Metrical Phonology
Abstract

 

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The phonological literature of Bangla, like that of other languages, has reflected the paradigm shifts in mainstream phonological research. For example, the SPE model of generative phonology is applied to Bangla in the works of Sarkar (1975), Dey (1979), Singh (1980), Dasgupta (1980) and so on; the concrete model of Kiparsky (1968b, 1975) is reflected in the work of Paul (1985); and the present work reflects a current trend, called metrical phonology, that has been set forth in the field of generative phonology with the paper named On stress and linguistic rhythm by Liberman & Prince in 1977.

From the SPE and concrete approach to the metrical phonology, however, is an ascent from the segmental tier to the prosodic tier of phonology in terms of the legal clusterings of the segments, viz. syllable, foot, and word.

Though in the generative tradition the major developments in the field of metrical phonology occurred during late seventies and early eighties of the last century, in the literary tradition of Bangla similar metrical theorization on the Bangla verse language was initiated as far back as 1922 by Prabodh Chandra Sen, the propounder of what we call the Sen school of thought in metrical analysis, independently of Western work.

Sen's school of metrical analysis developed gradually during a considerably long period, viz. from 1922 to 1986. The essential tools of Sen's metrical analysis are a few fundamental prosodic concepts, viz. pause, stress, quantity unit, and mora, and a lower level macro unit of phonology, viz. syllable.

On the basis of one prosodic characteristic, viz. the quantity unit, of the two chief categories of syllable, viz. open syllable and closed syllable, the three primary metrical patterns of Bangla, viz. syllabic, moric, and composite patterns, are determined.

In the syllabic pattern both the open and closed syllables are considered to be monomoric, i.e. the unit of quantification in this pattern is the syllable itself, e.g.

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c
O
p
o
l
p
a
Y
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k
e
b
o
l
d
h
a
Y
|
k
e
b
o
l
g
a
Y
|
p
o
r
i
r
g
a
n
,
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p
u
l
O
k
m
o
r
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S
O
k
o
l
g
a
Y
|
b
i
b
h
o
l
m
o
r
|
S
O
k
o
l
p
r
a
n
.


(Dutta Satyendranath 1924 jhOrnar gan in bidaY aroti pp.70)

"lively step-loc. incessantly run-I incessantly sing-I fairy-gen. song,
delight my whole body overwhelmed my whole heart"

'I run continuously with lively steps, I sing eternally the song of a fairy; I am delighted all over my body and my whole heart is overwhelmed with joy'

In this example each foot (marked by the sign |) consists of three syllables as well as three moras.

In the moric pattern the open syllables are monomoric, whereas the closed ones are dimoric, i.e. the quantity unit of this pattern is mora, e.g.

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n
O
n
d
o
p
u
r
o
|
c
O
n
d
r
o
b
i
n
a
|
b
r
i
n
d
a
b
o
n
o
|
O
n
d
h
o
k
a
r
,
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b
O
h
e
n
a
c
O
l
o
|
m
O
n
d
a
n
i
l
o
|
l
u
t
i
a
p
h
u
l
o
-g
O
n
d
h.o
b
h
a
r
.

(Ray Kalidas (1333) brindabon Ondhokar in pOrnopuT pp.55)

"Nando-house moon without Brindabon dark
blows not restless breeze taking-along flower fragrance"

'Without the moon of Nando's house Brindabon is dark; the usually restless breeze, carrying along the fragrance of flowers, stood still'

In this example each foot consists of five moras.

In the composite pattern open syllables are monomoric, whereas the closed syllables may be monomoric or dimoric. To be more specific, in this pattern, word finally and in monosyllabic words closed syllables are dimoric, whereas elsewhere they are monomoric, e.g.

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j
e
y
d
i
n
o
c
O
r
o
n
e
||
D
a
l
i
d
i
n
u
e
j
i
b
O
n
,
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h
a
S
i
-
o
s
s
r
u
S
e
y
d
i
n
||
k
o
r
i
a
c
h
i
b
i
S
O
r
j
o
n
.

 

(Ray Kamini 1909 ma amar in alochaYa pp34)

"which day those feet-loc. offering gave-I this life,
smiles-tears that day have-done-I sacrifice"

'I sacrificed my smiles and tears from that very day when I offered my life onto those feet'

In this example each clause (marked by the sign ||) consists of eight moras.

Among these three the syllabic pattern is considered as the folk style, and thus most natural; whereas the moric pattern is the most artificial.

Apart from the above literary tradition, in Bangla any step towards the metrical treatment of phonology necessarily starts with the generative treatment of the segmental tier of speech.

As far as the segmental phonological analysis of Standard Colloquial Bangla is concerned the vast sector of verb morphology offers potentially representative results. In the theoretical sphere a constrained version of SPE, which is propounded by Kiparsky (1968b, 1975) and may be called the concrete approach proposes to restrict the strong generative capacity of SPE by

1) applying the device of neutralization in accordance with one of the two, viz. strong and weak, alternating conditions;

2) treating synchronic motivation as the prime condition for the evaluation measure;

3) handling the exceptions in terms of rule-feature analysis, and

4) assessing the psychological reality of the processes involved.

However, in accordance with this concrete approach of the segmental generative phonology Bangla verbal and deverbal forms are correctly generated in terms of 8 major rules, viz. a-Mutation, Vowel Raising, Suffix Truncation, Degemination, Minor i-Deletion, Semivowel Formation, Semivowel Deletion, and Glide Assimilation.

The very first step beyond such segmental analysis demands an indepth study of Bangla syllables. The existing descriptive as well as quantitative studies on Bangla syllables list some 10 rules of syllabification and 16 canonical syllable patterns. In terms of the metrical framework these 16 canonical patterns show two non-controversial categories, viz. the heavy syllables, having branching rimes, and the light syllables, having non-branching rimes.

The rhythmic organization of Bangla words is captured in terms of another prosodic feature of syllable, viz. prominence. One phonological process, viz. O-o variation, reflects the predictable stress in Bangla as apart from other factors of O-o variation O is weakened to o in unstressed syllables. In the word domain, the occurrence of O and o in stressed and unstressed syllables respectively conforms to the three basic concepts, viz. adjacent, alternating, and clashing, of the theory of metrical grid.

On the segmental tier the template for Bangla monosyllables is CCVVC which, firstly, is arranged hierarchically as:

O

O R

O2 O1 R1 R2 R3

C C V V C

Secondly, agrees perfectly with the principle of Sonority Sequencing Generalization (of Selkirk, 1984: 116) that says that the sonority values of the segments increase as one approaches the syllable peak, having the highest value, and decrease as one moves away from that peak; and thirdly, obeys at least 13 language specific template conditions of Bangla.

In Bangla polysyllabic words though this very principle of Sonority Sequencing Generalization determines the precise number of syllables, it fails to detect the boundaries between them.

The intervocalic consonants, a suggestive class are syllabified mostly as [V] [CV]; and sometimes as [V[C]V]. The existence of these two types of bracketing suggests that underlyingly the process of syllabification in polysyllabic words follows the Principle of Maximal Onsets, whereas on surface often the Principle of Ambisyllabicity applies.

Thus the characterization of syllables, the basic unit of Bangla metrical analysis, may be carried out optimally in terms of the mechanisms specified above which have emerged in the context of the currently developing field of metrical phonology.