I'd say a lot in music is about structure, patterns, repetition etc. And endings of words being similar is part of that.
Why is it that rhyming words seems to be pleasant/melodious to hear in rap/poetry??
Submitted 3 months ago by wantedthefirstaccount@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 3 months ago
AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 3 months ago
I have two theories, applying not just to rhyme but to traditional verse forms in general (i.e., formal constraints like rhyme, meter, alliteration, etc.):
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In prehistory—when all knowledge was transmitted orally—constrained verse acted as a sort of verbal checksum to prevent transmitted knowledge from getting corrupted accidentally. And verse patterns became a mental flag indicating that whatever was being sung or recited was important knowledge worth the extra effort of casting into verse.
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It’s been discovered in many different contexts that humans are attracted to information with novelty to predictability ratio of about 20–25%: if it’s much less than that we get bored, and if it’s much more than that we get lost and/or consider it gibberish. So adding a predictable element like a regular rhyme pattern gives the creator freedom to add more novel elements without losing the audience.
wjrii@lemmy.world 3 months ago
It’s also worth pointing out that rhyming is not the only way to get those pattern-recognition neurons firing. Meter in poetry/lyrics is all about this, and the Ancient Greeks knew all about it. They also knew all about mnemonic tropes (wine-dark sea) and other devices. Old English in particular built most of its poetry and songs around alliteration rather than rhyming.
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LordGimp@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Because it’s drugs for your brain. Your brain expects to find a pattern and rewards you when you do. Brainscans have shown similar activation patterns in people that are listening to their favorite music as people who have recently injected heroin.
erev@lemmy.world 3 months ago
this sounds made up but i currently do not care enough to look into it so i shall take you at your word
i hope you have not misinformed me but if you have i shall do nothing except continue to nap
LordGimp@lemm.ee 3 months ago
It’s all neuron activation. Always has been.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 3 months ago
I want to add to the question with: and why does sometimes rhymes in other languages sound even more pleasing? “Sometimes friends” in Japanese is just super fun. Tokidoki tomodachi!
INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 3 months ago
Pattern seeking brain
finley@lemm.ee 3 months ago
Rhythm
snek_boi@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
I like the novelty/predictability ratio idea. There is also the idea of “create expectations and satisfy them”, which leads to a sense of stability. Our cultures and genres create expectations. Rhymes tied to a certain metric can become part of these expectations. Of course, you can also create expectations and frustrate them, which leads to a sense of instability. Searching for “fakeout rhyme” videos makes this evident. Pat Pattison, an expert in songwriting, could be a good source on this ☺️
Boozilla@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Humans love recognizable patterns and symmetry. Rhymes sound alike, and when coupled with meter, help make the words “stick” in our memory. We also like artificial things that are easily distinguishable from the chaos and entropy of the natural world. We enjoy our feeble attempts at imposing order.
SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 3 months ago
Well said. It seems to all be about satisfying our expectations.
And when expectations are subverted but then satisfied in a different way (jokes, puns, etc).
But basically confirmation of our pattern matching being right.
1,2,3,4… I will now say more. 5,6,7,8… I will not hesitate. Satisfying
1,2,3,4… I will now say more. 5,6,7,8… I will not delay. Frustrating
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 3 months ago
It’s as if the human mind was built to recognize patterns. There’s probably some biochemical reward mechanism associated with finding perceived patterns and structures, which would explain why that feels pleasant.