The treatment of parentheses in the language theory of the 17th - 19th century

International audienceWhile up to the end of the 18th century language-theoretical thought had little to do with the phenomenon of parenthesis for various technical and rhetorical reasons, and often only one critical interest. The "empiricization" of grammar (Forsgren 1992: 36) and the pragmatization of language thought (cf. Clarke / Nerlich 1996) and the expansion of syntactic analytical instruments from the 1820s onwards, approaches are developed that seek to grasp parenthetical insertions in their syntactically linear, semantic, textual and communicative-pragmatic dimensions. What distinguishes these approaches from those of their predecessors is not only the analysis of possible forms and functions of parenthesis, e.g. in relation to the carrier, but also their systematic consideration as an integrative and necessary component of human speech and communication, which contributes substantially to the mutual understanding of the interlocutors