Why Did Isadore of Seville Develop Punctuation? Why Do I Want to Teach People to Read?

recently I was asked why I, as a reading interventionist, had selected punctuation as a learning focus for my students in the upcoming semester. The questioner wondered how punctuation was important to reading. This was mind-boggling to me because I think it is a necessary ingredient to reading comprehension. It is what signals us to understand a sentence. Punctuation indicates the end, or continuation of, a sentence; semi-colons can do both. Punctuation tells me if a character is yelling or excited! It tells me whether a story is narrated or includes dialog:

"You should check out this short podcast episode about origin of punctuation." recommended a colleague.

"Awesome!" I responded

That was the  exchange that led to my learning about Isadore of Seville. She recommended a podcast titled, "Cabinet of Curiosities" by Aaron Mahnke. Episode 294 is titled, "Point Made" and is about Isadore's desire to add marks to text so it could convey a broader depth of meaning. 

Why was I compelled to write about Isadore? I think I am grateful for scholars who have created order so that we can better communicate. My students frequently us abbreviations in their writing as a result of texting habits. I wonder how this will effect their generation's ability to convey depth of feeling. Maybe emojis?

Aristophanes was another ancient scholar responsible for the development of punctuation. The end.