Unità minime in Guido d'Arezzo e nei grammatici latini

Guido d’Arezzo in the Micrologus points out an ascending scale of the units that form the songs, drawing a parallel between this one and the ascending scale of the units that form the metres according to the Latin grammarians. The units of the metres are: litterae, syllabae, partes, pedes, versus; the units of the songs are: soni, syllabae, neumae/partes, distinctiones. There are problems as regards the interpretation of the song units that are in the middle, especially neumae/partes and syllabae. From the analysis of Guido’s text and from the comparison with the Latin grammarians’ works, it turns out that the neumae/partes, called in a clearer manner partes cantilenae, correspond to the partes orationis, whereas the syllaba, contrary to other annotators, is the phonetic syllable: the terminology should be preserved by the strong grammatical tradition and because the singers chant verses. Moreover, Guido asserts significantly that the greatest and most numerous units are constituted by very small and few units. Such a theorization is developped by Martinet who, contrary to Latin grammarians, divides the units of the first and the second articulation on the ground of the expression of a meaning.