La definizione di sillaba della poetica di Aristotele

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to reconsider the definition of syllable in Aristotle’s Poetics. The problems arising from this text can be solved, in my opinion, by reading it in the full context of the twentieth chapter of the Poet- ics, and by comparing it with what Aristotle wrote about syllables and phonet- ic unities in the whole Corpus Aristotelicum. The definition of ‘syllable’ (syl- labé) must thus be read in close connection with the definition of ‘element’ (stoicheion). For Aristotle, the syllable cannot be reduced to its elements (Met. Z 17), because the syllable has a prosodic and metrical structure which de- fines it as minimal linguistic unity. A vocal expression is a prosodic configura- tion determined by the alternation of long and short syllables (Cat. 4 b 33-5). This prosodic configuration is, in turn, the basis of linguistic meaning.