Review article

On Horizontal Dashes in Croatian Ortography

Tomislav Portada orcid.org/0000-0002-7139-0881 ; Institut Ruđer Bošković, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Tomislav Stojanov orcid.org/0000-0002-6972-6518 ; Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, Zagreb, Hrvatska

Abstract

This paper is a review on terminology and usage of three horizontal dashes (-, – and —) in Croatian orthographies and orthographic papers. Considerable contradictions and inconsistencies have been spotted in both terminology and practical use of horizontal dashes. The new Croatian Orthography, recently published by Matrix Croatica and written by Badurina, Marković and Mićanović, contributed even more to the confusion by prescribing solutions that deviate significantly from orthographic tradition and typographic practice. Practical, orthographic, and computational linguistic arguments have been stated and elaborated against these solutions. The authors propose terms spojnica, en-crtica and em-crtica for characters -, – and —. Two possible directions in the development of orthographic rules and usage have been pointed out. The authors have also drawn attention to some other inconsistencies in orthography which should be systematized and standardized.

Keywords

hyphen; dash; en-dash; em-dash; ortography; ortographic terminology; Unicode

Hrčak ID:

43510

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/43510

Publication date:

23.11.2009.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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