Re: Latin a loglang? (was Re: Unambiguous languages (was: EU allumettes))

Ray Brown scripsit:

> Vergil was certainly written to be _heard_ declaimed and, again, would be
> understood as his work was being recited. Actually recitation can make a
> difference. I remember in my teens once of poem of G.M. Hopkins I found
> difficult - but when i heard it properly declaimed on the radio, it made
> perfect sense.
I read an article once which accounted for Milton's very difficult and
convoluted syntax as a compromise between a) getting the correct images
in the correct order and b) making grammatical English.  It recommended
that when first approaching Milton, one should not attempt to parse
what he says, but simply allow the content words to wash over one
successively, postponing any consideration of the connective tissue.

For those who wish to try it, here's the opening of _Paradise Lost_:

	Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit
	Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste
	Brought death into the world and all our woe,
	With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
	Restore us and regain the blissful seat,
	Sing, Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
	Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
	That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed
	In the beginning how the heav'ns and earth
	Rose out of Chaos; or if Sion hill
	Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd
	Fast by the oracle of God, I thence
	Invoke thy aid to my advent'rous song,
	That with no middle flight intends to soar
	Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues
	Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.
	And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer
	Before all temples th' upright heart and pure,
	Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first
	Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
	Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss
	And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark
	Illumine, what is low raise and support,
	That to the height of this great argument
	I may assert Eternal Providence
	And justify the ways of God to men.

Note that this is only three sentences!

> But then, I guess I'm a rara_avis who loves Latin, thinks Vergil was one
> of the greatest of western poets & actually reads Vergil for pleasure.
Me too -- though I can no longer do the last: too much out of practice.

--
John Cowan  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com  jcowan@reutershealth.com
SAXParserFactory [is] a hideous, evil monstrosity of a class that should
be hung, shot, beheaded, drawn and quartered, burned at the stake,
buried in unconsecrated ground, dug up, cremated, and the ashes tossed
in the Tiber while the complete cast of Wicked sings "Ding dong, the
witch is dead."  --Elliotte Rusty Harold on xml-dev