On the Consonant Structure of Rhyme in Czech Accentual-Syllabic Verse

The analysis of rhyme involves two basic aspects: 1. phonetic (sound), and 2. semantic (meaning). The present paper is dedicated to the phonetic aspect of Czech accentualsyllabic rhyme (19th century). As far as the phonetic aspect is regarded, two further levels are distinguished: a) segmental, b) suprasegmental. The analysis of each of the layers in question involves different linguistic units: 1. sounds (segmental), 2. units of stress/phonetic words (suprasegmental). First, central distinctions (feminine × masculine; disyllabic × monosyllabic rhyme) and terms (reduplicant; rhyming position) are established. Proceeding from the structure of Czech syllable, the rhyme is approached as the sequence of P (peak) and C (coda) rhyming positions. The comparisons of blank and rhymed verses concerning consonant structure of the verse endings is drawn. Such comparison reveals significant differences between the both types of verse: concerning disyllabic rhyme, the consonant structure of the verse endings in rhymed verses tends to smaller complexity (final C-positions are more likely not to be occupied, penultimate C-position is rather occupied by a single consonant than by a consonant cluster), whereas the consonant structure of the verse ending in verses with monosyllabic rhymes tends to bigger complexity (final C-position is more likely to be occupied than in blank verse).