Dividing lines: The Changing syntax and prosody of the mid-line break in Medieval French octosyllabic verse
The earliest French eight-syllable verse texts show a regular line division after the fourth syllable. This mid-line break becomes less common and disappears over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Both a phonological phrase boundary and a stressed syllable are typically used to mar...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2011
|
| Summary: | The earliest French eight-syllable verse texts show a regular line division after the fourth syllable. This mid-line break becomes less common and disappears over the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Both a phonological phrase boundary and a stressed syllable are typically used to mark the division. Where the stressed syllable is not word-final, authors choose to displace either the break or the stressed syllable from the mid-line position, with preferences varying by author. The presence of any such tendency to regularize stressed syllable position is argued to show the continued saliency of linguistic stress in twelfth-century French. © The Philological Society 2011. |
|---|