This is quite a long puzzle so you may need to spend some time at it. Where-as most of the posts on this forum are logical or mathematical puzzles, this one is entirely to do with text/linguistics. Also note that this section (in italics) is not part of the puzzle. Good luck!
I've spent the previous hour or so discovering one interesting property concerning linguistics. It's given me much enjoyment while writing the text you're viewing just now.
Noted as far in the past as 1853, I speak of a unique literary marvel called the lipogram. Let me further enlighten you on this matter.
Works of Shakespear and even the Bible have been rewriten in lipogram form and there exists a fairy tale entitled Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.
It tells the story of a country where certain letters begin to be outlawed. Letters vanish within the story as well as the books' text, simultaneously!
This is lipogrammation at its top and shows skill from said author. For at points, lipograms prohibit and limit wordflow and linguistic ability a high amount.
Another humorous example is of a Mr Gottlob Burmann, an eccentric German, 18th century poet who had an obsessive dislike in relation to the letter R.
He wrote some 130 poems without using the letter once! Not only that but Mr Burmann omitted the letter from his daily conversation for 17 years!
A strange trait it certainly was, and may seem incredible to you, but to make it more peculiar still: Consider, for a moment Mr Burmanns last name.
Correct, there's an R there! So how could Mr Burmann express ones own last name? He could not! And so was forced to use a pen!
Another example still is that of Brandreth, a British lipogrammarian who specializes in rewriting works of Shakespear in lipogram form. He rewrote Othello excluding letter O.
He rewrote Twelth Night without the letters I and O and Macbeth, excluding both A and E. Most interesting though, was his unique version of Hamlet.
Which dropped every I. This wasn't a problem for the witty character though, who instead pondered: "To be or not to be, that is the query."
Finally, consider Tryphiodorus, a poet of ancient Greece who wrote the epic Odyssey which was a chronicle of the adventures of Ulysses. These chronicles totalled 24.
As you may be aware the Greek alphabet has 24 letters, and for each of the 24 books of Odyssey Tryphiodorus removed the relative Greek character.
Thus the first tale was written entirely excluding the letter Alpha, the next excluded Beta, Gamma, and such. Indeed this may be the earliest established instance.
As you can see it requires great skill and attention to detail. In that sense, it is not entirely unlike Haiku, they both have similar restraints.
Haikus differ by placing a 3 line limit and a further restriction on the number of sounds or syllables on each line, five, seven and five respecitvely.
So they both have tight limits in place which demand dedication and attention, and the good ones will take much time and skill to complete.
Anyway, I have veered from the main point which I will now admit. An alternative motive can be found in the creation of the current text.
Objective number one, I'll reveal, is simply: show off lipograms, and uses in periods gone. My secondary is here for your discovery, in words before you.
Objective two was to create my own lipogram (of sorts) from the text and sentences on this very page. I've almost completed the task, I hope.
You see the fairy tale I mentioned earlier inspired me to try something similar, and while it's almost complete, I can't help but stop and reflect.
On Mr Burnmann. For unlike the others he didn't chose his affliction and so developed his skill as a side effect. Though he's better for it!
His problem forced him to engage his brain and write within constraints and restrictions. In doing so it created a unique poet and an interesting story.
Alas, I digress again. Suffice to state that the lipogram is a unique and interesting application of written language (it can be applied to all languages).
It's been in use for centuries and hides between the words until it suddenly dawns and smacks you in the face. Good luck finding one here.
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This is quite a long puzzle so you may need to spend some time at it. Where-as most of the posts on this forum are logical or mathematical puzzles, this one is entirely to do with text/linguistics. Also note that this section (in italics) is not part of the puzzle. Good luck!
I've spent the previous hour or so discovering one interesting property concerning linguistics. It's given me much enjoyment while writing the text you're viewing just now.
Noted as far in the past as 1853, I speak of a unique literary marvel called the lipogram. Let me further enlighten you on this matter.
Works of Shakespear and even the Bible have been rewriten in lipogram form and there exists a fairy tale entitled Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.
It tells the story of a country where certain letters begin to be outlawed. Letters vanish within the story as well as the books' text, simultaneously!
This is lipogrammation at its top and shows skill from said author. For at points, lipograms prohibit and limit wordflow and linguistic ability a high amount.
Another humorous example is of a Mr Gottlob Burmann, an eccentric German, 18th century poet who had an obsessive dislike in relation to the letter R.
He wrote some 130 poems without using the letter once! Not only that but Mr Burmann omitted the letter from his daily conversation for 17 years!
A strange trait it certainly was, and may seem incredible to you, but to make it more peculiar still: Consider, for a moment Mr Burmanns last name.
Correct, there's an R there! So how could Mr Burmann express ones own last name? He could not! And so was forced to use a pen!
Another example still is that of Brandreth, a British lipogrammarian who specializes in rewriting works of Shakespear in lipogram form. He rewrote Othello excluding letter O.
He rewrote Twelth Night without the letters I and O and Macbeth, excluding both A and E. Most interesting though, was his unique version of Hamlet.
Which dropped every I. This wasn't a problem for the witty character though, who instead pondered: "To be or not to be, that is the query."
Finally, consider Tryphiodorus, a poet of ancient Greece who wrote the epic Odyssey which was a chronicle of the adventures of Ulysses. These chronicles totalled 24.
As you may be aware the Greek alphabet has 24 letters, and for each of the 24 books of Odyssey Tryphiodorus removed the relative Greek character.
Thus the first tale was written entirely excluding the letter Alpha, the next excluded Beta, Gamma, and such. Indeed this may be the earliest established instance.
As you can see it requires great skill and attention to detail. In that sense, it is not entirely unlike Haiku, they both have similar restraints.
Haikus differ by placing a 3 line limit and a further restriction on the number of sounds or syllables on each line, five, seven and five respecitvely.
So they both have tight limits in place which demand dedication and attention, and the good ones will take much time and skill to complete.
Anyway, I have veered from the main point which I will now admit. An alternative motive can be found in the creation of the current text.
Objective number one, I'll reveal, is simply: show off lipograms, and uses in periods gone. My secondary is here for your discovery, in words before you.
Objective two was to create my own lipogram (of sorts) from the text and sentences on this very page. I've almost completed the task, I hope.
You see the fairy tale I mentioned earlier inspired me to try something similar, and while it's almost complete, I can't help but stop and reflect.
On Mr Burnmann. For unlike the others he didn't chose his affliction and so developed his skill as a side effect. Though he's better for it!
His problem forced him to engage his brain and write within constraints and restrictions. In doing so it created a unique poet and an interesting story.
Alas, I digress again. Suffice to state that the lipogram is a unique and interesting application of written language (it can be applied to all languages).
It's been in use for centuries and hides between the words until it suddenly dawns and smacks you in the face. Good luck finding one here.
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