Style in performance : the prosody of poetic recitation
This thesis presents an empirical study of the accentual and pitch patterns of poetic recitation. Its chief aim is to show the prosody of recitation as a substantial contributor to the overall prosodic effect when a poem is read. It uses a small annotated corpus of multiple recitations of two poems, stored in a relational database, a means of investigation which allows prosodic properties of the text and of performance to be clearly separated. In Section I previous linguistic models of poetic prosody are reviewed, and it is concluded that they have either confined themselves to metre and word-stress patterns, prosodic properties that are inherent in the text, or, if they have investigated performance, have done so unsystematically. The present investigation of performance is then introduced, and the prosodic patterns of the text defined as defaults, which provide starting points that a performance can comply with or depart from. Section II investigates the accentual patterns of performance. A model of accentuation and accentual patterns is set out, and the circumstances in which accentable syllables can lose their default accents. The accentual patterns of the recitations are then examined and related to the
Barney, Thomas Henry
Linguistics
Style in performance : the prosody of poetic recitation. This thesis presents an empirical study of the accentual and pitch patterns of poetic recitation. Its chief aim is to show the prosody of recitation as a substantial contributor to the overall prosodic effect when a poem is read. It uses a small annotated corpus of multiple recitations of two poems, stored in a relational database, a means of investigation which allows prosodic properties of the text and of performance to be clearly separated. In Section I previous linguistic models of poetic prosody are reviewed, and it is concluded that they have either confined themselves to metre and word-stress patterns, prosodic properties that are inherent in the text, or, if they have investigated performance, have done so unsystematically. The present investigation of performance is then introduced, and the prosodic patterns of the text defined as defaults, which provide starting points that a performance can comply with or depart from. Section II investigates the accentual patterns of performance. A model of accentuation and accentual patterns is set out, and the circumstances in which accentable syllables can lose their default accents. The accentual patterns of the recitations are then examined and related to the
style performance prosody poetic recitation present_empirical study accentual pitch pattern poetic recitation chief aim_show prosody recitation substantial contributor overall prosodic effect poem read small annotate corpus multiple recitation poem store relational_database mean investigation allow prosodic property text performance clearly separate section previous linguistic_model poetic prosody review conclude either confine word_stress pattern prosodic property inherent text investigated performance present_investigation performance introduce prosodic pattern text define default provide start_point performance comply depart from section_ii investigate accentual pattern performance model accentual pattern set circumstance syllable lose default accent accentual pattern recitation examine related