Dr. Rolf Noyer
The theory of generative metrics, like the theory of generative grammar for natural language, has concentrated on defining grammars which generate the set of well-formed expressions: for natural language these are grammatical sentences (Chomsky 1957), and for poetic meter, metrical lines (Halle & Keyser 1972). The contribution of perceptual explanations those arising from the nature of the Parser to constraints on grammars has long received attention in natural language theory (Miller & Chomsky 1963, Bever 1970 et seq.), but comparatively little emphasis in generative metrics. In this talk I first examine the grammar of poetic meter from the perspective of the parser/hearer, looking first at ordinary English meters such as variants of iambic pentameter used by Chaucer, Shakespeare and later poets. Second I examine more complex classical (Greek) meters. Discussion focuses on three interrelated problems: 1. How complex a problem is the parsing of poetic meter? What properties must a deterministic parser have? 2. Are certain meters "harder" to parse than others? 3. Can certain constraints on metrical grammars be explained more directly because they simplify the Parsing Problem, rather than simplify the formal expression of the metrical grammar?
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