Shall we insert a comma? Punctuation dilemma of Polish ancient texts publisher

Abstract

The author discusses the problem concerning modernisation of the historical, based on intonation, rhetorical punctuation system distinguished for ancient Polish texts (up to 18-th century) but hardly comprehensible nowadays. She presents the features of the system and rules of its application, quoting examples derived from printed literary masterpieces of three best known 16-th century Polish poets: Mikołaj Rej, Jan Kochanowski and Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński. Being convinced of inevitability of replacing old punctuation system by modern one (logical-syntactic) she also perceives necessity of description of the historical one.