Область употребления, сфера действия и иерархия контекстов пунктуационного знака

The paper deals with the theoretical problems of the interaction of punctuation marks and the contexts in which they are used. With regard to punctuation, the text has a potentially complex multi-stage hierarchical structure. It is important to distinguish between three areas of use (macrocontexts): 1) text; 2) phrase; 3) word. At the text level, there are paragraphemic means with high expressiveness - spatial, color, font - in combination with punctuation means. Punctuation marks are the main means of division at the phrasal level. A hyphen, an apostrophe, a slash are the means of division at the word level. They are graphic signs similar to punctuation marks. The usage of punctuation marks depends on their microcontexts (the scopes of action). It proves difficult to use and interpret the behavior of punctuation marks in case when the principles of the hierarchy of the contexts they serve are violated.