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Medieval punctuation was different from the one we use now; for example, Medieval punctuation included punctus, punctus versus, and punctus flexus.

When did their equivalent in modern English emerge?

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Different changes emerged at different times. This is not a question with a single answer. – ShreevatsaR Aug 28 '10 at 18:56
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The question is relative to the punctuation I reported in the sentence before. – kiamlaluno Aug 28 '10 at 19:03
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It wasn't when I made that comment. :-) It asked "When did modern punctuation emerge?" and still does in the title. Anyway, which particular aspect of punctuation is the question about: are you asking when punctus, punctus versus, punctus flexus emerged? – ShreevatsaR Aug 29 '10 at 6:17
The question is reported in the body, and I changed it to make it clearer. The question is when the equivalent of punctus, punctus versus, and punctus flexus emerged in modern English. – kiamlaluno Aug 29 '10 at 6:35
I think most people that read your question will want to know the meaning of punctus, punctus versus and punctus flexus. Can you include that in your question? In case you don't have it: ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/punc.htm – b.roth Aug 30 '10 at 0:03

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Modern punctuation, designed to clarify syntactic structures rather than to indicate breathings, is largely a Renaissance invention, developing during the first generations of the printing press, and codified in the eighteenth century (about the same time that capitalization and spelling became fixed in more or less their current form). Among the earliest works showing "modern" punctuation is Francis Bacon's Essays. An interesting early discussion of the nature of modern punctuation can be found in Ben Jonson's English Grammar (composed ca. 1617, printed posthumously in 1640). Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century punctuation practice varies considerably, but tends to be "heavy"; current "light" punctuation is largely the invention of H. G. and F. G. Fowler, The King's English.

http://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/punc.htm

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