Les signes graphiques du mot à travers l'histoire

Résumé En

N. Catach : « The Written Markers of Words Throughout History » The various devices and auxiliary signs that can be added to writing, in order to make word-units (or groups of words) easier to identify, have always existed, and have always made up one of the essential components of writing systems : the paragraphemic level. In the Classical tradition, we find a wide range of signs, many more than our modernday, typographical vision has accustomed us to seeing : i.e. not only spaces delimiting groups of letters, and signs indicating the separation of elements (points, hyphens, symbols, punctuation, etc.). The causes of our modern, limited vision of things are no doubt to be found in our over-estimation of the role played by the letters of the alphabet alone in visual activity, and in the under-estimation of the substantial and complex evolution of what constitutes, for us, « reading-units ». To take only the example of the European Middle Ages, we can find, in the writing of Latin, from one type of writing to another, a very varied range of graphic signs, both intra- and extra-Linear, all of which must be taken into account, and whose main purpose was to make the task of reading easier. All these Medieval visual devices have contributed to our present rich stock of symbols, typographical as well as electronic. It is therefore necessary to acquire a wider and unprejudiced view of the major historical role that has always been played by the different levels of writing systems in making reading easier, and in identifying and conceiving the « word » as a distinct unit.