Metrical Typology

appear in regular recurrence, while others do not, but the effect of the latter on the metrical system can be very strong and therefore should not be ignored in metrical analysis.

Fabb classifies metrical constituents (syllable and their prominence) based on two categories: ―counting meters‖ and ―patterning meters.‖ The former concerns the number of mora or syllables as the basis for meter. The latter concerns the number of prosodic units like tone, quantity, and duration as the basis for meter.

Aroui (2009:10) illustrates Fabb's hypothesis for the prosodic metrical system as follows:

Prosodic metrical systems

Counting meters Patterning meters

syllable counting meters (Welsh, French…)

mora counting meters (Japanese …)

quantitative meters (Classical Arabic, Classical Greek …)

accentual meters (English, Italian, Old English …)

tonal meters (Chinese …)

Table 2

According to Fabb, in a patterning meter, there are two kinds of metrical positions for each category. Quantitative meter is based on the quantity of the syllables, and so a metrical template has to do with two different positions: long and short syllables. In an accentual metrical template, the contrast is between stressed and unstressed syllables; a strong position relates to the stressed syllable, and a weak position relates to an unstressed position.

Fabb (1977:32) defines mora as ―a prosodic unit, made from segments in the nucleus and coda of the syllable, and itself forming part of the syllable.‖ In the mora counting meters, metrical positions match mora. The Japanese haiku is an example of such a metrical form. In syllable-counting meters as well, there is a template according to which, each metrical position matches a syllable.

Aroui proposes the following categories for his metrical typology, which serve in the analysis of different metrical systems: ―(1) isochronous metrics, (2) prosodic metrics, (3) para-metrical phenomena, (4) macrostructural metrics‖ (2009:7). Isochronous metrics is concerned with the metrics of things like folkloric poetry and children‘s songs. In prosodic metrics, the linguistic material is analyzed.

Aroui asserts that, in the study of metrical forms, it is important to distinguish between

―folkloric‖ poetry and classical or ―learned‖ poetry (ibid., 2). According to him, whereas in

classical poetry, poets consciously handle metrical structures, for poets of folk poetry, it is less important to deal with meter.

The hierarchical system of ―prosodic metrical systems‖ by Fabb is a question of interest for Aroui (2009:11). Since Aroui believes ―phonological types‖ (tone, accent, mora, syllable) are the basis for different meters, he proposes that one changes the places of the main and subcategories, as the following table shows. In other words, patterning and counting meters in Fabb‘s theory are subcategories in Aroui‘s theory. For example, Aroui puts the mora counting and quantitative patterning meters in the same category. He argues that in both cases the syllable weight is the basis for meter. Under the accentual meters, he distinguishes between a syllabo-tonic counting frame and a stress counting frame. In the stress counting frame, one counts only the stressed position while in the syllabo-tonic counting frame, all positions are counted. Aroui‘s categories of prosodic metrical systems are outlined in the following diagram (op. cit., 11):

Prosodic metrical systems

tonal meters moraic meters accentual meters syllabic meters

patterning frame

tone counting frame

patterning frame

mora counting frame

syllabo-tonic counting frame

stress counting frame

counting frame

Chinese ? Classical

Greek, Classical Arabic …

Japanese

…

English, Russian, Italian …

Old English, Icelandic

…

French, Spanish, Hungarian folk verse

… Table 3

According to the above model, patterning meters refer to moraic, accentual, and tonal systems, while counting meters refer to moraic, accentual, tonal, and syllabic systems.²⁶

This proposed model by Aroui refers only to the prosodic metrical systems. As mentioned earlier, Aroui considers folkloric poetry and children‘s songs to involve metrical systems that come under the study of isochronous metrics.

As mentioned above, the other model of metrical analysis under consideration is one developed by Donat (2010). His system is three-dimensional and involves four linguistic constituents. The four constituents—syllable, syllable prominence, phonetic correspondence and pause—are analyzed, on the one hand, according to ―the principle of arrangement‖, and on the other hand, they are analyzed from both a vertical and a horizontal view.

All four constituents that make recurrence are analyzed from two perspectives: number and position. Donat (2010:110) admits he follows Lotz (1960) in distinguishing between linguistic constituents and principles of arrangement of versification. Donat also differentiates whether or not the constituents of prosody, rhyme, and pause have absolute or relative positions. He considers an absolute position as an obligatory one and a relative position as a regular recurrence that is based on the position of each of the mentioned constituents.

We repeat here the diagram of Donat‘s matrix, which shows the relation of the

26 See Aroui (2009:15).

Constituents

Principles of arrangement

Syllable Syllable prominence

Phonetic cor-respondence

Pause

Number

horizontal

Line of verse vertical

Position

horizontal

absolute (+)

relative

vertical absolute

Line of verse

relative

constituents with their alignments (op. cit., 112):

Figure 1. Donat‘s matrix

According to this matrix, verses can be analyzed based on their metric principles. One difference between the theoretical model behind this matrix and other typological models is the consideration of verse from a ―vertical perspective‖.²⁷ Rhyme and other types of phonetic correspondence, such as alliteration and assonance, are considered to be metric constituents.

The vertical perspective allows us to analyze the different types of strophes as metric principles.

The other important difference in this model is the placement of pause as a metric principle. In almost all types of poetry across languages, pause is a relevant principle. In the final position of a line, a pause divides one line from the next line. Therefore a plus (+) is automatically included in the third line in the matrix.

As we will see in the next chapters, pause counts as a relevant metrical principle in some Iranian poetry like Avestan and Middle Iranian as well in Gūrānī poetry. Thus, it is useful and necessary to consider such a constituent as a metrical principle.

The two above mentioned theoretical models show a new development in metrical analysis. The most important point is that all linguistic units that contribute to the metrical system should be counted as constituents that determine the versification.

27 A ―vertical perspective‖ concerns the organization of lines into groups of lines and how they are segmented into stanzas, etc.; see Donat (2011:105).

3. Poetry in Old and Middle Iranian languages