Inlinguistics,syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration ofsegments in therime. In classical Indo-European verse, as developed inGreek,Sanskrit, andLatin, distinctions of syllable weight were fundamental to themeter of the line.

Aheavy syllable is asyllable with a branchingnucleus or a branchingrime,^[1] although not all such syllables are heavy in every language. A branching nucleus generally means the syllable has along vowel or adiphthong; this type of syllable is abbreviated as CVV. A syllable with a branching rime is aclosed syllable, that is, one with acoda (one or more consonants at the end of the syllable); this type of syllable is abbreviated CVC. In some languages, both CVV and CVC syllables are heavy, while a syllable with a shortvowel as the nucleus and no coda (a CV syllable) is alight syllable. In other languages, only CVV syllables are heavy, while CVC and CV syllables are light. In yet other languages, CVV syllables are heavy and CV syllables are light, while some CVC syllables are heavy (for instance if the coda is a sonorant) and other CVC syllables are light (for instance if the coda is an obstruent). Some languages distinguish a third type, CVVC syllables (with both a branching nucleus and a coda) and/or CVCC syllables (with a coda consisting of two or more consonants) assuperheavy syllables.

Inmoraic theory, heavy syllables are analyzed as containing two morae, light syllables one, and superheavy syllables three.

The distinction between heavy and light syllables plays an important role in thephonology of some languages, especially with regard to the assignment ofstress. For instance, in theSezer stress pattern inTurkish observed in place names, the main stress occurs as aniamb (i.e. penultimate stress) one syllable to the left of the final syllable: (L'L)σ. However, when thefoot contains a heavy syllable in the first syllable while the second syllable is light, the iamb shifts to atrochee (i.e. antepenultimate stress) because there is a requirement that main stress fall on a heavy syllable whenever possible: ('HL)σ, and not *(H'L)σ.

InAncient Greekhexameter poetry andLatin literature, lines followed certainmetrical patterns, such as based on arrangements of heavy and light syllables. A heavy syllable was referred to as alongum and a light as abrevis (and in the modern day, reflecting the ancient terms, alongum is often called a "long syllable" and abrevis a "short syllable", potentially creating confusion between syllable length andvowel length).

Similarly, inClassical Sanskrit meter, metrical patterns consisted of arrangements of syllable weight groups, called gaṇas (parallel toGreek metrical feet). A heavy syllable was namedguru, and a light syllable waslaghu.^[2]

A syllable was considered heavy if it contained along vowel or adiphthong (and was therefore "long by nature"—it would be long no matter what) or if it contained a short vowel that was followed by more than one consonant ("long by position", long by virtue of its relationship to the consonants following). On the other hand, a syllable was light if it was anopen syllable and contained only a short vowel.^[3]

EnglishWikisource has original text related to this article:

Aeneid (Book 1)

An example in Latin:

Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris

Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit

(Aeneid 1.1-2)

The first syllable of the first word (arma) is heavy ("long by position") because it contains a short vowel (the A) followed by more than one consonant (R and then M)—and if not for the consonants coming after it, it would be light. The second syllable is light because it contains a short vowel (an A) followed immediately by only one consonant (the V). The next syllable is light for the same reason. The next syllable, the second syllable of the wordvirumque, is heavy ("long by position") because it contains a short vowel followed by more than one consonant (the M and then the Q).

But, for example, the first syllable of the wordTroiae is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a diphthong, regardless of the sounds coming after it. Likewise, the fifth syllable of the second line (the first of the wordfato) is heavy ("long by nature") because it contains a long vowel, and it will be heavy no matter what sounds come after. (The word "Italiam" is a special case, in that poetstreat it as having a long-by-nature first syllable which it actually has not, in order to make it fit somehow.)

Terming a syllable "long by position" is equivalent to noting that the syllable ends with a consonant (a closed syllable), because Latin and Greek speakers in the classical era pronounced a consonant as part of a preceding syllable only when it was followed by other consonants, due to the rules of Greek and Latinsyllabification. In a consonant cluster, one consonant ends the preceding syllable and the rest start the following syllable. For example, Latin syllabifiesvolat asvo-lat butdignus asdig-nus andmonstrum asmon-strum.

A few exceptions to and elaborations of the above rules of heavy and light syllables:

• The Greek lettersζ, ξ, ψ (zeta,xi, andpsi) and their Roman equivalentsZ andX (andPS) were pronounced as two consonants, so they lengthen by position despite being represented by a single character.^[4][5] For example, the first syllable ofgaza is heavy, despite the short vowel followed only by one written consonant, because the Z was pronounced as two consonants and lengthens the syllable by position.
• Sanskrit meter also treats the letters अं and अः (theanusvara andvisarga) as full consonants for purposes of syllable weight, despite being classified typically as vowels.^[3][6]
• The combinationstop–liquid (usually) or stop–nasal (sometimes) cohered in both Latin and Greek; that is, the two consonants were pronounced together with the speed of one consonant. As a result, they did not lengthen by position if the poet did not want them to (although they could if the poet chose). For example, the first syllable ofpatris is generally light, even though it has a short vowel followed by two consonants, because the consonants cohere (and the word is syllabifiedpa-tris). However, the combinationaspirate-nasal orvoiced consonant-nasal did not cohere and always lengthened by position.
• InHomer and his imitators, thedigamma (ϝ), a sound defunct in the standardIonic alphabet and lost from pronunciation by the classical period, was still felt enough to lengthen by position, even though it is normally not written in the Homeric poems. For example, in the lineἦ τοι μὲν τόδε καλὸν ἀκουέμεν ἐστὶν ἀοιδοῦ (Odyssey, 9.3), the first syllable ofκαλὸν is long, even though it has a short vowel followed by only one consonant, because the word was originallyκαλϝὸν, and the digamma was still felt enough to lengthen the syllable by position. Since the digamma was being lost during the time when the Homeric poems were composed, recited, and written down, its effects are sometimes not felt, so that words that would have contained a digamma sometimes do not show its effects.

As noted above, the number and order of heavy and light syllables in a line of poetry (together withword breaks) articulated themeter of the line, such as the most famous classical meter, the epicdactylic hexameter.

• Meter (poetry)
• Stress (linguistics)

• Charles E. Bennett.New Latin Grammar. Bolchazy-Carducci: Wauconda, IL, 2004.
• Vergil.The Aeneid. Edited by R. Deryck Williams. Bristol Classical Press: London, 2004.

• Phonology
• Poetic rhythm

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