Rhythmic and Poetic Qualities in Sinhala Speech. By Mahagama Sekera. Translated by Garrett Field and Ravinda Mahagamasekera.
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Abstract
Mahagama Sekera (1929–1976) investigates how rhythmic qualities and poetics inhere in figurative language found in everyday Sinhala speech; the formation of original constructions in poetry and song lyrics; prosodic features in child storytelling; colloquial expressions generated from one light verb; aperiodic rhythms in context-specific utterances and proverbs; and the moraic structures of doublets (yugala pada).
Citation: Sekera, Mahagama. “Rhythmic and Poetic Qualities in Sinhala Speech.” Translated by Garrett Field and Ravinda Mahagamasekera; edited by Richard K. Wolf. Ethnomusicology Translations, no. 16. Bloomington, IN: Society for Ethnomusicology, 2024. DOI:
Originally published in Sinhala as pages 39–51 in chapter 2, “Rhythm and [Sinhala] Speech” in Sinhala Gadya Padya Nirmānayanhi Ridma Lakṣana (Rhythmic Qualities of Sinhala Prose and Verse), S. Godage & Brothers, 2007 [2001].
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