Reuven Tsur. Playing by Ear and the Tip of the Tongue Amsterdam/Philadelphia, Johns Benjamins, 2012

Abstract

Reuven Tsur created cognitive poetics, and from 1977 on his perspectives greatly shaped the fi eld. His chosen problems explain many of the classical questions within aesthetics. English cognitive stylistics, however, which more strictly follow the cognitive discoveries of Lakoff & Johnson, look more limited by comparison. Specifi cally Tsur's poetry analyses are both enlightening and fi nished with a certain feeling for the poem. His criticism always pays atten- tion to artistic qualities before dry theory, and this focus is something that strengthens his credibility. His new book Playing by Ear and the Tip of the Tongue (2012) continues in many ways his What Makes Sound Patterns expressive? (1992), with parts of the older book even being repeated in service of those who haven't read it. Th e somewhat peculiar title refers to what Tsur labels the TOT (Tip of the Tongue) phenomenon - when you have a word on the tip of your tongue but cannot quite get hold of it. Almost all parts of the word are at hand but one detail is missing. His point is how words consist of many parts, phoneti- cally and semantically, that to some extent act separately. A word is a stable confi guration out of long time memory consisting of a great many distinctive features, anyone of them potentially changed or manipulated. Th is is used within poetic language. Speech sounds as well consist of clusters of qualities in combination - for example a sound might be opened or closed. Diff erent combinations give rise to various meanings. Th is is a main theme of the book - no linguistic phe- nomenon is unambiguous because they all consist of combinations of a great many small characteristics. As the preface says, this book explores how poetic language attempts to escape the tyranny of conceptual and phonetic categories. Th e specifi c poetic eff ect originates from disturbances in cognitive pro- cesses, Tsur says. Speech sounds are in actuality complex, but uncomplicated when listened to and categorised. Still, certain devices of poetic language delay categorisation in order to facilitate precategorial information. In that way, poetry creates meanings which are both unexpected and optimal. Normally categorisation takes place at lightning speed, but the poetic language possesses