PROSODY

Definition of Prosody
The term prosody derives from the ancient Greek word, which had two meanings: either syllabic
accent, or song. These meanings set the scene for the contemporary meanings of prosody in
linguistics and poetics. The meaning of poetic prosody in the study of literature refers to genre-
specific patterns of metre in poems, for example regularly occurring patterns of prominent (e.g.
strong, accented or long) syllables and less prominent (e.g. weak, unaccented or short) syllables.
Poetic metres define basic rhythm types, which may be varied and combined or overridden for
aesthetic and rhetorical effect in performance.

A literary technique, prosody is the study of meter, intonation, and rhythm of a poetic work. It is
a phonetic term that uses meter, rhythm, tempo, pitch, and loudness in a speech for conveying
information about the meanings and structure of an utterance. In addition, prosody is an
important element of language that contributes toward rhythmic and acoustic effects in a piece of
writing. It includes different elements, such as scansion, sound, pace, and meaning.

Types of Prosody

There are four distinguishable prosodic metrical patterns, which are:

1. Syllabic Prosody – Syllabic prosody counts a fixed number of syllables in each line,
while accent, tone, and quantity play a secondary role.
2. Accentual Prosody – Accentual prosody measures only the accents or stresses in a line
of verse, while the overall number of syllables may vary in a line. It is very common in
Germanic, old English, and modern English verses.
3. Accentual-syllabic Prosody – Accentual-syllabic prosody counts both the number of
syllables and accents in each line. We commonly find it in English poetry.
4. Quantitative Prosody – Quantitative prosody does not measure the number of syllables,
rather depending upon duration of syllables. This can be determined by the amount of
time used on pronunciation, such as a free-verse poem that consists of unmeasured lines.
We find this type of prosody in Roman and classical Greek poetry, and only very rarely
in English poetry.
Examples of Prosody in Literature
Example #1: In My Craft or Sullen Art (By Dylan Thomas)

“In my craft or sullen art

Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light …
But for the common wages
of their most secret heart.”

This extract is an example of syllabic verse, which contains constrained or a fixed number of
syllables. Here, in this poem each line consists of seven syllables, except the final line. However,
it does not follow a consistent stressed pattern.

Example #2: what if a much of a which of a wind (By E. E. Cummings)

“what if a much of a which of a wind

gives the truth to summer’s lie;
bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun
and yanks immortal stars awry?
Blow king to beggar and queen to seem
(blow friend to fiend: blow space to time)
—when skies are hanged and oceans drowned,
the single secret will still be man…”

This poem is presenting a good example of accentual verse, in which the number of stressed
syllables remains constant at four. They are underlined above, but the total number of syllables
in each line does not remain constant and changes from seven to ten.

Example #3: To My Dear and Loving Husband (By Anne Bradstreet)

“If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold …”

This poem is a perfect example of accentual-syllabic verse, which focuses on both the number of
syllables, and the number of accents in each poetic line. This iambic pentameter poem is one of
the best examples of accented syllabic verse, as it contains five iambs in each line, and follows a
strictly measured syllabic pattern.

Example #4: Aeneid (By Virgil)

“Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris…”

This opening line of Virgil’s Aeneid is a classic model of quantitative prosody. Look at the stress
pattern which is irregular. As this type of prosody does not have measured syllables, it measures
the meter according to duration of time to pronounce a line.

Function of Prosody

Prosody has multiple functions in literature. For example, poets incorporate it in matters like
syntactic phrasing, word segmentation, sentence, accentuation, stress, and phonological
distinctions. Generally, authors use it to produce rhythmic and acoustic effects in poetry as well
as prose. However, it has expressive and pragmatic functions, because a certain sentence in a
given perspective expresses more than just its linguistic meanings.

An expressive content could be an identity of a speaker, his mood, age, sex, and other extra-
linguistic features. Pragmatic function of prosody encompasses the attitude of speaker and
listener, and provides relationship between a speaker and his or her discourse. It also reflects
different features of a speaker and his utterance, emotional state, form of utterance, presence
of sarcasm or irony, and emphasis.
The prosody of the utterance performs a number of functions, the basic of which are constitutive,
distinctive and identificatory.

1. The constitutive function is to form utterances as communicative units. Prosody unifies

words into utterances, thus giving the latter the final form without which they cannot exist. A
succession of words arranged syntactically is not a communicative unit until a certain prosodic
pattern is attached to it. E.G. "Pete has left for Leningrad" is not a communicative unit until it
is pronounced, i.e. until it acquires a certain pitch—and— stress pattern. Prosody is the only
language device that transform words as vocabulary items into communicative units —
utterances. In written speech prosodic features are to some extent indicated by punctuation
marks, e.g. "Fire!" is a command or an exclamation, depending on the situation in which it
occurs, "Fire?" — A question, "Fire". - A statement.

Prosody forms all communicative types of utterances — statements, questions, imperatives,

exclamations and modal (attitudinal) types: — e.g. categoric statements, non-categoric,
perfunctory statements, quizzical statements, certainty and uncertainty questions, insistent
questions, etc. In constituting an utterance, prosody at the same time performs the
segmentative and de limitative function. It segments connected discourse into utterances and
intonation groups, and simultaneously delimits them one from another, showing relations
between them. It also signals the semantic nucleus and other semantically important words of
an utterance (or an intonation group). Prosody also constitutes phonetic styles of speech

2. The distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in several particular functions,

depending on the meaning which is differentiated. These are communicative—distinctive,
modal-distinctive, culminative ("theme— rheme") distinctive, syntactical — distinctive and
stylistic—distinctive functions.

The communicative —distinctive function is to differentiate the communicative types of

utterances, i.e. statements, questions, exclamations, imperatives, and communicative subtypes:
within statements — statements proper, answers, announcements, etc.; within questions —
first instance questions, repeated questions, echo questions; within imperatives — commands,
requests and so on.
Prosodic features
Intonation is referred to as a prosodic feature of English. This is the collective term used to
describe variations in pitch, loudness, tempo, and rhythm. These features are all involved in
intonation, stress, and rhythm.

Loudness has already been mentioned as relation to weak and strong syllables in English and in
the extra prominence given to nuclear syllables. In more extended speech, loudness can be used
for other effects. It is associated with anger (though anger can also be indicated by very quiet,
tense speech). In public speaking, orators produce powerful effects by varying the loudness of
their speech. The juxtaposition of very loud and very quiet utterances is a device often used by
those trying to arouse strong emotions in their audience. It is also used to heighten effectiveness
when reading children's stories. The pace of speech is called tempo. This too can be varied. Fast
speech can convey urgency, whereas slower speech can be used for emphasis. Varying the tempo
can also be used for effect in public speaking, often accompanying changes in loudness. When
reading stories to children, we can vary the tempo and loudness to reinforce the meaning of the
words.