Metrics

The metrics part is the foundation of the Chiron project. Currently it is fully implemented for Ancient Greek, but most of the components are shared and thus applicable to Latin too.

Almost 40 years ago A.W. Bulloch wrote that “our understanding of the Greek hexameter […] would certainly be fundamentally reestablished, if not revolutionized, if all known examples were to be analysed on a computer according to their most important characteristics”. Such a view is probably emphasized, anyway it would be easy to show that at least two points can be dramatically relevant in the study of prosodical, metrical and linguistic phenomena of the Classical texts: the availability of massive and detailed data collected with a uniform method, and the requirement of a well-defined theory formulated in a strongly formalized way to collect them.

Of course many of the complex problems involved in performing a serious metrical analysis cannot be fully defined from a theorical standpoint, but when facing computer analysis one must at least try to find satisfactory solutions for them. This is at the same time the most difficult and intriguing aspect of computer-related solutions applied to humanities: every single theorical aspect must be fully defined and formalized. For instance, just think about the definition of a word (“a word is what you think is a word”), from which derive vital assumptions for word-ends, metrical laws and inner metrical structure.

In these pages you will find an overview of the metrical analysis system. For a very short presentation of the system you can also download the proceedings of a conference on Digital Philology held in Venice in May 2008.