Most of the meters considered so far in this book have rules and conditions which presuppose a partitioning of syllables into two types, based either on stress, or on weight. In this chapter, we consider other kinds of binary partition, and argue that in any given metrical tradition only two distinct kinds of syllable are recognized by the metrical rules, though the basis for the partition differs.

Two vernacular Arabic meters

In Chapter 7 we analyzed the meters of Classical Arabic. In these meters, as in the meters of Sanskrit and Greek, syllables are divided into two classes for metrical purposes: light and heavy. In this section we look at two vernacular Arabic metrical traditions in which syllables are partitioned in a different way. The important claim is that each metrical tradition operates with just one type of binary partition.

A Bedouin accentual meter

We first turn to an accentual meter in a vernacular Arabic poetry. Bailey (2002) has argued that the meters used in Bedouin Arabic songs (from Sinai and the Negev) are based on the counting of stressed syllables. Thus, the bifurcation in this meter is stressed vs. unstressed syllables and not heavy vs. light: one partition is exchanged for another. The stressing of syllables in these songs may override ordinary word stress. The number of stressed syllables in each verse is fixed, but there can be anything between zero and three unstressed syllables between stressed syllables, as illustrated in (1).