Chapter 11. Quantitative meter in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics
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Mohsen Mahdavi Mazdeh
Abstract
This chapter argues that, contrary to what most recent scholarly works assume, the metrical system used in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics is quantitative and follows the same general principles as Classical Persian metrics. I propose that the apparent differences between the two systems originate primarily from the availability of a process of optional vowel shortening in the scansion of lines that are composed in colloquial Persian. In fact, it is mainly the phonological differences between the colloquial and formal registers of Persian, rather than purely metrical differences, that result in the split observed between these two poetic traditions. In addition to optional vowel shortening, I describe several minor deviations in these songs from the requirements of Classical Persian metrics, showing that these deviations are also systematic and that studying them can help gain a deeper understanding of Persian metrics. Finally, I present corpus data to support these proposals.
Abstract
This chapter argues that, contrary to what most recent scholarly works assume, the metrical system used in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics is quantitative and follows the same general principles as Classical Persian metrics. I propose that the apparent differences between the two systems originate primarily from the availability of a process of optional vowel shortening in the scansion of lines that are composed in colloquial Persian. In fact, it is mainly the phonological differences between the colloquial and formal registers of Persian, rather than purely metrical differences, that result in the split observed between these two poetic traditions. In addition to optional vowel shortening, I describe several minor deviations in these songs from the requirements of Classical Persian metrics, showing that these deviations are also systematic and that studying them can help gain a deeper understanding of Persian metrics. Finally, I present corpus data to support these proposals.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Advances in Iranian linguistics 1
- Chapter 2. Syntactic and semantic constraints on pronoun and anaphor resolution in Persian 15
- Chapter 3. A multi-dimensional approach to classification of Iran’s languages 29
- Chapter 4. The additive particle in Persian 57
- Chapter 5. The pronoun-to-agreement cycle in Iranian 85
- Chapter 6. The suffix that makes Persian nouns unique 107
- Chapter 7. The meaning of the Persian object marker rā 119
- Chapter 8. Topic agreement, experiencer constructions, and the weight of clitics 137
- Chapter 9. Another look at Persian rā 155
- Chapter 10. The Ezafe construction revisited 173
- Chapter 11. Quantitative meter in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics 237
- Chapter 12. Stripping structures with negation in Persian 257
- Chapter 13. Oblique marking and adpositional constructions in Tat 275
- Author index 301
- Languages index 305
- Subject index 307
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Advances in Iranian linguistics 1
- Chapter 2. Syntactic and semantic constraints on pronoun and anaphor resolution in Persian 15
- Chapter 3. A multi-dimensional approach to classification of Iran’s languages 29
- Chapter 4. The additive particle in Persian 57
- Chapter 5. The pronoun-to-agreement cycle in Iranian 85
- Chapter 6. The suffix that makes Persian nouns unique 107
- Chapter 7. The meaning of the Persian object marker rā 119
- Chapter 8. Topic agreement, experiencer constructions, and the weight of clitics 137
- Chapter 9. Another look at Persian rā 155
- Chapter 10. The Ezafe construction revisited 173
- Chapter 11. Quantitative meter in Persian folk songs and pop lyrics 237
- Chapter 12. Stripping structures with negation in Persian 257
- Chapter 13. Oblique marking and adpositional constructions in Tat 275
- Author index 301
- Languages index 305
- Subject index 307
