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Linguistic Change and the Future of Metrical Persian Poetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mohsen Mahdavi Mazdeh Open the ORCID record for Mohsen Mahdavi Mazdeh [Opens in a new window]
Mohsen Mahdavi Mazdeh*
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
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Abstract

The metrical requirements of Persian poetry are highly restrictive. Traditionally, the rigidity of the metrical system was compensated for by a high degree of flexibility in the poetic language in terms of lexicon, phonology, and morpho-syntax. Using statistical data from different periods of Persian poetry, this paper argues that the degree of flexibility of the language used in metrical Persian poetry has been in constant decrease, moving towards what may potentially be a language crisis for metrical Persian poetry. This study traces the linguistic and meta-linguistic origins of the initial flexibility of the poetic language and its subsequent change, suggesting that some of the recent trends in Persian poetry may be viewed in part as reactions to this potential crisis.

Keywords

Language ChangePersian PoetryMetricsColloquial PersianEarly New PersianPoetic Language
Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 5-6 , December 2021 , pp. 737 - 768
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Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2020

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Footnotes

His research areas are quantitative metrics, early New Persian, and the phonology of Iranian languages.

The author would like to thank Raha Ahmadian as well as two anonymous reviewers of Iranian Studies for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this article.

References

Bibliography

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Nazari, Fazel. Aknun. Tehran: Sureh-ye Mehr, 2019.Google Scholar
Abolqasemi, Mohsen. Dastur-e tārikhi-e zabān-e fārsi. Tehran: Samt, 2013.Google Scholar
Akhavan Sales, Mehdi. “Now‘i vazn dar she‘r-e emruz-e fārsi.” Payām-e novin 5, no. 6 (1963): 38–50.Google Scholar
Deo, Ashwini. “The Metrical Organization of Classical Sanskrit Verse.” Journal of Linguistics 43, no. 1 (2007): 63–114. doi: 10.1017/S0022226706004452CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deo, Ashwini, and Kiparsky, Paul. “Poetries in Contact: Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.” Linguistic Insights—Studies in Language and Communication 113, no. 1976 (2011): 145–71.Google Scholar
Gailor, Denis. “Early Modern English Contractions and Their Relevance to Present-day English: English Contractions Have Their Own History.” English Today 27, no. 1 (2011): 10–15. doi: 10.1017/S0266078411000083CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Karimi-Doostan, Gholamhossein. “Separability of Light Verb Constructions in Persian.” Studia Linguistica 65, no. 1 (2011): 70–95. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9582.2011.01178.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawamoto, Kōji. The Poetics of Japanese Verse: Imagery, Structure, Meter. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. “The Rhythmic Structure of English Verse.” Linguistic Inquiry 8, no. 2 (1977): 189–247.Google Scholar
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Mahdavi Mazdeh, Mohsen. “Quantitative Meter in Persian Folk Songs and PopLyrics.” In Advances in Iranian Linguistics, edited by Larson, Richard, Moradi, Sedigheh, and Samiian, Vida, 237–255. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2020.Google Scholar
Mahdavi Mazdeh, Mohsen. “The Rhythmic Structure of Persian Poetic Meters.” PhD diss., University of Arizona, 2019.Google Scholar
Mofidi, Ruhollah. “Tahavvol-e nezām-e vājhebasti dar fārsi-e miāneh va now.” Nāmeh-ye fargangestān 3, no. 3 (2008): 133–52.Google Scholar
Najafi, Abolhasan. Darbāreye tabaqebandi-e vaznhā-ye she‘r-e fārsi. Tehran: Nilufar, 2015.Google Scholar
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Ollett, Andrew. “Moraic Feet in Prakrit Metrics: A Constraint-Based Approach.” Transactions of the Philological Society 110, no. 2 (2012): 241–82. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-968X.2012.01307.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parhizi, Abdolkhaleq. ‘Aruz-e novin-e fārsi. Tehran: Qoqnus, 2002.Google Scholar
Paul, Ludwig. A Grammar of Early Judeo-Persian. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2013.Google Scholar
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Rezvani, Sa‘id. “Now‘-i digar az vazn.” Nāmeh-ye farhangestān 11, no. 3 (2010): 17–24.Google Scholar
Sadeghi, Ali Ashraf. Masā’el-e tārikhi-e zabān-e fārsi. Tehran: Sokhan, 2001.Google Scholar
Shamisa, Sirus. Āshnāyi bā aruz va qāfieh. Tehran: Mitrā, 2004.Google Scholar
Thiesen, Finn. A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody: With Chapters on Urdu, Karakhanidic and Ottoman Prosody. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1982.Google Scholar
Ekhtesari, Fatemeh. Kenār-e jāde-ye far‘i. Tehran: Nimāj, 2013.Google Scholar
Ganjoor. Ganjoor Online Collection, 2019. http://www.ganjoor.netGoogle Scholar
Maqdisi, Muhammad Ibn Ahmad. Asḥsan al-taqāsīm fīma‘rifah al-aqālīm. Beirut: Dār al-kutub al-‘ilmiyah, 2003.Google Scholar
Nazari, Fazel. Aknun. Tehran: Sureh-ye Mehr, 2019.Google Scholar
Abolqasemi, Mohsen. Dastur-e tārikhi-e zabān-e fārsi. Tehran: Samt, 2013.Google Scholar
Akhavan Sales, Mehdi. “Now‘i vazn dar she‘r-e emruz-e fārsi.” Payām-e novin 5, no. 6 (1963): 38–50.Google Scholar
Deo, Ashwini. “The Metrical Organization of Classical Sanskrit Verse.” Journal of Linguistics 43, no. 1 (2007): 63–114. doi: 10.1017/S0022226706004452CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deo, Ashwini, and Kiparsky, Paul. “Poetries in Contact: Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.” Linguistic Insights—Studies in Language and Communication 113, no. 1976 (2011): 145–71.Google Scholar
Gailor, Denis. “Early Modern English Contractions and Their Relevance to Present-day English: English Contractions Have Their Own History.” English Today 27, no. 1 (2011): 10–15. doi: 10.1017/S0266078411000083CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karimi, Simin. A Minimalist Approach to Scrambling: Evidence from Persian. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008.Google Scholar
Karimi-Doostan, Gholamhossein. “Separability of Light Verb Constructions in Persian.” Studia Linguistica 65, no. 1 (2011): 70–95. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9582.2011.01178.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kawamoto, Kōji. The Poetics of Japanese Verse: Imagery, Structure, Meter. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, Paul. “The Rhythmic Structure of English Verse.” Linguistic Inquiry 8, no. 2 (1977): 189–247.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. La langue des plus anciens monuments de la prose persane. Paris: Klincksieck, 1963.Google Scholar
Lazard, Gilbert. “Lumières nouvelles sur la formation de la langue persane: une traduction du Coran en persan dialectal et ses affinités avec judéo-persan.” In Irano-Judaica II, edited by Shaked, Shaul and Netzer, Amnon, p–198. Ben-Zvi, 1990.Google Scholar
Lenepveu-Hotz, Agnès. “Etude diachronique du système verbal persan (Xe–XVIe siècles): d’un équilibre à l’autre?” PhD diss., Ecole pratique des hautes études- EPHE PARIS, 2012.Google Scholar
Mahdavi Mazdeh, Mohsen. “Quantitative Meter in Persian Folk Songs and PopLyrics.” In Advances in Iranian Linguistics, edited by Larson, Richard, Moradi, Sedigheh, and Samiian, Vida, 237–255. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2020.Google Scholar
Mahdavi Mazdeh, Mohsen. “The Rhythmic Structure of Persian Poetic Meters.” PhD diss., University of Arizona, 2019.Google Scholar
Mofidi, Ruhollah. “Tahavvol-e nezām-e vājhebasti dar fārsi-e miāneh va now.” Nāmeh-ye fargangestān 3, no. 3 (2008): 133–52.Google Scholar
Najafi, Abolhasan. Darbāreye tabaqebandi-e vaznhā-ye she‘r-e fārsi. Tehran: Nilufar, 2015.Google Scholar
Najafi, Abolhasan. Ghalat nanevisim. Tehran: Markaz-e Nashr-e Dāneshgāhi, 1991.Google Scholar
Natel Khanlari, Parviz. Tārikh-e zabān-e fārsi. Tehran: Nashr-e now, 1986.Google Scholar
Ollett, Andrew. “Moraic Feet in Prakrit Metrics: A Constraint-Based Approach.” Transactions of the Philological Society 110, no. 2 (2012): 241–82. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-968X.2012.01307.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parhizi, Abdolkhaleq. ‘Aruz-e novin-e fārsi. Tehran: Qoqnus, 2002.Google Scholar
Paul, Ludwig. A Grammar of Early Judeo-Persian. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 2013.Google Scholar
Paul, Ludwig. “A Linguist’s Fresh View on ‘Classical Persian’.” In Iran: Questions et connaissances. Volume II. Périodes médiévales et modernes: actes du IVe congrès européen des études iraniennes organisé par la Societas iranologica europaea. Paris, 6–10 septembre 1999, edited by Szuppe, Maria, 21–34. Peeters Publishers, 2002.Google Scholar
Rezvani, Sa‘id. “Now‘-i digar az vazn.” Nāmeh-ye farhangestān 11, no. 3 (2010): 17–24.Google Scholar
Sadeghi, Ali Ashraf. Masā’el-e tārikhi-e zabān-e fārsi. Tehran: Sokhan, 2001.Google Scholar
Shamisa, Sirus. Āshnāyi bā aruz va qāfieh. Tehran: Mitrā, 2004.Google Scholar
Thiesen, Finn. A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody: With Chapters on Urdu, Karakhanidic and Ottoman Prosody. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1982.Google Scholar