<< message forwarded by listowner >> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 00:05:57 +0100 From: Robert Dyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Emmanuel Plantade's reply is extremely interesting, and I will enjoy trying out the new theory. I suspect that if it is correct it will end up by saying something similar to, but perhaps more complex than, what "my" school is saying. It cannot, I hope, dismiss Cicero's observations in Orator on how to construct prose "cola" or word-groups. Centuries of writing Ciceronian prose, based on those rules, seem to have worked fairly well in creating real Latin prose in real Latin word order. If I understand the theory right, it rejects, as I do, the ridiculous and long-abandoned attempts to determine Latin prosody in terms of individual "words". The Romans did not even write single words; they wrote in continuous breath-group units (separated by punctuation reflecting the importance of the pause) that Fraenkel and I both happen to call "cola". All questions of word stress are determined by where the preeminent coinciding stresses fall in the colon (breath group or whatever - Fraenkel may have been obstinate about his chosen word but should not be judged merely on his terminology - his groups of words as the prosodic or metrical units are a simple and correct observation) and by which collocations of individual stresses (which do, of course, exist but are subordinated to the colon rules, as Cicero fully understands) are permitted, which forbidden. Zielinski's statistics are useful. It seems to me that I will accept the new theory if it ends up by proving Cicero was in accord with it - even better if it explains the facts in front of him better than I do - or even than he did. I will be startled if it proves both Cicero and me wrong, and doubt if I would accept such as "proof", given the possibility that its premises are based on contemporary linguistic theories in conflict with the ancients' observations as badly as the clumsy old English overstressed word-by-word pronunciation was when it ignored the Ciceronian rules and the rapidity of Latin elisions and liaisons within the colon. Rob Dyer ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
