Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-266) and indexes.
Accounting for word order variation in Greek -- Tragic ways of dying: word order in the clause -- Word order in the noun phrase -- Enter dialogue: questions in Sophocles and Euripides -- Back to the trimeter -- Back to the test: four readings in Sophocles' electra -- Conclusion: reading word order, slowly.
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"The spoken parts of Greek tragedy were predominantly composed in iambic trimeters, so that in effect the actors on stage were speaking poetry to each other. Athenians heard Antigone and Creon, and even the Guard, speak a highly stylized version of Greek in terms of word choice and even syntax. These special features of tragic poetry have been studied extensively in the past. Helma Dik takes a different approach, asking how we, like the original audience, can nevertheless understand tragic dialogue as dialogue, and how we can judge the communicative effect of individual lines."--Jacket.