Rhythm without Beat: Prosodically Motivated Grammarisation in Homer

In this study, the author argues that syntactical development beyond the autonomy of single words or word groups was facilitated by an aspect of Homeric prosody that differs from the metrical surface structure, though it is realized together with meter. The focus will be on the strength of metrical boundaries as phonetically realized pauses. This work will deal, in other words, with the combination of metrics and phonetics. The hypothesis will be that phonetically realized pauses demarcate phonological phrases, and that they do so because of the non-demarcative value of the remaining metrical boundaries.

– modified from the Introduction

First online edition of a 2014 preliminary study to the thesis Audible Punctuation: Performative Pause in Homeric Prosody.