OK and rhymes

[Heike Bödeker]

Dear John,

> This isn't to say that Native American music doesn't have strict
> metrical structure. I'd be astounded if *that* wasn't universal.

Actually, this is another item to add to our collection of non-
universals :-) There indeed are types of performances (e.g. in Arabo-
Irano-Turkic and South Asian musics) that are rhythmically, but not
metrically organized...

> Interestingly, I think Siouan and other Native American literatures
> show that meter - metrical verse, anyway - is also not universal.

... interestingly, Ancient Near Eastern poetry was like that, too,
c.f.:

Izre'el, Shlomo (2001): Adapa and the South Wind: Language has the
Power of Life and Death. (Mesopotamian Civilizations, 10) Winona
Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns

[esp. p. 99: "While the poetic structure of this myth in all of its
recensions has been acknowledged by most scholars, whether or not the
rhythmic pattern that has been observed can be termed *meter* is
another matter."]

All the best,

Heike


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