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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Mahagama Sekera , University of Sri Jayewardenepura (formerly Vidyodaya University of Ceylon), Nugegoda, Sri Lanka
Mahagama Sekera (1929–1976) held the positions of Art Teacher at the Hewavitarana College, Rajagiriya; Translator at the Official Languages Department; Program Director at the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation (later renamed as Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation); Lecturer at the Teacher Training College, Mirigama; Lecturer at the Vidyodaya University (later renamed the University of Sri Jayewardenepura); Chief Education Officer (Aesthetic Studies) and subsequently Chief Education Officer (Cultural Studies) of the Ministry of Education; Principal of the Government College of Arts and Crafts; and thereafter as the Head of the Department of Arts and Sculpture of the Institute of Aesthetic Studies (later renamed as Faculty of Visual Arts, University of the Visual and Performing Arts).
Garrett Field, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
Garrett Field is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology/Musicology in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and School of Music at Ohio University. He is the author of Modernizing Composition: Sinhala Song, Poetry, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Sri Lanka (2017, University of California Press).
Ravinda Mahagamasekera, Mahagama Sekera Archives, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Ravinda Mahagamasekera is the Curator of the Mahagama Sekera Archives.
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