Recent work on Arabic metrics aims at developing a coherent research programme which relies on the systematic analysis of
electronic corpora. The computer program XALIYL performs, for any line of ancient Arabic poetry, an automatic recognition of
the metre used. This operation takes place whatever the length of the verses, and regardless of whether they are encoded in
ordinary Arabic script (with the addition of vowels) or by means of the TRS system, which relates functionally to ordinary
Arabic script. XALIYL produces a textual database that contains the syllabic decomposition for each hemistich of each line, as
well as its metrical analysis. It can cope not only with the general problems linked to re-syllabification and sandhi, but
also with problems of syllabification specific to Arabic metrics. Errors due to the metrical scanning or to the editing of
poems can be located automatically. Moreover, by allowing a computerised search for formulae, XALIYL provides significant
information on the “formulaic systems” of ancient Arabic poetry.
