18-06-2025, 04:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 18-06-2025, 04:19 PM by Jorge_Stolfi.
Edit Reason: spacing
)
If the Starred Parags section (SPS) is indeed a phonetic transcription of some version of the Shennong Bencao Jing (SBJ) in some language and with some old pronunciation, one of the smallest obstacles in exploiting that "Rosetta Stone" is the uncertainty about the paragraph breaks in the SPS.
To illustrate the problem, I picked one of the shortest parags in my SPS file: the one that starts on page f111v, line 14, which has only 12 words. Here is the relevant section of that page (image clipped from the Beinecke Library scans, contrast-enhanced):
The green triangles indicate the paragraph breaks as marked in my SPS file.
As I posted before, my assumed criteria for identifying a parag break are
By these criteria, the only parag break in the image above that can be trusted is that between lines 25 and 26, that satisfies criteria (1.) and (2.). All other breaks are dubious guesses based only on criteria (3.) and/or (4.)
And now I can already see some mistakes. There is an f in line 16; so, by criterion (1.), there should be a parag break between 15 and 16. That is probably a bug in the file, even though the other three criteria are not met.
The break between 13 and 14 was one of my additions. But now I would guess that there should be a break between 12 and 13, because of the wider spacing, and the break between 13 and 14 should be removed, because that am as the next-to-last word is not convincing evidence.
An there are 23.5 pages in that section...
To illustrate the problem, I picked one of the shortest parags in my SPS file: the one that starts on page f111v, line 14, which has only 12 words. Here is the relevant section of that page (image clipped from the Beinecke Library scans, contrast-enhanced):
The green triangles indicate the paragraph breaks as marked in my SPS file.
As I posted before, my assumed criteria for identifying a parag break are
- If the line has one or more one-leg gallows (p or f), it must be the first one of a parag.
- If the line ends well before the right margin, it must be the last one of a parag.
- If the line ends in -m or -g, its likely to be the last one of a parag.
- If the spacing above the line is larger than average, it is likely to be the first of a parag.
By these criteria, the only parag break in the image above that can be trusted is that between lines 25 and 26, that satisfies criteria (1.) and (2.). All other breaks are dubious guesses based only on criteria (3.) and/or (4.)
And now I can already see some mistakes. There is an f in line 16; so, by criterion (1.), there should be a parag break between 15 and 16. That is probably a bug in the file, even though the other three criteria are not met.
The break between 13 and 14 was one of my additions. But now I would guess that there should be a break between 12 and 13, because of the wider spacing, and the break between 13 and 14 should be removed, because that am as the next-to-last word is not convincing evidence.
An there are 23.5 pages in that section...