Hanson and Kiparsky (1996, H&K) lay out a formal grammar for Shakespearean iambic pentameter defined by a small set of parameter settings, framed as constraints. In this paper, I investigate the possibility that different sub-genres of Shakespeare’s writing vary, categorically or on a gradient, in their settings for these parameters. To this end, I adapt the still under development Anttila et a...

pattern which the poet has created or adopted, perhaps only in part consciously. The poet uses this pattern as a basis of selection so that he may choose out of the infinite number of sentences of natural language those which qualify for inclusion in the poem. In the verse of interest here the pattern consists in the regulation of two linguistically given properties, the number of syllables in ...

This paper presents the three major ways that iambs play a role in Kashaya phonology: iambic lengthening, reshuffling of vowel length, and location of stress. Contrasting analyses of the phenomena are given in an ordered-rule Lexical Phonology approach and in constraint-based Optimality Theory. It is shown that only a nonderivational approach based on surface constraints succeeds in unifying th...