Maxent grammars for the metrics of Shakespeare and
Milton
by Bruce Hayes
(UCLA), Colin
Wilson (Johns Hopkins University) and Anne Shisko (UCLA)
Submitted version (July 2011)
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Abstract
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We propose a new approach to metrics based on maxent grammars, which are
based on weighted constraints and assign a probability value to every
phonological distinct line type. We claim two advantages for our approach.
First, it offers an explicit account of metricality and metrical complexity,
an account that has a principled mathematical basis and integrates information
from all aspects of metrical scansion. Second, our approach permits effective
statistical evaluation of proposed constraints. This makes it possible to
determine which constraints are vacuous, their work being already done by
simpler, independently needed constraints.
We begin by setting up a system, built on earlier work, that defines the
set of possible constraints following principles of stress matching, bracketing
matching, and contextual salience. Our analysis of two data corpora-
Shakespeare's Sonnets and Books VIII and IX of Milton's Paradise
Lost-shows that the basic concepts of this system work well in describing
the data. However, one well-known type of constraint, based on the principle
of the stress maximum (Halle and Keyser 1966 et seq.), turns out to be vacuous;
our testing indicates that the work of stress maximum constraints is better
done by other constraints of the grammar.
Phonological coding of the verse lines
Grammars
Tableaux
Violations of all 87 constraints in our set.