[Language in general includes the following parts :-
Letter, Syllable, Connecting word, Noun, Verb, Inflexion
or Case, Sentence or Phrase.]
A Letter is an indivisible sound, yet not every such
sound, but only one which can form part of a group of
sounds.
For even brutes utter indivisible sounds, none
of which I call a letter.
The sound I mean may be
either a vowel, a semi-vowel, or a mute.
A vowel is
that which without impact of tongue or
lip has an
audible sound.
A semi-vowel, that which
with such
impact has an audible sound, as S and R. A mute,
that which with such impact has by itself no sound,
but joined to a vowel sound becomes audible, as G and
D.
These are distinguished according to the form
assumed by the mouth and the place where they are
produced;
according as they are aspirated or smooth,
long or short;
as they are acute, grave, or of an inter-
mediate tone;
which inquiry belongs in detail to the
writers on metre.
A Syllable is a non-significant sound, composed of a
mute and a vowel:
for GR without A is a syllable, as
also with A, GRA.
A Connecting word is a non-significant sound, which
neither causes nor hinders the union of many sounds
into one significant sound;
it may be placed at either
end or in the middle of a sentence.
Or, a non-significant
sound, which out of several sounds, each of them signi-
ficant, is capable of forming one significant sound, as
ἀμφί, περί, and the like.
Or, a non-significant sound,
which marks the beginning, end, or division of a sentence;
such, however, that it cannot correctly stand by itself at
the beginning of a sentence, -as μέν, ἤτοι, δέ.
A Noun is a composite significant sound, not marking
time, of which no part is in itself significant:
for in
double or compound words we do not employ the
separate parts as if each were in itself significant. Thus
in Theodorus, 'god-given,' the δῶρον or 'gift' is not in
itself significant.
A Verb is a composite significant sound, marking
time, in which, as in the noun, no part is in itself signi-
ficant.
For 'man,' or 'white' does not express the idea
of 'when';
but 'he walks,' or 'he has walked' does
connote time, present or past.
Inflexion belongs both to the noun and verb, and
expresses either the relation 'of,' 'to,' or the like;
or
that of number, whether one or many, as 'man' or
'men';
or the modes or tones in actual delivery, e.g. a
question or a command. 'Did he go?'
and 'go' are
verbal inflexions of this kind.
A Sentence or Phrase is a composite significant
sound, some at least of whose parts are in themselves
significant;
for not every such group of words consists
of verbs and nouns—the definition of man,' for example
—but it may dispense even with the verb.
Still it will
always have some significant part, as 'in walking,' or
'Cleon son of Cleon'.
A sentence or phrase may form
a unity in two ways, either as signifying one thing, or
as consisting of several parts linked together.
Thus the
Iliad is one by the linking together of parts, the definition
of man by the unity of the thing signified.]
Poetics. Aristotle. S. H. Butcher (Translator). London. 1911.
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