Why is there a comma instead of a semicolon between the statement "'I'm sorry, I don't cry as much'"?

Question

I'm reading a book *No Apparent Distress* by Rachel Pearson and saw a comma between the following compound sentence "'I'm sorry, I don't cry as much." Why is there a comma instead of a semicolon? Is this not a comma splice?

Answer 1

Yes, this is an example of a comma splice. The reason this punctuation may be acceptable is that it appears in dialogue. My undergraduate creative writing instructor, Ehud Havazelet, explained that a semicolon does not make a sound, and should therefore not be used in dialogue. Following this logic, Pearson may have felt that a period would have created too much separation within what is essentially a single thought, and thus opted for the comma.