Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis
The aim of this study was to test the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis using a reading corpus, i.e., a text without experimental manipulation labelled with eye-tracking parameters. For this purpose, a bilingual Croatian–English reading corpus was analysed. In prosodic terms, Croatian and English are at t...
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2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Eye Movement Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1995-8692/18/3/24 |
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| author | Marijan Palmović Kristina Cergol |
| author_facet | Marijan Palmović Kristina Cergol |
| author_sort | Marijan Palmović |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The aim of this study was to test the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis using a reading corpus, i.e., a text without experimental manipulation labelled with eye-tracking parameters. For this purpose, a bilingual Croatian–English reading corpus was analysed. In prosodic terms, Croatian and English are at the opposite ends of the spectrum: English is considered a time-framed language, while Croatian is a syllable-framed language. This difference served as a kind of experimental control in this study on natural reading. The results show that readers’ eyes lingered more on stressed syllables than on the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables for both languages. This is especially pronounced for English, a language with greater differences in the duration of stressed and unstressed syllables. This study provides indirect evidence in favour of the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis, i.e., the idea that readers are guided by their inner voice with its suprasegmental features when reading silently. The differences between the languages can be traced back to the typological differences in stress in English and Croatian. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-81db19eb8f2d4da18fbe17129f19c702 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1995-8692 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Eye Movement Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-81db19eb8f2d4da18fbe17129f19c7022025-08-20T03:24:40ZengMDPI AGJournal of Eye Movement Research1995-86922025-06-011832410.3390/jemr18030024Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus AnalysisMarijan Palmović0Kristina Cergol1Laboratory for Psycholinguistic Research, Department of Speech & Language Pathology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, CroatiaLaboratory for Psycholinguistic Research, Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, CroatiaThe aim of this study was to test the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis using a reading corpus, i.e., a text without experimental manipulation labelled with eye-tracking parameters. For this purpose, a bilingual Croatian–English reading corpus was analysed. In prosodic terms, Croatian and English are at the opposite ends of the spectrum: English is considered a time-framed language, while Croatian is a syllable-framed language. This difference served as a kind of experimental control in this study on natural reading. The results show that readers’ eyes lingered more on stressed syllables than on the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables for both languages. This is especially pronounced for English, a language with greater differences in the duration of stressed and unstressed syllables. This study provides indirect evidence in favour of the Implicit Prosody Hypothesis, i.e., the idea that readers are guided by their inner voice with its suprasegmental features when reading silently. The differences between the languages can be traced back to the typological differences in stress in English and Croatian.https://www.mdpi.com/1995-8692/18/3/24implicit prosodysilent readingreading corpusimplicit prosody hypothesisstress-timed rhythmsyllable-timed rhythm |
| spellingShingle | Marijan Palmović Kristina Cergol Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis Journal of Eye Movement Research implicit prosody silent reading reading corpus implicit prosody hypothesis stress-timed rhythm syllable-timed rhythm |
| title | Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis |
| title_full | Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis |
| title_short | Is the Prosodic Structure of Texts Reflected in Silent Reading? An Eye-Tracking Corpus Analysis |
| title_sort | is the prosodic structure of texts reflected in silent reading an eye tracking corpus analysis |
| topic | implicit prosody silent reading reading corpus implicit prosody hypothesis stress-timed rhythm syllable-timed rhythm |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1995-8692/18/3/24 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marijanpalmovic istheprosodicstructureoftextsreflectedinsilentreadinganeyetrackingcorpusanalysis AT kristinacergol istheprosodicstructureoftextsreflectedinsilentreadinganeyetrackingcorpusanalysis |