A hermeneutical approach to graphemes

Abstract

The present paper examines the contribution of graphemes to the understanding and interpretation of written texts and analyses the developmental process thereof. My starting point is the historical development of written texts and the changes in the process of comprehension. The paper describes how the reception of written texts changed over time, points out the differences between reading aloud and silent reading, and argues that reading, as a process of reception, influences the development of written texts. Text-internal
functions are marked with characters, since in order to understand and interpret a written text, each semantic element has to be self-evident. Based on this theoretical approach, the paper demonstrates how punctuation marks appeared in Hungarian writing, analyses the perspectival nature of characters embedded in written texts, and finally presents the theoretical argument discussed through the development of one textual function and its written form.