Abstract:
I explain what generative linguistics has said about metrical poetry using a combination of underlying representations and ordered rules or ordered constraints.  In particular, I consider two issues: (i) the counting of syllables into the line – which relates more generally to the psychological reality of the line, and (ii) the allowance for and constraints on variation, where the rhythm varies from the strict metrical pattern.  These problems are largely ignored in psychological accounts, and I ask how they might be studied; how linguistic theory might relate to psychological reality. Then I consider the variety of kinds of literature, and kinds of reader (including neurodivergent readers), and ask how a psychological account of literary reading might benefit from a much wider range of enquiry.  I criticise the focus in aesthetics on closure and good gestalts as good only for a certain type of literature.

Bio:

Nigel Fabb is professor of literary linguistics at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow UK, https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/fabbnigelprof/ ). He has a BA in English from Cambridge (1980), and a PhD in linguistics (supervisor Noam Chomsky) from MIT (1984). He has published 12 books and many articles.

Online via zoom:

https://uni-freiburg.zoom.us/j/69965024181?pwd=MnROeHQ4TUlaZUxrYnpsTXVtc0lwZz09

Meeting-ID: 699 6502 4181
Kenncode: ptJJW536M