Metrical Feet and Dancing Feet
Kristin Hanson
Department of English
University of California, Berkeley
CUNY Phonology Forum
Conference on the Foot
January 15-17, 2009
1. Duple and triple rhythms in language:
a. English (Hayes 1981):
ápple, appéal
ánecdòte
scintílla
álimòny, Màssachúsetts
Appaláchicòla, Ticònderóga
ámulet
Connécticut
Tàtamagóuchi, àbracadábra
b. Diyari (Poser 1989):
kána
mánkara
wílapìna
'man'
'girl'
'old woman'
c. Winnebago (Miner 1979, Hale and White Eagle 1980)
harakíshrujíkshana
--> harakíshurujíkshana
d. Finnish
ópeta
ópetètaan ~
ópettàja
ópetetàan
ópettamàssa
cp. also Estonian (Prince 1980), Mantjiltjara (Marsh 1969; Davis 1985); Chugach (Leer
1985, Rice 1987)
e. Cayuvava (Levin 1985) :
dáru, sákahe, kihíBere, arikájahi
pópohecéBaka , aBárericákaa, ikitáparerépeha
cp. Gilbertese: Blevins (1999)
f. *Lapse, FtBin, etc. (Hayes 1995, McCarthy and Prince 1986, Kager 1999, etc.)
e.g. moraic trochees:
feet:
syllables:
moras:
!
"
µs µ
!
"s "
µ µ
(or
!
"s "
µ
µs µ
in some languages
word-initially)
2. Duple and triple rhythms in traditional English metrics:
a. typology:
rising:
falling:
duple:
x/
iamb
/x
trochee
triple:
xx/
anapest
/xx
dactyl
3. Anapestic meter with strict syllable count (three syllables per foot, except at edges):
Tennyson, "Written by an Exile of Bassorah, while sailing down the Euphrates" (1827)
Thou land of the Lily! thy gay flowers are blooming
In joy on thine hills, but they bloom not for me;
For a dark gulf of woe, all my fond hopes entombing,
Has rolled its black waves 'twixt this lone heart and thee.
The far distant hills, and the groves of my childhood,
Now stream in the light of the sun's setting ray;
And the tall-waving palms of my own native wild-wood
In the blue haze of distance are melting away.
I see thee, Bassorah! in splendour retiring,
Where thy waves and the walls in their majesty meet;
I see the bright glory thy pinnacles firing,
And the broad vassal river that rolls at thy feet.
I see thee but faintly -- thy tall towers are beaming
On the dusky horizon so far and so blue;
And minaret and mosque in the distance are gleaming,
While the coast of the stranger expands on my view.
I see thee no more: for the deep waves have parted
The land of my birth from her desolate son;
And I am gone from thee, though half broken-hearted,
To wander through climes where thy name is unknown.
Farewell to my harp, which I hung in my anguish
On the lonely palmetto that nods to the gale;;
For its sweet-breathing tones in forgetfulness languish,
And around it the ivy shall weave a green veil.
Farewell to the days which so smoothly have glided
With the maiden whose look was like Cama's young glance,
And the sheen of whose eyes was the load-star which guided
My course on this earth through the storms of mischance!
4. Meters with binary (duple) templates:
a.
anapestic meter with variable syllable count:
Tennyson's "The Voyage of Maeldune" (1880)
Where a silent ocean always broke on a silent shore
w
s w sw s w
s
w
s w
s
\ /
\/ \ / \
/
\ / \ /
And the brooks glittered on in the light without sound and the long waterfalls
w
s
w
s w
s
w
s
w
s
w
s
\
/
\
/
\
/
\
/
\
/
\ /
b. iambic meter with variable syllable count
Tennyson's "Oenone" (1832)
The long brook falling through the cloven ravine
w s
w
s w
s
w s w s
\ /
\
/ \
/
\ /
\ /
In cataract after cataract to the sea
w s w s w s w s w s
\ / \ / \ /
\ / \ /
c.
iambic meter with strict syllable count (two syllables per foot, except at edges):
Tennyson's "Ulysses" (1842)
It little profits that an idle king
ws w s w s w s w s
\/ \ / \ /
\/ \ /
5. Revised English metrical typology (Hanson and Kiparsky 1996):
template:
position
prominence site
binary:
/ \
w s
"Ulysses"
"Oenone"
"The Voyage of Maeldune"
" "strict"
W
! "loose"
W
! (variable) S
ternary:
"Written by an Exile of Bassorah"
"
"strict"
6. Meters with ternary (triple) templates:
a. binary structure of ternary metrical templates (Kiparsky 1977)
*
/ | \
w w s
/ \
w s
/\
sw
S
"iambic"
"anapestic"
b. And the tall-waving palms of my own native wild-wood
s w s s w
s
s w s
s w s
<>
\ / /
\ /
/
\ / /
\ / /
w /
w /
w /
w /
\ /
\/
\/
\/
...
*genteel
...
*destroyed ...
c. beat-splitting as always trochaic: Prince (1989)
/ \
w
s
/\
s w
/ \
w
s
/\
sw
/ \
w
s
/\
s w
/
w
\
s
/\
sw
7. Duple and triple rhythms in music:
a. 2
4|..|..
*
*
*
** **
b. 4
4|....
*
* *
****
c. 3
4|...|...
*
*
*
*** ***
d. 6
8|......
*
*
*
******
b. MWFR 3: "At each metrical level, strong beats are spaced either two or three beats
apart." (Lerdahl and Jackendoff 1983, p. 69)
8. Dryden, King Arthur, for music by Purcell (1691):
a. from the Preface:
"But the Numbers of Poetry and Vocal Musick, are sometimes so contrary, that in many
places I have been oblig'd to cramp my Verses, and make them rugged to the Reader,
that they may be harmonious to the Hearer: Of which I have no Reason to repent me,
because these sorts of Entertainment are princiapally design'd for the Ear and Eye; and
therefore in Reason my Art on this occasion, ought to be subservient to his [Purcell's].
And besides, I flatter my self with an Imagination, that a Judicious Audience will easily
distinguish betwixt the Songs wherein I have comply'd with him, and those in which I
have followed the Rules of Poetry, in the Sound and Cadence of the Words."
b. Enter Shepherds and Shepherdesses:
How blest are Shepherds, how happy their Lasses,
While Drums and Trumpets are sounding Alarms!
Over our Lowly Sheds all the Storm passes;
And when we die, 'tis in each others Arms.
All the Day on our Herds, and Flocks employing;
All the Night on our Flutes, and in enjoying.
Bright Nymphs of Britain, with Graces attended,
Let not your Days without Pleasure expire;
Honour's but empty, and when Youth is ended,
All Men will praise you, but none will desire.
Let not Youth fly away without Contentin;
Age will come time enough for your Repenting.
(Act II, scene ii, ll. 39-51)
9. Some dances of the international style ballroom syllabus:
Rhumba:
ChaCha:
Foxtrot:
or
or
or
2 3 4 (hold 1)
234&1
1234
1234
1234
1234
, etc.
Waltz 1 2 3
Some References:
Blevins, J. and S. P. Harrison. 1999. Trimoraic feet in Gilbertese. Oceanic Linguistics. 38:
203-230.
Cooper, Grosvenor and Leonard B. Meyer. 1960. The rhythmic structure of music. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Halle, John and Fred Lerdahl. 1991. "A generative texsetting model." Current Musicology 55: 323.
Hanson, Kristin. 1991. Resolution in Modern Meters. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University.
Hanson, Kristin and Paul Kiparsky. 1996. "A parametric theory of poetic meter." Language
72(2): 287-335.
Hayes, Bruce. 1995. Metrical stress theory: principles and case studies. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Levin, J. 1988. Generating Ternary Feet, Texas Linguistic Forum 29, D. Fruchter, J. Levin,
and J. Liu eds., The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 97-113.
Lerdahl, Fred and Ray Jackendoff. 1981. A generative theory of tonal music. Cambridge: MIT
Press.
Phillips-Silver, Jessica and Laurel J. Trainor. Feeling the Beat: Movement Influences Infant
Rhythm Perception. Science Vol. 308. no. 5727, p. 1430
Prince, Alan. 1989. "Metrical forms." In Paul Kiparsky and Gilbert Youmans
(eds.), Phonetics and phonology, vol. 1: Rhythm and meter , San Diego: Academic Press.
Saintsbury, George. 1906-1911. A history of English prosody from the twelfth century of the present
day , 3 vols. London: MacMillan and Co.