
transmitting experience, as a communicative code of their state, but form their own system of self-
affirmation and creativity, which destroys the paradigmatic, lexical and punctuation field of language.
The research shows that online communication creates a kind of system that is incomprehensible
primarily to the older generation, as well as those who have not mastered this system. The absence of
punctuation marks indicates an informal conversation that cannot be reproduced in a formal business
style that uses punctuation marks similarly to written text.
Internet communication solves the problems of society only partially (filling out business
documents, informal communication with everyone), but the lack of a culture of punctuation leads to
misinterpretation of some opinions.
We believe that putting commas is a kind of etiquette in a virtual environment, compliance of which
is mandatory, and a standard that should be reproduced in any area of communication, both formal and
informal. Another important reason for punctuation is the need to articulate the text for which
communicators are responsible.
The results of the research show that it is necessary to take care of eliminating errors in online
communication, because posts, comments are available to everyone and are stored in the online
environment for a long time. Mistakes in online communication can cause significant damage to a
person's image. The survey made it possible to systematize common errors and can be the basis for
creating a mobile application that will prevent them from appearing in formal and informal online
communication.
Prospects for research in this area include conducting similar surveys among different age groups
(including middle-aged and older respondents), which will allow to compare the results of punctuation.
We also consider it is possible to compare the results of surveys of respondents from Lviv Polytechnic
National University and other Ukrainian and foreign universities to see the geography of the issue.
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