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Re: "Double stressed" words

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Thursday, August 28, 2003, 20:03
Pavel Iosad scripsit:

> Yes, but there is no _muta cum liquida_ rule.
More accurately, Tolkien didn't mention one, but he may have taken the point for granted (viz. that a stop followed by l/r is part of the onset of the following syllable and does not by itself make the previous syllable heavy). However, the poem in Boromir's dream beginning "Seek for the Sword that was broken / In Imladris it dwells" strongly suggests that "Imladris" had antepenultimate stress. The rhythm of the poem is basically iambic trimeter, with some iambs (x -) replaced by anapests (x x -), which gives "Imladris" a full stress on the first syllable and a secondary stress on the last. In addition, this provides d-alliteration matching the undoubted s-alliteration in the first line. -- It was dreary and wearisome. Cold clammy winter still held way in this forsaken country. The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark greasy surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed up in the mists like ragged shadows of long-forgotten summers. --"The Passage of the Marshes" http://www.ccil.org/~cowan

Replies

Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Pavel Iosad <edricson@...>Muta cum liquida in JRRT (was "Double stressed" words)
Ian Spackman <ianspackman@...>Muta cum liquida in JRRT (was "Double stressed" words)
Isidora Zamora <isidora@...>Muta cum liquida in JRRT (was "Double stressed" words)