The use of punctuation in technical descriptions: Marking the hierarchicaldecomposition of the object described

This study deals with the way writers use punctuation marks when they descr ibe complex objects in technical texts. The first experimental studies on t he use of punctuation (and connectors) by non-professional writers were car ried out by Fayol and his colleagues and resulted in the model proposed by Fayol (1997 b). These studies showed first, a large between-subjects agreem ent regarding the hierarchy in punctuation marks 0rom the paragraph to the comma) according to the intensity of linkage (or separation) that they indu ce between propositions. Secondly, they demonstrated that the frequency and the nature of punctuation marks are highly correlated to the degree of lin kage between the states and/or events successively mentioned. In a text, th e stronger the linkage between two successive propositions, the lower the s eparation value of the punctuation mark between them. The results of these studies were obtained by requesting subjects to write texts, starting from very common scripts (e.g., going to the dentist). In that way, subjects did not encounter interpretation difficulty and researchers had a highly predi ctable hierarchical structure among the propositions. Moreover, the Fayol m odel rests on correlations computed between the values of between-elements linkage on the one hand, and the frequency and values attached to punctuati on marks on the other. The objective of the present expert. ment was twofold: 1 /to assess the mod el in a Professional context, using a writing task that was indeed less str ictly controllable but, at the same time, less constrained and more plausib le, because of its direct relation with the subjects' professional field; 2 / to test the model very strictly, by tracking down a occurrences of examp les to the contrary in the whole set of elementary patterns of punctuation. Adults enrolled on a business documentation course, received three maps of a documentation centre which varied according to the number of pieces of i nformation and the level of detail given. They were requested to write thre e texts describing these maps so that they could be given to users to guide them in the room. Results strongly confirm the Fayol (1997) model. Out of 353 elementary patt erns under analysis, 303 patterns were consistent with the model, the propo rtion being [f = 85,8 %; 95 % confidence interval. 81, 7 % < f < 89,3 %]. S o, when they transcribe a representation structured as a decomposition of a complex object into units described by features, writers process punctuati on marks ordered according to their linkage/separation strength, and use th em to mark in text surface, item clustering and hierarchical levels of the complex object decomposition tree. The model is fairly simple. From a pract ical perspective, it is proposed that punctuation protocol be used as one o f the methodological tools for studies of experts' mental representations. Also, it is claimed that explicitation of the model could benefit technical writers' training. Finally, it is suggested that the implementation of the model in text generators should be considered.