Syllable weight
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segment
s in the rime
. In classical
poetry, both Greek
and Latin
, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter
of the line.
with a branching nucleus or a branching rime. A branching nucleus generally means the syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong
; this type of syllable is abbreviated CVV. A syllable with a branching rime is a closed syllable, that is, one with a coda
(one or more consonants at the end of the syllable); this type of syllable is abbreviated CVC. In some languages, both CVV and CVC syllables are heavy, while a syllable with a short vowel
as the nucleus and no coda (a CV syllable) is a light syllable. In other languages, only CVV syllables are heavy, while CVC and CV syllables are light. Some languages distinguish a third type, CVVC syllables (with both a branching nucleus and a coda) and/or CVCC syllables (with a coda consisting of two or more consonants) as superheavy syllables.
In moraic theory
, heavy syllables are analyzed as containing two moras, light syllables one, and superheavy syllables three.
The distinction between heavy and light syllables plays an important role in the phonology
of some languages, especially with regards to the assignment of stress
. For instance, in the Sezer stress pattern in Turkish
observed in placenames, the main stress occurs as an iamb (i.e. penultimate stress) one syllable to the left of the final syllable: (L'L)σ. However, when the foot
contains a heavy syllable in the first syllable while the second syllable is light, the iamb shifts to a trochee
(i.e. antepenultimate stress) because there is a requirement that main stress fall on a heavy syllable whenever possible: ('HL)σ, and not *(H'L)σ.
Hexameter poetry and Latin literature
, lines followed certain metrical
patterns, such as based on arrangements of heavy and light syllables. A heavy syllable was referred to as a longum and a light as a brevis (and in the modern day, reflecting the ancient terms, a longum is often called a "long syllable" and a brevis a "short syllable," potentially creating confusion between syllable length and vowel length
).
A syllable was considered heavy if it contained a long vowel or a diphthong
(and was therefore "long by nature" — it would be long no matter what) or if it contained a short vowel that was followed by more than one consonant ("long by position," long by virtue of its relationship to the consonants following).
An example:
The first syllable of the first word ("arma") is heavy ("long by position"), because it contains a short vowel (the A) followed by more than one consonant (R and then M) — and if not for the consonants coming after it, it would be light. The second syllable is light, because it contains a short vowel (an A) followed immediately by only one consonant (the V). The next syllable is light for the same reason. The next syllable, the second syllable of the word "virumque," is heavy ("long by position"), because it contains a short vowel followed by more than one consonant (the M and then the Q).
But, for example, the first syllable of the word "Troiae" is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a diphthong, regardless of the sounds coming after it. Likewise, the first syllable of the second line (the first of the word "Italiam") is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a long vowel, and it will be heavy no matter what sounds come after.
Terming a syllable "long by position" is equivalent to noting that the syllable ends with a consonant (a closed syllable), because Latin and Greek speakers in the classical era only pronounced a consonant as part of a preceding syllable when it was followed by other consonants, due to the rules of Greek and Latin syllabification
. In a consonant cluster, one consonant ends the preceding syllable and the rest start the following syllable. For example, Latin syllabifies volat as vo-lat but dignus as dig-nus and monstrum as mon-strum.
As noted above, the number and order of heavy and light syllables in a line of poetry (together with word breaks
) articulated the meter
of the line, such as the most famous classical meter, the epic dactylic hexameter
.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segment
Segment (linguistics)
In linguistics , the term segment may be defined as "any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorily, in the stream of speech."- Classifying speech units :...
s in the rime
Syllable rime
In the study of phonology in linguistics, the rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a nucleus and an optional coda. It is the part of the syllable used in poetic rhyme, and the part that is lengthened or stressed when a person elongates or stresses a word in speech.The rime is usually the...
. In classical
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
poetry, both Greek
Ancient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language until the 4th century.- Classical and Pre-Classical Antiquity :...
and Latin
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to the meter
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
of the line.
Linguistics
A heavy syllable is a syllableSyllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
with a branching nucleus or a branching rime. A branching nucleus generally means the syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
; this type of syllable is abbreviated CVV. A syllable with a branching rime is a closed syllable, that is, one with a coda
Syllable coda
In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
(one or more consonants at the end of the syllable); this type of syllable is abbreviated CVC. In some languages, both CVV and CVC syllables are heavy, while a syllable with a short vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
as the nucleus and no coda (a CV syllable) is a light syllable. In other languages, only CVV syllables are heavy, while CVC and CV syllables are light. Some languages distinguish a third type, CVVC syllables (with both a branching nucleus and a coda) and/or CVCC syllables (with a coda consisting of two or more consonants) as superheavy syllables.
In moraic theory
Mora (linguistics)
Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...
, heavy syllables are analyzed as containing two moras, light syllables one, and superheavy syllables three.
The distinction between heavy and light syllables plays an important role in the phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
of some languages, especially with regards to the assignment of stress
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
. For instance, in the Sezer stress pattern in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
observed in placenames, the main stress occurs as an iamb (i.e. penultimate stress) one syllable to the left of the final syllable: (L'L)σ. However, when the foot
Foot (prosody)
The foot is the basic metrical unit that generates a line of verse in most Western traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, the number of which is limited, with a few...
contains a heavy syllable in the first syllable while the second syllable is light, the iamb shifts to a trochee
Trochee
A trochee or choree, choreus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one...
(i.e. antepenultimate stress) because there is a requirement that main stress fall on a heavy syllable whenever possible: ('HL)σ, and not *(H'L)σ.
Basic definitions
In Ancient GreekAncient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language until the 4th century.- Classical and Pre-Classical Antiquity :...
Hexameter poetry and Latin literature
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
, lines followed certain metrical
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
patterns, such as based on arrangements of heavy and light syllables. A heavy syllable was referred to as a longum and a light as a brevis (and in the modern day, reflecting the ancient terms, a longum is often called a "long syllable" and a brevis a "short syllable," potentially creating confusion between syllable length and vowel length
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
).
A syllable was considered heavy if it contained a long vowel or a diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
(and was therefore "long by nature" — it would be long no matter what) or if it contained a short vowel that was followed by more than one consonant ("long by position," long by virtue of its relationship to the consonants following).
An example:
- Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
- Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit
- (Aeneid 1.1-2)
The first syllable of the first word ("arma") is heavy ("long by position"), because it contains a short vowel (the A) followed by more than one consonant (R and then M) — and if not for the consonants coming after it, it would be light. The second syllable is light, because it contains a short vowel (an A) followed immediately by only one consonant (the V). The next syllable is light for the same reason. The next syllable, the second syllable of the word "virumque," is heavy ("long by position"), because it contains a short vowel followed by more than one consonant (the M and then the Q).
But, for example, the first syllable of the word "Troiae" is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a diphthong, regardless of the sounds coming after it. Likewise, the first syllable of the second line (the first of the word "Italiam") is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a long vowel, and it will be heavy no matter what sounds come after.
Terming a syllable "long by position" is equivalent to noting that the syllable ends with a consonant (a closed syllable), because Latin and Greek speakers in the classical era only pronounced a consonant as part of a preceding syllable when it was followed by other consonants, due to the rules of Greek and Latin syllabification
Syllabification
Syllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.It is also used to describe the process of something like a consonant turning into a syllable, but this is not discussed here...
. In a consonant cluster, one consonant ends the preceding syllable and the rest start the following syllable. For example, Latin syllabifies volat as vo-lat but dignus as dig-nus and monstrum as mon-strum.
Exceptions and additions
A few exceptions to and elaborations of the above rules of heavy and light syllables:- The Greek letters (zetaZeta (letter)Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Zayin...
, xi, and psiPsi (letter)Psi is the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numeric value of 700. In both Classical and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ . The letter was adopted into the Old Italic alphabet, and its shape is continued into the Algiz rune of the Elder Futhark...
) and their Roman equivalents Z and X (and PS) were pronounced as two consonants, so they lengthen by position despite being represented by a single character. For example, the first syllable of gaza is heavy, despite the short vowel followed only by one written consonant, because the Z was pronounced as two consonants and lengthens the syllable by position. - The combination plosive-liquidLiquid consonantIn phonetics, liquids or liquid consonants are a class of consonants consisting of lateral consonants together with rhotics.-Description:...
(usually) or plosive-nasalNasal consonantA nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...
(sometimes) cohered in both Latin and Greek; that is, the two consonants were pronounced together with the speed of one consonant. As a result, they did not lengthen by position if the poet did not want them to (although they could if the poet chose). For example, the first syllable of patris is generally light, even though it has a short vowel followed by two consonants, because the consonants cohere (and the word is syllabified pa-tris). However, the combination aspirateAspiration (phonetics)In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
-nasal or voiced consonantVoice (phonetics)Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...
-nasal did not cohere and always lengthened by position. - In HomerHomerIn the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and his imitators, the digammaDigammaDigamma is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet which originally stood for the sound /w/ and later remained in use only as a numeral symbol for the number "6"...
, a sound defunct in the standard Ionic alphabetHistory of the Greek alphabetThe history of the Greek alphabet starts with the adoption of Phoenician letter forms and continues to the present day. This article concentrates on the early period, before the codification of the now-standard Greek alphabet....
and lost from pronunciation by the classical period, was still felt enough to lengthen by position, even though it is normally not written in the Homeric poems. For example, in the line (Odyssey, 9.3), the first syllable of is long, even though it has a short vowel followed by only one consonant, because the word was originally , and the digamma was still felt enough to lengthen the syllable by position. Since the digamma was being lost during the time when the Homeric poems were composed, recited, and written down, its effects are sometimes not felt, so that words that would have contained a digamma sometimes do not show its effects.
As noted above, the number and order of heavy and light syllables in a line of poetry (together with word breaks
Caesura
thumb|100px|An example of a caesura in modern western music notation.In meter, a caesura is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. The plural form of caesura is caesuras or caesurae...
) articulated the meter
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...
of the line, such as the most famous classical meter, the epic dactylic hexameter
Dactylic hexameter
Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. It is traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek and Latin, and was consequently considered to be the Grand Style of classical poetry...
.