Language and Literature

Abstract

The linguistic processing of poetry involves focus on the verbatim form of the line as a whole unit in working memory, with epistemic and affective consequences. The form of text can also be part of its meaning. Language is used in narrative to structure the represented world and engage us in specific ways with its fictional people. Linguistic form in literature can be different in interesting ways from ordinary language: attenuated, deviant, and with added regularities.