VSP has successfully met its objectives by creating the first dynamic vocal archive and conducting the first phonetic history and comparative studies of Spanish poetry reading, and the first interdisciplinary study involving cognitive sciences and phonetics for the analysis of poetry reception based on reading styles, with particular attention to the rhetorical device of enjambment.
The creation of the archive was made possible thanks to the integration of data collection—whose scope far exceeded expectations—and the experimental study conducted. The phonetic analysis revealed an evolution over time in the way poetry is read, as well as the emergence of patterns and groupable behaviors observed through comparisons between readings. This study was enabled by advancements in the VIP-VSP methodology. The cognitive study, through an eye-tracking experiment, demonstrated how different reading styles can influence the reception of the poetic message, thereby highlighting the importance of the prosodic dimension, which is central to this project and still requires further investigation.
The achievements of VSP significantly contribute to the international recognition and advancement of the experimental study of poetry reading, fostering a renewed awareness of the auditory dimension of poetry. Through its growing visibility, VSP is helping to establish this research field as a relevant and pioneering domain within literature and linguistics studies.
Thanks to its interdisciplinary approach, VSP offers a unique model at the crossroads of cultural heritage, phonetics, cognitive science, and literary studies. Its educational potential is also particularly noteworthy: VSP, through its platform, promotes a renewed way of teaching and learning poetry by foregrounding listening as an essential mode of experiencing verse. The platform serves as a valuable educational tool, providing students with access to poetry as a living vocal dimension of literature—not just a written text to be read silently—and offering an original way to intersect linguistics and literature, a potential already recognized by leading linguists in the 20th century. Furthermore, beyond the classroom, the general public can engage with the archive freely, discovering poetry through guided listening and thus developing a more vivid and participatory relationship with poetry.
While the archive already offers a groundbreaking contribution, it should be considered a starting point for ongoing preservation and experimental research. A vocal archive is, by nature, an open and expanding resource. Continued data collection is essential to prevent the loss of valuable cultural materials. Moreover, much of the existing content still offers significant potential for further experimental phonetic and cognitive analysis, in order to explore the diverse materials of contemporaneity included in VSP and to investigate how they are processed through listening. Extending the phonetic studies would enable comparative analyses to identify additional shared and divergent features, and would allow the phonetic history of poetry reading to evolve into the present, capturing contemporary developments and nuances, and further highlighting the richness and complexity of this unique form of vocal expression.
