Abstract
Colophons of Armenian manuscripts are replete with yet untapped riches. Formulae are not the least among them: these recurrent stereotypical patterns conceal many clues as to the schools and networks of production and diffusion of books in Armenian communities. This paper proposes a methodology for exploiting these sources, as elaborated in the framework of a PhD research project about Armenian colophon formulae. Firstly, the reader is briefly introduced to the corpus of Armenian colophons and then, to the purposes of our project. In the third place, we describe our methodology, relying on lemmatization and modelling of patterns into automata. Fourthly and finally, the whole process is illustrated by a basic case study, the occasion of which is taken to outline the kind of results that can be achieved by combining this methodology with a philologico-historical approach to colophons.
Highlights
This paper puts forward a methodology for searching, defining, and modelling formulae, i.e. recurrent patterns in a corpus of Armenian manuscript colophons
Much is expected from developing the study of formulae in this direction ([ibid.: 292]); the present paper aims to show that the assessment of a formula’s lifespan, frequency, structural and lexical variation, and geographical diffusion, leads to results relevant for various aspects of Armenian manuscript studies, as predicted by [Sirinian, 2014:84-85 and 90-95]
Our methodology depends on the NLP-software Unitex; the graphs, or automata, that will be presented are compliant to the formalism used by Unitex
Summary
This paper puts forward a methodology for searching, defining, and modelling formulae, i.e. recurrent patterns in a corpus of Armenian manuscript colophons This methodology was devised and is being experimented in the context of a doctoral research focusing on formulae in Armenian manuscript colophons and the history of copying centres, under the supervision of Prof. In the Armenian context “colophon” encompasses notes of various kinds left by authors, handlers and users of manuscripts, in margins, at the end of the book, or in whatever blank space seemed fit—as described in [Stone, 1995]. This corresponds to the broader notion of յիշատակարան yišatakaran, as the colophon is known in Armenian, which translates literally to “memorial”. Armenian colophons are especially frequent and rich when compared to colophons in other languages, and constitute a vast and fertile field of study
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