Latin Saturnian

[docoflove1974]

I just got this notice via LinguistList; it might be interesting to some of you here. It's a new dissertation on various Italic writings--seems like it's half linguistics, half literature analysis. Many universities have access to dissertations, and often you can contact the institution (in this case, UCLA) to borrow a copy of the dissertation.

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LINGUIST List: Vol-18-3032. Wed Oct 17 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessag...amp;msgnumber=1

 

 

Institution: University of California, Los Angeles

Program: Indo-European Studies

Dissertation Status: Completed

Degree Date: 2006

 

Author: Angelo O. Mercado

Dissertation Title: The Latin Saturnian and Italic Verse

 

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics, Writing Systems

 

Subject Language(s): Latin (lat)

Language Family(ies): Indo-European

 

Dissertation Director(s):

Brent H. Vine

 

Dissertation Abstract:

 

This dissertation investigates the remains of archaic Latin, Faliscan, South Picene, Umbrian, and Oscan stichic verse, mainly from the linguistic and comparative-philological perspectives, and, departing from traditional syllable-counting and/or quantitativist approaches, proposes synchronic descriptions of their meters based on their systems of phonological accentuation.

 

The Latin Saturnian can be described as a complex accentual meter, based on the rules of (ante-) penultimate accentuation in Plautine Latin, with thirteen or twelve positions distributed into two half-verses and four quarters. The 130+ surviving literary and epigraphic epic, elegiac, and gnomic verses of archaic Latin point to 25 metrical line archetypes related to each other derivationally through the operation of inversion, anaclasis, and acephaly on essentially two half-verse archetypes. The meager Faliscan remains may instantiate two Saturnian line archetypes, either by initial or (ante-) penultimate accentuation. Close examination of South Picene poetry likewise yields a Saturnian and several more accentual trochaic-dactylic cola according to Sabellian initial accentuation. The trochaic-dactylic colon is also found in Vestinian and Paelignian Oscan, and possibly Faliscan. Lastly, Paelignian attests a complex trochaic-dactylic pentapody.

 

The synchronic descriptions I propose further point to a prehistoric Italic poetic-metrical unity, recoverable through the tentative reconstruction of an extendable and invertible *trochaic-dactylic colon. This is also found in archaic Celtic, suggesting a possible Proto-Italo-Celtic unity as well. That archaic Italic (and Celtic) meters can be described in coherent systems with reference to phonological accent has far-reaching implications for the broader comparison of Indo-European metrical systems and for the reconstruction of the Urvers.

Edited October 17, 2007 by docoflove1974

[ASCLEPIADES]

I just got this notice via LinguistList; it might be interesting to some of you here.

Gratiam habeo, Lady D.