Urdu Prosody in the Contemporary Context - अक्षर्

In an earlier post, I outlined my initial thoughts on Urdu prosody. Here I begin to develop a formalism which is better suited to the contemporary context and completely divested from any dependence on the Arabic script.

The Syllable

The notion of syllable is quite intuitive and generally needs no explanation. However, it is the details concerning syllabification & scansion of words that become hairy. In what follows, I'll discuss syllables in Urdu poetry. Scansion is dealt with later.

Very simply:

1. Every word can be dissected into multiple syllables.
2. The first syllable in the word may begin with a vowel (i.e. no consonants) or with one or more consonants.
   
3. Each internal syllable begins with a single consonant and contains a single vowel (or glide). This is crucial.
   
4. The last syllable may end in multiple consonants.

Note that the number of syllables in a word is equal to the number of vowels (or glides) in the word.

Some examples follow to make this clear. It is highly probable that the syllabification below aligns with one's intuitive feel.

kiyA = ki + yA (किया = कि + या)
karnA = kar + nA (कर्-ना = कर् + ना)
gardan = gar + dan (गर्दन् = गर् + दन्)
pyAsA = pyA + sA (प्यासा = प्या + सा)
kShatriya = kShat + ri + ya (क्षत्रिय = क्षत् + रि + य)
ChandramukHI = Chand + ra + mu + kHI (चन्द्रमुखी = चन्द् + र + मु + खी)
pradyumna = prad + yum + na (प्रद्युम्न = प्रद् + युम् + न)
dH.rtarAShtra = dH.r + ta + rASht + ra (धृतराष्ट्र = धृ + त + राष्ट् + र)

The astute reader would have noticed

1. Consonant clusters in a word demarcate syllables.
2. The last consonant in a consonant cluster begins the next syllable.

Once again, these are the rules of syllabification in the context of Urdu poetry and will not apply directly to other languages (e.g. Sanskrit).

Syllable Classification

Syllables can generally be classified as Open or Closed. Open syllables are those that terminate in vowels. Closed syllables, on the other hand, terminate in a consonant.

Syllables can also be defined as Long or Short depending on whether the vowel is long or short and whether there is a consonant following the vowel.

Taken together, we have the following taxonomy defined as below solely to simplify the task of formalizing Urdu prosody. There is no need to remember these terms since they won't be encountered again. However, the basic idea behind the classification should be understood.

1. Short Closed - This is a single consonant cluster. Obviously it cannot be pronounced, but needs to be defined for the sake of completeness.
   Examples are k, g, j, tr, py, tl, etc..
   
   
2. Short Open - This is a Short vowel optionally preceded by a Short Closed syllable.
   Examples are a, ka, gi, ju, tra, pyi, tlu, etc..
   
   
3. Long Closed - This is a Short Open syllable followed by a single consonant. In other words, a short vowel with a following consonant.
   Examples are ag, kar, gin, jut, tram, pyik, tlum, etc..
   
   
4. Long Open - This is a Long vowel optionally preceded by a Short Closed syllable.
   Examples are A, kA, gI, jU, trA, pyI, tlU, etc..
   

Urdu prosody does not distinguish between the Open and Closed forms of the syllable! Hence, the only distinction that we need to maintain is between Short and Long. In other words, as far as Urdu prosody is concerned, kA is equivalent to jut. (There are exceptions, obviously, but let us not muddy the waters right now.)

Long syllables which are followed by consonant clusters are considered as a combination of one Long and one Short syllable instead of being treated as a single syllable. For example,

kAr = kA+r
bAndH = bA+ndH
barg = bar+g

Notation

Discussion on Urdu prosody is facilitated by denoting Short syllables as S and Long syllables as L. As an example of use of this notation, consider the syllabification of the list that appeared early on above.

kiyA = ki+yA = S+L
karnA = kar+nA = L+L
gardan = gar+dan = L+L
pyAsA = pyA+sA = L+L
kShatriya = kShat+ri+ya = L+S+S
ChandramukHI = (Chan+d)+ra+mu+kHI = (LS)+S+S+L
pradyumna = prad+yum+na = L+L+S
dH.rtarAShtra = dH.r+ta+(rA+Sht)+ra = S+S+(LS)+S

Thus, any word can be represented by an equivalent string of L & S symbols. This abstraction is ultimately useful in determining if a given line is congruent to a given meter or not.

In subsequent posts, I'll discuss the various meters commonly used in Urdu poetry and the details of prosodic scansion.