ABSTRACT
Three types of textual punctuation are to be found in the motet manuscripts: the punctus, or period (.); the punctus elevatus https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315075785/61ef6329-e596-486c-8569-b5ab45f715dc/content/fig33_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> ; and the punctus interrogativus (1).
The complexity and current obscurity of the interpretation of these signs has prompted many scholars and most editors to ignore the punctuation altogether. In any case, the bearing which the punctuation has on the question of the relationship between text and music has not been seen as crucial.
However, in the thirteenth-century motet, the texts with which we are dealing are a particular kind of verse, not of fixed line length, syllable count or rhyme scheme. This is due to the fact that, at least in the early stages of motet composition, the motets were derived from pre-composed music, or clausulae, to which Latin or French texts were added. Thus the textual line length or syllable count was dependent upon the length of the pre-existing musical phrase.
Preliminary studies have suggested that, in the motet manuscripts, the punctus is used to mark off an aside, an insertion whether emotional, or pensive, or reflective, or additional. Refrains inserted into short narratives seem always to be preceded or followed by punctūs. Thus the whole question could extend beyond the textual punctuation itself and shed some light on the compositional processes at work in the motet.
