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Bavarian Zwiefache

Investigating the interface between rhythm, metrics and song
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Abstract

The paper offers a language-based hypothesis for the emergence of a Bavarian folk dance called the Zwiefache (‘twofold’). A corpus analysis revealed that rhythm, metrics and song are closely connected in this genre. It is suggested that natural musical systems, as a default, are based on phonological systems (cf. Maxim of Natural Text Setting (Vetterle 2003)). The conclusion, which contrasts with many aspects of previous research on the interface between rhythm, metrics and song, is corroborated by evidence from German rap songs, data from other musical cultures, and literary history.

Abstract

The paper offers a language-based hypothesis for the emergence of a Bavarian folk dance called the Zwiefache (‘twofold’). A corpus analysis revealed that rhythm, metrics and song are closely connected in this genre. It is suggested that natural musical systems, as a default, are based on phonological systems (cf. Maxim of Natural Text Setting (Vetterle 2003)). The conclusion, which contrasts with many aspects of previous research on the interface between rhythm, metrics and song, is corroborated by evidence from German rap songs, data from other musical cultures, and literary history.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Contributors vii
  4. Acknowledgments xiii
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I. Isochronous metrics
  7. Textsetting as constraint conflict 43
  8. Comparing musical textsetting in French and in English songs 63
  9. Bavarian Zwiefache 79
  10. Natural Versification in French and German counting-out rhymes 101
  11. Minimal chronometric forms 123
  12. Symmetry and children’s poetry in sign languages 143
  13. Part II. Prosodic metrics
  14. Pairs and triplets 167
  15. Generative linguistics and Arabic metrics 193
  16. On the meter of Middle English alliterative verse 209
  17. The Russian Auden and the Russianness of Auden 229
  18. Towards a universal definition of the caesura 247
  19. Metrical alignment 267
  20. Rephrasing line-end restrictions 287
  21. Part III. Para-metrical phenomena
  22. Pif paf poof 307
  23. The phonology of elision and metrical figures in Italian versification 325
  24. Part IV. Macrostructural metrics
  25. Convention and parody in the rhyming of Tristan Corbière 337
  26. The metrics of Sephardic song 355
  27. A rule of metrical uniformity in old Hungarian poetry 371
  28. Metrical structure of the European sonnet 385
  29. Persons index 403
  30. Languages index 411
  31. Subjects index 415
Towards a Typology of Poetic Forms
This chapter is in the book Towards a Typology of Poetic Forms
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.2.04han

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Contributors vii
  4. Acknowledgments xiii
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Part I. Isochronous metrics
  7. Textsetting as constraint conflict 43
  8. Comparing musical textsetting in French and in English songs 63
  9. Bavarian Zwiefache 79
  10. Natural Versification in French and German counting-out rhymes 101
  11. Minimal chronometric forms 123
  12. Symmetry and children’s poetry in sign languages 143
  13. Part II. Prosodic metrics
  14. Pairs and triplets 167
  15. Generative linguistics and Arabic metrics 193
  16. On the meter of Middle English alliterative verse 209
  17. The Russian Auden and the Russianness of Auden 229
  18. Towards a universal definition of the caesura 247
  19. Metrical alignment 267
  20. Rephrasing line-end restrictions 287
  21. Part III. Para-metrical phenomena
  22. Pif paf poof 307
  23. The phonology of elision and metrical figures in Italian versification 325
  24. Part IV. Macrostructural metrics
  25. Convention and parody in the rhyming of Tristan Corbière 337
  26. The metrics of Sephardic song 355
  27. A rule of metrical uniformity in old Hungarian poetry 371
  28. Metrical structure of the European sonnet 385
  29. Persons index 403
  30. Languages index 411
  31. Subjects index 415
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