Regarding: Punctuation and word-separation in scriptio continua.
Good word to all of you. I am learning to read archaic Greek in its scriptio continua form. I began by converting modern formatted Greek texts into uncial scriptio continua format. Then, I looked to see if I could find in the continuous string of letters something to guide me in separating them into lines and words. And I found patterns, repetitions and symmetries between the letters that I could use to logically separate the letters into lines-of-text and individual words. From this I see that there is a way, based on logic and arithmetic, to include both line-separation and word-separation in a scriptio continua text. And this method can be used to format a text according to the intent of its author.
I have not been able to find anyone else who has written about such a method existing in scriptio continua. Have any of you heard of something like this, or know of anyone who is working on this? Any resources or contacts would be of great help to me as I continue my research.
The best way to deal with scriptio continua is how the ancient Greeks did it themselves: just read it out and the continuous string of letters automatically articulates itself into syllables and words. That’s the advantage of a language with such close correspondence between spelling and sound (orthography and phonetics, graphic and aural). You need neither logic nor arithmetic. But to make sense of it you need to know Greek, of course.
Good word to you for approving my topic, and for already responding to it.
I have heard about sounding out scriptio continua text before, and it is good to get your reminder of this.
But what I have found is that there is another way to separate out the words besides sounding them out. The words can be drawn out by putting them on a grid. The writers arranged them by length so that when they are laid on a gird they form linear relationships with each other. These relationships can be rendered as lines which produce symmetric, crystal-like designs that look like vector graphic wire-frame three dimensional forms.
Not only do these structures give a reader a kind of punctuation guide, but they are visually very beautiful. It also show archaic writers were very good at geometry.
And it is these linear structures that I want to know more about. Has anyone else found and published about symmetrical geometric shapes in scriptio continua writings in Greek or other languages? Has anyone reverse-engineered the method used by writers of scriptio continua which enabled them to arrange their words to produce geometric forms?
Also, could you let me know if there is a way to post an image to the board. This could help to show what I am asking about.
I have to say this is wholly misguided. Greeks throughout antiquity wrote without inserting spaces between words as we do. If that produces patterns, the patterns are inherent in the language.
Good to hear from you. Could you explain what the Academy is? Is there a way to post there? I posted on the open board according to the instructions that I found on Textkit. I am glad to post elsewhere. I just need to know where to do so. Also, I see you included your email in your response. Could I send you an image showing some of what I have found. This might help you to point me in the right direction.
Good to hear from you again. The method I am using enables any text written in letters to generate some patterns and forms. But it is the density, complexity, integrity and proportional beauty of the ones I am finding in Greek that leads me to conclude they must be the intentional work of the authors. However, if it is just a feature of the language then even this to me is extraordinary and I would enjoy discussing it with anyone interested. My current take on it is that there is more to the ancient-archaic way of writing than has been published and that the designs I am seeing could add a whole new dimension to the study of the language. These structures have greatly increased my love of the Greek language, and I hope that they may be an encouragement to others too.