Of course word count may have rhythmic significance.
In 'natural' poetic language, the obvious example is classical Chinese,
where the correspondence of syllable and morpheme is pretty clear, and
morphemes - as represented, in the written language, by characters - are
often grammatically free lexical items, 'words' to most intents and
purposes. Word count and rhythm go hand in glove in classical Chinese
poetry.
All this beg the question of what a word is. Difficult problem. Although
'lexical item' or 'linguistic construct bounded by some abstracted
(non-media-specific) notion of white space' might also work, even across
cultures.
More importantly, wondering whether word count can be rhythmic rather
implies that natural-language (oral) delivery is privileged in some way.
If, in reading a poem, you become aware that word counting is being used as
part of its poetic, then you will start counting, and this will certainly
generate a rhythm.
If the words of a poem are displayed in an animation according to some
predetermined - regular or irregular - rhythmic pattern (regardless or how
they might be read out loud by Seamus Heaney), then a rhythm will be
generated.
If I write a poem each word of which is to be read every 2 seconds ...
Or think of the scored pauses in Cage's poetic essays, as generating
rhythms of larger and even more complex lingistic structures.
etc. etc.
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