Reuven Tsur †

List of John Benjamins publications for which Reuven Tsur † plays a role.

Titles

Sound–Emotion Interaction in Poetry: Rhythm, Phonemes, Voice Quality

Reuven Tsur † and Chen Gafni

[Linguistic Approaches to Literature, 39] 2022. xv, 448 pp.

Playing by Ear and the Tip of the Tongue: Precategorial information in poetry

Reuven Tsur †

[Linguistic Approaches to Literature, 14] 2012. xi, 310 pp.

Subjects Cognition and language | Phonetics | Theoretical literature & literary studies

‘Kubla Khan’ – Poetic Structure, Hypnotic Quality and Cognitive Style: A study in mental, vocal and critical performance

Reuven Tsur †

[Human Cognitive Processing, 16] 2006. xii, 252 pp.

Subjects Cognition and language | English linguistics | Germanic literature & literary studies

Articles (11) | Order by:

Gafni, Chen and Reuven Tsur † 2019 Some experimental evidence for sound–emotion interaction Scientific Study of Literature 9:1, pp. 53–71 | Article

This paper describes a structural account of phonetic symbolism and submits it to empirical investigation. To enable testing for possible iconic sound–emotion relations, participants compared pairs of syllables (e.g., ma – ba) as well as pairs of emotional states (e.g., joyful – sad) on various… read more

Tsur, Reuven † and Chen Gafni 2019 Methodological issues in the study of phonetic symbolism Scientific Study of Literature 9:2, pp. 195–229 | Article

There is a growing research literature on phonetic symbolism in poetry, sometimes with incongruent results. Through a theoretical structural analysis we show that, (a) individual speech sounds have (sometimes conflicting) potentials to suggest elementary percepts, such as abruptness, hardness,… read more

Gafni, Chen and Reuven Tsur † 2015 “Softened” voice quality in poetry reading and listener response Scientific Study of Literature 5:1, pp. 49–83 | Article

In the performance of poetry, some performers occasionally use a certain ‘softened’ voice quality, deviating from that of the context, for emotive expression. We explored how listeners perceive such instances through a combined methodology of eliciting open-ended descriptions and ratings of… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 2012 The Neurological Fallacy Pragmatics & Cognition 20:3, pp. 429–446 | Article

This non-article explores the limitations of applying brain science in “higher” disciplines. Many brain scientists believe that it is only a matter of time that everything human will be accounted for by the findings of brain science. Michael Polányi in the nineteen-sixties and recently Michael… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 2011 Aesthetic qualities as structural resemblance: Divergence and perceptual forces in poetry Semblance and Signification, Michelucci, Pascal, Olga Fischer and Christina Ljungberg (eds.), pp. 233–250 | Article

When we say “The music is sad”, we report that we have detected some resemblance between the structure of the music and the structure of an emotion. In this sense, “sad” refers to an aesthetic quality of the music. In poetry, “sad” may refer either to the mere contents of the poem, or to an… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 2009 The place of nonconceptual information in university education with special reference to teaching literature Pragmatics & Cognition 17:2, pp. 309–330 | Article

This paper assumes that crucial mental activities involved in scientific discovery and literary reponse are nonconceptual. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries were made in states of extreme mental passivity induced in “the Bus, the Bath, or the Bed”(Köhler 1972: 163). Universities usually… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 2008 Deixis in literature: What isn’t cognitive poetics? Pragmatics & Cognition 16:1, pp. 119–150 | Article

This is a theoretical and methodological statement of what isn’t and what is Cognitive poetics. It is focused on Peter Stockwell’s discussion of deixis; but, I claim, much of what I have to say on Stockwell’s work would apply to some degree to the work of many other critics. I argue that Stockwell… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 2002 Aspects of Cognitive Poetics Cognitive Stylistics: Language and cognition in text analysis, Semino, Elena and Jonathan Culpeper (eds.), pp. 279–318 | Chapter

Tsur, Reuven † and Motti Benari 2001 ‘Composition of place’, experiential set, and the meditative poem: A cognitive-pragmatic approach Pragmatics & Cognition 9:2, pp. 203–237 | Article

Meditative poetry has the ability to reproduce aspects of the meditative experience. In this paper we explore this ability, trying to clarify the phenomenon by pointing out the cognitive processes involved. We focus on Christian Jesuit meditation and pinpoint one of its most effective elements:… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 1999 Lakoff's roads not taken Pragmatics & Cognition 7:2, pp. 339–359 | Article

This paper is a critique of George Lakoff's theory and practice as presented in his "Contemporary Theory of Metaphor" (Lakoff 1993). It addresses the issue on several planes, on each plane comparing Lakoff's approach to some alternative. The highest plane, affording the widest perspective,… read more

Tsur, Reuven † 1997 Sound affects of poetry: Critical impressionism, reductionism and cognitive poetics Pragmatics & Cognition 5:2, pp. 283–304 | Article

This paper assumes that the literary work of art is a "stratified system of norms", and that the description of each stratum may require a different kind of logic. One of the main problems is the meaningful integration of these descriptions. A speech sound may be described on an acoustic, a… read more