『성경전서 개역개정판』에 문장부호를 붙이기 위한 예비적 논의 = Preliminary Discussion on Adding Punctuation Marks to the New Korean Revised Version

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

For this study, we searched for places in the text that show typical situations, considered the punctuation marks for those texts, and then looked at ways to add punctuation marks to the entire Bible text. I think this study offers clues about the things to consider when adding punctuation marks to the text of the Bible.


Concluding principles for punctuation: 1) Consider a format that fits the style of the Revised Version text.
2) Think about the punctuation marks needed in the text on the one hand and the ones needed by modern Bible readers on the other. Then determine the direction for the current work between these two different needs.
3) As the base principle, faithfully insert punctuation marks wherever necessary.
4) Limit insertions to the minimum considering today’s Bible readers. This could be a realistic alternative, and in a stricter sense, a transitional measure.
5) Based on the perspective that punctuation marks are forms required by the content of the text, set standards as objectively as possible and avoid subjective standards such as the writer’s intention.
6) Add punctuation marks according to consistent grammatical standards rather than removing or adding them based on subjective judgment that there are too many or too few of them in the text. Grammatical consistency is an important point of consideration.
7) The situation of utterance can become a perspective that establishes objective standards.
8) Ultimately, the current translation becomes the standard for judgment. But without considering the underlying meaning of the original text, punctuation marks may be added incorrectly to deliver a different meaning in the end.
9) The National Institute of the Korean Language’s Punctuation Commentary, representing modern orthographic rules should be used as the standard, but when its rules do not sufficiently support the forms required by the current text, punctuation marks need to be added beyond the given rules to address the needs of the text. Search for the punctuation marks needed in the text and add them. In this case, notation rules will be supplemented later based on linguistic reality.


Conclusions that provide guidance for the practical task of punctuating the text: 10) In case of commas, placing them only at the highest level within a sentence is a way to reduce confusion. But when there are cases where a comma cannot be omitted at a lower level, the comma at the next higher level can be omitted.
11) If there are an upper position comma and a lower position comma in a single sentence, use of semicolon (;) and colon (:), etc can be considered. This is not based on the worker’s will. Although English texts use these punctuation marks, this is not to follow the style of foreign languages such as English, but to find and reflect the form required by the Korean Bible’s writing style.
12) Punctuation marks from the traditional era like the base point may be used correctly when the sentence progresses in an analog manner. But even if they are partially correct, they may prevent readers from capturing the sentence structure as a whole, and hinder their understanding the meaning of the entire sentence. Punctuation marks should be added to reveal the structure of the sentence and in ways that help convey the meaning.
13) Rules for the exclamation mark states, “It is used in phrases expressing strong feelings, statements, imperatives, and petitions.” In case of the Bible, discernment of strong feelings should not be based on subjective judgment but on the situation of utterance so as to find the punctuation mark needed by the text.