An optimality treatment of syntactic inversions in English verse

Abstract

This paper looks at syntactic inversions, a phenomenon first brought to the attention of Generative Metrics in Youmans [Youmans, G., 1983. Generative tests for generative meter. Language 59, 67–92]. These inversions are poetic lines that show disruption to the syntax so as to better satisfy the metrical constraints. In this paper, I show that two metrical constraints force these inversions, and that lines surface even with the violation of these metrical constraints. Furthermore, I argue that the inversions are best modeled by interleaving syntactic and metrical constraints, as certain types of syntactic constructions never occur. This suggests that some syntactic constraints outrank metrical ones, while other syntactic constraints are themselves outranked by the metrical constraints.