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How can language undermine or support my efforts for clarity?
From: Augustine, de dialectica, here translated by J. Marchand
Page 6
Now look at those which come from diverse origins. They are also divided into two principal forms, one of which comes about because of the diversity of languages, e.g. if we say 'tu' it means one thing to the Greeks (gen. sg. masc. article), another to us (you, 2d sg. pers. pron.). This type should have been taken into consideration a great deal; it is not prescribed for anyone, however, how many languages he knows or in how many languages he might argue. Another form is that which makes ambiguities in the same language, but of diverse origin; they are signified by one term, similar to what we said above concerning 'nepos'. Again, this is divided into two: 1. it is either the same part of speech - - 'nepos' is a noun when it means son of a son and when it means spendthrift -- or under different ones: for it is not only different when we say 'qui' (rel. pron. & interrogative), as it is said (Ter. Andr. III, 3, 33) 'qui scis ergo istuc nisi periculum feceris' (how can you tell if you don't make the trial?), for that is a pronoun, this is an adverb.
By both, i.e. by art and usage, which we have set up as a third type of equivoca, as many forms of ambiguity may exist as we have named in these two.There remains the type of ambiguity which is found in writing alone, of which there are three types. Such an ambiguity is made either by the length of a syllable or by its accent, or by both, e.g. when 'venit' (comes, came) appears, its length is uncertain because of the unknown nature of the first syllable; by accent, as when 'pone' (place, behind) is written either from 'pono' (I put) or as is said (Virgil Georg.IV, 487): 'pone sequens namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem' (following behind, for Proserpina had imposed that condition), where it is uncertain because of the hidden place of the accent, or it happens because of both, e.g. as we mentioned above in the case of 'lepore', for not only is the penultimate syllable of this word to be lengthened, but also to be accented if it is derived from 'lepos' (charm), not from 'lepus' (hare).
Cf. Rilke, Letter to a Young Poet | Plato, Whom are we talking to? | Kierkegaard, My work as an author | Emerson, Self-knowledge | Gibson - McRury, Discovering one's face | Emerson, We differ in art, not in wisdom | Joyce, Portrait of the Artist
