Working Memory and Its Constraints on Colometry

Willett, Steven J.

doi:10.2307/20546728

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This is derived from the length of anapaestic tetrameters, the longest stichic verse. significant pauses to period-end, as the conventional colometry maintains, then individual cola could not consistently fit unit by unit into working memory for sequential processing and comprehension' (Willett (2002) 11-12) (emphasis added).…”

Section: Colometry Of Lyric Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…'the whole rationale of synapheia is to weld several cola into a period by ignoring word-break or syntax, that is, to blur word and syntactical boundaries. Imagine the result of an actual attempt to perform synapheia: it would contravene the purpose of working memory, which is to process sentence segments millisecond by millisecond in real time, carrying forward sections of syntax with their associated semantic connotations to the end of sentence and the completion of meaning' (Willett (2002) 12).…”

Section: Colometry Of Lyric Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…And even if metre and music could be perceived, the meaning of the text could not be understood. Willett goes on to say that 'working memory... governs all perception and production of language' (Willett (2002) 11).…”

Section: Colometry Of Lyric Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The performer needed to memorise a single 'sheet' of music, rather than a row of columns. Willett (2002) has argued (following Kopffand Fleming) that Hellenistic colometry reproduced the original music and performance practice, with pauses between cola. Gentili approved this view, suggesting some corrections in the details.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Techniques of reading and textual layout in ancient Greek texts

Battezzato

2009

Camb. class. j.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This proverb, attributed to Menander in a Byzantine collection, points to the simple paradox of reading: readers are able to see both the shape of letters and the meaning conveyed by them. How does mind get from visual recognition to the recognition of meaning? The step sounds incredibly simple when we make it, but becomes exceedingly complex to explain. Strangely enough, the step is not executed in the same way for all languages and scripts.The ability to recognise shapes must be assisted by the interpreting activity of specific parts of the brain. A famous nineteenth-century medical case tells the story of a ‘French Businessman and amateur musician who woke up one day to discover that he could barely read a word’; as a consequence of a stroke, he could ‘no longer read words, name colours, or read musical notes, despite having completely intact vision’ (Wolf (2008) 171). Vision is thus a necessary but not sufficient requisite for reading.Different systems of writing make use of different parts of the brain. Another case tells us yet again about a businessman ‘proficient in Chinese and English’ who ‘suffered a severe stroke in the posterior areas.

show abstract

Section: Colometry Of Lyric Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Colometry Of Lyric Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Colometry Of Lyric Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations