Poetic text processing and its empirical investigation

Abstract Starting from the basic assumption that poeticity ( Poetizitat ) is a property of text processing rather than a property of texts, this paper discusses elicitation methods allowing the investigation of poetic text processing and the conditions of its occurrence. On the basis of data on judgement activities it can be shown that certain text properties (e.g. parallelisms, elliptic constructions) as well as specific context conditions, and specific dispositions of the reader (e.g. literary experience and linguistic competence) may contribute to the occurrence of poetic test processing. First attempts at evaluating thinking-aloud protocols, which allow a more direct investigation of poetic text processing, indicate that poetic text processing depends on different variables like ‘type of reader’, ‘type of text’, and ‘topic’.