A. E. Belikov Statistical analysis of the I century AD epic poets’ vocabulary in comparison with the Sallustian corpus (pp. 47–53)

Author

A. E. Belikov (Lomonosov Moscow State University)

Pages\n 47–53

Summary\n

The paper is dedicated to the structure of the Icentury AD epic poets’ vocabulary. Word frequency lists (based on the concordances to Virgil, Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, Statius and Silius Italicus) being statistically analyzed show great overlap and unity, which was theoretically postulated by Manu Leumann and which is now proved empirically. As an experimentum crucis prosaic author was to be included in comparison. The Sallustian corpus was chosen because the word frequency list was available and the chronological distance between authors was short. And even though Sallust is said to be a “poetical” writer and stylist (fact that should have made him closer to epic vocabulary) the results obtained show a great gap between him and poetry. There is some part of necessary words, that are common in any kind of text (e.g. esse, ire, venire), but it is limited; and there is a mass of words common in epic language, that do not interfere with the prosaic author. More detailed analysis shows that the most strict principles of choosing words are applied by Valerius Flaccus (which confirms the results of previously made investigations). Also there are some peculiar results for Lucanus, which provoke a special research.

Keywords\n

poets’ vocabulary, Roman epos, Sallust.

References\n

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