Change point analysis: Elision in Euripides' Orestes

This paper studies the problem of detecting multiple changes at unknown times in the mean level of elision in the trimeter sequences of the Orestes, a play written by the Ancient Greek dramatist Euripides (485-406 B.C.). Change-detection statistics proposed by MacNeill (1978) and Jandhayala and MacNeill (1991) are adopted for this purpose. Analysis of the trimeter sequences yields several points of change. A general explanation for their occurrence appears to be that Euripides varies his use of elision according to the emotional content of his text, i.e., he seems to change the
form to support the content and, thus, seems to use elision frequency as a dramatic instrument.