VARGU ARBËRESH I TRADITËS GOJORE
ARBËRESHIAN VERSE IN ORAL TRADITION

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the versification of the arbëresh oral poetry; it is fucosed especially on the problem of the metrical irregularities. It is well know, following the analysis of scholars like Arshi Pipa, that very often the arbëresh lines (included the written lines of poets like De Rada) very often seems to be irregular. The examples discussed here come from the oral tradition of S.Costantino and S.Paolo Albanese (Basilicata, Southern Italy), two of the most conservative and interesting arbëresh villages. The recitation of the oral texts is analyzed as a performance, using recorded versions, and paying attention to the continuity of the oingoing rhythm of the lines. The examples analyzed show that there is a rhythmical strucure, articulated with four main stresses, that is more important than the number and the lenght of the syllables. The rhythm is always constant, while number and lenght of syllables change. The words sometime change (with the insertion of filling phonems, or the cutting of vowels), in order to fit with the rhythmical structure. Therefore, some alleged irregularities of the verses that appear in the written and printed versions, become regular when ‘listening’ to them and analyzing them under the perspectives of the rhythm and of the oral performance. Moreover, this change of perspective in analyzing the lines, gives us relevant elements to understand better and to explain the irregularities of the written lines too.

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