Peter Verdonk’s “Words, Words, Words” is an article looking at the pragmatic and socio-cognitive view of lexical repetition. This article first defines the meaning of word, “the minimal meaningful unit of language.” There are two categories that a word can fall under which are, context and functional. Context words are described as being nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives. These are known as “open classes” because they easily allow new “members” or words to fit into the category of being a “context” word. Verdonk defines a lexical word as being one straight from a dictionary’s definition. He also brings about another valid point that “word” is not a legitimate definition for a “word” because there are some that are not just one word. Some examples are “tight-rope walker” “sound out” “tidy up” and more. As confusing as it may sound, Verdonk does a good job of making it clear that a word can actually consist of more than one word. The other category of words is that of “Function words.” These are defined as being a closed class who do not as easily permit newcomers. They are primarily grammatical. Examples are pronouns, artifacts, auxiliaries, conjunctions, and prepositions. An interesting and important term that Verdonk brings to light and defines is “intertextuality” which is, the notion that “texts are produced and interpreted through our conscious or unconscious experiences of other texts” (15). One of the main concepts that this article focuses on is the audiences’ attraction to repetition of any kind in literature. According to this article, it is imbedded in our instincts to structure everything according to patterns, including repetition. The reason behind this is that we understand our world through these patterns, and through what we refer to it as, symmetry. Verdonk claims that symmetry is all that we know, therefore if we wish for our brains to survive, we must make sense of everything through patterns and repetition so that we can find the “symmetry” that we are so accustom to. In a sense, symmetry is the key to deciphering the complex code that makes up the world around us. There are two reasons for repetition that Verdonk lists in his article. One is the unifying affect that was just described, the locating of symmetry. The second is to convey emphasis and to heighten emotion. Both, are important ways of using repetition and help explain why we do not get fed up with it in some works that when being looked at from a statistical standpoint, we should be fed up with. Instead of being annoyed, the reader becomes even more infatuated and engrossed in the worked. After reading this article, we know that the reason lies in our natural instincts. We are used to the symmetry of the world. If we are used to it in our everyday lives, it makes sense that it would become appealing to us through literature. Verdonk’s ability to describe this instinct through socio-cognitive science was a unique way of researching and finding reason behind what Verdonk describes as “why humans are charmed by patterns of repetition.”
Verdonk, Peter. "Words, Words, Words: A Pragmatic and Socio-Cognitive View of Lexical Repetition."Twentieth-Century Fiction: From Text to Context. 7-31. London: Routledge, 1995. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 4 Dec. 2010.
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