90581
Before the introduction of the comma, how would the Japanese address one
another in a sentence such as- in English: "I am going to the store, John." By
starting a new line on the paper? Period mark? Double spaces? ...Xに対して?
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2021-09-30T01:35:13.340
90567
2021-10-01T06:17:31.487
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question
history nouns punctuation
Addressing someone without punctuation?
I should probably leave it to a native-speaker or someone with a better
understanding to answer.

But, a quick answer is that when you address someone there's never a particle
like は or が or を following. If you see ジョン without a particle or ジョンよ it's
most likely direct address. But also, context often makes it very clear that
someone is being addressed.

Also, the older the material you read the more structured the writing style
tends to be. So whereas in casual speech particles can often be omitted, you
are not likely to see this in literature from earlier periods. But even when
particles happen to be omitted, you can usually tell.

If I write in English

> John pass the peas!

with a proper context, like you know John is sitting with Nancy at the dinner
table, it's not too difficult to understand even without a comma.

The form of the verb itself can be a give away. Is it a command, is it an
invitation, is it a suggestion?

Yet also, when we speak, there are no commas. Commas are a mere visual clue in
written text. In English, we barely have any inflected forms. In the spoken
word, we can hear the intonation and rhythm and understand what's being said.
In the written word, for English, this is all virtually lost. And so in the
written word, in English, we need visual clues to guide and assist us--in
fact, we've come to depend upon punctuation to a certain extent that makes
reading _older_ documents a challenge, particularly those from previous era
when punctuation may have been less indulged in.

In any Japanese sentence, the verb must be inflected one way or another. The
form of the verb conveys a lot of information: いく is not a command, it's a
declarative sentence. いこう is a statement that conveys some kind of intention.
いけ is clearly a command.

To say ジョンいく sounds a bit odd. What might you mean by it? But, to say ジョンいこう
or ジョンいけ can make sense pretty much on their own, no punctuation is necessary
in the written word. (Perhaps with proper context, ジョンいく could sound natural,
as in " _John, I'm going_.")
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answer
The answer is nothing. Japanese does not have a special form for
[vocative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocative_case) other than nominative
(not many languages have), and before the introduction of punctuation, you can
just guess it from the context that it is an address. Even today, you hardly
see commas and periods in speech balloons of manga, that means you still have
to sometimes. And it is not very difficult (no match for Biblical Syriac that
you can't even tell question from declarative).

Classical Japanese had a particle よ like _O_ in "O captain!", that was used a
lot more commonly than today, but was far from obligatory. For example, below
is a page from a manuscript of 竹取物語
([source](https://opac.kokugakuin.ac.jp/library/lime/tkm9133111/pages/page040.html)),
the oldest known Japanese novel.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hMyT3.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hMyT3.jpg)

In the line on the center of the right page, you see

> くるまをよせていざ **かぐや姫** きたなき所にいかで[か]…  
>  （るまよせさくや姫き所）  
>  _...pulled over (the coach, and said:) "Come, **Princess Kaguya** , why do
> you (have to be) in the unclean place..."_

and there is literally no punctuation at all.

The situation wouldn't change much either in English before the modern
orthography, for example, a medieval manuscript of _Beowulf_
([source](http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=cotton_ms_vitellius_a_xv_f140r)):

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/48Z4O.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/48Z4O.jpg)

You see lines in upper half contain:

> ...ꝥ hie **þeoden min** ƿið þe moton  
>  _...that they, **my lord** , with you (at the) assembly..._

> geteoh ðinra gegn cƿida **glædman / hroðgar**...  
>  _...issue your reply, **gracious (man) Hrothgar**. ..._

all addressed with nominative, with no visible punctuation (the period-like
marks seen in the page denote verse lines).
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