Functionalist hypothesis of the month
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From Leah Garchik's May 12 column in the SF Chronicle:
American poet Robert Bly, who will be at a Marin Poetry Festival reading at Dominican University in San Rafael on Sunday, told Sedge Thomson on "West Coast Live" last week that there's a reason Irish poetry is particularly melodic. "The Irish have time for long vowel sounds – unlike the English, who have too much to do. All those colonies are a lot of trouble."
[Tip of the hat to John V. Burke]
mollymooly said,
May 12, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
Does he mean English-language work by Irish poets or Irish-language poetry? Not that it affects the BS quotient much either way.
john riemann soong said,
May 13, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Can you expect English to be joyous when it is often termed "stress-timed"? Those English are always running around from place to place — no wonder their phonology reflects their work-schedule.