Publications and Projects
Homer
My work on Homer combines Oral-Formulaic theory with tools from contemporary linguistics and cognitive studies. The goal is to get a better appreciation of verbal creativity in oral traditions, and to understand how the poetic diction changes over time.
Click on the icons below to download pdf files from Academia.edu or to send me an email requesting a manuscript.
Homer’s Living Language: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Formularity, Dialect, and Creativity in Oral-Traditional Poetry
Habilitation Thesis/Manuscript under Contract with Cambridge University Press
My current book projects aims to advance our understanding of Homer’s creativity and verbal art by looking at contemporary, everyday parallels to specific formal features of Homer’s diction, namely formularity, Kunstsprache, and meter.
Homeric Formulas and their Antiquity:
A Constructional Study of ἀνδροτῆτα καὶ ἥβην
Glotta.
This article employs the new tools of constructional analysis and linguistic productivity in order to evaluate the antiquity of the famous Homeric expression λιποῦσ’ ἀνδροτῆτα καὶ ἥβην ‘leaving behind manliness and youth’ (Il. 16.858, 22.363), which is usually regarded as a deep archaism preserved within the poetic diction, possibly going back to pre-Mycenaean times.
Homeric Constructions, their Productivity, and the Development of Epic Greek
in L. Van Beek (ed.), Language Change in Epic Greek and other Oral Traditions. Leiden: Brill.
This article presents a study of how speech-introduction constructions change between the Iliad and the Odyssey. It argues that the productivity of constructions (as measured by looking at type and token frequencies) can tell us whether a construction is young or old in the poetic technique.
The Mind of the Poet: Linguistic and Cognitive Perspectives
in C. Gallo (ed.). Omero: quaestiones disputatae (Ambrosiana Graecolatina 5), 79–105. Milano-Roma, Biblioteca Ambrosiana: Bulzoni.
This article gives an overview of some recent advances in the fields of linguistics and cognitive studies and how they can give us insight into the creativity of oral poets (and Homer specifically).
Constructions: A New Approach to Formularity, Discourse, and Syntax in Homer
This is UCLA my dissertation, in which I use constructions (as borrowed from Construction Grammar) as a tool to explore Homeric formularity, the diachronic development of Homer's diction, as well as the thorny problem of Homeric word order.
New Perspectives on Formularity
in Stephanie W. Jamison, H. Craig Melchert, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 21st Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen. 27–44.
This article introduces the idea of using constructions to describe Homeric formulas, and explores how recent developments in the fields of corpus linguistics, language acquisition studies, and usage-based linguistics can help us better understand the phenomenon of formularity in oral traditional poetry.
Greek and
Indo-European Linguistics
Reconstructing the PIE Causative in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
Indo-European Linguistics 8.1–45.
This paper uses typological data from Mayan K'iche' (and other languages) to argue that the original function of the PIE CoC-éye/o- present was to form causatives to unaccusative bases, and that the iterative meaning (to unergative bases) is a secondary innovation in some daughter branches, which is tied to changes in the productivity of the category.
The Origin of the Caland System and the Typology of Adjectives
Indo-European Linguistics 4.15–52.
This paper argues that the Caland system rests on a Pre-PIE verb-like adjective class, which formed root aorists, and that the Caland system as we know it came to be when PIE shifted to having a noun-like adjective class, and the Caland roots had to be adapted to the new system via derivation (while the old root aorists were gradually lost).
Initial 'Jod' in Greek and the etymology of Gk. ἵππος ‘horse’
in Stephanie W. Jamison, H. Craig Melchert, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 24th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen. 1–26.
This paper proposes a solution to the old problem of the two outcomes of intial 'Jod' in Greek, one that posits two different outcomes for the sequences *h1y- and *h2/3y- respectively. Among friends, this is now referred to as Bozzone's law.
PIE Subjunctive: Function and Development
in H. Craig Melchert (ed.). The Indo-European Verb: Proceedings of the Conference of the Society for Indo-European Studies, Los Angeles 13–15 September 2010. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag. 7–18.
This paper argues that the PIE Subjunctive was originally a future in meaning, and that it developed from a group of old simple thematic presents (=Vedic class I presents) which were pushed to the side when new characterized presents were created.
Indo-European and Oral Poetics
Epicurus and the Dragon: Traces of an Indo-European Myth in Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 1.62–79
in J. F. Nagy (ed.). Comparing Dragons: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Turnhout: Brepols.
In this article I argue that Lucretius' description of Epicurus' fight with Religio has some (unexpectedly) deep Indo-European roots, and represents a close parallel to Indra's fight with the serpent Vrtra in Rig Veda 1.32.
Weaving Songs for the Dead in Indo-European: Women Poets, Funerary Laments, and the Ecology of *k̑léu̯os
In David M. Goldstein, Stephanie W. Jamison, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 27th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen.
This paper argues that the oral poetic genre of the funerary lament, as specifically performed by women, should be reconstructed back to PIE, and arguably represents our oldest (and still living) genre of Indo-European poetry.
Homer
My work on Homer combines Oral-Formulaic theory with tools from contemporary linguistics and the cognitive sciences. The goal is to get a better appreciation of verbal creativity in oral traditions, and to understand how the poetic diction changes over time. I am also interested in tackling the big questions of Homeric philology (when and how were the Iliad and the Odyssey textualized?) through the application of modern computational methods (i.e., quantitative authorship analysis, productivity studies).
Click on the icons below to download pdf files from Academia.edu or to send me an email requesting a manuscript.
Homer’s Living Language:
Formularity, Dialect, and Creativity
in Oral-Traditional Poetry
Cambridge University Press
My new book advances our understanding of Homer’s creativity and verbal art by looking at contemporary, everyday parallels to specific formal features of Homer’s diction, namely formularity, Kunstsprache, and meter.
The Habilitation Thesis version was completed in the summer of 2021, the (expanded and updated) book version went into production in 2023.
Click below for a 20% discount (valid through March 2025!).
Chunks, Collocations, and Constructions: The Homeric Formula in Cognitive and Linguistic Perspective
in David Sävborg and Bernt Ø. Thorvaldsen (eds.), New Light on Formulas in Oral Poetry and Prose, 113–39. Turnhout: Brepols.
This article provides a compact overview of the new methods and tools I have adopted for approaching the Homeric formula over the past decade for an audience in the field of folklore studies. I address the questions: what do formulas do, how do we find them in a text, and how to we capture their flexibility? It includes a small preview of materials that will appear in my 2024 book.
One or Many Homers? Using Quantitative Authorship Analysis to Study the Homeric Question. With Ryan Sandell
In David M. Goldstein, Stephanie W. Jamison, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 32nd Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Hamburg: Buske.
This paper applies techniques of quantitative authorship analysis (QAA) to the Homeric corpus (Iliad and Odyssey) to attempt to shed light on the composition and internal structure of these works. The primary objectives are to demonstrate a) that QAA can replicate the modern communis opinio on major structural divisions within the corpus (e.g., that the Iliad and the Odyssey should be ascribed to minimally two different authors and that Iliad 10 stands out within the Homeric corpus), and b) that QAA can be used to evaluate which among existing models of the textualization of Homer’s epics appears more likely.
Homeric Formulas and their Antiquity:
A Constructional Study of ἀνδροτῆτα καὶ ἥβην
Glotta 98.33–67. https://doi.org/10.13109/glot.2022.98.1.33
This article employs the new tools of constructional analysis and linguistic productivity in order to evaluate the antiquity of the famous Homeric expression λιποῦσ’ ἀνδροτῆτα καὶ ἥβην ‘leaving behind manliness and youth’ (Il. 16.858, 22.363), which is usually regarded as a deep archaism preserved within the poetic diction, possibly going back to pre-Mycenaean times.
Technologies of Orality: Formularity, Meter, and Kunstsprache in Homer
in Laura Lulli (ed.), The Mechanisms of the Oral Communicative System. The Case of the Epos in Archaic Greece, 51-82. Berlin: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110751963-005
This article presents a quick preview of some of the themes that I explore in my upcoming book (Homer's Living Language), addressing the question: does meter (metrical constraints) cause the poets to rely on formularity and an artificial mix of linguistic forms (Kunstsprache), or could all of these formal features (meter, formularity, and Kunstsprache) be understood as adaptive technologies that emerge from the circumstances of oral performance and help poets achieve their artistic goals?
Homeric Constructions, their Productivity, and the Development of Epic Greek
in Lucien Van Beek (ed.), Language Change in Epic Greek and other Oral Traditions. Leiden: Brill.
This article (completed in 2017) presents a study of how speech-introduction constructions change between the Iliad and the Odyssey. It argues that the productivity of constructions (as measured by looking at type and token frequencies) can tell us whether a construction is young or old in the poetic technique.
LUCIEN JUST PUBLISH THE VOLUME ALREADY YOU ARE KILLING ME! 😄
The Mind of the Poet: Linguistic and Cognitive Perspectives
in Carlo Gallo (ed.). Omero: quaestiones disputatae (Ambrosiana Graecolatina 5), 79–105. Milano-Roma, Biblioteca Ambrosiana: Bulzoni.
This article gives an overview of some recent advances in the fields of linguistics and cognitive studies and how they can give us insight into the creativity of oral poets (and Homer specifically).
Constructions: A New Approach to Formularity, Discourse, and Syntax in Homer
This is UCLA my dissertation, in which I use constructions (as borrowed from Construction Grammar) as a tool to explore Homeric formularity, the diachronic development of Homer's diction, as well as the thorny problem of Homeric word order.
New Perspectives on Formularity
in Stephanie W. Jamison, H. Craig Melchert, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 21st Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen. 27–44.
This article introduces the idea of using constructions to describe Homeric formulas, and explores how recent developments in the fields of corpus linguistics, language acquisition studies, and usage-based linguistics can help us better understand the phenomenon of formularity in oral traditional poetry.
Greek and
Indo-European Linguistics
Reconstructing the PIE Causative in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
Indo-European Linguistics 8.1–45.
This paper uses typological data from Mayan K'iche' (and other languages) to argue that the original function of the PIE CoC-éye/o- present was to form causatives to unaccusative bases, and that the iterative meaning (to unergative bases) is a secondary innovation in some daughter branches, which is tied to changes in the productivity of the category.
The Origin of the Caland System and the Typology of Adjectives
Indo-European Linguistics 4.15–52.
This paper argues that the Caland system rests on a Pre-PIE verb-like adjective class, which formed root aorists, and that the Caland system as we know it came to be when PIE shifted to having a noun-like adjective class, and the Caland roots had to be adapted to the new system via derivation (while the old root aorists were gradually lost).
Initial 'Jod' in Greek and the etymology of Gk. ἵππος ‘horse’
in Stephanie W. Jamison, H. Craig Melchert, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 24th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen. 1–26.
This paper proposes a solution to the old problem of the two outcomes of intial 'Jod' in Greek, one that posits two different outcomes for the sequences *h1y- and *h2/3y- respectively. Among friends, this is now referred to as Bozzone's law.
PIE Subjunctive: Function and Development
in H. Craig Melchert (ed.). The Indo-European Verb: Proceedings of the Conference of the Society for Indo-European Studies, Los Angeles 13–15 September 2010. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag. 7–18.
This paper argues that the PIE Subjunctive was originally a future in meaning, and that it developed from a group of old simple thematic presents (=Vedic class I presents) which were pushed to the side when new characterized presents were created.
Indo-European and Oral Poetics
Epicurus and the Dragon: Traces of an Indo-European Myth in Lucretius, De Rerum Natura 1.62–79
in J. F. Nagy (ed.). Comparing Dragons: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. Turnhout: Brepols.
In this article I argue that Lucretius' description of Epicurus' fight with Religio has some (unexpectedly) deep Indo-European roots, and represents a close parallel to Indra's fight with the serpent Vrtra in Rig Veda 1.32.
Weaving Songs for the Dead in Indo-European: Women Poets, Funerary Laments, and the Ecology of *k̑léu̯os
In David M. Goldstein, Stephanie W. Jamison, and Brent Vine (eds.). Proceedings of the 27th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference. Bremen: Hempen.
This paper argues that the oral poetic genre of the funerary lament, as specifically performed by women, should be reconstructed back to PIE, and arguably represents our oldest (and still living) genre of Indo-European poetry.