Kalbinės nuojautos praradimas: ar reali grėsmė?

BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 STEFANO M. LANZA Vytautas the Great University LOSS OF LINGUISTICAL SENSITIVENES: IS IT A REAL THREAT? KEY WORDS: general language, preposition, pronunciation, sense of language. In the Year of Language Culture, every language user should reflect on his relationship with the common wealth of the nation, the state language. The common good must be used responsibly by everyone: the correctness of language is by no means a matter for linguists alone. This article aims to draw attention to the phonetic features of the Lithuanian language and its current usage, presenting cultural, literary and linguistic history facts. This is expected to help stimulate a certain sense of national self-awareness. In cultivating the Lithuanian language, which is characterized by a system of consonants and which distinguishes 1 the number of vowels – and this is still a phonologically relevant phenomenon – the demise of the most important ancient languages for European culture should be considered a precedent that prompts reflection. What is the state of the Lithuanian language’s whimsical system today? The aim of this article is to raise problematic questions – whether it is possible to determine what causes deviations from the pronunciation norms and what measures can be taken to preserve the characteristic features of the Lithuanian language. The process of language loss: ancient languages Languages change. Whether they develop, thrive, deplete, die (or perhaps even be born) is determined essentially by one factor – consumers. Language as a distinctive feature of a group of users (tribe, nation, etc.) has been understood since ancient times. In ancient Greece, foreigners were recognized by their poor Greek. In Greek, the word "barbar" is derived from the Greek word "βαρβάρος" (barbaros), meaning "a man of noble origin". In the absence of language policy, the ancient classical Greek, based on the Attic language, survived for a long time because of the 2 prestige of the works written in it and of their authors. Even after the loss of independence in 146 BC, the view prevailed that "conquered Greece 1 It is hard to find a more peculiar phonetic feature of Lithuanian than the system of accents. It is typical of all Lithuanian dialects. Antanas Pakerys (1995: 301) distinguishes the phonetics of the Lithuanian language from that of the vast majority of other European languages (also from the neighbouring Slavic languages, while emphasizing the affinity with the Latvian language), it is so peculiar that the first researchers of the Lithuanian language, who tried to describe it, had to tire quite a bit („hi accentus nequeunt exemplificari vocibus Polonis aut aliis“ i.e. „these accents (= ways of pronunciation, prefixes) cannot be explained by examples of Polish or other languages“); cit. from 1737 Universitas lingvarum Litvaniae; plg. Strockis 2004: 301–302). 2 Tai garsažodinės kilmės žodis (bar-bar). Iš graikų kalbos terminas pateko į lotynų kalbą forma barbarus (plg. 2nd-century dictionary written by Festus: Barbari dicebantur antiquitus omnes gentes exceptis Graecis "in antiquity barbarais buvo vadinamos visos tautos išskyrus graikus“). STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of language awareness: a real threat? |2 enslaved the savage conqueror” BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 (i.e. the Romans), and no Roman who did not learn Greek could call himself a learned man. However, as 3 we know, as early as the 2nd century BC, for various political and social reasons, there was a clear gap between the literary language used in ancient texts and the common language used in everyday life, i.e. the so-called κοινή. The latter is widely documented in papyri. In business writings, long and 4 short vowels, diphthongs and unison were often confused, which leads to the conclusion that such confusion was also characteristic of oral language. This loss of the sense of sound quality proves that in parallel (although logically it should be said that even earlier) a more complex feature of language has also been lost: the system of whims. The process manifested itself slowly and gradually, but the cultural figures of that year, orators, rhetoric teachers, clearly understood the threat to the beauty of classical language and its existence in general. The reaction of the lovers of good style was embodied in a puristic direction called aticizim. One of the Aticists, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, as early as the 1st century BC, taught that the accent of classical Greek was melodic, and that the elevation of the voice covered a range of three tones and one semitone (Περί συνθέσεως ὀνομάτων, XI). In spite of their efforts, the attempt of the anticystics to keep the old prosodic system alive artificially – because no one spoke this language in everyday life anymore – never succeeded. 5 Although scholars still disagree on the nature of Latin's accent (dynamic or melodic), it is this language that is best witnessed to the loss of linguistic sense. 6 In Latin, the quantitative binary (long/short) opposition of sounds is not only phonetically relevant, but also forms the basis of poetry. The involution of the hexameter shows how the 7 phonetic system of the Latin language completely collapsed within a couple of centuries. The alternation of syllables of different lengths forms the structure of the classical hexameter: –   , –   , –   , –   , –   , –  In all foot, although in the fifth only in rare exceptional cases and always purely for stylistic reasons, two short syllables can be replaced by one long (i.e. a dactyl can be replaced by a dactyl). 3 Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, – writes Horace (Ep. II, 1, 156) 4 Traditionally, the expeditions of Alexander the Great are cited as the reason for the spread of the simplified language (and the corresponding progressive decline of dialects) for practical reasons. In English, see here. Palionis 1999: 249–250, Poliakov 2008: 152–153. 5 This is a quintet interval, although Dionysius does not use this term. This important source About the arrangement of words, apparently, was not available to Zigmas Zinkevičius, because he limited himself to the statement "It is believed that the Greeks separated the prepositions in the extremities" (Zinkevičiūtė 1980: 45). 6 Similarly, there is disagreement about the capriciousness of Latin. Despite the surviving written notes of Latin rhetoric teachers, some scholars still believe that the Latin preludes are a concoction of late Latin philologists. In Lithuanian language, see. Strockis 2004: 292. 7 Similarly to Lithuanian, in Latin the length of vowels can be the only way to distinguish between words, for example: pălus "marsh" and pālus "column"; lĕgo “to collect” and lēgo “to lend (property)”; dĭco “I tell” and dīco “I say”; pŏpulus ‘people’ and pōpulus ‘poplar’; fŭgit "runs" and fūgit "runs away". STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of language awareness: a real threat? |3 spondeus), and the last “missing” BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 (catalectic) foot can be realized as – – (i.e. spondeus is used instead of trocheus). Therefore, the following notation is usual: The syllable of the word does not necessarily coincide with the strong –   , –   , –   , –   , –   , –  part of the foot (i.e. with the first long element, which is called the term arsis), as would be the case in tonal, for example, Kristijonas Donelaitis, poetry. But the overlap is common in the clause (the last two feet of a hexameter). Here is the first line of Virgil's Aeneid (bold accented syllables): Ar-ma vi-rum-que ca-no Tro-iae qui pri-mus ab o-ris. [ar-ma-vi, rum-que-ca, no-Tro, iae-qui, pri-mu-sa, bo-ris] 8 –   , –   , – – , – – , –   , – – As can be seen, the quantitative change of syllables corresponds to the hexameter structure, and the consonants of the words in two places do not coincide with the ars: the word cano is pronounced with the syllable ca-, but in the metre it forms the second element of the dactyl weak part (which is called the term thesis), and the relative pronoun qui forms 9 the weak part of the spondeo. Virgil created it in the 1st century BC. And another, little known Latin poet, Commodianus, three centuries later, wrote an educational work in 10 hexameters "Instructions" (PDF). It is a collection of 80 poems divided into two books. Here is the very beginning, the first line of the first poem (bold accentuated syllables): Pri-ma prae-fa -tio no-stra vi -am er-ran-ti de-mon-strat [Pri-ma-prae, fa-ti-o, no-stra, vi-am-er, ran-ti-de, mon-strat] –  – , –   , –  ,   – , – – – , – – The absolute majority of his lines (97%) show such a seemingly random mixing of different feet. 11 When examining the clauses of the hexameter, especially those forming the last foot of the lines, the poet’s tendency to consider all pronounced syllables long and all unpronounced syllables short becomes apparent. He prefers not the meter, but the rhythmic stroke. In addition to the classical combination of a regular clause (– oj oj, – oj) there are almost all other possible three-syllable and 8 The syllable boundary does not necessarily coincide with the boundary of the foot or part of the foot, cf. pri-mu-sa-bo-ris. 9 The prefix ab is considered to be a word with no accent in the speech flow. 10 It is not known exactly when the castle was built. Although the periods suggested by scholars range between the 2nd and 5th centuries, in his works one can see hints of historical events of the middle of the 3rd century (see in detail on this. Salvatore 1977). 11 The statistics are calculated from the first book's 45 poems (Lanza 1997: 81). It is important to note that in the absence of a regular qualitative sequence of syllables, syllable division by foot becomes subjective. Anyway, there are also perfectly regular hexameters. STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of language awareness: a real threat? |4 double-sided feet. In such BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 confusion, only the contour of the rhythmic accent is constant: one accented syllable, two 12 unaccented, then one accented syllable, one unaccented. It resembles a sillabotonic poetry. However, the rest of the verses are not regular, and whatever the basis of Komodian’s poetry, if any, one thing is certain: this poet could not distinguish short vowels from long ones in both accented and unaccented syllables. How phonetically the Latin language changed, what their features disappeared, what was the extent of this different length of vowels in the language lost its phonological function, the quantitative opposition of vowels became insignificant. The dialect aprašytoji kiekybinė niveliacija, geriausiai liudija romanų kalbos. Panašiai kaip naujojoje graikų of all these languages is dynamic, there are no whims. The State Lithuanian Language Commission has published the Minimum Requirements for the Pronunciation of the Lithuanian Language. By writing Lithuanian here – of course – we mean the common Lithuanian language. The language errors listed there are to be considered as particularly serious, they must be strictly corrected, because this list is a section of the list of major language errors. The name itself is a bit confusing. Obviously, it was said unsuccessfully. If these requirements are “most essential”, should we conclude that they are more essential than the necessary ones? This is both grammatically and logically flawed. Is it just the idea that it is tolerated (tolerable?) to ignore the necessary? Requirements are clearly formulated. About the pronunciation of vowels: 8.1 Distinguish short vowels from long ones in both accented and unaccented syllables; 8.2 Distinguish the vowels e, ė, o from the coinciding diphthongs ie, uo in pronounced and unpronounced syllables; 8.3 Distinguish the strong-started prefix from the strong-end of diphthongs and mixed diphthongs. The following notes are added: It is preferable to distinguish the long vowels and coincident diphthongs ie, uo prefixes. Again, an interesting idea is pushed: in the system of whims, not everything is equally important. It is necessary (the “most necessary”) to assign lluk – lauk, kėltas – kalattas, tęsi – ta, rrndas – rardas, tėsisė – te sė, etc., but only “desirable” to assign kėpti (to the mountain) – kėpti (honey), kkšė (liquid) – kkšė (“tested”), vėtis (common noun) – Vėtis, lėti (common noun) – lėti (lytėti es. l. 3-th person), gėėlę (gelti verb participle noun) – gėėlę (flower singular singular), siūėsi – siųėsi, rūgsta – rūgsta, mėjattos 12 Instead of dactyl, there is molos (three long syllables, cf. the example already given in Instr. I, 1), anapesta (two short syllables and one long, e.g., dĕŭs ✔ae(ternus), Instr. XXVII, 7), amfibrachis (one long syllable between two short ones, e.g., lŏcō mă(ligno), Instr. XXIV, 19), cretic (one short syllable between two long ones, e.g., ✔essĕ dī(cebant), Instr. IV, 6), tribrachis (three short syllables, e.g., nĕquĕ dŏ(lores), Instr. XLII, 25), bakchis (one short syllable has two long syllables, e.g., dŏlō vī(vendi), Instr. VI, 19) and antibakchis (two long syllables and one short, e.g., Chrīstō bĕ(nigno), Instr. XXXVI, 16); Instead of spondeo (or choreo) there is jamb (one short and one long syllable, e.g., (corpore) sĭtīs, Instr. XXX, 4). The foot of two short syllables, pirichis, is generally very rare in Latin poetry, and is not found in Komodian clauses. STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of language awareness: a real threat? |5 (metytis es. l. 3-th person) – BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 mėttos (mėta dgs. noun), tek (priev.) – tiekk (tiekti liep. nuos. 2-th person), jųosta (vns. noun) – juųsta (juosti es. l. 3-th person) and so on. What principle was used here? If it is prohibited to refuse to give a break only in certain cases, why should it be prohibited at all? In the second group of examples, the only prepositions are also used to distinguish between values. If it is understood that the system of adverbs is a peculiar feature of Lithuanian language and at the same time a means of communication, these references sound like a conscious renunciation of part of one’s identity. This approach to “desirability” acknowledges that consumption is arbitrarily changing in our own days. 8.1 and Points 8.2 reflect the fear that speakers tend to ignore even more features of the language, that we are experiencing a certain essential stage in the development of language, precisely the stage through which Ancient Greek and Latin passed. Unlike in ancient times, today in some states the maintenance of the language is regulated by law. In Lithuania, legislation aims to preserve Lithuanian as the state language. The first basic provision of Lithuanian language policy is that “the Lithuanian language is a means of communication of the state and its inhabitants in all areas of public life, one of the most important signs of state sovereignty and integrity”. Punishment for mistakes may be good, but it is more useful to 13 understand the reasons for deviations from the norms. Anyone who does not comply with the requirements of the agreement does not seek to knowingly or maliciously violate the legal norms. After all, there is no intentional unlawful act here. As a result, the public tends to denounce linguists and their activities as being detached from reality. One has to understand that it is not appropriate to speak one's language correctly to avoid mistakes in lists or in legislation or for fear of punishment. The sense of language is not innate. It must be developed, as must citizenship, social skills, national self-awareness, etc. The parallel drawn with classical languages can be continued. The evolution of ancient Greek and Latin poetry showed how the linguistic sense of those great peoples had been weakened, and they were finally unable to distinguish, in the use of their language, short vowels from long ones, both in accentuated and unaccentuated syllables. distinguish vowels from certain diphthongs in accentuated and unaccentuated syllables; distinguish vowels and diphthongs with rigid prefixes from those with rigid prefixes. After reflecting on all this, the idea arose to examine several Lithuanian poems known to all, also included in school educational programs, in order to get an idea of whether the threat of loss of linguistic feeling in the Lithuanian language is an actual phenomenon, witnessed also in writing. 13 Decision of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania “On Guidelines for State Language Policy 2009-2013”, Art. 1. 4 d. STEFANO M. LANZA. Kalbinės nuojautos praradimas: ar reali grėsmė? |6 BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 EXAMPLES OF ANALYSIS OF REMEMBERMENTS IN LITHUANIAN POETRY In order to link Lithuanian poetry with linguistic feeling, attention should be paid to rhyme, because it is the most prominent part of the verse according to prosodic and phonetic characteristics. Neither the clause nor the whole last pronounced syllable of the line is relevant for this study, but only the vowel base of the last pronounced syllable, the length of that vowel (or diphthong) and the type of accent (adjective). It will be examined whether the rhyming words are compatible with each other, whether their pronounced vowels (or diphthongs) are the same quantitatively and qualitatively. Therefore, in addition to exact rhymes (aukšta – kalna, urras – vėras), approximate rhymes (gaddą – atradda, žėmė – ssmia) and imprecise rhymes (tùrinio – šùlinio, la ką – ma nė) are also suitable, as 14 long as the accentuated vowels (or diphthongs) are the same, i.e. of the same articulatory order and elevation. The method assumes that the six basic vowels of Lithuanian language ([a], [e], [eė], [i], [o], [u]) and all diphthongs are still distinguishable, i.e. after the poet has picked up such words 15 as ragą ir dega, pilti and pulti, it is not concluded that he did not feel the difference between [a] and [e], [il] and [ul]. Such occurrences should be regarded as an expression of poetic freedom. In the study of linguistic instinct, those cases where the bases of the same vowel (or diphthong) syllable of different lengths and different prefixes are rhymed are worthy of attention. The works selected for the study are those in which the poet’s desire to follow the rhyme system is unquestionable, i.e. where the rhyme acts as a conscious artistic means. Only two works of authors have been selected for analysis: a collection of well-known Maironis’ different poems and Justinas Marcinkevičius’ poem for children The War of Mushrooms. It has a total of 156 and 164 16 lines, 81 and 82 rhymes respectively. Similar volume allows statistical comparison. The analysis of rhymes in Maironis’ works is presented in Table 1. 14 A slightly different terminology, but without significant differences, is used by Juozas Girdzijauskas (1998: 46). 15 Remember that it is about sounds, not spelling. The vowels of Maironis’ rhymes are precisely matched: me – it is not known or returned – youth. 16 Specifically: My homeland, The land has fallen asleep, Putinas has grown, Lithuania dear, Where runs Šešupė, Vilnius, Trakai castle, Giant tombs. STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of linguistic sensitivity: is it a real threat? |7 BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 TABLE 1. Analysis of rhymes in Maironis’ works Rimo tipas Proc. Pastabos apie rimus 83,9 gailia – sopulia – giliaau, with a downward accent18; didvėriai – išgėrė, pritrei – didvriai, su nukeltu kirčiu17; with a downward accent18; mielà – sielà, with a downward accent19; garsia – mate, with a downward accent20; Trakùs – cheek, with a lowered barb21. Different pronouns 8,7 p evas – Diavvas22; tėvūnė – paminėję; tėvūne – mother; diennos – rug enos; gnė – mother-in-law; day – v en. Different length of vowels 7.4 Dubysos – all [2 k.]; sisters – fallen; bekyšą – riša; žiba – tikyba; August – measuring. The basis of all rhymes considered here, although far from all belonging to the category of precise rhymes, is the same vowel. Slightly less than a fifth differs in terms of duration and/or waiting times. In his analysis of the collection Pavasario balsai (1966: 208–269), Juozas Girdzijauskas focuses on metric and rhetorical means and their relationship with emotional content, while he hardly writes about rhyming technique and consonant 23 correspondence. However, he implicitly acknowledges that due to the length of vowels in poetry, “individual sounds and syllables are emphasized, lengthened or shortened according to their logical and emotional load”. That this could happen in these rhymes is a matter of poetic freedom, since Maironis’s concern for rhyme resonance is evident everywhere in his works. It was at the end of the 19th century that debates about Lithuanian poetry were in full swing, and it is hard to believe that Maironis could have been indifferent to them. In 1898, in his article "To write the lines of truth", Vincas Kudirka made quite strict demands on the meter, form and content of poems. It is also known as the National Anthem of the United States (National Anthem of the United States). Interestingly, it would be enough to change the words of the verse and the rhythm would coincide with the accent of the words 17 again: Dvyrių tu žemė. Such a slight change should not even be annoying, remembering that the words of the anthem had already been changed once: instead of Let it work for your benefit, Vincas Kudirka had written the Slavic construction Let it work for your benefit. 18 This is a case of metric transaccentuation (must be possible). The final pronunciation is not evidenced in dialects. 19 In fact, the variant of the final pronoun sielà is LKŽe. However, this is the only such case in Maironis’s poetry (wherever else there is only s ela, s elos), so it is more likely to be explained by poetic freedom. 20 This is a case of metric transaccentuation (must be noise). The final pronunciation is not found in dialects. 21 This is a case of metric transaccentuation (must be squeezed). It is not found in clay and sand. 22 These variations of the words are not recorded anywhere. For another case of meadow rhyming with a hard part, see footnote 34. 23 “Maironis <...>, having achieved an organic unity of content and form” (Girdzijauskas 1966: 269). STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of language awareness: a real threat? |8 but at the same time he BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 justified poetic freedom: “The poets’ licentia (licentia poėtica) allows the writer to deviate 24 from the truths of verse (in rhythm, response, shortening of words, etc.), but 1. not too much and not too densely, 2. every departure from the superficial form must be rewarded with the value of the interior of the verses” (Kudirka 1909: 67). In Maironis’s poems, the word tėvėnė (tėvėnės, etc.) has a special emotional charge, it could be attributed to the permanent status of “poetic freedom”. It rhymes both with the strong-sided oj (Beautiful you, my dear motherland, / country where the heroes will be buried: / beautiful you, the blue of your sky!), and with the strong-sided oj (Beautiful you, my dear motherland, / country where the great winds will be buried: / not in vain did the boats hurt you so much), and with the short oj (Oh, I tremble, only the lowness of my fearful eyes, / and trembling I love the high Father's 25 motherland). The remaining three cases of prefix mismatch in the lines collected for this study (i.e. p evas – Diadvas, diadnos – rug enas, diadną – v eną) belong to the so-called category of “desirability pronunciation” (see note in point 8.3 of the Minimum Pronunciation Requirements of the Lithuanian Language: “It is desirable to distinguish prefixes ie, uo for long vowels and coincident diphthongs.”) This is rather a part of aesthetic evaluation, because “in Lithuanian verses accents must also agree: the rising one fits only with the rising one, and the attacking one with the attacking one: pajuodę – ilgakuodę; rasoto = area; the bridge is filled. But for true feedback it is not suitable: lightning – rattle; floats out – waits; gray – silk; tėvynė – gadį/nė“ (Kudirka 1909: 65–66). As we can see, V. Kudirka was well aware of the sounding of whims (pajuodę – ilgakuodė; rasatto – pletto; t ltas – prip ltas, but ža bas – rįibas; išplakkia – luukia; p lkas – šilukkas), and the last example tėvvennė – gadį/nė (i.e. gadėnė) may even be considered a hint to Maironis himself. V. Kudirka’s strict instructions are not a revolutionary approach. This is simply the logical conclusion of an experienced language user who understands the beauty of Lithuanian language. Almost a hundred years earlier, the first Lithuanian theoretician of poetry, Kristijonas Gotlibas Milkus, in a polemic with his opponent, had written: “Thus when O. [= Ostermeyer; S. M. L.] rhymes in his hymn: žús i mùs. 402.6. all in all, daughter. 281.5. gave and nè. 343,2. forbidden and caught. 193.8. atlas, 26 27 24 Germanism is a non-translatable term. However, there is a lack of a term to describe a specific case of poetic freedom. Poetical freedom could be considered. 25 This is the last two lines of Maironis' poem Dievo meilė. It is not included in the selection of works under consideration here. 26 In common language, these words indeed form a rhyme (žus – mus), but K. G. Milkas notes the acute (ʒās) reference to the low-level language žūėss, cf.: “In dialects, often the same word has forms with different amounts of vowels and suffixes, e.g., the Žemaičių būāss ‘will’” (Zinkevičius 1981: 119). 27 Unless it is printed incorrectly here, it is probably an example of a forced rhyme (davėė – nè). Plg. Girdzijauskas 1998: 37. STEFANO M. LANZA. Loss of language awareness: a real threat? |9 nußweisk, the rhymes are so BENDRINĖ KALBA 89 (2016) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 incoherently composed that the rhyme is hardly heard when they are pronounced. These are verbal rhymes. In fact, only the hearing decides about the rhyme, not the written letters. “ 28 The analysis of J. Marcinkevičius’s Mushroom War rhymes is presented in Table 2. TABLE 2. J. Marcinkevičius' Mushroom War Rhymes Analysis Rimo tipas Proc. Pastabos apie rimus Total sound overlap 57.1 – There are 22,2 grāmbų – sodovbų; pal epė – liapė [2 k.]; gėaddai – rėaddai, with a raised slash29; sienas – raudonis; Bobaäsi; Acute – acute; atsimrkti – to remind; fractures – to fight; a bed – a couch; gvavas – dvavas; ga liai – piglets; the righteousness – in ruthlessness; pasilypėjaujo – passed away; sermėžgą – rail; taráššo – mršo; run – scream; found her – a fir tree. Different length of vowels 20,7 pinavija – raina; morning – fell; giria – man [2 k.]; angry – angry; pine – battle [2 k.]; pine – battle [2 k.]; in the wilderness, a forest; morning – šeimyną – beišmaitina; next; my – my-none; message – neighbor; message – in the pine forest; prikibo – mushroom; time – children. 28 “So if O. rhymes in his hymnal: ʒuús and mùs. 402,6. wissame, Daughter. 281.5. dawė und nè. 343,2. Threatened and captured. 193,8. atléisk, nußweisk, so they are so badly working rhymes that one hardly hears in the pronunciation that they are true rhymes. For the rhyme is judged only by the sound, not by the letters written in it” (Milkus 1800: 201). 29 The word is not available. The case is controversial, because, if the strike is raised, the preposition could be a solid beginning.