Syllable reduction in German verse

• Applicant: Dr. Stefan Blohm
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics ; German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 531445091

Vowel omissions and other types of elision are common in spontaneous casual speech, but poets and writers also systematically employ them in the composition of metered verse to create euphonic effects. This project studies the use of prosodically motivated elisions in the composition of metered German verse and their role in its reception. Metrically motivated elisions allow writers to control the number of syllables and the positions of syllable prominence, supporting regularly alternating rhythms that facilitate online language processing in recipients of verse. According to current psychological theories of aesthetics, such facilitation triggers a positive affective response that recipients experience as pleasurable, resulting in a euphonic effect and increasing aesthetic appeal. Marked instances of vowel omission that result in infrequent and unusual word forms with complex consonant clusters and other phonotactic obstacles may have a disruptive effect on cognitive processes during comprehension. Exceedingly disruptive instances trigger a negative affective response that recipients experience as displeasure, resulting in a cacophonic effect and decreasing aesthetic appeal. Leveraging publicly available corpora, resources, and tools, we use computational methods to formally characterize this "poetic license" in terms of omitted segments, metrical contexts, resulting syllable structures, and prosodic consequences, aiming to reveal the principles that govern ist use and to probe ist limits. We employ experimental methods (intuitive judgments, eye tracking, EEG) to study how vowel omissions affect cognitive processes and aesthetic outcomes in the reception of verse, taking advantage of the high temporal resolution and the multidimensionality of eye movements and electrophysiological measures to test a refined version of Opitz’s 17th ct. Claim that excessive syllable contractions render verse repulsive and unpleasant to read. This multi-faceted approach links generalizations about formal patterns of stylized speech to the cognitive processes of perception, comprehension, and aesthetic evaluation, informing theory formation beyond the confines of literary language.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5757: Weak Elements in Phonology: Development, Processing, and Modality