Using Lattices for Reconstructing Stemma

The product of textual criticism is an edited text that the editor believes comes as close as possible to a lost original manuscript called the archetype. Usually, the editor compares different manuscripts of a single text, and represents it as an inverted tree showing all the steps in the transmission of a specific text, reconstructed by establishing relationships with other manuscripts. This tree is called the “stemma codicum”(cf. [7]). Because of the graphic proximity of the stemma with a semi-lattice, we propose to use two lattice construction techniques in order to reconstitute the filiation tree of manuscripts. First, we try the traditional methods to build the lattice of a binary relation (cf. [13]). Then a more specific solution to the problem is proposed. These techniques are finally tested on a real corpus of manuscripts by Rimbaud, “Les Effarés” (cf. [17]).