What Makes Sound Patterns Expressive?

The Poetic Mode of Speech Perception

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Reading, Phonetics & Phonics, Linguistics
Cover of the book What Makes Sound Patterns Expressive? by Reuven Tsur, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Reuven Tsur ISBN: 9780822378365
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: January 31, 1992
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Reuven Tsur
ISBN: 9780822378365
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: January 31, 1992
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Poets, academics, and those who simply speak a language are subject to mysterious intuitions about the perceptual qualities and emotional symbolism of the sounds of speech. Such intuitions are Reuven Tsur’s point of departure in this investigation into the expressive effect of sound patterns, addressing questions of great concern for literary theorists and critics as well as for linguists and psychologists.
Research in recent decades has established two distinct types of aural perception: a nonspeech mode, in which the acoustic signals are received in the manner of musical sounds or natural noises; and a speech mode, in which acoustic signals are excluded from awareness and only an abstract phonetic category is perceived. Here, Tsur proposes a third type of speech perception, a poetic mode in which some part of the acoustic signal becomes accessible, however faintly, to consciousness.
Using Roman Jakobson’s model of childhood acquisition of the phonological system, Tsur shows how the nonreferential babbling sounds made by infants form a basis for aesthetic valuation of language. He tests the intersubjective and intercultural validity of various spatial and tactile metaphors for certain sounds. Illustrating his insights with reference to particular literary texts, Tsur considers the relative merits of cognitive and psychoanalytic approaches to the emotional symbolism of speech sounds.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Poets, academics, and those who simply speak a language are subject to mysterious intuitions about the perceptual qualities and emotional symbolism of the sounds of speech. Such intuitions are Reuven Tsur’s point of departure in this investigation into the expressive effect of sound patterns, addressing questions of great concern for literary theorists and critics as well as for linguists and psychologists.
Research in recent decades has established two distinct types of aural perception: a nonspeech mode, in which the acoustic signals are received in the manner of musical sounds or natural noises; and a speech mode, in which acoustic signals are excluded from awareness and only an abstract phonetic category is perceived. Here, Tsur proposes a third type of speech perception, a poetic mode in which some part of the acoustic signal becomes accessible, however faintly, to consciousness.
Using Roman Jakobson’s model of childhood acquisition of the phonological system, Tsur shows how the nonreferential babbling sounds made by infants form a basis for aesthetic valuation of language. He tests the intersubjective and intercultural validity of various spatial and tactile metaphors for certain sounds. Illustrating his insights with reference to particular literary texts, Tsur considers the relative merits of cognitive and psychoanalytic approaches to the emotional symbolism of speech sounds.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Diaspora and Trust by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Fixin to Git by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book The Making and Unmaking of the Haya Lived World by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Terrifying Muslims by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Man or Monster? by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Forms of Knowledge in Early Modern Asia by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Psychosomatic by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Surrogate Humanity by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book The Revolution Has Come by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Unspeakable Violence by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book The Tatars of Crimea by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Autobiographical Writing Across the Disciplines by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Myths of Modernity by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Collecting, Ordering, Governing by Reuven Tsur
Cover of the book Race and the Education of Desire by Reuven Tsur
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy