The present pilot webpage is part of the research program “Rhyme in Modern Greek: Quantitative and qualitative data and integration in the typology of the phenomenon crosslinguistically” funded by the Research Committee of AUTh (Research project: 93330, budget: €5000), and awarded to Nina Topintzi (PI), Assistant Professor (now Associate) of Phonology, School of English, AUTh.
The webpage includes: (a) a small database with the works of various poets and the possibility of continuous enrichment, (b) a series of original algorithms for the automatic recognition of rhyme, which were developed particularly for this project, (c) admin tools for the manual correction of potential mistakes, and (d) graphical user interface (GUI) environment.
Data hosting is conducted with the use of MySQL and is supported by the appropriate app for adding and editing source material. The material is phonetically transcribed in SAMPA and is automatically syllabified. The algorithm-drawn results of rhyme analysis, as well as additional data (e.g. name of creator, title of piece) are compiled in tables appropriately designed for the database. The data are then reviewed by expert staff for the purposes of error detection and correction, thus, ensuring the debugging and improvement of the recognition algorithms themselves. Dynamic pages are also used, along with an extendable application template for data availability and extraction for statistical purposes, in the form of a search engine with advanced search features. The search engine in its entire capacity is widely available to users. The project was completed in May 2017. Its GUI was updated and improved in the summer of 2022. The algorithms are no longer updated, but new poetic material is added on a periodic basis.
In May 2017, the database contained around 6,000 verses. At present (Nov 2022), the database contains approximately 10,500 verses, drawn from various works, including:
- “Hymn to Liberty” by Dionysios Solomos («Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερία», Δ. Σολωμός)
- The collection “Bottoms” by Kostas Varnalis («Πυθμένες», Κ. Βάρναλης)
- The collection “The Pain of Men and Things” by Kostas Karyotakis («Ο πόνος του ανθρώπου και των πραμάτων», Κ. Καρυωτάκης)
- Many sonnets by Lorentzos Mavilis
- “Twelve Lays of the Gypsy” by Kostis Palamas («Δωδεκάλογος του Γύφτου», Κ. Παλαμάς)
- A selection of poems by Aristotelis Valaoritis, Giorgos Seferis, Maria Polydouri, Angelos Sikelianos
As the target of the program has been the study of rhyme in modern Greek poetry, the single criterion for the inclusion of the poems within the database is the existence of systematic patterns of rhyme or rhyme combined with free verse. That means that purely free verse poetry is excluded.
The included poetic material holds the valid Creative Commons license: BY-NC-ND Attribution - Noncommercial. We thank the Center for the Greek Language for the support aiming to the realization of the project, as well as Dr. Vasilis Vasileiadis (CGL) and Dr. Katerina Tiktopoulou (Associate Professor, Philology Department, AUTh) for the time and the knowledge they have kindly shared. Any mistakes or omissions are to be solely attributed to the research team.