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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transactions of the Philological Society 2011-11, Vol.109 (3), p.265-283
Main Author: Rainsford, T. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
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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.
ISSN:0079-1636
1467-968X
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-968X.2011.01278.x