Greek Meter : An Approach Using Metrical Grids and Maxent

Standard presentations of ancient Greek poetic meter typically focus on identifying and classifying the repeatable syllable-weight-based patterns found in Greek poetry. This dissertation, by contrast, seeks to understand why selected Greek poets arranged their words in just those patterns instead of some others. Counter to the prevailing approach in classics, which defines meters as strings of short and long positions, meters are here viewed as abstract rhythmic patterns, made concrete by the phonological representations of verses. A main goal is to explicitly characterize the well-formedness conditions on the correspondences between these abstract patterns and actual lines. The study is couched in the framework of generative metrics. Chapter 1 sets the scope and context of the study and provides a brief rationale for the proposed approach by comparing it with traditional Greek metrics and demonstrating the built-in limitations of the latter in explaining the metrical choices of Greek poets. In addition, the chapter examines some basic features of Greek meter from the perspective of comparative metrics. Chapter 2 discusses the key background assumptions about the structure of meter and defends the view that poetic meters are musical objects rather than purely phonological ones, as some scholars have suggested. Chapter 3 presents the statistical method used in the dissertation to model the metrical intuitions of poets (maximum entropy density estimation). The chapter also introduces a new method for examining the extent to which the inherent rhythms of the relevant language explain the regularities observed in verses. Chapters 4-6 contain the main contributions to the study of Greek meter and the theory of metrics. Chapter 4 presents statistical analyses of four different meters (trochaic tetrameter, archaic and tragic iambic trimeter, comic iambic trimeter, and anapestic dimeter). According to the analyses, the quantitative patterns in these meters can be plausibly described using hierarchical metrical grids and natural metrical constraints. Chapter 5 examines the rhythmically more complex verses of Sappho and Alcaeus in the light of Paul Kiparsky’s recent proposal that the rhythmic aperiodicity that characterizes much early Greek verse is due to syncopation. It is shown that Kiparsky's theory, with some revisions, can be applied to the analysis of the metrical forms used by Sappho and Alcaeus. Chapter 6 argues against the theory of “Prosodic metrics”, which seeks to analyze Greek meters (and those of other languages) by using phonological markedness constraints alone. Chapter 7 summarizes the main results of the dissertation, places them in the context of the recent history of metrical scholarship, and considers directions for further research.

Grantor dc:publisher

Helsingin yliopisto

Year dc:date.issued

2022

Author dc:creator

• Henriksson, Erik

• kreikan kieli ja kirjallisuus

Statement dc:rights

• Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
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• Publikationen är skyddad av upphovsrätten. Den får läsas och skrivas ut för personligt bruk. Användning i kommersiellt syfte är förbjuden.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/341327

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/341327