Meters in motion : history of Swahili and Wolof prosodies / Emiliano Minerba

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Minerba, Emiliano, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Swahili language--Versification.

Swahili language.

Swahili poetry.

Wolof language--Versification.

Wolof language.

Wolof poetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (some color)

Place of Publication:

Berlin : De Gruyter, [2025]

Summary:

"Researches in African poetries have approached it on many perspectives, but on the other side the stylistics of these art forms have raised less interest. Metre is an example of this. In the Swahili and Wolof poetic traditions, the existence of metrical patterns is a datum reported by scholars, with very little further elaboration. In particular, these metrical patterns have often been seen as a mere adaptation of the Arabic ones. This book aims at challenging this view, offering a historical reconstruction of the development of the Swahili and Wolof metrical systems. Particular attention is given to the role of the Arabic model: this work shows that the Swahili and Wolof poetries presented an elaborated stylistics even before the Arabic model affected them. In the case of Swahili, one can even speak of preexisting metrical traditions. The influence from Arabic has certainly deeply changed the local Swahili and Wolof stylistics of poetry, but many elements of continuity exist between the two periods before and after it. In these two contexts, then, stylistics has always been a fundamental trait of poetry and a more attentive look at its history can reveal much of the overall development of the poetic tradition in general."-- Publisher's website

Contents:

The Swahili world : considerations towards literary periodization

Islam and Islamisation in Senegambia

Prosody and metrics in the African contexts

Fundamentals of the theory of ?Aru?

Metre in Swahili poetry

Metre in Wolof poetry

Comparing influences

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed July 14, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Minerba, Emiliano Meters in motion

ISBN:

9783111623054

311162305X

9783111622705

3111622703

OCLC:

1550454810

Publisher Number:

CIPO000303374

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license