How perfect are imperfect rhymes? Effects of phonological similarity and verse context on rhyme perception.

Abstract

Rhyme occurs when two or more words are phonologically identical from the final stressed vowel onward. However, there are several types of so-called imperfect rhymes in which vocalic and/or consonantal segments are allowed to differ. Some of these types frequently replace perfect rhymes in verse-final positions in the German poetic tradition, which suggests that they are licensed by genre conventions. Thus far, however, there is little empirical investigation into whether or not specific subtypes of imperfect rhymes are actually perceived as rhyming. Using a speeded rhyme judgment task, this study examines (a) how imperfect rhymes are perceived by comparing them to perfect rhymes and nonrhymes and (b) systematic differences between subtypes of imperfect rhyme. Specifically, we studied three subtypes in which the relevant segments differed in terms of vowel roundedness, voicing, and vowel quantity. If participants did not answer the speeded rhyme judgment task within 750 ms, the trial timed out and the next one appeared. We analyzed both rhyme judgments (yes/no) and time-outs (valid/timed-out), the former indexing rhyme acceptability, the latter indexing uncertainty. Our results indicate that imperfect rhymes are less acceptable than perfect rhymes and elicit greater uncertainty in the rhyme judgment task than both perfect rhymes and nonrhymes. Metered verse context increases the acceptability of imperfect rhymes, whereas perfect and nonrhymes were equally acceptable in word pairs and couplets. Furthermore, our results corroborate the notion that the degree of phonological similarity plays a crucial role in the perception of words as rhyming. However, our study does not lend support to the idea that frequent occurrence of specific imperfect rhymes in the poetic canon makes them more acceptable as rhymes.

Rhythmic subvocalization: An eye-tracking study on silent poetry reading

“…In the present study, ABAB scheme implies perfect as well as imperfect, but acoustically close rhymes. Findings by ( 69 , 10f) suggest “that imperfect rhymes benefit from metered verse context” and “are harder to distinguish from perfect rhymes as distances increase”, presumably depending on the “degree of phonological similarity”.…”

“…It contributes to a text’s coordinating auditive characteristics by structuring the stream of words, respectively syllables, via repetition ( 33 ) and via sonic modification, e.g. perfect vs. imperfect rhymes ( 69 ; 124 , p. 350), such as ‘blind/mind’ vs. ‘line/find’. Readers or listeners of a poem seem to be sensitive towards rhyme schemes ( 22 ; 102 ).…”

Using Network Science and Psycholinguistic Megastudies to Examine the Dimensions of Phonological Similarity

“…In studies of visual word recognition (also known as reading) we see words that are homophones (i.e., pronounced the same), but not homographs (i.e., spelled differently, such as you and ewe ) being defined as phonologically similar (Lindell & Lum, 2008). We also find perfect rhymes (i.e., words that are phonologically identical from the final stressed vowel onward) and imperfect rhymes (i.e., where vowels/consonants that follow the final stressed vowel may differ) in studies of poetry and rhyme processing (Knoop et al, 2021), further increasing the variability in what it means for words to be phonologically similar.…”

Beauty and truth, truth and beauty: Chiastic structure increases the subjective accuracy of statements.

“…One rhetorical scheme that has been studied by cognitive psychologists is rhyme (e.g., Bebout & Belke, 2017; Bryant, Maclean & Bradley, 1990, Bryant, MacLean, Bradley & Crossland, 1990; Knoop et al, 2019; Narayan et al, 2017; Quinto et al, 2020; Rapp & Samuel, 2002; Rubin, 1995, Rubin et al, 1993), the salient repetition of word-final syllables best known for its appearance in genres such as nursery rhymes, neoclassical poetry, and pop music lyrics. Overwhelmingly, these studies have found significant memory and learning effects for rhyme; McGlone and Tofighbakhsh (1999, 2000) add to these findings that rhyme bolsters impressions of accuracy.…”