What is Meter Good for? Views from Phonology and Cognition
Co-sponsored by The John and Penelope Department of Classics and the Program in Linguistics
Online lecture; in-person watch party with snacks in Seigle 206
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Abstract
Many poetic traditions worldwide rely on some type of meter. But why do poets (and especially oral traditional poets who have to deal with the pressure of composing as they perform) bother with such a demanding set of formal requirements? This talk explores these questions by looking at the Homeric hexameter through the lenses of cognitive studies and phonological theory, first by analyzing the emergence of meter-like phenomena in the speech of hyperfluent individuals (such as professional sportscasters and auctioneers), and then by applying some principles of generative metrics and the study of the prosodic hierarchy to the long-standing problem of the colometry of the Homeric hexameter (i.e., the scholarly debate on the nature and function of the component parts of the epic verse). This talk argues that meter can work as a strategy for streamlining language production, and that it does so by prescribing (i.e., limiting) choices that have to do with the prosodic realization of speech.
Chiara is a linguist specializing in Indo-European Studies. She earned her Ph.D. from UCLA (2009–2015), where she later taught in the Linguistics Department and the Program in Indo-European Studies. Originally from Lake Como, Italy, she first studied Classics at the Catholic University of Milan, where she discovered her love for linguistics and Homeric studies.
After attending the Leiden Summer School in Indo-European Linguistics in 2006, she pursued an MA at Leiden University and later moved to the U.S. for her doctorate. Since 2017, she has lived in Munich, serving as a Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin and completing her Habilitation under Prof. Olav Hackstein. Her book has since been published—and her German, as she notes, “somewhat improved.” She still fondly remembers hiking the Santa Monica Mountains during her UCLA years, a time she considers among the most inspiring of her career.