The Sanskrit Source of the Tocharian 4x25-Syllable Meter

Were Tocharian meters influenced by Indic meters, and if so, to what extent? Since the outset of Tocharian studies, the prevalent opinion has been that the Tocharian metrical tradition, which is shared by both Tocharian languages, is independent of the Indian tradition. In Sieg and Siegling\u27s original formulation, Die tocharische Metrik scheint selbständig dazustehen und nicht der indischen entlehnt zu sein (1921:x).1 The supposed independence of the metrical form of Tocharian poetry may seem surprising given that the poetic texts are translations and adaptations of Buddhist Sanskrit originals. Furthermore, the Tocharian Buddhists did adopt the form of narration known as campū, in which prose and verse alternate.2 However, Tibetan shows that it is possible to retain and modify indigenous meters for the translation/adaptation of Sanskrit texts

\u3cem\u3eGreek and Latin from an Indo-European Perspective\u3c/em\u3e (Book Review)

Review of the book, Greek and Latin from an Indo-European Perspective edited by Coulter George, Matthew McCullagh, Benedicte Nielsen, Antonia Ruppel, and Olga Tribulato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 200

The emergence of foot structure as a factor in the formation of Greek verbal nouns in -μα(τ)-

This study is concerned with the relationship between word formation and foot structure in Ancient Greek. Evidence for foot structure in the language has previously been primarily sough in patterns of versification and in accentual phenomena, especially the recessive accent calculus.2 Here, I offer an analysis of a change in word formation that affected the productive class of verbal nouns in -μα(τ)I- (§2). I propose that the innovative word formation pattern reflects Trochaic Shortening, a process whereby word-final H(eavy)L(ight) syllable sequences are converted to LL sequences (§3.1). Since Trochaic Shortening is though to be found only in languages with moraic trochaic feet, the analysis presented here corroborates studies such as Golston 1990 that have analyzed Greek as such a language on the independent grounds (§3.2)

Hiatus Avoidance and Metrification in the Rigveda

Using new corpus resources for Rigvedic poetics, we address various aspects of the poets\u27 treatment of vowel hiatus and pre-vocalic shortening (correption), including their strategies for avoidance of these phenomena in certain contexts. Using observed vs. expected tests, we demonstrate, for one, that hiatus avoidance is correlated with degree of metrical-prosodic juncture. For example, hiatus is actively avoided both at the caesura in trimeter verse and between padãs, but its avoidance is weaker in the latter case. In conducting these tests, we control for a confound (interference) from pre-vocalic shortening, which requires us to address the problem of whether it was optional or obligatory within the hemistich. It turns out that /V̄1#V22 patterns as metrically heavier than /Ṽ1#V2/ in the aggregated, though not as heave as /V̄C#V/. We then discuss different means by which the poets avoid setting up underlying hiatus junctures, including lexical avoidance (i.e., word selection), morphological avoidance (i.e., allomorph selection), and syntactic avoidance (i.e., word reordering). This last technique, whose existence we support with two different rests, is particularly striking, in that syntax (word order) is shown to be sensitive to phonotactics (marked junctures)

A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language (Book Review)

It has become customary for reviews of handbooks to express misgivings toward the genre and its ever-increasing presence. But whatever one might think of companion volumes, this is a useful book. It boasts a wide range of generally high-quality essays by a parade of eminent scholars. Perhaps its most praiseworthy feature is the clarity and accessibility of many of its contributions, which makes them ideal starting points for the non-specialist. We will no doubt be assigning several of these chapters in our classes

Hazards of volcanic lakes: analysis of Lakes Quilotoa and Cuicocha, Ecuador

International audienceVolcanic lakes within calderas should be viewed as high-risk systems, and an intensive lake monitoring must be carried out to evaluate the hazard of potential limnic or phreatic-magmatic eruptions. In Ecuador, two caldera lakes ? Lakes Quilotoa and Cuicocha, located in the high Andean region >3000 a.s.l. ? have been the focus of these investigations. Both volcanoes are geologically young or historically active, and have formed large and deep calderas with lakes of 2 to 3 km in diameter, and 248 and 148 m in depth, respectively. In both lakes, visible gas emissions of CO2 occur, and an accumulation of CO2 in the deep water body must be taken into account. Investigations were carried out to evaluate the hazards of these volcanic lakes, and in Lake Cuicocha intensive monitoring was carried out for the evaluation of possible renewed volcanic activities. At Lake Quilotoa, a limnic eruption and diffuse CO2 degassing at the lake surface are to be expected, while at Lake Cuicocha, an increased risk of a phreatic-magmatic eruption exists

The colometry of Tocharian 4X15-syllable verse

We identify the basic colometry of Tocharian 4x15-syllable verse as 4+3+3+5 (traditionally 7+8), but we find no support for the putative alternative colometries of 4x15 often cited in the literature (viz. 6+4+5 and 8+7). In rare cases in which the medial caesura is violated, a word boundary after syllable 6 or 8 is highly probable by chance alone, as we confirm through corpus statistics. If the colometry is indeed invariable, one major argument for the influence of Indic on Tocharian meter is undermined. We further reinforce that the medial caesura after syllable 7 is no stronger than the final one after syllable IO, despite their putative statuses as major vs. minor caesurae, respectively. The more complex picture of the metrical practice of the poets demands that we call into question certain proposed restorations

Sahasram Ati Srajas. Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Studies in Honor of Stephanie W. Jamison

The renowned Indologist and Indo-Europeanist Stephanie W. Jamison has now been honored with this extensive collection of essays by colleagues and students from around the world. The contributors represent a virtual who’s-who of Indo-Iranian and Indo-European scholarship and have produced contributions on everything from Vedic (e.g., Joel Brereton, George Cardona, Paul Kiparsky, Thomas Oberlies) to later Sanskrit (e.g. James Fitzgerald, Hans Henrich Hock, Ted Proferes) to Iranian (e.g. Mark Hale, P. Oktor Skjærvø) to other Indo-European languages (e.g. Dieter Gunkel, Martin Joachim Kümmel, Alan Nussbaum, Don Ringe, Michael Weiss). The volume also includes posthumously published articles by Lisi Oliver and Martin West. In all, these scholars have provided a worthy and rich tribute to a scholar whose own rich scholarship has been so vital to numerous subfields of linguistics, literary, religious, and cultural studies.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1286/thumbnail.jp

Mid infrared near-field fingerprint spectroscopy of the 2D electron gas in LaAlO3_3/SrTiO3_3 at low temperatures

Confined electron systems, such as 2D electron gases (2DEGs), 2D materials, or topological insulators show great technological promise but their susceptibility to defects often results in nanoscale inhomogeneities with unclear origins. Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) is useful to investigate buried confined electron systems non-destructively with nanoscale resolution, however, a clear separation of carrier concentration and mobility was often impossible in s-SNOM. Here, we predict a previously inaccessible characteristic "fingerprint" response of the prototypical LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ 2DEG, and verify this using a state-of-the-art tunable narrow-band laser in mid-infrared cryo-s-SNOM at 8 K. Our modelling allows us to separate the influence of carrier concentration and mobility on fingerprint spectra and to characterize 2DEG inhomogeneities on the nanoscale. This spatially resolved information about the local electronic properties can be used to identify the origin of inhomogeneities in confined electron systems, making the s-SNOM fingerprint response a valuable tool for nanoelectronics and quantum technology