The Punctuation of Street Signs

Vivian Cook

Paper on Street Sign punctuation

 

Standard punctuation

Punctuation of the four types of street sign

 

1
locating

2 informing

3 controlling

4 service

sentence

. ! ? Sentence initial cap

 

. lexical sentences

 

 

clause

, ; :

 

 

 

 

phrase

, -

LB noun phrases

,  lists
LB noun phrases
All Caps/ Lowercase

LB noun/ verb phrases

 

word

_ (space)

LB words

LB words
All caps/ Word initial caps

LB words
Word initial caps

All caps

morpheme

 

 

 

 

letter

’ .

St.

 

 

 

layout

 

centred

 

often centred

 

'Standard' English grammatical punctuation compared with street sign punctuation

Planning notice street sign
Type 2 Informing sign with lexical sentences, full stops etc.

 

street sign red mezze restaurant

Type 1 locating sign with lower case, no punctuation

 

restaurant sign great grub

Type 2 informing sign with different types of list punctuation

 

street sign blackboard Ram Jam Inn

Type 2 Informing sign, word-initial cap, centred

 

Warning street sign Thieves

Type 3 Controlling sign, all caps, no punctuation

 

welcome street sign Boots

Type 2 informing sign, line break punctuation, no caps, list structure