Flaminia Pischedda, "A rhyme to rule them all: Sound repetition and other text-structuring devices in early Chinese technical manuscripts"

Flaminia Pischedda

Universität Wien, Institut für Sprachwissenschaft &
Cluster of Excellence "EurAsian Transformations"

A rhyme to rule them all: Sound repetition and other text-structuring devices in early Chinese technical manuscripts

Abstract: Sound devices, such as alliteration, consonance, and end rhymes, are typically associated with the realm of poetic composition. Their purposes are manifold: to create a specific rhythm or tone, to draw attention to specific topics, to establish connections among key words, to craft emphatic and memorable texts. While these literary devices are indeed most often found in poetry, texts categorised as “technical” can also feature such literary elements. In this talk, I will present case studies from a diverse corpus of technical texts dating to the late fourth-second century BCE, showing how sound is skilfully employed in combination with other text-structuring devices to obtain a wide range of (literary) effects.