INNER PROSODY IN SILENT POETRY READING: THE ROLE OF SUBVOCALISATION AND IMAGINED VOICE

Abstract

The article explores the phenomenon of inner prosody during silent poem reading, focusing on the role of subvocalisation, intonation and emotional engagement. The aim of this study is to define how different modes of poetry acquisition influence the reader’s response. The theoretical background combines knowledge from psycholinguistics, cognitive poetry and the reader’s response theory, highlighting that the meaning emerges through the interaction between text and reader. The empirical part is based on an experiment that includes two groups of students processing the same poem in different ways. Participants filled in the questionnaires designed to evaluate emotional engagement and inner prosody with the help of evaluation scales and open-ended responses. Results revealed that listening to the poet’s performance evokes a stronger emotional connection and enhances the imagined sound patterns of the poem. Consistent patterns across responses indicate that the auditory input enhanced the inner prosody of the reader and deepened the personal experience of the poetry. These results suggest that silent reading is not really silent – it activates phonological imagination and engages auditory memory. In this way, poetry functions as a multimodal cognitive act where rhythm and sound are saved internally even in the absence of external speech, turning the process of silent reading into an intimate dialogue between poetic text and the reader’s inner ear.

Key words: inner prosody, silent reading, subvocalisation, imagined voice, emotional response, reader engagement, poetic perception.