Person: Ryan, Kevin
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Ryan, Kevin
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Publication The Stress–weight Interface in Metre(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2017-12) Ryan, KevinMetres are typically classified as being accentual (mapping stress, as in English) or quantitative (mapping weight, as in Sanskrit). This article treats the less well-studied typology of hybrid accentual-quantitative metres, which fall into two classes. In the first, stress and weight map independently onto the same metre, as attested in Latin and Old Norse. In the second, stress and weight interact, such that weight is regulated more strictly for stressed than unstressed syllables, as illustrated here by new analyses of Dravidian and Finno-Ugric metres. In both of these latter cases (as well as in Serbo-Croatian), strictness of weight-mapping is modulated gradiently by stress level.Publication Onsets Contribute to Syllable Weight: Statistical Evidence from Stress and Meter(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014) Ryan, KevinWhile some accounts of syllable weight deny a role for onsets, onset-sensitive weight criteria have received renewed attention in recent years (e.g. Gordon 2005, Topintzi 2010). This article presents new evidence supporting onsets as factors in weight. First, in complex stress systems such as those of English and Russian, onset length is a significant attractor of stress both in the lexicon and in nonce probes. This effect is highly systematic and unlikely, it is argued, to be driven by analogy alone. Second, in flexible quantitative meters (e.g. in Sanskrit), poets preferentially align longer onsets with heavier metrical positions, all else being equal. A theory of syllable weight is proposed in which the domain of weight begins not with the rime but with the p-center (perceptual center) of the syllable, which is perturbed by properties of the onset. While onset effects are apparently universal in gradient weight systems, they are weak enough to be usually eclipsed by the structure of the rime under categorization. This proposal therefore motivates both the existence of onset weight effects and the subordination of the onset to the rime with respect to weight.Publication The stress–weight interface in metre(Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2017) Ryan, KevinMeters are typically classified as being accentual (mapping stress, as in English) or quantitative (mapping weight, as in Sanskrit). This article treats the less well-studied typology of hybrid accentual-quantitative meters, which fall into two classes. In the first, stress and weight map independently onto the same meter, as attested in Latin and Old Norse. In the second, stress and weight interact, such that weight is regulated more strictly for stressed than unstressed syllables, as illustrated here by new analyses of Dravidian and Finno-Ugric meters. In both of these latter cases (as well as in SerboCroatian), strictness of weight mapping is modulated gradiently by stress level.Publication Phonological Evidence for Pāda Cohesion in Rigvedic Versification(BRILL, 2018-04-04) Gunkel, Dieter; Ryan, KevinWe present new phonological evidence for the pāda-couplet as a Rigvedic compositional unit, e.g. ((ab)(cd)) in anuṣṭubh and ((ab)c) in gāyatrī. While these groupings are often implied by syntax and sense, phonological and metrical evidence for them that is unambiguously attributable to the period of the composition of the Rigveda as opposed to its later transmission has been less forthcoming. We show that the poets avoided both inter-pāda hiatus and V̆C#V junctures within couplets significantly more than across them.Publication Variable affix order: grammar and learning(Linguistic Society of America, 2010) Ryan, KevinWhile affix ordering often reflects general syntactic or semantic principles, it can also be arbitrary or variable. This article develops a theory of morpheme ordering based on local morphotactic restrictions encoded as weighted bigram constraints. I examine the formal properties of morphotactic systems, including arbitrariness, nontransitivity, context-sensitivity, analogy, and variation. Several variable systems are surveyed before turning to a detailed corpus study of a variable affix in Tagalog. Bigram morphotactics is shown to cover Tagalog and the typology, while other formalisms, such as alignment, precedence, and position classes, undergenerate. Moreover, learning simulations reveal that affix ordering under bigram morphotactics is subject to analogical pressures, providing a learning-theoretic motivation for the specific patterns of variation observed in Tagalog. I raise a different set of objections to rule-based approaches invoking affix movement. Finally, I demonstrate that bigram morphotactics is restrictive, being unable to generate unattested scenarios such as nonlocal contingency in ordering.Publication Caesurae, Bridges, and the Colometry of Four Tocharian B Meters(Brill Academic Publishers, 2014) Bross, Christoph; Ryan, Kevin; Gunkel, DieterThe Tocharians composed verse in hierarchical structures, with the verse dominating major cola, and the major colon in turn dominating one or more minor cola. After providing much-needed descriptive data on Tocharian meter, we assess the evidence for the distinction between major vs. minor caesurae in some of the most popular Tocharian B meters, finding support for the commonly assumed colometries in some but not all cases. Of particular interest is the recurring 4+3-syllable colon, since the violability of its internal (putatively minor) caesura varies significantly across meters. We argue that this varying strictness is indeed a function of the meter as opposed to position in the verse, verse length, idiosyncrasies of certain texts, and so forth. We then use a systematic prose comparison method to test the meters for bridges, finding evidence for monosyllable avoidance in (certain) colon-final positions, despite an overall preference for monosyllables in verse vis-à-vis prose. Finally, we discuss the implications that our study has for the restoration of fragmentary Tocharian texts.Publication Phonological weight(Wiley-Blackwell, 2016) Ryan, KevinGrammars frequently categorize syllables for prosodic purposes, treating one class as heavier (e.g. more stress-attracting) than another. While such categorization is usually dichotomous, complex and gradient scales are also attested, with various organizational criteria. This article reviews the range of phenomena that invoke weight distinctions and introduces some current debates concerning weight, touching on topics such as the syllable versus interval as the domain of weight, rich scalarity, process and position specificities, the role of onsets, the phonetic basis of categorization, and the mora.Publication Attenuated Spreading in Sanskrit Retroflex Harmony(MIT Press - Journals, 2017) Ryan, KevinDrawing on a two-million-word corpus of Sanskrit, two previously unrecognized generalizations are documented and analyzed concerning the morpho-prosodic conditioning of retroflex spreading (nati). Both reveal harmony to be attenuated across the left boundaries of roots (i.e. between a prefix and root or between members of a compound), in the sense that while harmony applies across these boundaries, when it does so, it accesses a proper subset of the targets otherwise accessible. This attenuation is analyzed here through the ‘ganging up’ of phonotactics and output-output correspondence in serial HG. The article also simplifies the core analysis of the spreading rule, primarily through recognizing FlapOut, an articulatorily grounded constraint.