Blog 1 Instructions: Option A, Indo-European

Instructions: Write a one-page poem using Indo-European roots and features from the appendix of the American Heritage Dictionary, or from other sources. Place corresponding English morphemes under the Indo-European roots. Provide a separate plain English translation. Post the poem and translation on the blog spot, no later than October 7.

1 point for Thematic Features:

How to Kill a Dragon; Praise of a Hero; The Shepherd-King; Grains and Grapes; Protecting Women, Children, & Animals; Eternal Renown; Language of Poets/ Gods; Weaver of Words.

2 points for Phonological Features:

Repetition of sounds at initial, central, and final positions within and across lines: alliteration, consonance, homeoteleuton, paramoeon, assonance, rime.

Repetition of words across lines (horizontally and/or vertically): ring-composition, word-binders, line-binders, verse-binders, frames, inversions.

2 points for Morphological & Grammatical Features:

Use of inflectional affixes for nouns and adjectives: case, number.

Use of inflectional affixes for verbs: present/past; 1st, 2nd, 3rd person; singular/plural.

1 point for Syntactic Features:

Standard SOV word order for main clauses (subject-object-verb), and flexible word order variations of the SOV order for dependent clauses.

4 points for Semantic Features:

Use 2 simple formulas (see IE poetics handout).

Use 2 complex formulas: 1 kenning and 1 merism.


Total: 10 items worth 1 point each for a total of 10 percentage points.


Indo-European Literary Features
from How to Kill a Dragon by Calvert Watkins

1. (p.38) Two different levels within the lexicon of a language:

“language of the gods” “language of men”
aesthetically marked aesthetically unmarked
language of poets (early Irish bérla na filed) language of prose
“tongue of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1) “tongue of men”


2. (p. 39) Boundary sensitive:

Verse lines correspond to sentence, clause, phrase boundaries.
Play of figures for initial, second, pre-final, and final positions.
Sensitive vertically and horizontally.

“Beauty lies at the edge where simplicity and complexity, symmetry and asymmetry, order and chaos, contend with one another.” (Neumann)

3. (p. 40) Non-configurational vs. configurational:

separation; disjunction of constituents adjoined constituents – NA, NG, split NP
flexible word orders set word orders
distinctive movement rules governed by movement rules
creation; freedom; complexity; asymmetry; chaos; liberal; agency; variation convention; standard; simplicity; symmetry; order; conservative; law; repetition


4. (p. 41) Formulas:

Traditional themes – hero slays the dragon, bard memorializes hero/king/lord/Lord, and others.
Formulaic figures – sounds
syntax
senses
Set phrases –

PROTECT MEN and LIVESTOCK
WIVES, CHILDREN, and CATTLE
IMPERISHABLE FAME
The LORD is my SHEPHERD (= “king”)

Taxonomy of Formulaic Phrase Types

I. Simple (function: nominators; designators; symbolic signs).

1. Quantifiers (function: totality of notion).

a. Argument + Negative Argument (with negation morphemes).
Vedic: “the seen and the unseen”


b. Argument + Counter Argument (with antonyms).
Greek: “gods above and below”


2. Qualifiers (function: intensification).

a. Argument + Negative Counter-Argument (litotes, with negation morphemes).
Old Persian: “true and not false” = “absolutely true”


b. Argument + Synonymous Argument (non-litotes; with synonyms).
Old English: “safe and sound” = “very safe”
Greek: “prayer and incantations” = “earnest prayer”


II. Complex (function: connectors; symbolic and indexical signs).

1. Kenning A + B = C (metaphoric, relation of similarity, relational, often genitive).
Greek “horse of the sea” =
Old Irish “milk of grain” =
Hittite “dog of the river” =
Greek “house carrier” =
Old English “shepherd of the people” =

2. Merism C: A, B (metonymic, relation of contiguity, copulative, synecdoche).
Hittite: “barley and spelt” =
Hittite: “grain and grapes” =
Greek: “bread and wine” =
Scriptural:“bread and water” =