Syllabae, syllabarum divisio et communes syllabae. Ambiguità prosodica tra fonologia e metrica nei grammatici latini

The syllable is one of the topics most frequently present in the work of the ancient Latin grammarians. In the general structure of the ars grammatica, the syllable traditionally occupies an intermediate position between segments (litterae) and words (dictiones) or metrical feet (pedes). In our analysis of the phonetic classification proposed by the Latin grammarians, special attention is devoted to the names given to the litterae, showing how the different pronunciations of the litterae consonantium seem to reflect a metalinguistic awareness on the variable amount of sonority in the segments involved. The definition of the syllable is essentially couched on a combinatory criterion, although in some authors the need for a vocalic nucleus in the syllable is explicitely asserted. As far as syllable segmentation is concerned, the reference to word boundaries is the primary criterion normally used by the ancient grammarians. Nevertheless, a systematic picture of the phonotactic criteria available in syllable segmentation is presented by some authors, e.g. by Priscian. Within the ancient grammatical speculation, a topic of special interest consists in the discussion of the so-called syllabae mediae or communes, i.e. a special class of syllables having a double status as far as quantity is concerned. This topic becomes a sort of leitmotiv occurring in the texts, although the number of syllable structures considered as communes varies from author to author. In parallel, the grammarians assume that long vowels, diphthongs and closed syllables may all count as syllabae communes, thus indicating their awareness of the prosodic equivalence among these three different syllable rhymes. In the final section of the article, the attributes used in the classification of the syllables in a passage by Diomedis (I, 428, 2228 K.) are analyzed with crucial reference to their semantic and phonosymbolic value.