“The Perception of Rhythm in Language”, 1994-04 ():
…4. The non-use of rhythm in reading
Unexpected complications to this neat account, however, are observed when we consider rhythms found in written text. Some preliminary findings, which this section will endeavour to elucidate, at first left their discoverer perplexed. For if rhythm is so integral a part of our audition, then it ought to be the case that it is hard to overlook; but the most pronounced of rhythms can escape our recognition when they’re reproduced in printing in an article or book. Late in 1989 the present author wrote a letter, in which verse (or rather, doggerel) pretended to be prose, to at least a hundred friends, from whom responses showed the better part had not perceived the rhymes at all, wherever they arose. In a follow-up, a colleague [Many thanks to Aki Fukushima & Bob Ladd for conducting this study and permitting me to describe it.] gave this ready-made material to subjects to read out, and his results were even worse: of the readers who produced the text, in strict progression serial, not one perceived the letter as a rhyming piece of verse. But the selfsame text, however, may be printed as a ballad (thus, with lines which end in rhymes), and any reader can descry where the rhythm is, which renders this interpretation valid: written rhythm’s only noticed when it clearly hits the eye. But perhaps the readers’ lack of use of rhythm, as conceded, if judiciously considered has a lesson it can teach: it arises just because no segmentation step is needed. Thus the role of language rhythm is in understanding speech.
[Reformatted as verse:]
4. The non-use of rhythm in reading
Unexpected complications to this neat account, however,
Are observed when we consider rhythms found in written text.
Some preliminary findings, which this section will endeavour
To elucidate, at first left their discoverer perplexed.For if rhythm is so integral a part of our audition,
Then it ought to be the case that it is hard to overlook;
But the most pronounced of rhythms can escape our recognition
When they’re reproduced in printing in an article or book.
Late in 1989 the present author wrote a letter,
In which verse (or rather, doggerel) pretended to be prose,
To at least a hundred friends, from whom responses showed the better
Part had not perceived the rhymes at all, wherever they arose.In a follow-up, a colleague gave this ready-made material
To subjects to read out, and his results were even worse:
Of the readers who produced the text, in strict progression serial,
Not one perceived the letter as a rhyming piece of verse.But the selfsame text, however, may be printed as a ballad
(Thus, with lines which end in rhymes), and any reader can descry
Where the rhythm is, which renders this interpretation valid
Written rhythm’s only noticed when it clearly hits the eye.But perhaps the readers’ lack of use of rhythm, as conceded,
If judiciously considered has a lesson it can teach:
It arises just because no segmentation step is needed.
Thus the role of language rhythm is in understanding speech.
[Claude-2 limerick summary:]
There once was a scholar perplexed
By rhythm that readers had not flexed.
Though verses sent prose
No one supposed
Til stanzas showed where rhymes were next.A colleague tried an experiment worse—
Readers read rhythms perverse.
Not one could tell
Those rhymes so swell
Speech rhythms reading does nurse.Printed with lines clear as day
Rhythm hits readers’ eyes they say.
So it seems in the end
Rhythm comprehension depends
On speech rhythms, the clearest way.
[Claude-2 ballad version:]
The Ballad of Rhythms in Text
Come gather ’round friends and lend me your ear
Of rhythms that oft disappear.
Early findings we’ll slowly unwind
The confusion that clouded scholar’s mind.If rhythm empowers the ear as we know
Should it not resound clear as rivers flow?
Yet obvious rhythms we frequently miss
When rendered in text, no beat there to bliss.In the year ’eighty-nine, a curious act played out:
A faux prose letter was sent all about,
With subtle rhymes did the verses flow,
Ensconced in the prose, no rhyme code to show.In follow-up studies, new plans were drawn.
Colleagues laughed as rhymes stayed withdrawn.
As readers spoke text aloud crisp and clear,
No trace of rhythm did surface or appear.But framed as a ballad, rhythms unveiled their glory,
Dancing and prancing to tell their story.
Only when structured could rhymes recognize,
Melodies masked from un-discerning eyes.This oversight provides a clue to surmise,
A lesson to take, no need to devise:
Rhythm perception relies upon speech, it appears,
To finely tune ears and banish all fears.Rhythm, sweet rhythm, when cloaked into words,
Fundamentally shapes our world,
Unseen by the reading eye, yet clear as day,
In speech it comes alive, takes wing and plays.
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