Mind the dot: how romans learned to mark meaning

Abstract

This article examines the pragmatic and rhetorical functions of interpuncta in Old Roman Cursive, drawing on a selective corpus of Vindolanda tablets. Moving beyond the notion of punctuation as a mechanical device, we argue that the interpuncta served as visual mediators between spoken rhythm and written structure. Drawing on Desbordes (1990), who defined Roman writing as vox scriptilis and on Wingo’s (1972) historical reconstruction of the interpunctus as both word divider and interpretive aid, the study situates the Vindolanda evidence within a cognitive and performative model of literacy. Recent palaeographical work (De Robertis 2020) and comparative studies of punctuation (Lepschy & Lepschy 2008, Geymonat 2008) further support this view by emphasising the variability of graphic systems and their semiotic link to reading practices. Through five exemplary cases (i.e., Tab. Vindol. 205, 260, 266, 164 and 311) the article shows that interpuncta mark discourse boundaries, shifts in speaker stance, numerical or lexical focus, and pragmatic transitions rather than grammatical units. These signs reveal an early “visual syntax” grounded in interpretation and cognition: a punctuation of sense and attitude that anticipates the medieval distinctio system and reframes the Roman dot as a minimal but eloquent act of thought.