Zeitschriftenartikel zum Thema „Iter copulae“

SUMMARY The copula in present-day Swahili is primarily expressed with the non-variant item ni in all persons. Historical documents show that the copula situation was markedly different as recently as two centuries ago. There was a full verb -li "to be" which was used only with locative sentences, while in equa-tional sentences there was no expressed copula. M existed only as a focus particle of free syntactic movement, and also as a diachronically related clause-initial presentative morpheme. This paper traces the evolution of this system into that of the present day, in which presentative ni was reanalyzed in the present tense as a copula due to a particular syntactic configuration in which it frequently appeared, while the -li was reanalyzed as a marker of past tense and disappeared as a verb. The analysis is supported with evidence from various languages in which copulas have arisen similarly. The analysis has the benefit of accounting for the behavior of present-day ni in non-present tenses, in which the focus particle ni is still in usage. RÉSUMÉ En Swahili moderne la copule est en principe exprimée à l'aide du morphème invariable ni à toutes les personnes. Les documents historiques montrent que le système différait d'une façon marquée il y a à peine deux siècles. Il y avait un verbe -li "être" qui ne s'employait que dans les phrases locatives, alors que dans les phrases équationelles la copule n'était pas exprimée. M n'existait que dans le rôle d'une particule d'emphase de mouvement syntactique libre, ou plus dans celui d'un morphème présentatif qui se trouvait au début d'une phrase et était lié historiquement à la particule d'emphase. La présente étude suit l'évolution de ce système jusqu'au présent; il est montré qu'il s'agissait d'une réanalyse du ni présentatif au temps du présent comme copule à cause d'une configuration syntactique parti-culière dans laquelle il apparaissait souvent, alors que -li fut réanalysé comme indicateur du temps passé et que son emploi comme forme verbale disparut. L'argument de cette analyse est renforcé par des données de plusieurs langues dans lesquelles des copules sont apparues d'une manière semblable. L'avantage de la présente analyse est qu'elle explique le ni moderne dans les temps qui ne sonmt pas des temps du passé et dans lesquels la particule d'emphase ni s'emploie encore aujourd'hui. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Im heutigen Swahili wird die Kopula vornehmlich durch das gleichförmige Morphem ni ausgedruckt. Historische Dokumente zeigen jedoch, daß die Situation noch vor zwei Jahrhunderten eine ganz andere war. In ihnen findet sich ein Vollverb -li "sein", das nur in lokativen Sätzen gebraucht wurde, während in Vergleichssätzen keine Kopula zu finden war. M gab es nur als Fokus-partikel freier syntaktischer Wahl und darüber hinaus als ein historisch ver-wandtes Morphem, das einen Satzbeginn markiert. Der gegenwärtige Aufsatz verfolgt die Entwicklung dieser Verwendungsweisen zum neuen, heutigen System, in welchem das vorweisende ni im Präsens neuinterpretiert wird, und zwar als Kopula als Folge eines häufigen Erscheines in bestimmten syntakti-schen Bildungen, wohingegen -li als Vergangenheitszeichen neu analysiert wurde und als selbständiges Verb verschwand. Diese Analyse wird unterstutzt durch Beispiele aus anderen Sprachen, in denen Kopula auf âhnliche Weise entstanden sind. Der Vorteil dieser Analyse ist, daß sie das moderne ni in den nicht-vergangenen Tempora erklärt, in denen die Fokuspartikel ni noch ver-wendet wird.

Abstract The aim of this Article is to propose that fragment answers in Basaá (Bantu) derive from two different sources, namely, a regular source and a copular source. Regular fragments are those that are derived by movement of a Negative Polarity Item (NPI) or a CP complement to the left periphery of the clause followed by clausal ellipsis (Merchant 2004 and related work). Conversely, copular fragments involve a biclausal structure whereby the focalized fragment, no matter the syntactic function it fulfills in clause structure, finally ends up being the subject of the null verbal copula of the main clause. The fragment is initially selected as the external argument of the null verbal copula within the matrix VP along the lines of the VP-Internal Subject Hypothesis (Koopman and Sportiche 1991). From Spec-VP it raises to Spec-TP to satisfy the EPP requirements. The internal argument of the null copula is a headless relative in which a relative operator (covert/overt) moves to Spec-CP, a position above FocP the target of ellipsis. This gives rise to a structure whereby the fragment answer in the matrix clause and the relative operator in the embedded clause resist ellipsis. The analysis also provides semantic evidence that copular fragments are not clefts. The ellipsis approach is supported by a range of grammatical properties such as connectivity effects, locality constraints and subcategorization requirements. This paper is not only a contribution to Merchant’s (2004) ellipsis approach but it also provides new evidence for our understanding of the crosslinguistic variation of ellipsis.

In this article I aim to establish source constructions for the inclusive copular construction with the verb virsti ‘turn into’ and to discuss how this once locomotional verb eventually became a copula with an aspectual function in the sentences profiling change events. The research is conducted on the base of data provided by the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language. As I argued in Mikulskas (2018), the copular construction with this verb along with other copular constructions featuring verbs with similar meaning, such as tapti ‘become’, darytis/pasidaryti ‘become’ (lit. ‘make oneself’) and, formerly, stotis/pastoti ‘become’ (lit. ‘stand up’) express the ingressive aspect of the change event (mainly in the Simple Past and Future tenses). Copular constructions with these verbs may thus be seen as different instantiations of a more abstract ingressive-aspect-expressing construction. While in some contexts these copulas can compete with each other and be used interchangeably, in others their semantic distribution differs. One can reasonably suggest that the copulas under discussion have more or less divided among them the semantic space of aspectual expression according to the semantic and aspectual properties they have inherited from their source constructions. That is why it is so important to trace the source constructions of the copular constructions mentioned above. As is often the case in languages, words retaining their original meanings are still in active usage along with their grammaticalized forms. If this is the case, source constructions are not difficult to detect. The verb virsti (and its prefixed forms) is still widely used in Lithuanian, originally designating the locomotional event of the tumbling down of some vertical object. Thus, locomotional constructions with the verb virsti can be reasonably thought of as the main source of corresponding copular constructions designating a change event. More specifically, the inclusive copular constructions evolved from the locomotional ones through the conceptual metaphor enter a state is moving to a place. Importantly, after a locomotional construction has been reanalysed into a copular one, the latter often preserves formal properties of the former. For example, the starting point of a change event, if expressed in the copular construction with the verb virsti, is coded by the PP [iš NPgen], the same as for the Source participant in the locomotional schema, and the predicative complement of the copular construction after reanalysis often retains the coding of the Goal participant in that schema (i. e. it is coded by PP [į NPacc]). Emerging grammatical construction can benefit not from one but from several sources. In other words, there can be multiple source constructions (Petré 2012). This insight is based on the well-known linguistic fact that the same lexical item, especially a verb, often participates in several different grammatical constructions, and the same construction may attract different verbal lexemes. Copular constructions usually appear in the grammatical context of the locative, existential, possessive or the periphrastic perfect constructions (Mikulskas 2009, 113-141). Technically, this grammatical context surrounding copular constructions may be defined as a network of constructions defined by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s (1958) principle of family resemblance. In the case under discussion, even synchronically, relations of motivation, or asymmetric inheritance links (Goldberg 1995, 72), can easily be posited not only between locomotional constructions with the verb virsti ‘tumble down’ and the corresponding copular constructions, but also between existential constructions with this verb designating events of manifestation, occurrence, befalling and the copular constructions. More specifically, the inheritance links between source constructions and corresponding copular constructions may be defined as various kinds of metaphorical extension. The fact that existential constructions with the verb virsti partake in the formation of inclusive copular constructions with this verb is not accidental, as an existential assertion is always part of any identity statement (Mikulskas 2017, 70-71; Mikulskas 2018, 7). It must also be noticed that existential constructions with the verb virsti are genetically connected to the locomotional constructions with this verb. In fact, certain locomotional events easily acquire an existential interpretation. The crucial point in the evolution of the copular construction under discussion from the two source constructions is the establishment of a so-called subject alternation (Lenartaitė 2011, 129-162) in the domain. This phenomenon can be viewed from two perspectives. First, one may suggest that the schema inherited by the copular construction from its locomotional counterpart becomes a conceptual frame within which there is a space for an existential interpretation of essentially the same scene. In other words, the existential construction and its copular counterpart profile different episodes of the same locomotional schema: in the first construction the Source participant, expressed by the PP [iš + NPGEN]), is focused, but in the second the nominal of this participant is selected as the subject and the subject of the first, existential, construction becomes a part of the copular complement, expressed by the PP [į + NPACC] which formally corresponds to the Goal participant in the schema. From these alternating constructions one can also see that the existential assertion is a part of the more complex statement of identity implying the cognitive operation of comparison in which a newly emerged entity, selected there in the guise of a class representative, in fact plays the role of a standard of comparison. Alternatively, one may suggest that conditions for the alternative subject selection and the ensuing copular construction are formed when the Source participant of the existential construction loses its locational nature and can be interpreted as an individual or a member of some class (which further undergoes transformation into another entity). Finally, the establishment of a subject alternation in existential vs. copular constructions in language may be understood as the actualization of reanalysis (see Barđdal & Gildea 2015, 7 and literature) of the locomotional constructions into copular ones.

The article is devoted to Hebrew predicate nominal sentences in which the lexical item ze fulfills a copula-like function. A hypothesis is put forward according to which the demonstrative ze has acquired its new function under the influence of Slavic contact languages.

The five papers in this issue cover a range of perspectives on the acquisition and use of the Spanish copulasserandestarin a variety of contexts, including language contact, bilingual language acquisition, and classroom second language learning. The fact that these papers cite work in this area as far back as the early part of the 20th century with each subsequent decade being represented suggests the continual importance and complexity of the distinction between the two copular forms and shows how this complexity is played out in acquisition and bilingual use. Over the past century different perspectives have been taken on this multifaceted issue with linguistic explanations and the role of the native language being primary. In this epilogue, we focus on some of these same issues, but expand our commentary to include the new dimensions represented in this collection of papers: (i) context of learning (input), (ii) prior knowledge as represented by other language(s) known, (iii) item-learning and lexical development, and (iv) innovations in methodology.

Abstract Construction Grammar, one of the major frameworks in Cognitive Linguistics, has been successful in providing accounts of a wide range of empirical data. The approach has recently placed great emphasis on low-level generalizations, and some studies have argued that a constructional meaning is often associated only with a specific lexical item. Therefore, by investigating in detail the form [copula be + Adj. + enough + to-infinitive], the present study proposes that the combinatorial potential of the intensifier enough and the derived constructional meanings are sensitive to tense, thus emphasizing the importance of ‘item- and tense-specific constructions’.

In Cypriot Greek, the negated future is marked by the element tha, which appears instead of the expected present tense copula and a selected subordinating element. This paper documents the distribution of this item for the first time, and presents an analysis in Distributed Morphology that analyzes tha as a portmanteau morpheme realizing two heads in the context of negation. This analysis requires that spans (or targets of Fusion) can include a verb and the head of its C complement.

Abstract Background Heterogeneity in ageing rates drives the need for research into lifestyle secrets of successful agers. Biological age, predicted by epigenetic clocks, has been shown to be a more reliable measure of ageing than chronological age. Dietary habits are known to affect the ageing process. However, much remains to be learnt about specific dietary habits that may directly affect the biological process of ageing. Objective To identify food groups that are directly related to biological ageing, using Copula Graphical Models. Methods We performed a preregistered analysis of 3,990 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative, based in North America. Biological age acceleration was calculated by the epigenetic clock PhenoAge using whole-blood DNA methylation. Copula Graphical Modelling, a powerful data-driven exploratory tool, was used to examine relations between food groups and biological ageing whilst adjusting for an extensive amount of confounders. Two food group–age acceleration networks were established: one based on the MyPyramid food grouping system and another based on item-level food group data. Results Intake of eggs, organ meat, sausages, cheese, legumes, starchy vegetables, added sugar and lunch meat was associated with biological age acceleration, whereas intake of peaches/nectarines/plums, poultry, nuts, discretionary oil and solid fat was associated with decelerated ageing. Conclusion We identified several associations between specific food groups and biological ageing. These findings pave the way for subsequent studies to ascertain causality and magnitude of these relationships, thereby improving the understanding of biological mechanisms underlying the interplay between food groups and biological ageing.

In this article, we describe a new command, eq5dmap, for conditional prediction of the utility values of EQ-5D-5L (EQ-5D-3L) from observed or specified values of EQ-5D-3L (EQ-5D-5L) conditional on age and gender. Predictions can be made either from the five-item health descriptions or from the (exact or approximate) utility score. The prediction process is based on a joint statistical model of the two variants of EQ-5D that have been fit to alternative reference datasets (the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases and a EuroQol Group coordinated data-collection study). The underlying model is a system of ordinal regressions with a flexible residual distribution specified as Gaussian or as a copula mixture. Use of the command is illustrated with an application that includes an investigation of the sensitivity of the mapping outcomes to the choice of reference dataset.

This article develops an analysis of a verbless predicative structure attested throughout Romance: in this type of reduced clause the predicate linearly precedes the subject and is separated from it by a clear intonational break, while the missing verb is interpreted as a silent copula. I argue that this structure should be viewed as the result of three movement steps: the first step is to be identified with predicate inversion, that is, extraction of the predicate from the complement position of the predicative small clause to a higher specifier position thanks to phase extension, followed by raising of the predicate to the specifier of SubjP to check the EPP feature, and finally to the specifier of the left-peripheral projection FocusP in order to check a focus feature. The present analysis is based on the crucial, and independently motivated assumption, that the process of phase extension, produced by raising of the small clause internal relator R° to a higher functional head F°, is limited to small clauses associated with individual-level predicates. The verbless predicative structure is then compared to an analogous construction in which the preposed predicate is preceded by awh-item, arguing that, despite their apparent similarity, the two structures should be clearly distinguished.

AbstractBi-factor and second-order models based on copulas are proposed for item response data, where the items are sampled from identified subdomains of some larger domain such that there is a homogeneous dependence within each domain. Our general models include the Gaussian bi-factor and second-order models as special cases and can lead to more probability in the joint upper or lower tail compared with the Gaussian bi-factor and second-order models. Details on maximum likelihood estimation of parameters for the bi-factor and second-order copula models are given, as well as model selection and goodness-of-fit techniques. Our general methodology is demonstrated with an extensive simulation study and illustrated for the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Our studies suggest that there can be a substantial improvement over the Gaussian bi-factor and second-order models both conceptually, as the items can have interpretations of discretized maxima/minima or mixtures of discretized means in comparison with discretized means, and in fit to data.

AbstractFactor copula models for item response data are more interpretable and fit better than (truncated) vine copula models when dependence can be explained through latent variables, but are not robust to violations of conditional independence. To circumvent these issues, truncated vines and factor copula models for item response data are joined to define a combined model, the so-called factor tree copula model, with individual benefits from each of the two approaches. Rather than adding factors and causing computational problems and difficulties in interpretation and identification, a truncated vine structure is assumed on the residuals conditional on one or two latent variables. This structure can be better explained as a conditional dependence given a few interpretable latent variables. On the one hand, the parsimonious feature of factor models remains intact and any residual dependencies are being taken into account on the other. We discuss estimation along with model selection. In particular, we propose model selection algorithms to choose a plausible factor tree copula model to capture the (residual) dependencies among the item responses. Our general methodology is demonstrated with an extensive simulation study and illustrated by analyzing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The aim of this article is to introduce a multivariate statistical model that represents the expenditure of tourists disaggregated by categories. The model is applied to study the distribution of the expenditure of cruise passengers in Uruguay, using data of the 2016-2017 cruise season survey (collected by the Ministry of Tourism). Given the mixed distribution in each component of the main variable, the model is implemented in two stages and using copulas to obtain a conditional distribution of the different items of expenditure, characterizing the dependence between them. The empirical results show that the key variables that determine the average spending of cruise tourists are their residence and the port of arrival of the cruise. The parameters representing dependence of the copula show moderate association between the different categories of expenditure, in particular for cruisers disembarking in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. In addition, it can be noted that the expenditure pattern in each item shows time dependence. In general, the empirical results show that a cruiser that spends more on one item is likely to spend more (less) on a complementary (noncomplementary) items of expense.

Este trabalho investiga como se relacionam as cópulas do português, ser e estar, com o sintagma preposicionado que as seguem, quando este é nucleado pela preposição <strong>de.</strong> A hipótese para a distribuição copular adotada neste trabalho parte de Zagona (2012) e Schmitt (2005), entre outros autores, que contemplam a morfossintaxe e a composição aspectual dos eventos nos predicados em questão. Isto é, estar é a cópula marcada para ancoragem temporal-espacial e ser é a cópula default, sem restrições quanto ao tipo de predicado. A análise dessas autoras encontra um limite em sentenças da forma cópula+PP, uma vez que não deveria haver agramaticalidade de sentenças com ser (e.g.: *eles são de bicicleta; *a criança é com piolho). Os casos nucleados pela preposição <strong>de</strong> se mostraram especialmente problemáticos, apresentando compatibilidade difusa quanto a ser e estar (e.g.: O intercambista é/*está da Coréia; Em casa de ferreiro, o espeto é/*está de pau; Pedro *era/estava de palhaço no baile de carnaval). A tese de Avelar (2006) investiga justamente esta preposição em contextos de adjunção, demonstrando que <strong>de</strong> se distingue das demais preposições por apresentar características de itens semanticamente esvaziados. Levantamos a hipótese de que, analogamente ao que ocorre na adjunção, as características de <strong>de</strong> em orações copulares seriam explicadas por este ser um item esvaziado. Metodologicamente, os dados foram levantados através de mecanismos de busca na Internet (alguns dados foram criados). Em seguida, foram aplicados testes de Avelar (2006), que examinam se <strong>de </strong>se comporta como um item semanticamente neutro. Os testes são: identificação de um valor central veiculado consistentemente por <strong>de</strong> em ocorrências distintas, substituição por outras preposições. Nossas conclusões se encaminham na direção de que os PPs que seguem os verbos copulares equivalem a locuções adjetivas. Entretanto, isso ainda não configura uma generalização robusta.

AbstractThis paper is a case study in the exploration of the semantic range of single a high-frequency lexical item on the basis of a corpus of spoken language, in this case Moroccan Arabic. Generalised action verbs (‘do’ verbs) are an interesting object of study because cross-linguistically, they can exhibit a wide range of functions including that of causative verb, verb of creation, verb in agentive collocations, verbaliser with loan words and mimetic expressions, quotative verb, and even a copula-like use with property predicates (Schultze-Berndt 2008). Against this typological background, the range of functions of Moroccan Arabic

Abstract Purpose Efficient analytical methods are necessary to make reproducible inferences on single-item longitudinal ordinal patient-reported outcome (PRO) data. A thorough simulation study was performed to compare the performance of the semiparametric probabilistic index models (PIM) with a longitudinal analysis using parametric cumulative logit mixed models (CLMM). Methods In the setting of a control and intervention arm, we compared the power of the PIM and CLMM to detect differences in PRO adverse event (AE) between these groups using several existing and novel summary scores of PROs. For each scenario, PRO data were simulated using copula multinomial models. Comparisons were also exemplified using clinical trial data. Results On average, CLMM provided substantially greater power than the PIM to detect differences in PRO-AEs between the groups when the baseline-adjusted method was used, and a small advantage in power when using the baseline symptom as a covariate. Conclusion Although the CLMM showed the best performance among analytical methods, it relies on assumptions difficult to verify and that might not be fulfilled in the real world, therefore our recommendation is the use of PIM models with baseline symptom as a covariate.

Purpose This study examined the use of African American English (AAE) among a group of young Latinx bilingual children and the accuracy of the English Morphosyntax subtest of the Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment (BESA) in classifying these children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method Children ( N = 81) between the ages of 4;0 and 7;1 (years;months) completed a narrative task and the BESA Morphosyntax subtest. We identified DLD based on four reference measures. We compared specific dialectal features used by children with DLD and their typically developing peers. We also conducted an overall analysis of the BESA subtest and subsequent item-level analyses to determine if particular items were more likely to contribute to the correct classification of the participants. Results Children with DLD used three AAE forms in their narrative samples (subject–verb agreement, zero copula/auxiliary, or zero past tense) more frequently than their typically developing peers. Area-under-the-curve estimates for the cloze, sentence repetition, and composite scores of the BESA indicated that the assessment identified children with DLD in the sample with good sensitivity. Item analysis indicated that the majority of items (84%) significantly differentiated typically developing children and children with DLD. Conclusions The BESA English Morphosyntax subtest appears to be a valid tool for the identification of DLD in children exposed to AAE and Spanish. We provide practical implications and suggestions for future research addressing the identification of DLD among children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

AbstractOrdinal responses often arise from surveys which require respondents to rate items on a Likert scale. Since most surveys contain more than one question, the data collected are multivariate in nature, and the associations between different survey items are usually of considerable interest. In this paper, we focus on a mixture distribution, called the combination of uniform and binomial (CUB), under which each response is assumed to originate from either the respondent’s uncertainty or the actual feeling towards the survey item. We extend the CUB model to the bivariate case for modelling two correlated ordinal data without using copula-based approaches. The proposed model allows the associations between the unobserved uncertainty and feeling components of the variables to be estimated, a distinctive feature compared to previous attempts. This article describes the underlying logic and deals with both theoretical and practical aspects of the proposed model. In particular, we will show that the model is identifiable under a wide range of conditions. Practical inferential aspects such as parameter estimation, standard error calculations and hypothesis tests will be discussed through simulations and a real case study.

Sphincter I hope my good old asshole holds out 60 years it's been mostly OK Tho in Bolivia a fissure operation survived the altiplano hospital -- a little blood, no polyps, occasionally a small hemorrhoid active, eager, receptive to phallus coke bottle, candle, carrot banana & fingers -- Now AIDS makes it shy, but still eager to serve -- out with the dumps, in with the condom'd orgasmic friend -- still rubbery muscular, unashamed wide open for joy But another 20 years who knows, old folks got troubles everywhere -- necks, prostates, stomachs, joints -- Hope the old hole stays young till death, relax -- March 15, 1986, 1:00 PM, Allen Ginsberg Lucky to the end, Allen Ginsberg (1926-97) achieved his first and final wish. Despite the constipation mentioned occasionally in his later poems, the anus of the grand gay father of the Beats remained relatively healthy until his death while other vital organs failed. Ginsberg, who had also described the erectile misfunction of his penis in mid-to-late career poems, died from a heart attack brought on by liver cancer. While the poet fleshed out references to the male anus in at least fifty of his poems, his "Sphincter" comprises the chronological climax in the development of both his anal and erotic verse. The poem was written just months after the beginning of the global media demonisation of Hollywood star Rock Hudson who was found in late 1985 to be both gay and to have died from AIDS complications. Ginsberg's timely "Sphincter" reflects on the poet's survival as an anally-active gay man through both the pre-AIDS and AIDS eras. While criticism of the (homo)eroticism in Ginsberg's verse ranges from utter denial to near hagiography, overall the significance of his musings on male ani has been avoided. The rather anal-retentive Thomas Merrill claims that, "even sophisticated readers of Ginsberg's poetry are apt to be put off, perhaps bored by, his obsession not only with four-letter words, but with the clinical, strikingly nonerotic descriptions of his homosexuality" (24). For the far less uptight John Tytell, on the other hand, "Ginsberg has always reveled in the divinity of his own sexuality, his homosexuality, adorning his own physical propensities and urging the life of the body on his readers" (245). However, "Sphincter" which is an intensely erotic (albeit anti-Romantic) poem, contains none of the expletives (apart from "asshole") nor divine associations used repeatedly by the poet elsewhere to represent the (homo)eroticised male body, and his anus in particular. Six decades of anal health and recovery aside, Ginsberg packs a suggestive lot into his "Sphincter" with the list of objects wielded during the pre-AIDS period as the means to his erotic end. The term "phallus" -- while suggesting the penis and allo-erotic activity -- may also mean dildoes with certain tactile qualities and anus-fitting shapes and sizes ideal for auto-erotic delight. Indeed, the "coke bottle, candle, carrot/banana & fingers" -- with their smooth to slightly rough texture, stiff to pliable constituency, hard to semi-hard density, and rounded pointedness -- offer more reliable potential for sustained anal stimulation than the occasionally tumescent penis. These objects may answer the decades-old queries in "Iron Horse" (1966): "What can I shove up my ass?" and "Oh if only somebody'd come in &/shove som'in up that ass a mine" (432). The bottle and candle are appropriated from a passage in Ginsberg's signature poem, "Howl" (1955), about the "best [male] minds" (126) of the poet's generation, "who copulated ecstatic and insatiate with a bottle of beer a sweetheart a/package of cigarettes a candle . . . and ended fainting on the wall with/a vision of ultimate cunt and come..." (128). In his "Sphincter", Ginsberg reminisces about the pleasurable insertion into his anus of such props to heterosexual romance. The coke (rather than beer) bottle signifies the contemporary product probably most commodified along with youthful images of (compulsory) heterosexuality in global mass media advertising. Through sodomy with that iconic item of American capitalist cultural imperialism, the poet's jingle valorises his rectum as one of the most fitting and wonderfully subversive "things" that "go better with coke!" As items usually for oral insertion rather than anal penetration, the carrot and banana (and bottle) here play on a subtle metaphor of "receptive"-anus-as-"active"-mouth. Allusions to the (frequently 'cock-hungry') oral-anal configuration of the anus denatus are more explicit in other Ginsberg poems. In "Journal Night Thoughts" (1961) the poet awaits as "a cock throbs I lie still my/mouth in my ass" (271). Ginsberg asks his sexual partner in "Please Master" (1968) to "make me wriggle my rear to eat up the prick trunk", and describes his anus as his "hairmouth" (494). In "Sweet Boy, Gimme Yr Ass" (1974) he desires a young man's "soft mouth asshole" (613). While containing "phallus" and "fingers", there is no tongue nor other oral referent in the rather clean "Sphincter". By contrast, "Iron Horse" (1966) includes the growly request: "Sweet Prince --/open yr ass to my mouth" (433-4). Ginsberg's Pre-AIDS poems frequently celebrate the joining of the uncondomed penis, anus and body fluids in sensational detail. In "This Form of Life Needs Sex" (1961) "joy" comes to mean the very act of joining male anus with penis: "You can joy man to man but the Sperm/comes back in a trickle at dawn/in a toilet on the 45th floor" (285). "Please Master" (1968) includes the demand, "fuck me more violent ... & throb thru five seconds to spurt out your semen heat over & over" (495). In "Love Comes" (1981) the period of the sex act and whether condoms are used is not stated: "I relaxed my inside/loosed the ring in my hide ... He continued to beat/his meat in my meat" (11). The memorial "'What You Up To?'" (1982) recaptures his most scatological unsafe copulation: "That white boy ... one night in 1946/he fucked me naked in the ass/till I smelled brown excrement/staining his cock" (29). While "Sphincter" marks the chronological peak in the development of Ginsberg's erotic poetry, the unbroken line, "unashamed wide open for joy", comprises the structural and thematic climax within the poem itself. This current of anal-erotic joy traces back to "Howl" (1955) with its passage about those men, "who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists/and screamed with joy" (128). Ginsberg has said that he wrote "joy" here instead of the expected "pain" as a reaction to the "James Dickey film Deliverance where [receptive anal sex] is supposed to be the worst thing in the world" (Young 103). In the inter-male rape scene in the 1972 film version of Dickey's 1970 novel, actions indicate that one man uses his penis to penetrate the anus of another who is held at gunpoint and ordered to squeal like a pig throughout the assault. Prior to this the raped man is taunted with female names. The consensual 'safe' gay anal joy exhibited by Ginsberg's "Sphincter" counters such homo-, gyno- and porcine-phobic violence. While the anal-erotic jouissance in poems that preceded "Sphincter" was overshadowed at times by non-reproductive aims and scatological themes, "Sphincter" delivers the explicit message that consensual protected anus-around-penis eroticism (particularly for actively "receptive" men) creates penultimate emotional and physical pleasure. The "phallus/coke bottle, candle, carrot/banana & fingers" leave any specified penis out of the pre-AIDS picture. By contrast, "Now" as Ginsberg states "[in the mid-Eighties age of] AIDS", at a time when auto-eroticism, digital/dildo stimulation and other penetrations without penis mean the safest anal sex, the poet himself celebrates contact with the safe sex penis -- "the condom'd/orgasmic friend" -- for which he is "unashamed wide open for joy". The preceding phrase, "out with the dumps", refers to the expulsing of two combined types of "dumps". Firstly, the mental depression about the end of skin-to-skin anus-penis sex and secondly, defecated matter which brings not only physical relief but an anus open to penetration. Unlike "Sphincter", later poems do not specify whether sexual encounters are 'safe' or 'unsafe'. In "The Guest" (1992) the question of whether condoms are used is open but the consensual status of the encounter is stressed: "I ask permission, he says 'yes,'/I pull his hips up, hold his breast,/spurt my loves deep in his bum" (78). Other poems such as "Violent Collaborations" (written with Peter Hale, 1992) humorously relish sadomasochistic and coprophilic pleasure: "Fuck me & fist me/in your army enlist me/Poop on me when you're at ease" (92). Again there is no specification that condoms are used nor that there is 'unsafe' contact. With its "shy" but "eager" anus and "condom'd/orgasmic friend", "Sphincter" marks not so much an end to 'unsafe' sex as an end to the specification of 'safe' sex in Ginsberg's poetry. No Ginsberg poem specifically addresses his penis (and/or testicles) in the way that "Sphincter" is devoted to his anus. In his poetry he does not epitomise himself as any libidinous body part other than his anal hole. In "Please Master" (1968) the poet conflates his anus with his selfhood when exclaiming: "touch your cock head to my wrinkled self-hole/... please please master fuck me again" (494-5), and "Please call me ... a wet asshole" (495). In Ginsberg's "Sphincter" moreover, his anus synecdochically represents not only his whole person but a type of gay Everyman. His sphincter is "active" and "receptive", "old" and "young", "shy" and "unashamed", and "rubbery" and "muscular". These antithetical qualities also characterise the male body idealised in gay culture (in reaction to media images of decaying 'plague victims') during the AIDS-era. This body is sexually 'versatile' (as both 'bottom' and 'top'), boyish-looking but sexually mature, introspective but assertively 'out', and physically toned but flexible. The "rubbery muscular" qualities of Ginsberg's anus are focal, because -- apart from the "blood" and "hemorrhoid" which evoke colours and shapes -- "Sphincter" contains no other physical representations of his anal orifice nor any of the myriad hyperbolic metaphorisations found in his earlier visceral verses. Anal-roseate associations appear in "A Methedrine Vision in Hollywood" (1965) and "Hiway Poesy" (1966). In the first there is wind of the floral: "one-eyed sparkle, giant glint, any tiny fart/or rose-whiff before roses were/Thought Impossible" (381). In the second, the anus-as-flower manifests through ambiguous layers. The word "rose" may be read as noun, adjective or verb: "Oh that I were young again and the skin in my anus folds/rose" (386). "Kaddish" (1959) draws on topographical metaphors: "a mortal avalanche, whole mountains of homosexuality, Matter-/horns of Cock, Grand Canyons of Asshole" (214). Manifestations of the anus as a cosmic portal or eye appear in several poems, but not in "Sphincter". Ginsberg draws on Yogic beliefs to cast the anus as the source of the enlightening kundalini in "Iron Horse" (1966): "Muladhara sphincter up thru/mind aura/Sahasrarapadma promise/another universe" (435). In the only reference to the anus in the copious footnotes to his Collected Poems, the editors explain 'Muladhara Sphincter' simplisticly as "anal chakra (one of seven bodily centers of spirit energy in Orient [sic] yoga practice)", while 'Sahasrarapadma' is described in detail as "Seventh chakra, 'thousand-petal lotus' at skulltop" (781). Ginsberg, however, seems to have placed his stress on these first and last chakras more equally or in reverse. In "Scatalogical Observations" (1997) he declares, "The Ass knows more than the mind knows" (85-6). In "Journal Night Thoughts" (1961) the poet's anus comprises a universal 'third eye' through which he comes to 'know' and 'see'. This anus/eye in the formulation of "the eye in the center of the moving/mandala -- the/eye in the hand/the eye in the asshole" (267) is later eroticised as "I prostrate my sphincter with my eyes in/the pillow" (271). As we have seen, Ginsberg's erotic poetry frequently features imagery of the sexual orifice that is beyond any man's individual scope and culturally most proscribed from public view. While many passages in his verse evoke the male anus as a subject worthy of versification and visualisation, Ginsberg's "Sphincter" comprises an ode which literally and literarily presents the poet's anus to the audience as a poetic vision in itself. The succinctly anti-analphobic and anti-homophobic "Sphincter" finely balances critical aspects of the ars poetica. Devoid of signature tropes such as the anus/mouth, anus/I and anus/eye, "Sphincter" with its relative lack of euphemism and clever mix of metonymy and metaphor nonetheless merges antithetical themes to relay a profound spiritual message. The poet's ode to his ageing anus matter-of-factly and humorously revels in memories of auto- and allo-erotic 'phallo-morphous' perversity and celebrates the anal-erotic joy in being 'fucked safely' as a personal and political act. As this millennium closes, we could do worse in our 'anal-retentive' culture than following one of the century's wisest poetic ends: "till death, relax". References Deliverance. Dir. John Boorman. U.S.A.: Warner Bros., 1972. Dickey, James. Deliverance. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1970. Ginsberg, Allen. Collected Poems 1947-1980. New York: Viking Penguin, 1985. ---. Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems 1986-1992. London: Penguin, 1994. ---. Death and Fame: Poems 1993-1997. London: Penguin, 1999. ---. White Shroud: Poems 1980-1985. New York: Harper and Row, 1986. Merrill, Thomas F. Allen Ginsberg. Boston, MA: Twayne, 1988. Tytell, John. Naked Angels: The Lives and Literature of the Beat Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. Young, Allen. "Allen Young Interviews Allen Ginsberg." 1973. Gay Sunshine Interviews. Ed. Winston Leyland. San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1978: 96-128. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Simon-Astley Scholfield. "A Poetic End: Allen Ginsberg's 'Sphincter'." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.8 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/sphincter.php>. Chicago style: Simon-Astley Scholfield, "A Poetic End: Allen Ginsberg's 'Sphincter'," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 8 (199x), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/sphincter.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Simon-Astley Scholfield. (1999) A poetic end: Allen Ginsberg's "Sphincter". M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(8). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/sphincter.php> ([your date of access]).