Is this the world's greatest piece of alliteration?

Adam   Wednesday, June 08, 2005, 16:47 GMT
This was sent in to the Daily Mail newspaper by J.H. Malkin from Spalding, Lincolnshire.



"Any ambitious alliterative author allegedly aiming at acquiring artistic accolade awards almost always achieves actual aureate acclamation, as analytical almanacs advantageously approve, and annual anthologies automatically accept auspicious applicants' accomplishments, avidly acknowledging all axiomatic ability, albeit advisedly, abrogating artificially abstract abbreviations affecting alternative attributes."
zarafa   Wednesday, June 08, 2005, 18:33 GMT
"Actually, any ambitious...."
Gabe   Wednesday, June 08, 2005, 22:49 GMT
Wow, most impressive. I don't know about "artistic accolade awards" though. Can you do that? I've only heard "artistic accolades"
Lazar   Wednesday, June 08, 2005, 23:53 GMT
Um...actually alliteration involves consonants, not vowels.

What that passage would be is assonance (the repetition of vowel sounds). But even then, it's not a good example. Even though all those words begin with the letter <a>, the <a> represents several different sounds: /{/, /A/, /O/, and /@/.
Travis   Thursday, June 09, 2005, 00:33 GMT
I agree: the initial vowels in that example are all over the place, even though they are all written with the character <a>, which doesn't mean much in itself.
Adam   Friday, June 10, 2005, 08:34 GMT
In the Daily Mail it said it was "alliteration."

Still, it's clever.
greg   Friday, June 10, 2005, 21:05 GMT
Adam : would you believe the Daily Mail if "Adam is a lazy idiot" were written in there ?

Agree with Lazar : alliteration involves the repetition of a consonant or a consonantic cluster in a sentence or a verse. As in « Pour qui sont ces serpents qui sifflent sur vos têtes » [puRkisÕsesERpÃkisifl@syRvotEt] by Racine (a French Grand-Siècle playwright).

As Lazar wrote, assonance is vocalic alliteration, so nothing to do with repeating graphemes like <a>, <e>, <i>, <o>, <u> or <y>. Assonance - as its French origin hints - is dealing with sounds, not letters.

Back to Adam : it was indeed the world's greatest piece of 'élucubration'. You should retreat to your usual logorrhoea about the French and avoid stylistics.
nico   Friday, June 10, 2005, 21:07 GMT
Well done Greg, congratulations.
85% are Latin   Friday, June 10, 2005, 21:11 GMT
Any ambitious alliterative author allegedly aiming at acquiring artistic accolade awards almost always achieves actual aureate acclamation, as analytical almanacs advantageously approve, and annual anthologies automatically accept auspicious applicants' accomplishments, avidly acknowledging all axiomatic ability, albeit advisedly, abrogating artificially abstract abbreviations affecting alternative attributes."


I CAN SPOT 85% are Latin derived worlds !!!!!!!!!
the same one   Friday, June 10, 2005, 21:13 GMT
SORRY I meant 95%
Someone   Friday, June 10, 2005, 21:15 GMT
wow 95% Latin... WTF is English a Romanic language ?
greg   Saturday, June 11, 2005, 06:39 GMT
85% are Latin and Someone,

You might want to have a look at : http://www.antimoon.com/forum/posts/8566.htm.

FRENCH
<ambitious> <author> <allegedly> <aiming> <acquiring> <artistic> <accolade> <awards> <achieves> <actual> <analytical> <almanacs> <advantageously> <approve> <annual> <anthologies> <automatically> <accept> <auspicious> <applicant> <accomplishments> <avidly> <axiomatic> <ability> <advisedly> <abrogating> <artificially> <abbreviations> <affecting> <alternative> <attributes>
28 up to 31 words

LATIN
<ambitious> <alliterative> <aureate> <acclamation> <auspicious> <abstract> <alternative>
4 up to 7 words

REST
<at> <almost> <always> <as> <and> <acknowledging> <all> <albeit>
8 words


So French gets 65 % at least, 72 % at best.
Latin : 9 % or 16 %.
The rest : 18 %.


Adam : the war for words is a war definitely lost by England.
Damian from Edinburgh   Saturday, June 11, 2005, 08:43 GMT
ADAM'S example is actually a form of alliteration:

Vocalic alliteration - the use of a VOWEL (not necessarily the same vowel) at the beginning of each word in a sentence (as in ADAM'S example); or each stressed syllable in a line of verse as in "Around the rock the ragged rascal ran".

Consonantal alliteration - the use of a consonant at the beginning of each word in a sentence, or piece of text.

Breakfast beckons before beginning business browsing - Bye!
greg   Sunday, June 12, 2005, 09:00 GMT
Damian from Edinburgh : "Vocalic alliteration - the use of a VOWEL (not necessarily the same vowel) at the beginning of each word in a sentence".

1/ It's necessary the same vowel sound that's repeated (you may of course repeat two or more vowels to get a multi-assonant effect)
2/ The assonant vowel needn't be at the beginning of each word.

Examples :

« Lève, Jérusalem, lève ta tête altière » (Racine)
Assonance with [E] : [lEvZeRyzalEmtatEtaltjER]

« Try to light the fire »
Assonant [aI] diphthong : [tr\aItu:laItð@faI@]

« E no dia lindo
vi que vinhas vindo,
minha vida »
Assonance with [i]

« Schwindsucht und Bindung »
Assonance with [u] (in final syllables here)




<Consonantal alliteration> is a pleonasm as alliteration necessary deals with consonants.
We both used <vocalic alliteration> but the phrase is as inaccurate as <dry dampness> or <freezing heat>. You may use it, though, to get a contrastive effect highlighting the meaning through opposition or paradox.

More examples of alliterations :

« Ce chasseur sachant chasser sait chasser sans son chien »
« Les chaussettes de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches ou archisèches ? »
Double alliteration with [S] and [s] : [s@SasœRsaSÃSaseseSasesÃsÕSjE~] and [leSosEtd@laRSidySEs@sÕtElsESuarSisES]

« Tonton, ton thé t’a-t-il ôté ta toux ? »
Alliteration with [t] : [tÕtÕtÕtetatilotetatu]

« Leves véus velam, nuvens vãs, a lua »
Alliteration with [v]

In French, <Coca-Cola> is a powerful commixing of double assonance with [o] and [a] and alliteration with [k] : [kokakola]. No vowel is in initial position, in no syllable.