Tongue Twisters

Question

Why are tongue twisters difficult (slower) to read aloud than non-twisters? Why would reading twisters silently continue to be difficult?

Answer 1

Tongue twisters usually rely on heavy alliteration (words which begin with the same sound), but throw in a few words that subtly differ.

A good example is:

She sells sea-shells by the sea shore.

You'll note that you have to alternate here between words that start with a "s" sound and words that start with a "sh" sound. Also note that it uses all four of the words in this matrix:

,--------+--------+---------.
|        |...ee   |...ells  |
|--------+--------+---------|
|sh...   | SHE    | SHELLS  |
|--------+--------+---------|
|s...    | SEA    | SELLS   |
`--------+--------+---------'

That is, it has all four possible combinations of words that begin with "s" or "sh" and end with an "ee" or "ells" sound. If reciting the rhyme repeatedly and quickly, it's very easy to get tangled on them.

The Pheasant Plucker Song is another interesting tongue twister to consider. Here's an abbreviated version:

Here's an abbreviated version of the song:

I am not the pheasant plucker,
I'm the pheasant plucker's mate.
I am only plucking pheasants
'cause the pheasant plucker's late.

Notice how on the third line, the ph-pl combination reverses itself? That's designed to trick you into confessing to some rather unsavoury acts with wildfowl.

Of course, having read the first few lines of the song, you'd probably realise where it's headed, and thus start reading those parts deliberately slowly, and pronouncing them especially clearly.

Your own compensation for the trickiness of the lyrics is ultimately the main reason they're so slow to read.