Читать книгу A Spanish Anthology - Various - Страница 8

(1) If one of two strong vowels (a, e, o) coming together has the accent, they do not form a diphthong, and therefore do not count as a single syllable in the verse. Dissyllables, for example, are Jaén, nao, leal, león; trisyllables are azahar (h mute), creemos, canoa.

Exceptionally, the two strong vowels are contracted: e.g., Samaniego has contracted them in the hendecasyllable,

El león, rey de los bosques poderoso,

and Espronceda in a tetrasyllable,

Y no hay playa

Sea cualquiera, etc.

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This contraction, called synæresis, is less harsh when the unaccented vowel is e. It is frequent, however, with the first two vowels of ahora.

(2) If two vowels come together, the first strong (a, e, o) and the second weak (i, y, u), and if the accent rests on the strong vowel, they regularly form a diphthong and count as one syllable; e.g., cauto, peine, feudo, convoy, rey, soy. The dissolution of this diphthong constitutes a very violent poetical license. When it occurs it is termed diæresis and is sometimes marked by the dots so called; e.g., glorïoso, suäve.

(3) If the first of the contiguous vowels is strong, and the second weak and accented, they form separate syllables, as in raíz, baúl, roído. Contraction (synæresis) is rare and harsh in such cases: cf. Meléndez Valdés in the hendecasyllable,

Caído del cielo al lodo que le afea.

(4) If the first of the contiguous vowels is weak and the second strong, and the accent is on the weak vowel, they naturally constitute separate syllables, as in día, río, valúa, lloraríamos.

Synæresis is more frequent and less harsh here than in (3); cf. Garcilaso:

Que había de ver con largo acabamiento.

Espronceda:

Los ríos su curso natural reprimen.

(5) If the first of two contiguous vowels is weak and the second is strong and accented, the vowels sometimes form one syllable and sometimes do not. Etymological conditions often determine the case; thus fió is a dissyllable, since it comes from a Latin source (fidavit) in which the i was in a syllable by itself, and bien is a monosyllable, since the i and e form a diphthong evolved out of a single Latin vowel (the ĕ of bĕne).

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The chief cases are as follows:

(a) iè and uè from Latin e and o form diphthongs absolutely indissoluble: diente, muerte.

(b) In conjugation, analogy plays a part, and fiamos follows fiar (with the i and the a in distinct syllables), cambiamos follows cambiar (with the i and the a in the same syllable).

Synæresis readily takes place for vowels ordinarily in distinct syllables (fió, etc.); but diæresis hardly obtains for the vowels of a true diphthong (cambió, etc.).

(c) The combinations ió and iè are usually diphthongs in the terminations of the preterite indicative, the future subjunctive, the past tenses of the subjunctive, and the gerund, of verbs of the second and third conjugations: e.g., murió, muriere, muriese, muriera, muriendo. In rió, deslió, rieron, deslieron, the vowels seem to be considered as forming separate syllables, the i being treated as part of the stem and not of the suffix.

(d) The substantival ending -ión (acción, etc.) is generally a diphthong, and rarely suffers dissolution.

(e) In derivatives analogy operates: e.g., naviero and brioso with their i in a separate syllable because of navío and brío (cf. rule 4); but glorieta and ambicioso with a diphthong because of gloria and ambición. Ordinarily, such ie and io combinations permit of synæresis if they are properly dissyllabic, and if properly diphthongal they remain indissoluble. Still, adjectives in -i.oso and -u.oso sometimes dissolve their diphthong; e.g., as in Espronceda:

El majestüoso río

Sus claras ondas enluta,

Garcilaso:

El árbol de victoria

Que ciñe estrechamente

Tu glorïosa frente.

(6) Two contiguous weak vowels with the accent on the first of them form an indissoluble diphthong; e.g., xxv muy. Cuita, cuido and related forms once accented the u: cf. p. 134, l. 20 where Cervantes has descuido in assonance with confuso. So also, Meléndez Valdés assonated tumba and cuidan. Viùda was formerly víuda, and Tirso de Molina assonated it with Lucía, pican, etc.

(7) If the second of two contiguous weak vowels is accented, there is a diphthong sometimes indissoluble and sometimes dissoluble; e.g., indissoluble are fuí and, in modern usage, cuita, cuido and their derivatives; dissoluble are ruin, ruina, ruido, viudo. These later, however, readily admit synæresis.

Analogy operates in verb forms; thus u is in a syllable apart in huyo, arguyo, and so also in huimos, argüimos (but in such cases synæresis is always possible). In cases of a repetition of the same vowel, synæresis hardly obtains; therefore piísimo and duúnviro have four syllables each.