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When I try to write a poem or some lyrics in English, I am stuck with the very strict word order and other things like articles, very repetitive usage of articles (a/an, the) that destroy the sound when you are using nouns. You cannot drop the (I, you, he/she) like in Slavic languages etc.

When I write a poem in Czech or Slovak I like the plasticity of the words, I have much more possibilities when building rhymes, my words are free of the articles, word order I have the possibility to use the (untold) object/subject (because of the genders and grammatical cases), etc.

In Slovak language there is the "Rhythmic law" or rhythmic alternation length is changed for a short syllables after the previous long syllable. This law is typical for Slovak and other Slavic languages ​​do not have it.

E.g. omáčka (o-máč-ka/short-long-short) or vyúdený (vy-ú-de-ný/short-long-short-long).

I haven't seen something like that in any other language. It's perfect for poetry. The rhytmic changes make it melodic and very pleasant for the ears.

Another thing: I can pronounce every letter as it is(and with different modulation/tone), very hard to explain, but it's very powerful thing in poetry http://youtube.com/watch?v=B8u8Nd-n2XM

Here it's extremely obvious to notice short-long-short-long-short-long http://youtu.be/TCiZSxrWxTg it's characteristic for middle part of Slovakia

Or more serious "Mor ho!" from Samo Chalupka http://youtu.be/5KCse2zSzII.

Example of free word order (Czech) e.g.

Jsem z města.
lit. Am from city
I am from the city

could by said in poetry (or in real life too) like:

Z města jsem.
lit. From city am
From the city I am

or:

Já z města jsem
lit. I, From city Am

or:

Já jsem z města
lit. I am from city

or:

Z města já jsem
lit. From city I Am

and other combinations.

Are Slavic languages because of their plasticity better for poetry? Is there some study about using the languages in poetry (which languages are what advantages/disadvantages?)

Derfder
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    This is pretty subjective - it really depends on what kind of poetry you're looking to write. I've found that more restrictions result in poetry I like better sometimes - for example, I think Japanese is better to write haiku in than English precisely because it's too easy to write a haiku in English (because you can fit more in the limited space). So it's more up to what you like - if you like being able to move things around, then sure, Slavic's great for that; but if you prefer working with restrictions, then maybe English is better. – Sjiveru Jul 10 '13 at 17:41
  • Slavic cultures generally put a great emphasis on poetry, like Chinese cultures do on cooking; it's a cultural norm. Neither of these is particularly important in Anglophone cultures (except for some poetry disguised as popular music). So that's one reason it appears that way. – jlawler Jul 10 '13 at 19:03
  • Derfder, we don't create tags a priori. :) They are created when they are needed so... That's why there isn't one: no-one ever asked a question concerning poetry. By the way, I've written some poetry in different languages and I think that "being simple" is just a matter of how it fits your personality or also the type of poetry as Sjiveru says, but it's a subjective thing. – Alenanno Jul 10 '13 at 19:45
  • In my opinion EN is great for technical documentation and prose. But I see so many problems when it comes to poetic area. The most obvious example: "I love you". In Slovak there is "Milujem ťa." or "Ja ťa milujem." or the most beautiful "Ľúbim ťa." http://youtu.be/CWnH7SpsOWU ;). It's similar to Russian (ja lublu tebja). So there are more words to the word "love" in Slavic languages and in Czech and Slovak you have the opportunity to omit the I,you,she/he or not. If you omit it, it sounds more dramatic/mysterious ;). For "like" there are even more. – Derfder Jul 10 '13 at 20:17
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    With apologies to cummings: Since feeling is first, who pays any attention to the syntax of things? Also try this poem about a grasshopper. – prash Jul 10 '13 at 20:44
  • @prash it's some new fork of .lojban. ? ;D. But seriously, how thing sounds is very important for creating a feeling. It's very hard for me to explain some things when the other person don't know some of the Slavic languages at least briefly. So, you have to believe me that they are more "plastic" than EN,DE, or FR. – Derfder Jul 10 '13 at 21:07
  • For me the 2 main problems in EN poetry (except the strict word order) are 1)You always need to use "I/you/he/she/it" before the verb (because teh verbs don't have the way to tell what is going on) and 2) the articles (a/an/the) 1st case: "I need you because I love you." in CZ/SK you can say something like "Need you because love you" or "I need you because love you." or "Need you because I love you" or "I need you because I love you". This are 4:1 for Slavic langs. 2nd case: articles a/an/the creates sounds that are not very aesthetic especially "the" (it's still not the dutch chrr ;) – Derfder Jul 10 '13 at 21:19
  • Strict word order problem: In Czech or Slovak poetry I can decide which words are more important. Example: I have just corrected my sentence in previous comment from "For me the main 2 problems in EN poetry" to "For me the 2 main problems in EN poetry". btw. I hope it's OK now ;). The reason why I originally wrote the main 2 problems instead of the correct the 2 main problems is that in CZ/SK you can make an emphasis on "main" or "2" depending what you consider the most important in your case. IN EN I think it's not so flexible. Especially in more complicated cases than this one. – Derfder Jul 10 '13 at 21:26
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    This is one of the questions IMO that illustrate the problem with linguistics.SE. Professionals are not going to spend time on here when people ask "questions" such as this one. – Fryie Jul 10 '13 at 23:16
  • If you are indeed a poet then you know perfectly well that your job is to spend fifteen or twenty years humbly asking The Language what sort of poems She wants you to write instead of whining because She isn't particularly interested in the poems you want to write. She is your Lady, not your whore. – StoneyB on hiatus Jul 11 '13 at 03:47
  • Although it talks about a different field, you may find the discussion in this question about whether certain languages are suitable for science to be relevant. – acattle Jul 11 '13 at 04:18
  • @Sjiveru Thus the saying "Art through adversity." – acattle Jul 11 '13 at 04:23
  • @StoneyB All I hear is "The... She... She...the.. She..." In Czech it will be so much cleaner and less "nazi" strict ;). Especially the "th" sound is very disturbing in poems. – Derfder Jul 11 '13 at 05:32
  • @acattle I have already said that for technical stuff is English probably the best language, because of its strict rules. But for poems and poetic stuff its not very good. – Derfder Jul 11 '13 at 05:34
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    Let's not write the OP off just yet. Although the question is too general, I think it's legitimate to ask, for example, whether such things as a) flexible word order and b) phonologies that permit only vowels at the ends of words make it easier to rhyme. – James Grossmann Jul 11 '13 at 06:13
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    @Derfder You misunderstood my comment. If you read the link you'll see the consensus is that any language can be good for technical writing and I thought that the discussion in that thread would be relevant here as it covers a lot of the same ground (i.e. that no language is objectively better than another) – acattle Jul 11 '13 at 16:12
  • @acattle "no language is objectively better than another", sorry, but that's simply not true. Some languages cannot express some things observed in the modern world or need a lot of additional explanation. Some proto languages and languages used by e.g. "Piraha" people don't have the term for God/gods or very vague definition of time etc. I thought that we are trying to be objective and not politically correct. But I was probably wrong and being politically correct and telling that all languages are equal is more important then seeking the truth ;( – Derfder Jul 11 '13 at 18:00
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    @Derfder My argument is that you're using your own personal sense of aesthetics (how elegant you think the sentence looks), a subjective measure, to say some language is objectively better at something. It's a microcosm of your question in general; you [presumably] like Slavic poetry so you have an intuition that Slavic languages are better for poetry. In itself there is absolutely nothing wrong with this but you need to remember that this is based on your own personal preferences and others may hold contrary opinions which are just as valid. – acattle Jul 12 '13 at 01:50
  • @acattle One question. Do you understand any Slavic language or not? Thank you for your response. – Derfder Jul 12 '13 at 08:19
  • @acattle I understand English, German, Spanish, most of the major Slavic languages (Czech,Slovak,Polish,Russian, Serbo-Croatian) and Latin to some degree. So, I guess I have a little knowledge about how the languages sounds in poems and songs. E.g. English and Spanish are very good for songs, but English for poems is not very good. The lack of genders and no declination, sorry, cases ;) make the feel very cold and robot like. It's hard to explain. Another thing is that Slavic langs sound more warm. especially Russian ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkhYiD9XXQY. – Derfder Jul 12 '13 at 08:27
  • Please stop using the comment section for discussions. You can easily create a new room in the chat, or use our main one which is OK as well. But comments are not meant for discussing. – Alenanno Jul 12 '13 at 10:01
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    I agree with acattle and the others. Languages have all the same potential to express a concept. Whether this is achieved with a short sentence or a longer one does not matter, the concept has been expressed validly. Same goes for poetry, I like songs in many languages (yes, songs are a form of poetry) and they all have the potential to give me chills and goosebumps; I think this is a rather subjective theme. – Alenanno Jul 12 '13 at 10:08
  • it makes sense that more inflected languages ​​with their many free endings and free word order are more suitable for rhymes and poetry. Also, the grammatical category of gender for any objects can be very metaphorical and emotionally provocative. :) –  Пилум Sep 17 '20 at 16:57

2 Answers2

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In my opinion, a suitability of a language for creative writing is a matter of creative witer' s language proficiency. Any language fits just fine, the trick is to let its poetics flow.

Speaking on Slavic languages, I thing that irregular word order together with, say, irregular word stress (like in Russian) is more like a disaster for a poetic rhythm than an advantage.

Manjusri
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    Have you heard e.g. Slovak language? "Rhythmic law" or rhythmic alternation length is changed for a short syllables after the previous long syllable. This law is typical for Slovak and other Slavic languages ​​do not have it. E.g. omáčka (o-máč-ka/short-long-short). I haven't seen something like that in any other language. It's perfect for poetry. I think Slovak is better than Czech for poetry. Another fact I can pronounce every letter as it is(and with different modulation/tone), very hard to explain, but it's very powerful thing in poetry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8u8Nd-n2XM – Derfder Jul 14 '13 at 20:13
  • Here it's extremely obvious to notice short-long-short-long-short-long http://youtu.be/TCiZSxrWxTg it's characteristic for middle part of Slovakia – Derfder Jul 14 '13 at 20:34
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    Yes, but this is not a unique poetic feature. It can be noticed in all Eastern Slavic languages, not mentioning ancient Greek and Latin, or any other language with length-stressed vowels. To the best of my knowledge, Slovak has more or less regular stress pattern. – Manjusri Jul 15 '13 at 06:41
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Definitely they are better suitable. Along the properties you highlighted there are some more:

  • Common endings of nouns and verbs makes it easier to find a suitable rhyme.

  • Richer set of suffixes and superposition of suffixes - makes it easier to control the desired number of syllables in a word. For example any noun has a lot of diminutives and other variants conveying the author's attitude to the noun.

Consider a word for "black": чёрный. It has many differently suffixed forms: чёрненький, черноватый, чернявый, чернейший, наичернейший, черноватенький, чернявенький, чернушный, чернеющий, почерневший, почерневшенький, зачернённый.

Anixx
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  • Also, the grammatical category of gender for any objects can be very metaphorical and emotionally provocative. :) –  Пилум Sep 17 '20 at 17:01