oral and written language, punctuation as timing

D: I was pondering apostrophes.
Or perhaps I should say apotrophe's or apostrophes'.
<:

I wonder if proficient speakers of a language are on to something.
Various punctuation symbols are associated with a certain length of pause between words.
Arguably, there are NOT pauses between words without these implicit punctuation symbols.

Like Ceqli, Decimese does not requires spaces between words.
Since the words have a Mandarin-style layout, word breaks are clear, even without spaces.
Use of space(s) could be considered "punctuation lite" for oral speakers.

We all KNOW to pause where a comma, colon or period would appear on paper.
(Apostrophes are invisible in timing in spoken speech.)
Ergo, just initially require one or two spaces in written form, in lieu of more advanced knowledge.
This timing CAN be built into the HIOXian character set, with a key 'meaning segment' denoting timing pause for punctuation, if any.

Example:

The mailman, seeing the dog about to bite him, yelled, "stop!"

Decimese quasi-form:

Themailman seeingthedogabouttobitehim yelledstop!

D: I like the Spanish punctuation symbol, with inverted exclamation mark and question and mark before the sentence begins.
Just using spacing and English punctuation would work.
I'm not sure how I wish to indicate a query in Decimese.
I think I'd use a variant of Esperanto.
Much improved, of course. <:

Que plus who/what/where/when/why/how - some totally predictable form.
Modular- based in SMELT key concepts- space, matter, ethics, logic, time.
Or simple yes/no.
The problem with this modular approach, including for key "closed class" function words, is that the most common and fundamental words can become lengthy.
I believe brevity is key for closed class words.
This requires a powerful cipher for this word class to use consonant clusters.
Additional vowels, even on a 1:1 basis for lexical meaning, add considerably to word duration by time.

Take, for example, such a simple concept as "he".
Pronoun, masculine, singular, third person.
And so, I dedicate myself to a powerful consonant cluster truncation for a syllable/lexemic based vocabulary.

Wish me luck! <: