PUNCTUATION EFFECTS ON LANGUAGE: PARENTHESIS, HYPHENS, DASHES, BRACKETS, AND ELLIPSES IN THE ANIMATED CARTOON SERIES

Abstract

This paper examines the use of punctuation marks parentheses, hyphens, dashes, brackets, and ellipses, in the Pakistani animated cartoon series Milkateer and Commander Safeguard to determine their impact on story structure and narrative delivery. Punctuation marks help the readers to enhance their understanding of sentences, characters’ development, concepts’ transitions and also emphasizing the key points by indicating pauses. The research analyzes the specific events through qualitative method to identify and categorize the occurrences which involve in punctuation marks. A detail analysis explores how punctuation changes the delivery of daily conversation, the division of timing, or functions which show the visual storytelling tools who potentially influences viewers’ perspectives and engagement through language use and effect. In this article, the punctuation emerges as an important contributor to narrative style, comedic effect, and the overall textual meaning of animation cartoons in the Pakistan. In this study, the researchers use content analysis to examine the utterances from episodes of Milkateer and Commander Safeguard. Maximum ten episodes were analyzed based on their visual elements and narrative structures to identify the use of various punctuation marks, including parentheses, dashes, brackets, and ellipses. Every punctuation mark was analyzed in the contextual meaning of the story, humorous comic delivery, and character utterance of dialogue. The researchers noted the frequency of different punctuation marks and compared patterns to understand each mark's role within the series.