Rhetorical features facilitate prosodic processing while handicapping ease of semantic comprehension

Abstract

Studies on rhetorical features of language have reported both enhancing and adverse effects on ease of processing. We hypothesized that two explanations may account for these inconclusive findings. First, the respective gains and losses in ease of processing may apply to different dimensions of language processing (specifically, prosodic and semantic processing) and different types of fluency (perceptual vs. conceptual) and may well allow for an integration into a more comprehensive framework. Second, the effects of rhetorical features may be sensitive to interactions with other rhetorical features; employing a feature separately or in combination with others may then predict starkly different effects. We designed a series of experiments in which we expected the same rhetorical features of the very same sentences to exert adverse effects on semantic (conceptual) fluency and enhancing effects on prosodic (perceptual) fluency. We focused on proverbs that each employ three rhetorical features: rhyme, meter, and brevitas (i.e., artful shortness). The presence of these target features decreased ease of conceptual fluency (semantic comprehension) while enhancing perceptual fluency as reflected in beauty and succinctness ratings that were mainly driven by prosodic features. The rhetorical features also predicted choices for persuasive purposes, yet only for the sentence versions featuring all three rhetorical features; the presence of only one or two rhetorical features had an adverse effect on the choices made. We suggest that the facilitating effects of a combination of rhyme, meter, and rhetorical brevitas on perceptual (prosodic) fluency overcompensated for their adverse effects on conceptual (semantic) fluency, thus resulting in a total net gain both in processing ease and in choices for persuasive purposes.

Individual Differences in Sensitivity to Style During Literary Reading: Insights from Eye-Tracking

“…This reading behavior is in line with earlier findings that readers show distinct reading profiles, or "strategies" [62][63][64]. According to the "Risky Reader Hypothesis" [59,60], more proactive, "risky readers", display long saccades and many regressions. They rely relatively strongly on guessing which words are in the parafovea, but often need to regress to an earlier word when this strategy fails.…”

“…These results are in line with the theoretical considerations of Mukařovský [10] and Shklovsky [11]. If processing is too fluent, or automatic, there is little chance for appreciating the poetic dimension of the text (see [60,61]). Clearly, there is a limit to this: Very idiosyncratic language use can hinder the flow of information so much that it impairs comprehension.…”

Aesthetic appreciation of poetry correlates with ease of processing in event-related potentials

“…Accordingly, a recent study using proverbs has shown that (a) rhyme and meter can enhance perceived beauty, succinctness, and persuasiveness, while also reducing semantic processing ease (due to implementing constraints on both word choice and word order), and (b) the total sum of the contradictory effects on perceptual (phonological, prosodic) and conceptual (semantic) processing is still positive (cf. Menninghaus et al, 2015). We therefore emphasize that the positive correlation we found between patterns of phonological recurrence (rhyme and meter), ease of processing, and aesthetic liking of poetic stanzas does not amount to the hypothesis that the appreciation and enjoyment of poetry is all about reduced processing demands.Furthermore, conceptual fluency may be especially prone to individual differences, since problem-solving mechanisms rely on personal experiences of art, including knowledge of art history, cultural knowledge, and the contexts in which works of art are encountered.…”

An integrative review of the enjoyment of sadness associated with music

“…Specifically, Juslin suggests that "It is not that the of the concept of beauty throughout history [185]. More recently, empirical investigations have shown that perceived sadness and beauty tend to be highly correlated in such diverse stimuli as film music excerpts [194] and poems (where patterns of poetic diction have been manipulated; [195]). …”