The Temporal Structure of Estonian Runic Songs

The Kalevala, or runic, songs is a tradition at least a few thousand years old. It was shared by Finns, Estonians and other speakers of smaller Baltic-Finnic languages inhabiting the eastern side of the Baltic Sea in North-Eastern Europe. This book offers a combined perspective of a musicologist and a linguist to the structure of the runic songs. Archival recordings of the songs originating mostly from the first half of the 20th century were used as source material for this study. The results reveal a complex interaction between three different processes participating in singing: speech prosody, metre, and musical rhythm.

Autorentext

Ilse Lehiste is Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University, USA. Jaan Ross is Professor at Tartu University, Estonia.

Klappentext

Phonology and Phonetics have had a tumultuous, if not always unequivocal, relationship in the past. This relationship between natural partners is now being invigorated from both sides and novel research techniques and methodologies are fostering new interdisciplinary questions. Consequently, a major issue today is whether it is necessary to draw a line between phonology and phonetics at all. This series aims to stabilize and strengthen the rapport and, by facing the big challenges, to ensure that phonetically grounded phonology and phonologically informed phonetics will have a sound future. The series is intended as a forum for the interaction of phonology and phonetics within linguistics. It welcomes joint phonological-phonetic ventures as well as initiatives from either discipline, as long as they are made with a view of the other. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Natalie Fecher.