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=====5.1.1.1. Ostensibly Recursive Texts=====
=====5.1.1.1. Ostensibly Recursive Texts=====
<pre>
Bein' on the twenty third of June,
As I sat weaving all at my loom,
Bein' on the twenty third of June,
As I sat weaving all at my loom,
I heard a thrush, singing on yon bush,
And the song she sang was The Jug of Punch.
(Traditional), The Jug of Punch, [Alt, n.p.]
Is there a true poem, a verse with the echo of divine inspiration, that resounds in the memories of this minor ditty, this song of the pubs and this ballad of the streets? Does ambrosia yet flow in the veins of the one who sings this ode on an amphoric urn? If there is, and if it does, then it is likely to involve a wholly different order of interpretation, one where the reference to a jug of punch, ostensibly denoting a simple demijohn, is sure to denote an object of much greater significance than its literal denotation can convey, and one where the cryptic imports of its invocations are intended to descant a more figurative, metaphorical, and transcendental sense.
For the sake of shortening future references to the epigraph at the top of this subsection, let the acronym "JOP" be taken as equivalent to the phrase "jug of punch", and let the italicized tag "TJOP" be taken as tantamount to the title "The Jug of Punch".
There are features of this style of abbreviation that need to be noted. Instead of letting the acronym "JOP" denote the phrase "jug of punch", and rather than letting the italicized acronym "TJOP" denote the title "The Jug of Punch", I am merely asking for the reader to take part in forming an augmented scheme of interpretation, one that adds new signs to a formerly established sign relation, but does it in a way that does nothing of serious consequence to its underlying semantic properties. This involves the construction of a "semiotic partition" (SEP), along with its corresponding "semiotic equivalence relation" (SER), in which the associated set of "semiotic equivalence classes" (SEC's) serves to stake out a number of parts. In the present illustration there are two sets of synonyms, constellating a pair of mutually exclusive classes of signs that denote their respective objects in parallel, as in Table 17.
Table 17. Semiotic Partition Implied by the ACE of J
Object SEC
jug of punch {"jug of punch", "JOP"}
The Jug of Punch {"The Jug of Punch", "TJOP"}
In each case, the abbreviated form and its expansion are set to connote each other all within a single level of signs, while both signs are set to denote their common object in a parallel fashion. This strategy for annexing compressed references to a sign relation can be referred to as an "acronymically connotative extension" (ACE) of that sign relation.
What more pleasure can a boy desire,
Than sitting down beside the fire?
What more pleasure can a boy desire,
Than sitting down beside the fire?
And in his hand a jug of punch,
And on his knee a tidy wench.
(Traditional), The Jug of Punch, [Alt, n.p.]
Let J be a hypothetical sign relation that is adequate to interpret the The Jug of Punch. Table 18 gives a bit of J that is called for in order to accomplish this interpretation. Table 19 shows an ACE of this bit. Table 20 gives a bit of this ACE that suffices to get the gist of it.
Table 18. Bit of the Sign Relation J
Object Sign Interpretant
jug of punch "jug of punch" "jug of punch"
The Jug of Punch "The Jug of Punch" "The Jug of Punch"
Table 19. ACE of a Bit of J
Object Sign Interpretant
JOP "JOP" "JOP"
JOP "JOP" "jug of punch"
JOP "jug of punch" "JOP"
JOP "jug of punch" "jug of punch"
TJOP "TJOP" "TJOP"
TJOP "TJOP" "The Jug of Punch"
TJOP "The Jug of Punch" "TJOP"
TJOP "The Jug of Punch" "The Jug of Punch"
Table 20. Bit of an ACE of a Bit of J
Object Sign Interpretant
JOP "jug of punch" "JOP"
TJOP "The Jug of Punch" "TJOP"
When I am dead and left in my mould,
At my head and feet place a flowing bowl,
When I am dead and left in my mould,
At my head and feet place a flowing bowl,
And every young man that passes by,
He can have a drink and remember I.
(Traditional), The Jug of Punch, [Alt, n.p.]
Table 21
Table 21. Budget of a Sign Relation: The Bottom of the Bit
Object Sign Interpretant
JOP "JOP" "jug of punch"
TJOP "TJOP" "The Jug of Punch"
... TJOP "Bein' ... I."
"Being on the "Being on the
twenty third of June, twenty third of June,
as I sat weaving as I sat weaving
all at my loom, all at my loom,
I heard a thrush, I heard a thrush,
singing on yon bush, singing on yon bush,
and the song she sang and the song she sang
was The Jug of Punch." was just this song."
"What more pleasure "No more pleasure
can a boy desire, can a boy desire,
than sitting down than sitting down
beside the fire, beside the fire,
and in his hand and in his hand
a jug of punch, a jug of punch,
and on his knee and on his knee
a tidy wench?" a tidy wench."
"When I am dead "When I am dead
and left in my mould, and left in my mould,
at my head and feet at my head and feet
place a flowing bowl, place a flowing bowl,
and every young man and every young man
that passes by, that passes by,
he can have a drink he can have a drink
and remember I." and remember me."
Needless to say, acute enough hearers of this humble hymn or insightful enough interpreters of its lilting lyrics would no doubt find traces of Arthurian legend and clues to the Grail mythology woven all through its homespun text, but that is not my present task, to guess at its deepest drafts of meaning. Although there are features of this particular text that possess an incidental interest here, the reason for introducing it into the current context is more to illustrate the kinds of issues that are involved in a complex text, one with recursions and multiple levels of interpretation.
</pre>
=====5.1.1.2. Analogical Recursion=====
=====5.1.1.2. Analogical Recursion=====
