An Investigation of Isochronism in the Rhythm of American ...

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1966

An Investigation of Isochronism in the Rhythm of American An Investigation of Isochronism in the Rhythm of American

English Speech. English Speech.

Domitila Domenech De belaval Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College

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66-10,893

de BELAVAL, Domitila Domenech, 1912- AN INVESTIGATION OF ISOCHRONISM IN THE RHYTHM OF AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEECH.

Louisiana State University, Ph.D., 1966 Language and L iterature, linguistics

University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan

AN INVESTIGATION OF ISOCHRONISM IN THE RHYTHM OF

AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEECH

A D isse rta tio n

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty o f the Louisiana S ta te U niversity and

A g ricu ltu ra l and Mechanical College in p a r t ia l fu lf illm e n t o f the

requirem ents fo r the degree of Doctor o f Philosophy

in

The Program in L in g u istics

byDom itila Domenech de Belaval

B .S ., Elmira College, 1933 M.A., Columbia U n iversity , 1947

June, 1966

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

A cknow ledgm ent of s in c e re a p p re c ia tio n is due to D r. G eorge H.

Gunn and to D r. C laude L . Shaver fo r th e ir encouragem en t, guidance,

and help in the p re p a ra tio n of th is study.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

P age

CHAPTER I . INTRODUCTION I

The p ro b lem 2

D efinition of te rm s 2

R eview of the l i t e r a tu r e 8

R e s ta te m e n t of the p ro b lem 24

CHAPTER I I . PROCEDURE 25

V alidation of the in v e s tig a to r 's judgm ent of s t r e s s 26

P ro c e d u re follow ed in obtaining co rp u s 29

P ro c e d u re follow ed in obtaining da ta on im prom ptu speech 30

S pec trog raph ic a n a ly s is of the d a ta 31

P ro c e d u re fo llow ed in obtaining da ta on s tru c tu re d speech 41

CHAPTER I I I . RESULTS 50

In te rp re ta tio n of d a ta on im prom ptu speech 50

In te rp re ta tio n of d a ta on s tru c tu re d speech 53

CHAPTER I V . CONCLUSIONS 63

S um m ary 63

G enera l conclusions 66

Suggestions fo r fu r th e r s tu d ies 68i

BIBLIOGRAPHY 70

APPEND IX 82

iii

LIST O F TABLES

TABLE P e rc e n ta g e of A greem en t betw een L is te n e rs and C onsensus

TABLE I I P re l im in a ry V alues of L in e a r and C u rv ilin e a r E ffec ts in the R ela tion betw een N um ber of Sy llab les and D uration

TABLE I I I S ignificance of L in e a r and C u rv ilin e a r E ffec ts in the R e la tion betw een N um ber of S y llab les and D uration

TABLE IV C oeffic ien ts of C o rre la tio nbetw een N um ber of S y llab les and D ura tion

TABLE V O bserved D uration of F ra m e d U tte ran ces

TABLE V I C om parison of the N um ber ofA ccu ra te P re d ic tio n s of D uration in T e rm s of the T heo ry of Iso c h ro n ism and in T e rm s of a H ypothesis of L in e a r ity

TABLE V I I C om parison of the M ean A verageP e rc e n ta g e of P re d ic tio n A ccu racy in T e rm s of the T h eo ry of Iso c h ro n ism and in T e rm s of a H ypothesis of L in e a r ity

TABLE V I I I A verage D uration of Sy llab lesin 180 Sam ples of S tre s s G roups fro m the F re e Speech of All Subjects

TABLE IX P e rc e n ta g e of E qual o r A pproxi­m a te ly E qual A djacent S tre s s G roups in Sam ples fro m the F re e Speech of A ll Subjects

iv

P age

28

51

52

53

54

56

57

59

60

LEST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

FIGURE 4

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 6

FIGURE 7

FIGURE 8

FIGURE 9

FIGURE 10

FIGURE 11

FIGURE 12

FIGURE 13

FIGURE 14

P age

Segm entation of A djacen t T w o-Syllable (30 c s )a n d S ix -S yllab le (87 c s) S tre tc h e s Spoken b y Subject 4 35

Segm entation of T h re e -Syllable S tre tc h M easu ring 51 c s 36

A S even-S yllab le S tre tc h (120 cs) A djacentto a T h ree -S y llab le S tre tch Spoken by Subject 3 37

B ro ad Band S p ec tro g ram of aO ne-Syllable S tre tc h . Subject 3 38

N arrow B and S p e c tro g ra m . O ne-SyllableS tre tc h Shown in F ig u re 4. D u ra tio n —22 cs 39

D uration of 33 Sam ples of S tre s sG roups in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 1 43

D uration of 31 Sam ples of S tre s sG roups in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 2 44

D ura tion of 30 Sam ples of S tre s sG roups in Im prom ptu Speech. S ubject 3 45

D ura tion of 32 Sam ples of S tre s sG roups in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 4 46

D ura tion of 33 Sam ples of S tre s sG roups in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 5 47

D ura tion of 35 Sam ples of S tre s sG roups in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 6 48

C om bined R e su lts . 180 S am ples 49

D ura tion of A djacent S tre s sG roups in F r e e Speech. Subject 1 6 l

D uration of A djacen t S tre s sG roups in F r e e Speech. Subject 4 62

v

ABSTRACT

T his study a ttem p ts to t e s t the v a lid ity of the a lleg ed p e rio d ic ity

of s t r e s s g roups in the rhy thm of A m erican E nglish speech . The

r e s u l ts of th is study c o n tra d ic t the conclusion rea ch e d by C la s se in

1939, th a t E ng lish p ro se rhy thm is e sse n tia lly iso c h ro n ic . T hey con­

f irm in p a r t the o b se rv a tio n m ade in 1962 by Shen and P e te rs o n , who

found no fac tu a l b a s is fo r the th eo ry of iso c h ro n ic rhy thm , hi addition ,

the r e s u l ts s e rv e a s the b a s is fo r a ten ta tiv e hypo thesis of l in e a r r e l a ­

tion betw een num ber of sy llab le s and tim e .

The in itia l co rpus fo r th is s tudy c o n s is ts of 1200 sam p les of

s t r e s s g roups se lec te d fro m 10-m inute m agne tic tape rec o rd in g s of

im prom ptu speech by each of s ix young m a le s , a ll sp e a k e rs of N orth

M idland d ia le c t of S tandard A m erican E ng lish . It a lso inc ludes 128

rec o rd in g s of exam ples of iso ch ro n ic rhy thm e x tra c te d fro m tex tbooks.

Two hundred exam ples of u n in te rru p te d s tre tc h e s of f re e speech con­

tain ing fro m one to n ine sy llab le s and d e lim ited by the o n se t of s tro n g

s t r e s s w ere chosen f ro m each rec o rd in g . F ro m th ese , fo u r o r , in

som e c a se s , few er sam p les of each type w ere random ly se le c te d and

sp ec tro g rap h ed . Syllable c e n te rs and m a jo r s t r e s s e s w e re iden tified

on each sp e c tro g ra m . The sy llab les in each s tre tc h w ere counted and

the d u ra tio n of the s tre tc h w as m e a su re d fro m the o n se t of one s t r e s s e d

vowel to the onse t of the nex t s t r e s s e d vow el. F re q u en c y d is tr ib u tio n s

w ere p lo tted fo r each su b je c t and fo r the com bined su b je c ts . Since the

freq u en cy d is tr ib u tio n s show ed a p o ss ib le l in e a r o r c u rv ilin e a r r e l a ­

tion betw een the num ber of sy llab le s and the d u ra tio n of the s tre tc h e s ,

the data w ere subm itted to m a th em a tica l a n a ly sis in o rd e r to d e te rm in e

the sign ificance of th e se e ffe c ts . A pplica tion of equations fo r c u rv il in ­

e a r e ffec t and fo r l in e a r re g re s s io n , and a t - t e s t show a defin ite l in e a r

re la tio n , in e v e ry c a se w ith a c o rre la t io n co effic ien t above 0.90, fo r

each su b jec t and fo r the com bined su b je c ts . On the b a s is of th e se f in d ­

ings, a ten ta tiv e hypo thesis of d ire c t l in e a r re la tio n sh ip betw een num ­

b e r of sy llab le s and d u ra tio n is p roposed .

Sets of f ra m e d u tte ra n c e s s im ila r ly re n d e re d b y th re e o r m o re

su b jec ts w ere m e a su re d fro m abso lu te beginning to ab so lu te end, and

the d u ra tio n of the u tte ra n c e s w as co m p ared . In 95% of th e c o m p a ri­

sons the du ra tion of an u tte ra n c e contain ing m o re sy llab le s w as found .

to be g re a te r than the d u ra tio n of a p a ire d u tte ra n c e contain ing few er

sy llab le s . C om parison of the a c c u ra c y of p re d ic tin g the d u ra tio n of

th e se p a ire d u tte ra n c e s on a b a s is of th e o re tic a l iso c h ro n ic rhy thm and

on a b a s is of hypo thetica l l in e a r i ty shows th a t those co m p ariso n s b a se d

on a hypothetical l in e a r i ty a re decided ly m o re a c c u ra te both in te rm s

of num ber of p red ic tio n s and in te rm s of p e rc en ta g e of p re d ic tiv e a c c u ­

rac y .

In view of th e se re s u l ts the conclu sion is re a c h e d th a t the th eo ry

w hich a ssu m e s th a t, b ecau se of the e s se n tia lly iso ch ro n ic c h a ra c te r of

E ng lish rhy thm , the d u ra tio n of s t r e s s g roups is independent of the

num ber of u n s tre s se d sy llab les con ta ined betw een s tro n g s t r e s s e s is

no t suppo rted by fac tu a l ev idence.

A c u rs o ry look a t the unequal d u ra tio n s of abutting s t r e s s g roups

found in c id en ta lly in the sam p le s of f r e e speech co n stitu tin g th e .c o rp u s

of th is in v es tig a tio n po in ts to the need fo r fu r th e r study of th is a sp e c t

in o rd e r to con firm o r d isp ro v e the conclu sions h e re reach ed .

II

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

The rhy thm of E n g lish speech is u su a lly d e sc r ib e d as iso ch ro n ic ;

th a t is , a rhy thm c h a ra c te r iz e d by the re c u r re n c e of s t r e s s a t m o re o r

le s s un ifo rm in te rv a ls of tim e w ithout re g a rd to the num ber of sy lla ­

b le s betw een s t r e s s e s . M any tex tbooks, e sp e c ia lly those devoted to

the teach ing of E ng lish as a fo re ig n language, s ta te th is g e n e ra l b e lie f

a s a ru le fo r the c o r r e c t p ro nuncia tion of the language. E xam ples,

such a s P ik e 1 s^ ® ^ tra d itio n a l one,

E ng lish is dasy.E ng lish is v e ry dasy .The E ng lish le s s o n is v e ry dasy .

i l lu s tr a te the ru le . In th is s e t of sen ten ces the la p se of tim e betw een

the s t r e s s e d sy llab les of E ng lish and of e a sy is supposed to be the

sam e.

T ea ch e rs of E ng lish a s a second language have a t t im e s doubted

the v a lid ity of th is a s s e r tio n . They find th a t p ro s e p a ssa g e s re a d w ith

iso ch ro n ic rhy thm often sound m ech an ica l, and th a t e x e rc is e s m ea n t to

be re a d w ith iso ch ro n ic rhy thm m u st be re a d w ith an u n n a tu ra l tem po.

An exam ple of th e se e x e rc is e s is P r a t o r ' s ^ ^

Bdys nded m dney.The bdys w ill be needing som e of th e ir m dney.

In addition , the c o n s tru c tio n of d r i l l s th a t would a c c u ra te ly i l lu s tr a te

the p rin c ip le of iso ch ro n ic rhy thm is e x tre m e ly lab o rio u s . If tru e

exam ples a r e r a r e , can iso c h ro n ism be an e s se n tia l c h a ra c te r is t ic of

the rhy thm of spoken E n g lish ?

1

x

2

The P ro b le m

The p u rp o se of th is study is to in v es tig a te the assu m p tio n th a t

the rhy thm of spoken E ng lish is e s se n tia lly iso ch ro n ic ; th a t is , to

a s c e r ta in w hether in im prom ptu speech the d u ra tio n of in te rv a ls

betw een /s t r e s s e s is independent of the n u m b er of sy llab les betw een

th o se s t r e s s e s . B efo re an in v es tig a tio n of th is p ro b lem can be con­

ducted o r any conclusions reach ed , such debatab le te rm s a s rh y th m ,

s t r e s s , and sy llab le m u s t be c la r if ie d , and the m eaning of each lim ite d

to th a t u sed in th is study.

D efinition of T e rm s

(2)R hythm . To A ris to tle rhy thm w as an e sse n tia l e le m e n t of

speech , i ts "m e a su re d m ovem ent and p ro p o rtio n " a ttra c tin g a tten tio n

to the o ra to r . M any of the c u r re n t de fin itions of speech rh y th m m ay

be view ed a s a ttem p ts to specify the c h a ra c te r is t ic s of th is "m e a su re d

m ovem en t and p ro p o rtio n ." A ccord ing to W e b s te r’s New and T h ird

New In te rn a tio n a l D ic tio n ary of the E ng lish L anguage^ ^ * the

rhy thm of speech c o n s is ts of the re g u la r re c u r re n c e of s im ila r fe a ­

tu re s , o r of the o rd e re d a lte rn a tio n of s tro n g and w eak e le m e n ts . In

the O xford E ng lish D ic tio n ary ^ the rhy thm of speech is defined as

the "m e a su re d re c u r re n c e of c e r ta in rh e to r ic a l fe a tu re s ," d e te rm in e d

by quan tity (m eaning du ra tion ) o r s t r e s s , o r bo th . In th is de fin ition i t

m ay be noted th a t th e re is an u n c e rta in ty as to w hether reco g n itio n

should be given p red o m in an tly to the su c ce ss io n of t im e -sp a n s w hich

r e c u r re g u la r ly o r to the re p e titio n of f e a tu re s w hich e s ta b lish the

b o u n d arie s of t im e -s p a n s .

3

A studen t of lin g u is tic s who h as som e knowledge of a c o u s tic s and

of p sy c h o -a c o u s tic s m igh t be inc lined to define the rhy thm of speech a s

the p a tte rn e d re p e titio n of c e r ta in aco u stic phenom ena. To th is p e r ­

son, the aco u stic phenom ena m igh t be d iffe ren tiab le changes in in te n ­

sity , p itch , d u ra tio n , o r qua lity , a lone o r in any com bination . To th is

p e rso n , the q u estio n of w hether a p e rc e iv e d rhy thm is re la te d to the

re c u r re n c e of the a co u s tic phenom ena w hich d e m a rc a te the tim e l im its

of a sound p a tte rn o r to the d u ra tio n of s ilen ce o r re la tiv e s ilen ce

w ith in given b o u n d arie s is su b jec t to cho ice.

In th is study th e aco u stic phenom ena chosen a s d e te rm in a to rs of

speech rhy thm a re the la p se s of tim e betw een su c c e ss iv e b o u n d a rie s

w hich have b een judged a s s t r e s s p o in ts . The a ssu m p tio n th a t rh y th m

is the r e s u l t of the re c u r re n c e of in te rv a ls of speech sounds betw een

su c c e ss iv e s t r e s s po in ts is , then , the b a s is of th is study.

S t r e s s . Since th e re is , a s yet, no conclusive evidence tha t

s t r e s s is concom itan t w ith any one aco u stic phenom enon, s t r e s s is

re g a rd e d , fo r the pu rp o se of th is in v es tig a tio n , a s the em p h asis p laced

on the nucleus of a sy llab le b y m ean s of in ten sity , d u ra tio n , o r change

in fundam enta l frequency , any o r a ll of w hich, when p e rc e iv e d by the

h e a re r , m ay be in te rp re te d a s s t r e s s ^ ’1

Not a ll lin g u is ts , how ever, a g re e th a t th e se th re e fa c to rs a re the

m o st e s se n tia l in s t r e s s . Some c o r re la te s t r e s s p r im a r ily w ith in te n ­

s i t y ^ ^ ’ O th e rs c o r re la te i t w ith fundam enta l f re q u e n c y ^ ^ ’

110, 112)^ gom e com bine in te n s ity and fundam ental f r e q u e n c y ^ ^ ’

F o r T iffin and S te e r^ ® ^ , C a r re l l and T iffany^*^ , and L ie b e r m a n ^ ^ ,

d u ra tio n is the m o s t c r i t ic a l fa c to r , w h e re a s fo r Long both

* (45)d u ra tio n and fundam ental freq u en cy a re c r i t ic a l . F le tc h e r ' ' c la im s

th a t fo rm an t (overtone) s tru c tu re is a s e s se n tia l a s in te n s ity o r funda­

m en ta l frequency . T hese th re e fa c to rs , a s w ell a s d u ra tio n , a r e m en ­

tioned by both F i r t h ^ ^ and H e f f n e r ^ ^ a s p o ss ib le fe a tu re s of s t r e s s .

F re q u en c y m odula tion is p ro p o sed by Bolinger^® ^ as the d e c is iv e e le ­

m en t; and V o e l k e r ^ ^ , O r t le b ^ * ^ , and J o n e s ^ ^ add i t to the o th er

p ro p e r t ie s , m aking a to ta l of five; in ten sity , du ra tion , fundam enta l f r e ­

quency, fo rm an t s tru c tu re , and freq u en cy m odulation . On the o th er

hand, som e lin g u is ts su g g est tha t s t r e s s should not be analyzed in

te rm s of aco u stic p ro p e r t ie s bu t p r im a r ily in te rm s of m u sc u la r(17 79) (94)e ffo r t ' * 71. L eh is te and P e te r s o n ' , and Ladefoged, D ra p e r , and

W hitteridge^®^) c la im i t is p e rc e iv e d p r im a r ily by k in es th e tic m em o ry .

And, fina lly , th e re a re th o se who b e liev e th a t s t r e s s , being e s se n tia lly

sub jec tive , cannot be m e a su re d by in s tru m e n ts a t a ll^ ^*

A ll lin g u is ts a g re e th a t d e g re e s of s t r e s s a r e re la tiv e , but

m any d is a g re e on the num ber of d e g re e s it m ay have. Some c la im

tha t th e re a r e an in fin ite num ber of d e g re e s , o r , a t any ra te , a s m any

as th e re a re sy llab les in a w o rd ^ ^ ®®’ 150) O th ers , no tab ly M a r ti­

n e t ^ ) and A rn o ld ^ ), a s s e r t th a t th e re a re only two e s se n tia l

d e g re e s , s t r e s s and u n s tr e s s , any in te rm e d ia te s t r e s s e s be ing e ith e r

red u ced v a r ia n ts of stro n g s t r e s s o r "n o n -to n ic" stro n g s t r e s s . A 6-

step sc a le of s t r e s s g rad a tio n w as p ro p o sed by L iddell and accep ted

by M o rr is ^ ® ^ in 1936. Jones^® ^ and L a d o ^ ^ have re c e n tly p ro ­

posed 5 -s te p s c a le s . M ost A m erican p h o n em ic is ts , am ong them

B lo c k ^ ^ , T ra g e r <12>, Smith<158>, H i l l ^ ^ , G leason^® ^, and

H ockett^® ), p re fe r a 4 - s tep sc a le , w hile phonetic ian s g e n e ra lly

5

p re fe r a 3 -s te p scale*3’ 17’ 73’ 82’ 86’ 119’ l6 °*.

Since iso c h ro n ic rhy thm is u su a lly d e sc r ib e d a s a su c ce ss io n of

s im ila r in te rv a ls be tw een p r im a ry o r dom inant s t r e s s e s , a d is tin c tio n

of only two d e g re es of s t r e s s (s tro n g and weak) is su ffic ien t fo r the p u r ­

p o se of th is study. S trong s t r e s s w ill include the m o s t p ro m in en t

s t r e s s e s in an u n in te rru p te d s tre tc h of speech , th a t is , tho se s t r e s s e s

th a t m ake a sy llab le stand out above a ll o th e r sy llab le s in the s tre tc h .

T hese a re the phonetic p r im a ry and le v e l s t r e s s e s , and the phonem ic

p r im a ry s t r e s s . W eak s t r e s s w ill include not only inconsp icuous

s t r e s s e s bu t a lso phonetic se co n d a ry and phonem ic seco n d a ry and t e r ­

t ia ry . T his tw o-fo ld d iv is io n of s t r e s s is no t unusual in ra p id speech ,

during w hich m ed ium s t r e s s e s a re c o n s id e ra b ly w eakened, and po ten ­

tia l s t r e s s e s a re su b o rd in a ted and un recogn ized fo r rh y th m ic p u rp o se s

(4, 92, 105, 120) # In, fac t, the b in a ry s t r e s s sc a le m ay soon be the sub ­

je c t of m uch sp ecu la tio n s in ce , acco rd in g to G arv in and T rag e r* 51*,

equipm ent fo r m ach ine tra n s la tio n in to and fro m E n g lish is expected in

the n e a r fu tu re to b e p ro g ram m ed fo r the recogn ition of only two

d e g re es of s t r e s s .

The sy lla b le . Though the o ld es t, com m onest, and often e a s ie s t

an a ly s is of the s tre a m of speech se e m s to be by d iv is io n in to sy lla b le s ,

the n a tu re i ts e lf of the sy llab le and the id en tifica tio n of i ts b o undaries

have long b een baffling lin g u is tic p ro b le m s. Som e sc h o la rs , no tab ly

Z. H a rris* 63*, B lock and T rager*12*, T ra g e r and Smith*158*, and

Von Essen*162*, have den ied the p h y sica l re a l ity of the sy llab le .

O th e rs have c o n s id e re d i t a s e p a ra te p e rc ep tu a l phenom enon which

m ay o r m ay no t have a b a s is in p h y sica l rea lity*18’ 11* 25* 78*.

6

S till o th e rs have suggested th a t i t m ay c o n s is t m o s tly of k in es th e tic

se n sa tio n s , s tim u la te d by a lte rn a tio n s of ten s io n and re la x a t io n ^ ^ ’

28, 53, 127)^ S p ec tro g rap h ic evidence ob tained by L e h i s t e ^ ^ seem s

to po in t to the sy llab le as a phonetic sequence bounded by c e r ta in m a r ­

ginal v a r ia n ts of sounds; on the o th er hand, H je lm s le v ^ ^ and W hite­

h a l l ^ ? ) have d e sc r ib e d it a s m e re ly a c a r r i e r of p ro so d ic fe a tu re s .

M ost sc h o la rs , how ever, a g re e th a t th e sy llab le is an undeniable un it

of the language although i ts n a tu re m ay v a ry acco rd in g to the an a ly tica l

view point f ro m w hich i t is d e sc rib e d .

On the b a s is of aco u stic c r i te r ia , the p re v a ilin g opinion is th a t

the sy llab le is a speech un it contain ing a peak o r c r e s t m ade p ro m in en t

by g re a te r so n o rity (sound p re s s u re , in ten sity , o r output of energy).

At t im e s , how ever, in c re a s e d fundam ental freq u en cy , longer du ra tion ,

o r a com bination of th e se m ay d e te rm in e the peak . L e ss sonorous

m a rg in s o r s lo p es, c o n tra s tin g w ith the peak, fo rm the re m a in d e r of

the sy llab ic unit. Since the m o s t sonorous sounds a re vow els, liq u id s ,

and nasals ,, in th a t o rd e r , one of th ese sounds o rd in a r ily co n stitu te s, a . n a J l ° , 13, 66, 81, 86, 88, 121, 150, 160) A . . , . .the p eak ' » » » » » » » ’ A poin t of m in im um

so n o rity (o r dip in output of energy) d e te rm in e s the boundary betw een

su c c e ss iv e sy lla b le s , though th is point m ay no t alw ays be d e te rm in a b le

(20, 71, 77, 78, 81, 86, 121, 160)^ p Qr pUrp OBe Df th is study, the

n a tu re of w hich re q u ire s th a t sy llab le s be counted, the follow ing

assu m p tio n s a re m ade on the b a s is of the p reced in g p a ra g ra p h s :

1. th a t sy llab les a re p e rc e p tib le , and th e re fo re countable,

su c c e ss iv e peaks of p rom inence in the s tre a m of speech;

and,

7

2. th a t sy llab le c e n te rs a re a c o u s tic a lly id en tifiab le , and

th e re fo re countab le , vow el o r vow el-like seg m en ts con­

tra s tin g , b y re a so n of g re a te r in te n s ity o r lo n g e r d u ra ­

tion, w ith ad jacen t consonantal seg m en ts .

T hese a ssu m p tio n s do no t by any m ean s p rec lu d e o th er g e n e ra lly

a ccep ted concep ts of the sy llab le a s a physio log ica l o r s t ru c tu ra l unit.

V iew ed a s an a r t ic u la to ry phenom enon, the concept of the sy lla ­

b le p ro p o sed by S t e t s o n ^ ^ in 1928 h as p re v a ile d un til re c e n tly . S te t­

son d e sc r ib e d the sy llab le as a c o r re la te of a sing le c h es t p u lse , tha t

is , a un it of sounds p roduced by the volum e of a i r fo rce d upw ard through

the vocal channel by a sing le b a llis tic (sh a rp , no n -g rad u a l) c o m p re s ­

sion of the in te rc o s ta l m u sc le s . The d iv is io n betw een sy llab le s , then,

would be b ro u g h t about by an a r r e s t in g m ovem ent of th e se m u sc le s .

As a r e s u l t , sy llab les a re a s d is c re te , add itive , and countable a s c h es t

p u lse s . Among the m any phonetic ians who have a g re e d w ith S te tso n 's

concep t of the sy llab le a re G ray and W is e ^ ^ , D a v i s H e f f n e r ^ ^ ,

and B l a c k ^ \ Pike^^®^ and G leason^® ^ have a g re e d in p a r t , the

la t te r accep ting S te tso n 's th e o ry w ith c e r ta in re s e rv a tio n s and a s a p p li­

cab le only to the phonetic sy llab le . In r e c e n t y e a rs , how ever, o th e r

phonetic ians have questioned the c h e s t-p u lse th eo ry . In 1958 Ladefoged,(89)D ra p e r , and W hitteridge c la im ed th a t ex p erim e n ts p e rfo rm e d by

them often showed no c o rre la t io n betw een b u rs ts of m u sc u la r ac tiv ity

and the num ber of segm en ts p e rc e iv e d a s sy llab le s . In the sam e y e a r ,

S k a lic k o v a ^ * ) d e sc r ib e d the sy llab le a s the s im p le s t and c lo s e s t

a r t ic u la to ry , but not pu lm onary , unit. And in 1964, H £la^® ) p ro p o sed

th a t the in d isp en sab le physio log ica l b a s is of the sy llab le c e n te r , and

hence of the sy llab le its e lf , is vocal c o rd v ib ra tio n .

M c Q u o w n 's ^ ^ suggestion , th a t g re a te r so n o rity m ay be the

r e s u l t r a th e r than the cau se of a so u n d 's being u sed as a sy llab ic ,

re f le c ts the a ttitu d e of m any lin g u is ts who do not c o n s id e r the sy llab le

n e c e s s a r i ly a s a phonetic unit, bu t p r im a r ily a s a fo rm unit in a s y s ­

tem . A ccord ing to H je lm s le v ^ ^ , B lo c k ^ ^ , and H ockett^® ^, the

sy llab le is a s tru c tu ra l unit w hich p lay s a ro le in the fo rm a tio n of

la r g e r u n its and is d e te rm in a b le only by phonem ic a n a ly s is . Haugen

say s i t is n o n -co n tra s tiv e and does not b e a r m ean ing . W hitehall

(167), p ik e(120)^ B e n d o r ^ , and o th e rs^ ^ * d e sc r ib e i t a s a

r e c u r r e n t sequence of segm en ta l phonem es contain ing a nucleus w hich

se rv e s as a unit of p lacem en t fo r s t r e s s as w ell a s fo r o th e r p ro so d ic .

f e a tu re s , such a s tone, leng th , rh y th m ic grouping, ju n c tu re m a rk e r s ,

o r m o rp h em e s tru c tu re . The n uc leus, w hich is vocalic and i r r e d u c i ­

b le , stands out a g a in s t consonan ta l m a rg in s^ ^ * S y lla ­

b le s a r e d is c re te and countable e n titie s even though th e ir b o u n d arie s

m ay o v e rlap and be undefinable, excep t on the h ig h e r le v e ls of an a ly s is

(42, 43, 84) As H augen^^* and B lac k ^ ^ have poin ted out, the

fa c t th a t p a u se s , h e s ita tio n s , and in te rru p tio n s in the s tre a m of speech

o c cu r, no t w ith in sy llab le s b u t be tw een them , m a rk s sy llab le s a s unde­

n iab le un its of the language.

R eview of the L ite ra tu re

In 1816, when C o leridge pub lished "C h ris ta b e l" to g e th e r w ith an

exp lanation of the accen tu a l c h a ra c te r of E ng lish rhy thm , he s ta r te d a

c o n tro v e rsy w hich led in d ire c tly to the su b jec t of th is in v estig a tio n .

9

The num erous im p re s s io n is tic s tu d ies of E ng lish v e rs e rhy thm th a t fo l­

low ed h is in tu rn a ro u sed in te re s t in the rhy thm of p ro s e and of e v e ry ­

day speech . E x p erim en ta l w ork , how ever, on the rhy thm of E ng lish

began in the l a s t q u a r te r of the 19th cen tu ry . F ro m i ts findings two

p rin c ip a l th e o r ie s g rad u a lly developed. T h e ir p roponen ts m ay be

c a lled the " t im e rs " and the " n o n - tim e rs ."

The " n o n - tim e rs ," m a n ife s tly aw are of i r r e g u la r i t ie s in num ber

of sy llab les and consequen tly in t im e - la p s e s betw een rhy thm ic b e a ts ,

c o n s id e re d d u ra tio n a seco n d ary e lem en t in the rhy thm of speech .

They p ro p o sed o th er fa c to rs , m o s t freq u en tly accen t, a s i ts e s se n tia l

e lem en t. In 1882 G u e s t^ ^ c la im ed th a t accen t, independent of q uan ­

tity , is the so le p rin c ip le of E ng lish rhy thm . A round the tu rn of the

c e n tu ry s e v e ra l o th er in te rp re ta tio n s w ere p ro p o sed . L id d e ll^ ^ )

p o stu la ted "w aves of im p u lse ," b a se d on accen t, a s the fundam ental

un its of rhy thm , w hile H u rs t and M cKay' 7 contended th a t both tim e

and a cc en t m ig h t o ccasio n a lly be ignored , allow ing thought alone to

reg u la te rhy thm . A ccording to E b b in g h au s^ ^ ), rhy thm is a s u c c e s ­

sion of unified g roups of se n sa tio n s and not the m e re su c c e ss io n of

im p re ss io n s follow ing one ano ther a t equal in te rv a ls of tim e . M ac-

D o u g a l l ^ ^ in s is te d th a t accen tua tion as w ell a s re c u r re n c e and ra te

is e s se n tia l to a rhy thm ic im p re ss io n . He added tha t, although the

se n se of tem p o ra l equ ivalence is a n e c e s s a ry e lem en t, th e re is n e v e r

any re p e titio n of iden tica l seq u en ces .

In 1901 W a l l in ^ pub lished the r e s u l ts of h is r e s e a rc h on the

rhy thm of speech . As a m a rk e r of the rh y th m ic b e a t he p ro p o sed the

cen tro id , an ob jec tive p hysica l phenom enon m e a su ra b le in am plitude ,

io

p e rio d , and length , and s im u ltan eo u sly an event in co n sc io u sn ess ; in

o th er w ords , an em phatic sy llab le . C arefu l m e a su re m e n ts of c e n tro id -

in te rv a ls ( in te rv a ls contain ing one s tro n g sy llab le , any num ber of i n te r ­

vening sy llab les o r none, and no p a u ses) led h im to the conclu sion th a t

the leng th of the av e rag e c e n tro id - in te rv a l is in v a ria b ly p ro p o rtio n a l to

the num ber of sy llab les th a t com pose i t . Though ag ree in g w ith W allin

on the ro le of the c e n tro id a s constitu ting the rhy thm ic b e a t and on the

im p o rtan ce of p itch a s w ell a s accen t in the d e te rm in a tio n of c e n tro id s ,

S c r i p tu r e ^ ^ ' em p h asized th a t the sub jec tive im p re ss io n of

equal t im e - in te rv a ls is m o re im p o rtan t than th e ir ob jec tive v a lu es .

L ipsky^® ) a g re e d th a t rh y th m ica l un its c e r ta in ly do not follow each

o th e r w ith re g u la r ity ; but, he a rgued , s ince equal t im e - in te rv a ls a re

so m etim es filled w ith unequal n u m b ers of unaccen ted sy llab les spoken

m o re ra p id ly than accen ted sy lla b le s , i r r e g u la r i t ie s in t im e - in te rv a ls

m ay occu r w ithout d e s tro y in g the rh y th m . Thus, only ap p ro x im ate

equality of t im e - la p s e s is n e c e s s a ry in p ro se rhy thm .

F . N. Sco«<132> c la im e d th a t the fundam ental e lem en t in speech

ap p ea red to be the in flec tio n a l a rc , an upw ard glide follow ed by a

downw ard glide in p itch . F i jn van D raa t^® ) a s s e r te d th a t p ro se

rhy thm is a m ovem ent m e a su re d by the re g u la r a lte rn a tio n of accen ted

and unaccen ted sy llab le s , bu t E l t o n ^ ^ found th e ir r e c u r re n c e and

a lte rn a tio n m o s t i r r e g u la r and in s is te d th a t he could no t h e a r equal

m e a s u re s . In A H is to ry of E ng lish P r o s e R hythm , S a i n t s b u r y ^ ^

d e c la re d h im se lf a g a in s t any sy s te m a tic th eo ry and re fu se d to d isc u ss

the n a tu re of rhy thm a t a ll b e c a u se of the n u m erous v a ria tio n s in i ts

t im e -u n it s.

11

The " t im e r s 11 m ain ta in ed th a t the e lem en t of tim e is m o s t im p o r­

tan t in rhy thm , th a t em p h asis is subo rd ina te , and th a t the sounds of a

rh y th m ica l sequence m u st be p e rio d ic . In 1894 B o lto n ^ ^ noted the

tendency to h as ten o r to slow up the e lem en ts in a group in o rd e r to

m ake the group f i t a n a tu ra l p e rio d ic ity . In h is e a r l ie r ex p erim en ts (139)S ie v e rs ' found p ro se divided into sec tio n s of ap p ro x im ate ly equal

du ra tion . L a te r he included 11 s t re s s -g ra d a t io n " to g e th e r w ith " tim e -

o rgan iza tion" as the m o st im p o rtan t fa c to rs in r h y t h m ^ 8). Both

M e u m a n n ^ ^ and Miner^*88) a g re ed th a t rhy thm ic u n its of p ro se ,

though not follow ing each o th er w ith p e rfe c t re g u la r ity , tend to be

s im ila r in length ; and tha t equal in te rv a ls of tim e m ay be f ille d w ith

unequal nu m b ers of unaccen ted sy llab le s , the la rg e r num ber being

spoken m o re rap id ly . A ld e n ^ suggested tha t the fundam enta l p r in ­

c ip le of E ng lish p ro s e rhy thm , in w hich accen ts ap p ea r a t re g u la r

in te rv a ls , is the b a s is of E ng lish v e rs e rhy thm .

In 1909, in an e s s a y on E n g lish m e tr ic s , V e r r i e r ^ 8^ u sed the

te rm iso ch ro n ic to d e sc r ib e F re n c h rhy thm as c o n tra s te d w ith E ng lish

rhy thm ; He found, n e v e r th e le s s , in both E ng lish v e rs e and p ro se , an

unconscious tendency to b rin g the consecu tive rhy thm ic seg m en ts to an

equal du ra tion , even though th e ir i r r e g u la r i t ie s m igh t lead to the con­

c lusion th a t equality of t im e - in te rv a ls is an illu sio n . S hortly a f te r ­

w a rd s , W arn er Brown^18), too, s t r e s s e d the sub jec tive im p re ss io n of

tem p o ra l re g u la r ity as the only undispu ted c h a ra c te r is t ic of rhy thm ;

and M a c C o l l ^ ^ w ent so fa r as to c la im th a t a ccen ts r e a l ly re m a in

e q u id is tan t in tim e , though e x tra - rh y th m ic a l v a ria tio n s m ay o ccu r,

th e re b y en rich in g the rhy thm and re liev in g the m onotony of p ro se .

12

F o u rte e n y e a rs a£ter V e r r ie r , s"u n p o rtan t study of E ng lish m e tr ic s ,

T h o m s o n ^ ^ ) a s s e r te d in h is ex ten siv e book, The Rhythm of Speech,

th a t the b a s is of E ng lish p ro se rhy thm is tim ing , th a t e v e ry sy llab le

has a n u m e ric a l va lue , and th a t the sum s of a ll indiv idual sy llab les

betw een accen ts (or o th er m ark in g po in ts) a re equal. Thus, by 1923,

the th eo ry of iso c h ro n ic p ro se rhy thm w as w ell defined though as ye t

no t iden tified by nam e. * Two y e a rs la te r J . H. S c o t t ^ ^ e lab o ra ted

on T hom son 's th e o ry by adding two im p o rtan t o b se rv a tio n s ; nam ely ,

th a t to s tr ik e an av e rag e in the tim ing of p h ra sa l p a r ts , the tem po of

speech in c re a s e s in d ire c t p ro p o rtio n to the num ber of sy llab les in

each p h ra se ; and th a t the p h ra s a l p a r ts m ay be "equal, o r ap p ro x i­

m a te ly equal, o r a p p a ren tly ap p ro x im ate ly eq u a l." And in 1926 A rm ­

strong and W a r d ^ d e sc r ib e d and i l lu s tra te d iso ch ro n ic rhy thm in the

follow ing way:

In each group the s t r e s s e d sy llab les o ccu r a t m o re o r le s s re g u la r in te rv a ls of tim e ; and the u n s tre s s e d sy llab les , w hether m any o r few , occupy the tim e betw een the s t r e s s e s ; i t is th is fa c to r th a t gives E ng lish its c h a ra c te r is t ic rh y th m . . . . . T h ese th re e sen ten ces ,

I ddn 't' th ink I can dd it.I sh o u ld n 't of thdught he could dd it.I sh d u ld n 't of thought i t p o ss ib le to dd it.

each w ith the sam e num ber of s t r e s s e d sy llab le s , bu t w ith a d iffe ren t num ber of u n s tre s s e d sy llab le s , m a y b e sa id in the sam e tim e , although the num ber of sy llab les betw een the f i r s t two s t r e s s e s is g re a te r in each sen tence th an in the one th a t p re c e d e s it.

In The Rhythm of P r o s e , pub lished in 1916, P a t te r s o n ^ tr ie d

to b rid g e the gap betw een the " t im e rs " and the " n o n - tim e rs " by

*The f i r s t u se of the te rm iso ch ro n ic to d e sc r ib e E ng lish p ro se rhy thm seem s to have been m ade by A ndrd C lasse in 1939. Cf. pages 13 ff.

13

substitu ting fo r the old concept of ob jec tive equality of rhy thm ic un its ,

one of sub jec tive equality . T his w as not a new concep t by any m ean s.

M iner^®®), W oodrow ^ ® ^ , and W u n d t^ ^ had p rev io u s ly poin ted out

the i l lu s o ry c h a ra c te r of t im e -im a g e s , w hich d id not c o r re la te d ire c tly

w ith sen sa tio n s f ro m ob jec tive s tim u li bu t w e re o v e re s tim a te d o r

u n d e re s tim a ted under the influence of "em otional to n e ." T his su b jec ­

tive q u a lity of rhy thm w as again s t r e s s e d by Lotspeich^®®^ in 1922

when, in an a ttem p t to d iffe ren tia te betw een the rhy thm of p o e try and

that of p ro se , he no ted th a t in p ro se the re g u la r re c u r re n c e of s t r e s s

w as in te r ru p te d by i ts in te lle c tu a l con ten t.

Only two thorough a ttem p ts to in v es tig a te ob jec tive ly the th eo ry

tha t E ng lish p ro s e rhy thm is iso ch ro n ic seem to have b e en m ade b e fo re

th is study. The re s u l ts of the f i r s t in v estig a tio n , pub lished by Andr6

C lasse in 1939, favo r the theo ry ; the r e s u l ts of th e second, m ade by

Yao Shen and G iles P e te rs o n in 1962, re fu te it.

C la s s e ^ ^ ) se t out to m e a su re p h y sica l tim e on kym ograph ic

tra c in g s of f ra m e d u tte ra n c e s re a d by su b jec ts of v a r ie d sex , age,

p lace of b ir th , education , and p ro fe ss io n . All excep t one w e re sp eak ­

e r s of "ap p ro x im ate ly B r itish S tandard R ece ived d ia le c t." The sub jec ts

re a d p ro sa ic , unem otional, e sp e c ia lly s tru c tu re d sen ten ces w ith w hich

they w e re w e ll-acq u a in ted . To enhance the~rhythm , the su b jec ts tapped

out the rhy thm ic b e a ts on a te leg ra p h key as they rea d . C onsidering

each sen tence a s a rhy thm ic unit, C la sse excluded fro m the an a ly s is

a ll in itia l and fin a l unaccen ted sy llab le s a s u n e sse n tia l to the rhy thm ic

schem e. Then he m e a su re d ad jacen t s tre tc h e s betw een su c ce ss iv e

s t r e s s po in ts . F o r p ra c tic a l re a so n s (ease of segm en ta tion on

14

kym ographic tra c in g s ) , C lasse se le c te d as a fixed point of m e a s u re ­

m en t the m om ent of exp losion of v o ic e le ss p lo s iv es b e fo re s t r e s s e d

vow els, and, a f te r o th e r consonan ts, the m om en t ju s t b e fo re the b eg in ­

ning of the s t r e s s e d vow el. E xam ples of the two ad jacen t s t r e s s g roups

m e a su re d in som e sen ten ces a re given below .

We had / b is c u its , / m uffins, / te a , and coffee.He / ra n , / jum ped over i t , / fe ll, and shouted.He w as a / m an of / m an ifo ld ac / t iv it ie s .We’ll / s t a r t d ire c / tly you’r e / read y . [sic]

A co m p ariso n of th e m ean d u ra tio n s and s ta n d a rd dev ia tions of the

s t r e s s g roups in th e se read in g s show ed th a t m any of the ad jacen t

g roups w ere not equal. As a -re su lt , C lasse concluded:

1. th a t although iso c h ro n ism is p ro b ab ly the e s se n tia l c h a ra c te r is t ic of E ng lish p ro se rhy thm , i t is equally c e r ta in th a t p e rfe c t iso c h ro n ism can ohly be re a liz e d w hen defin ite conditions a re fu lfilled ;

2. th a t the conditions n e c e s s a ry fo r p e rfe c t iso c h ro n ism a re " s im ila r i ty of phonetic s tru c tu re , s im ila r i ty of g ra m m a tic a l s t ru c tu re of the g roups, and s im ila r ity . of connection betw een the g ro u p s" ;

3. th a t th e se conditions a re c o m p a ra tiv e ly se ldom m e t w ith in o rd in a ry speech and in o rd in a ry k inds of p ro se ;

4. th a t only groups of 2, 3, and, a t m o st, 4 sy llab le s fo rm e a s ily reco g n izab le rhy thm ic p a tte rn s .

C lasse a lso analyzed read in g s of five p a ssa g e s of d iffe ren t

types of l i t e r a r y p ro se (from the Song of Songs, R uskin , T hackeray ,

Shaw, and C h a rle s M organ), and co m p ared the d u ra tio n of su c c e ss iv e

s tre s s -g ro u jjs and the num ber of sy llab le s in each . A lthough he found

the ex p erim en ta l m ethod im p ra c tic a l fo r the a n a ly s is of long p a ssa g e s ,

he rea ch e d the follow ing conclusions:

1. th a t in m o s t c a se s th e re is a s ig n ifican t re la tio n betw een the num ber of sy llab les and the d u ra tio n of s t r e s s -g ro u p s , though the tendency to lev e l the quan tity of com ponent sy llab les is a lw ays p re se n t;

2. th a t even in c a re fu l p ro s e the acc en ts se ldom se em to re tu rn a t r ig o ro u s ly isoch ro n o u s in te rv a ls .

15

D esp ite th ese o b se rv a tio n s , C la sse a s s e r te d th a t an E ng lish se n ­

tence is n o rm a lly com posed of m o re o r le s s iso ch ro n o u s g roups w hich

con ta in a v a ry in g num ber of sy llab le s ; th a t s t r e s s -g ro u p s contain ing

d iffe ren t n u m b ers of sy llab le s tend , every th ing e lse being equal, to

a ssu m e ap p ro x im ate ly the sam e d u ra tio n ; th a t the in c re a s e d a c c e le r a ­

tion of lo n g er g roups is a r e s u l t of the tendency tow ard p e rfe c t iso c h ro ­

n ism ; and th a t sp e a k e rs p robab ly tend to p lace s t r e s s e s in such a way

a s to fa c ili ta te the p e rc ep tio n of g ro u p s a s equal in du ra tion .

In The In tonation of A m e ric an E n g lish , P ik e ( ^ 9 ) acknow ledged

the in fluence of C la s s e 's o b se rv a tio n s and w ro te :

The tim ing of rhy thm u n its p ro d u ces a rh y th m ic su c ce ss io n w hich is an e x tre m e ly im p o rtan t c h a ra c te r is t ic of E n g lish phonological s t ru c tu re . The u n its tend to follow one an o th e r in such a way th a t the la p se of tim e betw een the beginning of th e ir p ro m in en t sy llab les is som ew hat un ifo rm . N otice the m o re o r le s s equal la p s e s of tim e betw een s t r e s s e s in the sen tence The 'te a c h e r is ' in te re s te d in ' buying som e 'b o o k s; co m p are the tim ing w ith the follow ing and no tice the s im i­la r i ty in th a t re s p e c t d e sp ite the d iffe ren t num ber of sy lla ­b le s : ' B ig ' b a ttle s a re 'fought ' d a ily . . . . The tendency tow ard un ifo rm spacing of s t r e s s e s in m a te r ia l w hich has an uneven num ber of sy llab le s w ith in i ts rhy thm groups can be •achieved only by d es tro y in g any p o ss ib ility of even tim e - spacing of sy llab le s . Since rhy thm un its have d iffe ren t num ­b e r s of sy llab le s , but a s im ila r tim e value, the sy llab le s of the lo n g er ones a re c ru sh e d to g e th e r , and pronounced v e ry rap id ly , in o rd e r to get th em pronounced a t a ll, w ith in th a t tim e lim ita tio n . . . . C om pare the s im ila r tim ing and s t r e s s e s but v a r ia n t num ber of sy llab le s in the follow ing p a ir s of i l lu s tra tio n s :

The .'m an 's / 'h e r e . If 'T o m w ill / 'I w ill.

The 'm a n a g e r 's / 'h e re . If 'T o m 'l l do i t ' / 'I w ill.

Two y e a rs la te r , in P h o n em ics, P ik e ^ ® ) added:

In E ng lish one tends to h e a r s t r e s s - t im e d rh y th m in c o n tra ­d is tin c tio n to a sy lla b le - tim e d rh y th m . . . . Since in th is rhy thm ic s ty le th e re is a tendency fo r th e s t r e s s e d sy llab les to occu r a t m o re o r le s s even ly sp aced in te rv a ls in tim e , and s ince betw een two such s t r e s s e s th e re m ay be an

16

in d e te rm in a te num ber of sy llab le s , then if only one sy llab le com es betw een the s t r e s s e s , i t w ill be lik e ly to re c e iv e m o re tim e , em p h asis , and c la r i ty than w ill th re e o r fou r u n s tre s s e d sy llab les if they a ll o ccu r betw een th e sam e two s t r e s s e s . C om pare th ese exam ples: The ’te a c h e r ’c a m e .The ’te a c h e r is the one who ’c a m e . If the leng th of tim e betw een the s t r e s s e d sy llab les te a c h - and :cam e is k ep t the sam e, then the sy llab les - e r is the one who a re m o re ra p id than the - e r of the f i r s t sen tence .

A fte r P ik e 's a p p a ren tly defin itive s ta te m e n ts , a lm o st a ll au th o rs

touching on the tim ing of E ng lish p ro s e rhy thm have re f le c te d h is op in­

ion. T hus, in an in q u iry into E ng lish p ro sody , Seym our C h a tm a n ^ ^

re m a rk e d th a t a v e ry im p o rtan t fe a tu re of E ng lish is i ts iso c h ro n ism ,

tha t i s , i ts tendency to squeeze un its in to re la tiv e ly equal t im e -s p a n s

m ark e d by s t r e s s p u lse s .

In 1956 W hitehall , in a rev iew of T ra g e r and S m ith ’s O ut­

line of E ng lish S tru c tu re , ca lled a tten tio n to a c e r ta in fe a tu re of

E nglish ,

one hot m en tioned in the O utline and one not d ire c tly a s ig ­n ifican t p a r t of E ng lish s tru c tu re . T his is the fa c t, f i r s t . no ticed by P ik e , th a t the t im e -la p se betw een any two p r i ­m a ry s t r e s s e s tends to be the sam e ir re s p e c t iv e of the num ber of sy llab les and of the ju n c tu re s be tw een them . In sh o rt, unlike such ’sy lla b le - tim e d ’ languages a s Spanish , E ng lish is ’s tre ss - tim e d * o r iso c h ro n ic . . . . Iso c h ro n ism is p roduced not only by a c c e le ra tin g and c ru sh in g to g e th e r the sy llab les betw een p r im a ry s t r e s s e s but a lso by in c r e a s ­ing o r d e c re a s in g the p a u ses w hich a lw ays m ay follow the th re e te rm in a l ju n c tu re s .

Two y e a rs la te r W hitehall and H ill re p o rte d the follow ing:

T his fe a tu re of E ng lish is the fa c t th a t the am ount of tim e betw een two p r im a ry s t r e s s e s tends to be the sam e, i r r e s p e c t iv e of the am ount of m a te r ia l betw een th em . T his fe a tu re can be ca lled iso c h ro n ism . and i t is in tim a te ly re la te d to ju n c tu re , since iso c h ro n ism is often se c u re d by in c re a s in g o r d e c re a s in g the pause w hich alw ays m ay a cc o m ­pany a te rm in a l ju n c tu re . In c o n tra s t to E ng lish , such a language a s Spanish tends to m ake a ll sy llab les occupy the sam e am ount of tim e , thus producing the e ffect we have ca lled iso sy lla b ism . . . . The P ik e d r i l l sen ten ces ,

17

SSnglish / is £asyE ng lish / is v e ry £asyThe E ng lish le s so n / is v e ry £asy

w ill d e m o n s tra te w hat is m ean t.

R o b e rt L a d o ^ 2 ) d e sc r ib e d E ng lish p ro se rhy thm as follow s:

E ng lish s t r e s s rhy thm is c h a ra c te r iz e d by a p r im a ry s t r e s s in each p h ra se , and accom panying seco n d a ry and w eak s t r e s s e s , w ith a tendency to ach ieve ap p ro x im a te ly the sam e leng th of tim e fo r each p h ra s e r e g a rd le s s of the num ­b e r of sy llab les invo lved T his em p h asis [sen ten ces tre s s ] and the leng th of s t r e s s e d sy llab le s and the te n ­dency to un ifo rm leng th betw een s t r e s s e s m ak es E ng lish rhy thm " p h ra se tim ed " ra th e r than " sy lla b le tim e d ."

C om paring the so u n d -sy s te m s of E ng lish and Spanish, he w ro te :

E nglish rhy thm , in c o n tra s t, is p h ra s e -c e n te re d . In E ng­lis h the p h ra s e s tend to be of the sam e length , and the sy l­lab le s a r e sh o rten ed o r s tre tc h e d to f i t the u n ifo rm lengthof the p h ra se s (9 0 )#

In Language T esting he put i t th is way:

E ach language has c e r ta in p e rm itte d sequences of s t r e s s e s and length un its w hich, as th ey follow one a n o th e r, give i t a rhy thm of i ts own. E ng lish tends to m ake un ifo rm the length of tim e fro m p r im a ry s t r e s s to p r im a ry s t r e s s r e g a rd le s s of the num ber of in te rv en in g sy llab le s . Thus the p h ra s e s se p a ra te d by a v e r t ic a l line in the follow ing ex am ­ple a re of ap p ro x im ate ly the sam e d u ra tio n even though the f i r s t has only one sy llab le and the second h as fou r.

Sign | the docum ents J in in k ^

D iscuss ing the founding of E ng lish m e tre , John Thom pson^® ^)

c la im ed tha t the rhy thm of v e r s e im ita te s the rhy thm of speech , in

w hich the s t r e s s e s tend to o ccu r a t iso ch ro n o u s in te rv a ls . And

Jam es W. H a r r i s ^ ^ ) , in an unpublished m a s te r 's th e s is p re s e n te d a t

L ou isiana S tate U n iv e rs ity in 1962, a s s e r te d th a t in E n g lish the

s tro n g e r s t r e s s e s in an u tte ra n c e a re u su a lly se p a ra te d by about equal

leng th s of tim e , no m a tte r how m any sy llab les w ith w eak e r s t r e s s e s

m ay in te rv en e .

18

In a b r ie f d isc u ss io n of rhy thm in The P honem e, D aniel Jones

e x p re sse d th is opinion:

In s t r e s s languages [am ong which he had p re v io u s ly p laced E nglish ], th e re is u su a lly a tendency to m ake s tro n g s t r e s s e s follow each o th er a t f a i r ly equal in te rv a ls , w henever th is can convenien tly be done. T his tendency p ro d u ces the e ffec t com m only ca lle d " rh y th m ." . . . If a num ber of w eakly s t r e s s e d sy llab le s in te rv en e betw een a s tro n g s t r e s s and the n ex t follow ing stro n g s t r e s s in a sen tence , v a rio u s sh o r te n ­ings m ay take p lace in an unconscious endeavour to m akethe " s t r e s s b a r " equal in leng th to o th e r " s t r e s s b a r s ."

Not a ll tex tbooks dealing w ith phonology d isc u ss rh y th m . M ost

of those th a t do, how ever, d e sc r ib e E ng lish rhy thm as iso c h ro n ic . In

A M anual of Phonology^ ^ , H ockett w ro te : "In E n g lish the h ig h er

s t r e s s e s in an u tte ran c e a re n o rm a lly se p a ra te d by about equal leng ths

of tim e , no m a tte r how m any sy llab le s w ith low er s t r e s s e s m ay in te r ­

v e n e ." He po in ted out th a t in th e se two sen ten ces ,

F in d a b o a rd fo r m e.In te rp re t th is p o e try fo r m e.

the in te rv a l be tw een find and b o a rd is not m uch s h o r te r than th a t

betw een - t e r and p o - . Again, in A C o u rse in M odern L in g u is tic s ,

H ockett m ade the sam e po in t tw ice. D esc rib in g E ng lish rhy thm as

s t re s s - t im e d , he said :

T his m ean s th a t i t tak es about the sam e leng th of tim e to get f ro m one p r im a ry - s t r e s s e d sy llab le to the nex t, in speaking a t a given o v e ra ll tem po, w hether th e re a re no sy llab les be tw een them o r m any . If th e re a r e none, we slow down our ra te of speech s ligh tly ; if th e re a re m any we squeeze them in f a s t . . . . The ty p ica l tim ing of two exam ples can be shown a s fo llow s:

The | w ind I bl£w hp the | s t r e e t .The j wind blfew | up the | s t r e e t .

L a te r in the book, he e x p re s s e d i t th is way:

E ng lish h as s t r e s s - t im e d rhy thm : the length of tim e i t tak es to p roduce an u tte ra n c e depends rough ly on the num ber of

19

s t r e s s e s in it, so th a t u n s tre s s e d sy llab le s a re so m etim es squeezed to g e th e r -and p roduced v e ry rap id ly , if th e re a re a num ber of them betw een two su c c e ss iv e s t r e s s e d sy llab le s .

B ro n s te in ^ ^ pu t i t b r ie f ly : "T he rhy thm p a tte rn of our speech

m ay be no ticed in the tendency fo r s t r e s s e s to re c u r a t re g u la r in te r - -* -

va ls in sen tences a s w ell a s in w o rd s ."

P r a t o r ^ ^ d isc u sse d iso ch ro n ic rhy thm ex tensively . He w ro te :

A ccen ts tend to r e c u r a t re g u la r in te rv a ls . The m o re u n s tre s s e d sy llab les th e re a r e be tw een a c c en ts , the m o re rap id ly (and in d is tin c tly ) th ey a re pronounced . T his is tru e to a la rg e ex ten t even of p ro se .

In the d ire c tio n s fo r a se t of e x e rc is e s , P r a to r po in ted out th a t the

addition of e x tra sy llab le s in su c c e ss iv e sen ten ces would not a p p re ­

c iab ly leng then th e ir d u ra tio n b ecau se they a ll had the sam e num ber of

s t r e s s e s . He then ask ed the studen t to tap out the b e a t in the f i r s t s e n ­

tence of each se t, to p ronounce the su c c e ss iv e sen tences acco rd in g to

the b ea t, and to b rin g in a ll u n s tre s s e d sy llab les be tw een the b e a ts .

Some of the sen ten ces fro m two of the se ts a re given below .

Ddgs £at bdnes.The ddgs w ill e a t the bdnes.The ddgs w ill have £aten the bdnes.

The c£t is h e re ndw.The c £ r w ill be out frd n t sdon.The c £ r w ill be out frd n t in a m dm ent.

A fte r d e sc rib in g the c h a ra c te r is t ic rhy thm ic p a tte rn of E ng lish

as one b a sed on p r im a ry s t r e s s e s , betw een w hich a re squeezed v a ry ­

ing n u m b ers of l e s s e r s t r e s s e s , S m a lle y ^ ^ ) d ire c te d the studen t to

no tice how, on p re - r e c o rd e d e x e rc is e s , the sy lla b le s w e re ru sh ed o r

spaced out to f i l l the space betw een b e a ts and ach ieve even tim ing .

P a r t of a s e t fo llow s.

20

The p ro g ra m w as b a rin g .The p ro g ra m w as not v e ry b d rin g .The p ro g ra m we saw w as v e ry b a rin g .The p ro g ra m we saw w as not v e ry bo ring .

The a u th o rs of an o th e r te x t on E n g lish fo r no n -n a tiv e sp e a k e rs

(33) f j r s t adv ise the studen t th a t, though s t r e s s does no t o ccu r a t a b so ­

lu te ly re g u la r in te rv a ls in ev e ry d ay speech , i t m ay be quite re g u la r

both in spontaneous u tte ra n c e and in stud ied speech . A few pages

f a r th e r on, n e v e r th e le s s , the studen t is to ld th a t when " rh y th m units

a re com bined in to sen ten ces , p r im a ry s t r e s s e s r e c u r a t p ra c tic a lly

equal in te rv a ls . As a re s u lt , s e v e ra l u n s tre s s e d w ords p lus a

s t r e s s e d one m ay take no lo n g er to sa y than a s t r e s s e d o n e ." In the

e x e rc is e s follow ing th a t o b se rv a tio n , the s tuden t is a sk ed to no tice

tha t, though the sen ten ces in a s e t con ta in d iffe ren t nu m b ers of sy lla ­

b le s , they a ll con ta in an equal num ber of s t r e s s e d sy llab le s ; th e r e ­

fore,- th ey a ll re q u ire "p ra c tic a lly " the sam e tim e to say . A few

p a ir s of sen ten ces of " p ra c tic a lly " the sam e d u ra tio n a re

L ea rn in g tak es w ork .G etting A ’s re q u ire s co n cen tra tio n .

I w ant John.They d o n 't know how to co o p era te .

John p lay s jazz .H is b ro th e r has p layed in b ig o rc h e s tra s .

T ake th is along.H e’s tak en the ro l ls out of the oven.

M any fo re ig n language tex tbooks fo r E n g lish sp e a k e rs c o n tra s t

the iso c h ro n ic rhy thm of E ng lish w ith a d iffe ren t type of rh y th m in the

ta rg e t language. Two exam ples a re P r in c ip e s de phonetique f ra n g a is e ,

in w hich D elattre(^® ) s ta te s th a t E n g lish rhy thm is p roduced by the

r e tu rn of s tro n g sy llab le s a t m o re o r le s s equal in te rv a ls ; and

21

In troduce ion a una co m p arac id n fonoldgica del espaSol del in g le s , in

which C d r d e n a s ^ ) says th a t the d u ra tio n of th ese sen ten ces ,

The g ir l is p re tty .The g ir l i s n 't p re tty .The g ir l i s n 't v e ry p re tty .

would be the sam e, if the sen ten ces w ere spoken, b ecau se the w ords

betw een g ir l and p re tty a re red u ced o r leng thened to occupy the sam e

tim e .

A few c o n te m p o ra ry w r i te r s have questioned the th e o ry p o s tu ­

la ted by C la sse and by P ik e . In te re s te d p r im a r i ly in the physio log ical

b a se s of speech , Stetson^^® ) o b se rv ed th a t " the f r e e rhy thm of speech

both in v e rs e and p ro se is co n stitu ted not of like in te rv a ls in tim e , bu t

of LIKE MOVEMENTS w hose d u ra tio n s m ay v a ry by fifty p e r c en t."

De G r o o t^ ^ c a lle d a tten tio n to the a e s th e tic sign ificance of in te r ­

ru p ted iso c h ro n ism , in w hich the rh y th m ica l e ffec t becom es m o re d is ­

tin c t if not a ll the b e a ts , bu t only two o r th re e , a re p re se n te d a t equal

in te rv a ls . S c h ra m m ^ ^ ^ found th a t e x p e rim e n ta lly he could not co n ­

f irm any p h y sica l c o rre la te s , of p e rc e iv e d rhy thm .

A fter a su rv ey of'opin ions on iso c h ro n ism and a ca re fu l study of

the in s tru m e n ta l m e a su re m e n ts m ade by C la sse , B au m ^ ^ w as uncon­

v inced about the iso c h ro n ic b a s is of E n g lish p ro s e rh y th m and adopted

a m o d e ra te p o sitio n . He concluded th a t " s t r i c t iso c h ro n ism is ah

idea l; by r ig o ro u s m ech an ica l m e a su re m e n t i t h a rd ly e x is ts excep t by

acc id en t o r under r a r e c irc u m s ta n c e s ." He added, how ever, th a t

d e sp ite the ex is ten ce of som e a rrh y th m ic p ro se , rhy thm ic p ro s e does

ex is t, bu t f r e e f ro m the dem ands of th e o re tic a l eq u a lity of m e a su re .

Since the rh y th m ic p rin c ip le of equal o r s im ila r un its can not be

22

denied , th e se un its m u s t be a sc e r ta in e d .b y o th e r c r i t e r i a w hich m ay be

e ith e r aco u stic o r e x p re ss io n a l v a lu e s , o r c e r ta in rh e to r ic a l o r syn­

ta c tic a rra n g e m e n ts .

The second sy s te m a tic a ttem p t to in v es tig a te the tim ing of E ng­

lish p ro se rhy thm by m eans of in s tru m e n ta l m e a su re m e n ts concludes

w ith th ese w ords: "In b r ie f , we did not find iso c h ro n ism in o u r lim ite d

data and th e re fo re cannot say th a t th e re is iso c h ro n ism in E ng lish

(138) ti gken an(j P e te rs o n , a ided by M artin Joos in the a n a ly s is of the

da ta , sp e c tro g rap h e d sam p les f ro m p ro se read in g s by th re e lin g u is ts ,

A. A. H ill, G. L. T ra g e r , and W. F . T w addell. The m a te r ia ls re a d

c o n sis ted of e x c e rp ts f ro m w o rk s w ritte n by the lin g u is ts th em se lv e s ,

as w ell as a se t of sen ten ces f ra m e d by K. L. P ik e to i l lu s t r a te is o ­

ch ro n ism and re c o rd e d by h im . The th re e lin g u is ts , re c o rd in g a t d if­

fe re n t tim e s and p la c e s , did no t know the p u rp o se of the re c o rd in g s .

Joos m ark e d p r im a ry and se co n d a ry s t r e s s e s a s w ell a s c la u se t e r m i­

n a ls (acco rd ing to the T ra g e r and Sm ith sy s te m of phonem ic a n a ly s is

of E ng lish ), and p a u ses , on phonem ic tra n s c r ip tio n s of the re c o rd in g s .

P a r t of the m a te r ia l had p re v io u s ly b een tra n s c r ib e d in to phonem ic s,

w ith p r im a ry s t r e s s e s and te rm in a l ju n c tu re s a lre a d y in d ica ted by the

a u th o rs ; in o th er p a r ts te rm in a ls and p itch es had b een m ark e d , "so

th a t p r im a r ie s could be p re d ic te d ." A ll s tre tc h e s of speech w ith a

p ause "m o re than ju s t a te rm in a l co n to u r" betw een s t r e s s e s w ere e l i ­

m in a ted . The rem a in in g s tre tc h e s w e re m e a su re d f ro m the end of a

consonant p reced in g one s t r e s s e d vow el to the end of the consonant p r e ­

ceding the follow ing s t r e s s e d vow el.

M easu rem en ts , in seconds, of the t im e - la p se in 167 sam p les of

23

speech extending betw een two p r im a ry s t r e s s e s and contain ing a

c la u se te rm in a l and open ju n c tu re , w ere com pared . The freq u en cy of

o c c u rre n c e of each t im e - la p s e w as a lso noted . Inspection-of the tab le s

show ed a wide range of v a r ia tio n in the d u ra tio n of the s tre tc h e s fo r

each sub ject: 0.41-1.82 s e c . , 0 .38 -2 .5 s e c . , 0 .55-3 .61 sec . F ind ing

th a t the evidence a t th is po in t w as a g a in s t iso c h ro n ism , Shen and P e te r ­

son then m e a su re d and analyzed sam p les of in te rv a ls be tw een p r im a ry

and seco n d a ry / * / s t r e s s e s , and betw een seco n d ary and seco n d ary .

As s tip u la ted in the T ra g e r and Sm ith sy s tem of phonem ic a n a ly s is ,

none of th ese s tre tc h e s m igh t con ta in c la u se te rm in a ls . Joos con­

densed a ll the data (406 sam p les) in a tab le of d is tr ib u tio n s , on which

each sam ple was re p re s e n te d by a dot. He d is re g a rd e d th re e v e ry

s h o r t in te rv a ls ( le s s than 19 c s . ) on the b a s is of p o ss ib le e r r o r , and

41 (10% of the to ta l) e x tra - lo n g in te rv a ls (above 82 c s . ) on the b a s is

th a t th ey w ere " lo n g er than P ik e 's lo n g est in te rv a l ." In spec tion of the

in te rv a ls fro m 19 c s . to 81 c s . show ed no c le a r p ic tu re ; a t m o st, th e re

w as som e c lu s te r in g a t c e r ta in p la c e s but, p rep o n d e ran tly , too m uch

s c a t te r . F ro m th is ev idence , Shen and P e te rs o n concluded th a t "the

p o s tu la ted equality of v a rio u s k inds of tim e in te rv a ls , subsum ed under

the te rm iso c h ro n ism w as no t b o rn e ou t."

The p reced in g su m m ary inc ludes a ll av a ilab le s tu d ies touching

on the q u estio n of iso c h ro n ism in E ng lish p ro se . A pparen tly , no study

p rev io u s to th is one has been m ade of f re e , u n re h e a rse d speech by

hom ogeneous su b jec ts w hose re c o rd in g s w ere analyzed w ithout p re c o n ­

ce ived notions of w here the s t r e s s e s , p itch changes, t ra n s it io n s , o r

p a u se s m igh t o ccu r.

24

R e sta te m e n t of the P ro b le m

As app lied by som e lin g u is ts to E ng lish speech , the th eo ry of is o ­

ch ron ic rhy thm sp e c if ie s th a t the t im e - in te rv a ls be tw een s tro n g ly

s t r e s s e d sy llab le s a re equal o r a p p ro x im a te ly equal r e g a rd le s s of the

num ber of u n s tre s s e d sy llab le s be tw een m a jo r s t r e s s e s ^ ^ *

120, l68)< ijijjg secon<i p a r t of th is s ta te m e n t p re su p p o se s th a t th e re

cannot be any d ire c t re la tio n betw een the d u ra tio n of in te rv a ls and the

num ber of sy llab les they contain , s ince the d u ra tio n of the f i r s t in te r ­

val in an iso ch ro n o u s rhy thm ic s e r ie s m u s t n e c e s s a r i ly d e te rm in e the

d u ra tio n of subsequen t in te rv a ls .

The m a in p u rp o se of th is in v es tig a tio n is to te s t the second p a r t

of the theo ry : sp ec ifica lly , that, in the f r e e speech of a given sub jec t,

the d u ra tio n of in te rv a ls betw een dom inant s t r e s s e s is independent of

the num ber of sy llab le s the in te rv a ls contain . If a d ir e c t re la tio n

betw een the d u ra tio n of in te rv a ls and the num ber of sy llab les they con­

ta in should be found to e x is t, i t w ould be n e c e s s a ry e ith e r to m odify

the th eo ry o r to d is c a rd it.

A p ra c t ic a l ap p lica tio n of the th e o ry of iso c h ro n ic p ro se rhy thm

freq u e n tly found in tex tbooks on the p ronuncia tion of E ng lish is tha t the

to ta l d u ra tio n of u tte ra n c e s contain ing the sam e num ber of p r im a ry

s t r e s s e s is equal, r e g a rd le s s of the n u m b er of sy llab le s in the u t te r ­

a n ces and r e g a rd le s s of the segm en ts p reced in g the f i r s t s tro n g s t r e s s

and follow ing the la s t . In o th er w ords , i t h as been a ssu m e d th a t, fo r

any given sp e ak e r, the num ber of p r im a ry s t r e s s e s in an u tte ra n c e is

a co effic ien t of i ts d u ra t io n ^ ^ ’ 1^2)^ ij.q t e s t the v a lid ity of

th is a s s e r t io n is a seco n d a ry p u rp o se of th is in v estig a tio n .

CHAPTER I I . PROCEDURE

The ex p erim en ta l p ro ce d u re adopted fo r th is study can be su m ­

m a r iz e d a s fo llow s:

1. A num ber of su b jec ts re p re se n ta tiv e of the N orth M id­

land d ia le c t of A m erican E ng lish re c o rd e d ten m in u tes of

im prom ptu speech and tw o-m inu te read in g s of p re p a re d

m a te r ia l .

2. O rthograph ic tra n s c r ip tio n s of the f r e e speech w ere

m a rk e d off into u n in te rru p te d s tre tc h e s , d e lim ited by

p r im a ry s t r e s s e s .

3. Two hundred and two s tre tc h e s contain ing d iffe ren t num ­

b e rs of sy llab le s w e re se lec te d a t random and sp e c tro -

g raphed .

4. S trongly s t r e s s e d sy llab le s w ere iden tified on the sp e c ­

tro g ra m s and the in te rv a ls be tw een them m e a su re d in

cen tiseco n d s.

5. Sy llab les con ta ined betw een the o n se t of one stro n g

s t r e s s and the o n se t of the nex t s tro n g s t r e s s w ere id en ­

tif ie d and counted.

6. The d u ra tio n of each sam p le and the num ber of sy llab les

in i t w e re p lo tted on indiv idual freq u en cy d is tr ib u tio n s

and on a com bined freq u en cy d is tr ib u tio n .

7. The data w e re analyzed fo r ev idence of l in e a r and

25

26 ;

. c u rv ilin e a r re la tio n s .

8. Those f ra m e d u tte ra n c e s w hich had been rea d w ith the

sam e num ber of s tro n g s t r e s s e s by se v e ra l su b jec ts

w ere sp e c tro g rap h e d , and th e ir to ta l d u ra tion w as

m e a su re d .

9. The o b se rv ed d u ra tio n of th ese u tte ra n c e s w as com pared

w ith th e ir p re d ic te d d u ra tio n . P re d ic te d d u ra tio n s w ere

e s tim a te d on a b a s is of th e o re tic a l iso ch ro n ic rhy thm

and on a b a s is of the a v erag e leng th of sy llab les in the

sh o r te r u tte ra n c e .

V alidation of the In v e s tig a to r’s Judgm ent of S tre ss

The in itia l ta sk in th is study re q u ire d th a t p r im a ry s t r e s s poin ts

be id en tified in a c o rp u s c o m p ris in g over seven ty -tw o m in u tes of

re c o rd e d speech . B ecau se th is ta sk would have .been too tim e -c o n su m ­

ing fo r a panel of e x p e rt o b s e rv e rs , the a ttem p t w as m ade to a s c e r ta in

w hether the in v es tig a to r could be v a lid a ted a s com peten t in the a s s ig n ­

m en t of s t r e s s p o in ts . To d e te rm in e th is , the follow ing p ro c e d u re w as

adopted:

1. A va lida ting panel co n sis tin g of five o b s e rv e rs , th re e of

th e m 'p ro fe s s o rs of speech and of p hone tics , two of them

g radua te studen ts w ith som e ex p erien ce in teach ing pho­

n e tic s , w ere ask ed to iden tify th e dom inant s t r e s s e s in a

f iv e -m in u te re c o rd in g of ex tem poraneous speech , w hich

had b een taped by a su b jec t unknown to them .

2, The l is te n e r s w e re in s tru c te d to m a rk the "dom inan t

(p rom inen t) s t r e s s e s " th ey h e a rd in p a r ts of the r e c o rd ­

ing th a t the in v es tig a to r had p re v io u s ly se le c te d and

tra n s c r ib e d into conventional E ng lish o rthog raphy .

T hese sec tio n s con tained s tre tc h e s of speech of v a rio u s

len g th s, u n in te rru p te d b y no ticeab le p a u ses o r h e s i ta ­

tio n s .

T h ir ty -o n e sa m p le s of s tre tc h e s of speech containing

fro m one to ten sy llab les be tw een the beginning of one

s t r e s s e d sy llab le and the beginning of the nex t s t r e s s e d

sy llab le w e re ch o sen f ro m the m ark e d p assag e at

random .

On a b a s is of each l i s te n e r 's re a c tio n to a given sam p le ,

a co n sen su s, including th e judgm ent of the in v es tig a to r ,

w as d e te rm in e d fo r each sam p le .

The p e rc en ta g e of a g re em e n t betw een each l is te n e r and

the consensus w as ca lcu la te d on a b a s is of s t r e s s id en ti­

fica tio n s in 27 sam p les , fou r sam p les having b een e lim i­

na ted b ecau se of evenly d iv ided d e c is io n s . The re s u l ts

of the c o m p a riso n a r e shown below .

28/>

TABLE I

P e rc e n ta g e of A g reem en t betw een L is te n e rs and C onsensus

L is te n e r A. 81%

L is te n e r B. 87%

L is te n e r C. 59%

L is te n e r D. 100%

L is te n e r E . 37%

In v estig a to r 88%

A verage . . 72%

Inspection of the da ta p re se n te d above show s th a t the in v e s tig a to r

ach ieved a h igher lev e l of a g re e m e n t w ith the co n sen su s than the a v e r ­

age a g re em e n t, 72%, of th e s ix o b s e rv e rs . A co m p ariso n of the p e r ­

cen tage of a g re em e n t be tw een each l is te n e r and the c o n sen su s , in

te rm s of ran k o rd e r , show s th a t th e in v es tig a to r ob tained the second

h ig h es t p e rc en ta g e of a g re em e n t. On the b a s is of th e se r e s u l ts , the

a ssu m p tio n w as m ade th a t th e in v es tig a to r w as ab le to m ake v a lid

judgm ents concern ing the lo ca tio n of s t r e s s e d sy llab le s in f r e e speech .

S evera l fa c to rs m ay have co n trib u ted to the re la tiv e ly low m ean

a g re em e n t am ong the o b s e rv e rs :

1. the g en era l p ro b lem of reach in g a g re e m e n t in a su b jec ­

tive a n a ly sis of speech ;

2. the lack of an exac t defin ition of the te rm "dom inant

(p rim ary ) s t r e s s " ;

3. the re q u ire m e n t th a t l is te n e r s a g re e on both s t r e s s

29

poin ts de lim itin g a s tre tc h of speech;

4. the f a s t and i r r e g u la r tem po of im prom ptu speech , which

m akes the evaluation of d e g re e s of s t r e s s m o re d ifficu lt; •

5. the tendency of the l is te n e r to h e a r s t r e s s w here he

expec ts to h e a r it.

'When a ll the p o ss ib le so u rc e s of d isa g re e m e n t in m aking su b je c ­

tive judgm ents of s t r e s s w e re co n sid ered , the judgm ent shown by the

in v es tig a to r in th is te s t w as view ed a s accep tab le .

P ro c e d u re Follow ed in O btaining C orpus

The p ro ce d u re em ployed in obtaining the co rpus used in the m ain

p a r t of th is study is d e sc r ib e d in d e ta il below .

Six in fo rm an ts (h e re a f te r r e f e r r e d to a s Subject 1, Subject 2, and

so fo rth ), a ll m a le co llege s tuden ts in th e ir e a r ly tw en ties , w e re cho ­

sen . Since a ll of them w ere b o rn and ra is e d in A kron, Ohio, and s in ce

a ll speak a s im ila r fo rm of the N orth M idland d ia le c t of S tandard A m e r­

ican E ng lish , they m ay be c o n s id e re d lin g u is tic a lly unpre jud iced . The

in fo rm an ts , who w ere not in s tru c te d a s to the n a tu re of th is study,r

ta lked spon taneously fo r ten m inu tes on any topic of th e ir cho ice . (The

top ics included a su m m er in E ngland, an engagem ent and fo rthcom ing

m a rr ia g e , a rad io w orkshop, golf, the m in is try , and educational te le ­

v is io n . ) The in fo rm an ts a lso re a d som e se ts of u tte ra n c e s , p u rp o rte d

exam ples of iso ch ro n ic rhy thm e x tra c te d fro m v a rio u s p u b lica tio n s.

T h e ir speech w as re c o rd e d on m agnetic tape , a t 7 -1 /2 inches p e r

second, in a so u n d -tre a te d re c o rd in g ro o m a t the U n iv e rs ity of A kron.

30

An Am pex 350 ta p e - r e c o rd e r and a high (quality m icrophone w e re used .

P ro c e d u re Fo llow ed in O btaining D ata on Im prom ptu Speech

E ach s u b je c ts rec o rd in g of im p ro m p tu speech w as t ra n s c r ib e d

into conventional o rthography , and a ll s t r e s s e s , m a jo r p itch changes,

and p a u ses w e re m ark e d . A ll s tre tc h e s of continuous speech , en c lo sed

by p r im a ry s t r e s s e s and devoid of no ticeab le p a u se s , w e re g rouped

acco rd ing to the num ber of sy llab le s conta ined betw een the beginning of

one p r im a ry s t r e s s and the beginning of the nex t p r im a ry s t r e s s .

E ach s tre tc h con ta ined any num ber of p itch changes and of c lo se and

open tra n s it io n s . Only those open tra n s it io n s w hich w ere m an ifes te d

by aco u stic c h a ra c te r is t ic s of m a rg in a l sounds and not by p ause w ere ( 9 3 )

included ' . The to ta l in v en to ry of f re e speech c o n s is ted of 1209 s a m ­

p le s , each contain ing betw een one and e leven sy llab le s .

F o r each sp eak e r four sam p les w ere se lec ted a t random f ro m a ll

g roups of s tre tc h e s contain ing fro m one to s ix sy llab le s ; w hen few er

:than five sam p le s w ere av a ilab le , how ever, a ll sam p le s in the group

w ere taken . As w ill be seen in the f ig u re s p re se n te d in C hap ter III,

Subjects 2 and 4 had only th re e sam p les of 7 -sy lla b le s tre tc h e s ; Sub­

je c t 1 had only th re e sa m p le s , and Subject 3 no sa m p le s , of 8 -sy lla b le

s tre tc h e s ; a ll su b jec ts had few er than fo u r sam p le s of 9- and 10-s y lla ­

b le s tre tc h e s ; and only Subjects 4 and 6 had an 11 -sy llab le s tre tc h .

A bsolute ran d o m n ess w as a lso im p a ire d la te r by the fa c t th a t, upon

a ttem pting to m e a su re the ex ac t t im e -la p se of som e s tre tc h e s , an

a c c u ra te id en tifica tio n of the poin t of d e m a rca tio n could not be m ade .

In such c a se s the nex t sam ple in d ica ted on the tab le of random

31

sam pling n u m b ers w as taken . A to ta l of 202 sam p le s of im p ro m p tu

speech w as then t r a n s fe r r e d to a Kay E le c tr ic Sonagraph in the Speech

C om m unication L a b o ra to ry a t L ou isiana State U n iversity , and a sp e c ­

tro g ra m (Sonagram ) m ade of each .

S p ec tro g rap h ic A nalysis of the Data

B rie fly , sp e c tro g rap h ic a n a ly sis of speech involves tra n s fo rm in g

the aco u stic p a tte rn s of speech into v isu a l p a tte rn s . The techn iques of

sp e c tro g rap h ic a n a ly s is , developed du ring the l a s t tw enty y e a rs , a re

explained by Joos^® ^, B a rn ey and D unn^^, H o c k e tt^ P o tte r , Kopp,

and G r e e n ^ ^ , H a lle ^ * ) , and o th e rs^ ^ * Up to the p re se n t,

fou r types of an a ly s is have b een found usefu l: b ro ad -b an d a n a ly s is ,

n a rro w -b an d a n a ly s is , am plitude se c tio n s , and continuous am plitude

d isp lay s . A g e n e ra l d e sc r ip tio n of each fo llow s.

1. B ro ad -b an d a n a ly s is . In th is type of a n a ly s is an a n a ly z ­

ing f i l te r of 300 cps band-w id th scan s the aco u stic sp e c ­

tru m . The re su ltin g sp e c tro g ra m d isp lay s the fo rm a n t

s tru c tu re of vo iced sounds, the en erg y c o n ce n tra tio n s of

v o ic e le ss sounds, and a tim e p a tte rn of changes in f r e ­

quency d im ensions fro m 80 cps to 8000 cps. B ro ad -b an d

sp e c tro g ra m s p e rm it the study of the r a te of change in

the phonetic q u a lity of speech sounds, a g a in s t a tim e

m ax im um of 2.2 o r 2 .4 seconds on each sp e c tro g ra m .

B ro ad -b an d an a ly ses a lso d isp lay re la tiv e am p litudes

g ro s s ly by m eans of l ig h te r o r d a rk e r m a rk in g s . F ig -

** u re s 1 to 4 i l lu s t r a te th is type of a n a ly s is .

32

2. N arro w -b an d a n a ly s is . In th is type of a n a ly s is a n a r ­

row (80 cps) analyzing f i l te r is u sed to ob tain a d isp lay

of h a rm on ic s tru c tu re on the t im e -fre q u e n c y p lane of the

s tre a m of speech . F ig u re 5 i l lu s t r a te s n a rro w -b an d

a n a ly s is .

3. A m plitude se c tio n s . T hese p re s e n t the h a rm on ic s t r u c ­

tu re of a v e ry b r ie f segm ent, d isp lay ing the in te n s ity of

each harm o n ic and prov id ing an opportun ity to study

c lo se ly the in te rn a l s t ru c tu re of the fo rm a n ts .

4. Continuous am plitude d isp lay . By m eans of a sp ec ia l

c irc u it , i t is p o ss ib le to r e p re s e n t the o v e ra ll in ten sity

of a speech-w ave as a continuous function of tim e .

T hus, v a ria tio n s in am plitude f ro m one cyc le to an o th e r

can be o b se rv ed . .

F o r the p u rp o se of th is study, b ro ad -b a n d sp e c tro g ra m s in m o st

c a se s re v e a le d enough s ig n ifican t c lu es fo r the id en tifica tio n of sy l­

lab ic n u c le i and of s tro n g s t r e s s . In a few c a se s , how ever, i t w as

n e c e s s a ry to u se add itional n a rro w -b an d (80 cps) a n a ly se s a s an a id in

the id en tifica tio n of the b o u n d arie s of s t r e s s e d sy lla b le s . (See F ig u re s

4 and 5 .) No am plitude sec tio n s o r continuous am plitude d isp lay s w ere

used .

The sounds on each sp e c tro g ra m w e re id en tified acco rd ing to the

e s ta b lish e d p ra c tic e se t fo rth by P o tte r , Kopp, and G r e e n ^ ^ , Joos

(83), D e la ttre , L ib e rm an , and C o o p e r^ * ), L e h i s t e ^ ^ , and o t h e r s ^ ^ ’

6 l , 77, 87)^ ge n e ra l te rm s , sp e c tro g rap h ic p a tte rn s of speech

sounds a r e d iffe ren tia te d a s follow s:

33

1. D u ra tio n is shown by the leng th of the p a tte rn on the

h o rizo n ta l a x is . The m ax im um d u ra tio n on the s p e c tro ­

g ra m s used w as 2.2 seconds.

2. F re q u en c y is re p re s e n te d on the v e r tic a l a x is . On the

sp e c tro g ra m s used in th is study it ran g ed fro m 80 cps to

8000 cps.

3. V ow els, sem i-v o w els , g lides, and n a sa ls a r e p o r tra y e d

by the num ber and p o sitio n of re so n an ce b a r s (d ark h o r i ­

zon tal bands), e sp e c ia lly b a r s 1 and 2.

4. C onsonants in g e n e ra l a re d is tin g u ish ed by red u c tio n of

energy , and in p a r t ic u la r by the d iffe ren t bending e ffec ts

they have on the re so n an ce b a r s of ad jacen t vow els.

5. V o ice le ss f r ic a tiv e con tinuan ts a re p o r tra y e d by random

v e r t ic a l s tr ia tio n s of d iffe re n t p a tte rn s , lo ca tio n s , and

am p litu d es.

6. V oiced fr ic a tiv e con tinuan ts a r e p o rtra y e d by v e r t ic a l

s tr ia t io n s s im ila r to those of th e ir v o ic e le ss c o u n te r­

p a r ts , bu t c ro s s e d by re so n an c e b a r s and by a vo ice b a r

(a n a rro w reso n an ce b a r on th e b a se line ).

7. V o ice less sto p -so u n d s a re ' id en tified by a b lank space

(stop -gap ) follow ed o r p re c e d e d by a v e r t ic a l line (g lo t­

ta l spike) and by random v e r tic a l ' s tr ia tio n s .

8. V oiced s to p -sounds a re p o r tra y e d like th e ir v o ic e le ss

c o u n te rp a r ts but w ith the add ition of a vo ice b a r on the

b a se lin e and of re so n an c e b a r s extending th rough the

v e r t ic a l s tr ia tio n s .

34

' 9. L iquids a re p o r tra y e d by a com bination-of the fo rm a n t

s tru c tu re of vow els, add itional fo rm a n ts in the low er

f re q u e n c ie s , and, in m o s t c a s e s , ev idence of the

red u ced en erg y c h a ra c te r is t ic of consonan ts .

10. In te rn a l open tra n s it io n s a r e iden tified by c e r ta in p h e ­

nom ena as the type of re le a s e of s to p -so u n d s , g lo tta l

s to p s, in c re a s e d d u ra tio n , changes, in in te n s ity p a tte rn ,

unvoicing of n o rm a lly vo iced sounds o r v ic e - v e r s a , and

la ry n g e a liz a tio n (slow , i r r e g u la r , v o ca l-fo ld ac tiv ity

w ith red u c ed e n e rg y )^ ^ ) .

In o rd e r to m e a su re the d u ra tio n of s tre tc h e s of speech fro m

s tr e s s e d sy llab le to s t r e s s e d sy llab le , i t w as n e c e s s a ry to se le c t a p r e ­

c is e poin t of d e m arca tio n . A poin t dividing the o n se t of a s t r e s s e d

vowel f ro m the consonan t sound p rec ed in g i t o r f ro m silen ce w as cho­

sen a s the d e m a rca tio n po in t fo r the follow ing re a so n s :

1. In rhy thm ic grouping the accen t tends to be p laced on the

f i r s t o r la s t e lem en t of a g ro u p ^ ’153, 166)

•

2. M ost a u th o ritie s a g re e th a t in E ng lish the in d isp en sab le

p a r t of a s t r e s s e d sy llab le is a vow el. (See C hap te r I . )

3. The o n se t of s t r e s s is m o s t often p e rc e iv e d a s c o n c u r­

re n t w ith the o n se t of the vow el^^* ^9, 99,

142, 150, 153, 159),

4. A p reced in g consonant se em s to have le s s e ffec t on a

vowel than a follow ing con so n an t^

5. T his is the sam e d e m a rc a tio n po in t u sed by C la s s e ^ ^ )

n ,o ir

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and b y Shen and P e te r son^^®^ in th e ir s tu d ies of i s o ­

c h ro n ism .

S tre s se d vow els, p rev io u s ly id en tified sub jec tive ly , w e re then

iden tified a co u s tica lly on the sp e c tro g ra m s by re la tiv e d a rk n e ss and

re la tiv e d u ra tio n of the sp e c tru m p a tte rn , and, in som e c a s e s , b y in d i­

ca tio n s of m a jo r p itch change in the re so n an c e b a r s . A t tim e s , when

the iden tifica tion of s tro n g s t r e s s w as deba tab le , the peaks of output of

en e rg y ind icated on the V U -M eter a ttach ed to the sp e c tro g rap h w ere

used a s c o rro b o ra to ry ev idence . D em arca tio n po in ts a t the o n se t of

each s tro n g ly s t r e s s e d vow el w ere then d e te rm in e d on a ll s p e c tro ­

g ram s of sam p les of f r e e speech . (See F ig s . 1 to 5 .) The s tre tc h e s

betw een th ese po in ts w e re then m e a su re d in cen tiseco n d s by m eans of

a p la s tic o v erlay . The a c c u ra c y of the c a l ib ra to r w as checked a g a in s t

a sp e c tro g ra m of a 20 cps p u re tone, on w hich the d is tan ce betw een

sp ikes re p re se n te d 5 -cen tiseco n d in te rv a ls .

The num ber of sy llab le s in each sam p le w as d e te rm in e d on the

b a s is of the num ber of sy llab ic .c en te rs (vow els, diphthongs, and the

so -c a lle d sy llab ic consonan ts [jrCJt [jU* C.VI3» Z T O ) o b se rv ed . The

la t te r w e re co n sid e red as sy llab ic c e n te rs and counted as sy llab le s

only w hen th e ir s p e c tra w a rra n te d it. The data fo r each su b je c t w ere

then p lo tted on F ig u re s 6 to 11, and the com bined data on F ig u re 12.v

In spection of the g rap h s suggesting the e x is ten ce of a re la t io n ­

sh ip be tw een the n u m b er of sy llab les and the d u ra tio n of each s tre tc h ,

the d a ta w ere then p ro c e s s e d in the C om puter R e se a rc h C en te r a t

L ou is iana State U n iv e rs ity in o rd e r to in v es tig a te the n a tu re of the

re la tio n sh ip . The find ings a re p re se n te d in C hap ter HI.

41

P ro c e d u re F o llow ed in O btaining D ata on S tru c tu re d Speech

The re c o rd in g s of se ts of f ra m e d u tte ra n c e s given by v a rio u s

a u th o r s ^ ^ ’ a s i l lu s tra tio n s of iso ch ro n ic rh y th m w ere

handled in a d iffe re n t fash ion . Seven se ts of u tte ra n c e s , contain ing a

to ta l of 28 u tte ra n c e s , w ere re a d by the in fo rm an ts and re c o rd e d on

tape . Since the in fo rm an ts w e re in s tru c te d m e re ly to " re a d n a tu ra lly ,"

th e re w as w ide v a r ia tio n in the rea d in g s . T hose se ts re a d w ith d isp a ­

r a te n u m b ers of s t r e s s e s in the d iffe re n t u tte ra n c e s com posing the se t

w e re , of c o u rse , d isc a rd e d . The rem a in in g s e ts , re a d w ith the sam e

num ber of s tro n g s t r e s s e s by s e v e ra l su b je c ts , w ere se le c te d fo r com ­

p a riso n .

The 71 sam p le s to be c o m p a red w e re subm itted to sp e c tro g rap h ic

a n a ly s is , and th e ir d u ra tio n w as m e a su re d fro m the beginning of

speech to i ts c e ssa tio n , s ince th e sen ten ces w e re p re su m e d by th e ir

a u th o rs to be equal o r ap p ro x im ate ly equal in d u ra tio n b ecau se of the

e ffec t of iso c h ro n ism . The o b se rv ed m e a su re m e n ts of to ta l d u ra tion

w ere tab led , and two types of p re d ic tio n s of th e ir d u ra tio n w ere m ade

and co m p ared .

F o r the fo u r s e ts of th re e s im ila r sen ten ces re a d w ith the sam e

num ber of s tro n g s t r e s s e s , such as

The p rd g ra m w asn ’t b d rin g .The p rd g ra m w as v e ry b d rin g .The p rd g ra m w a sn 't v e ry b d r in g '1

p red ic tio n s of the p ro b ab le d u ra tio n of the second and th ird sen ten ces

in each se t w e re m ade on the b a s is of th e o re tic a l iso ch ro n ic rhy thm .

T hus, it was a ssu m e d th a t, b e ca u se of the e ffec t of iso c h ro n ism , the

to ta l d u ra tio n of su c c e ss iv e sen ten ces in the sam e se t would be equal

42

to the d u ra tio n of the f i r s t sen ten ce . The a c c u ra c y of th e se p re d ic ­

tions w as c o m p ared to th a t of p red ic tio n s m ade on a b a s is of the a v e r ­

age d u ra tio n of sy llab les in the f i r s t sen tence of each se t , on the

a ssu m p tio n th a t th e re m igh t be a l in e a r re la tion rbe tw een the nu m b er of

sy llab les in an u tte ra n c e and the d u ra tio n of the u tte ran c e .

F o r the th re e p a ir s of d is s im ila r u tte ra n c e s , such a s

Ldok! Ldok! Ldok!T h a t 's d ll I dsk, th a t you ldok '

p re su m e d by th e ir a u th o rs to be of equal d u ra tio n b ecau se of the te n ­

dency tow ard iso ch ro n ic rhy thm , p red ic tio n s of the d u ra tio n of the

second u tte ra n c e w ere m ade in the sam e fas io n a s those exp lained

above.

The u tte ra n c e s , th e ir o b se rv ed d u ra tio n , the num ber of sy lla - .

b le s and the lo ca tio n of s tro n g s t r e s s e s in each a re shown on T able V-

A co m p ariso n of the a c c u ra c y of p red ic tio n on a b a s is of the th eo ry of

iso ch ro n ic rhy thm and on a b a s is of a l in e a r re la tio n a re d isc u sse d in

the follow ing ch ap te r.

Dur

atio

n in

cent

isec

onds

43

F ig . 6 D ura tion of 33 Sam ples of S tre s s G roups

in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 1.

N um ber of sy llab le s

• Sam pleo M ean a v e ra g e

F ig . 7 D ura tion of 31 S am ples of S tre s s G roups

in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 2.

140

120 H

100

-M■M

to

OoS 40

i H

d4)Od*•H

20

rt

(3

N um ber of sy llab le s

• Sam pleo M ean aV erage

Dur

atio

n in

cent

isec

onds

45

F ig . 8 D ura tion of 30 S am ples of S tre s s G roups

in Im prom ptu Speech. Sub ject 3.

' . 4 U . T . I .

r r rm

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Number of syllables .

• Sam pleo M ean .av erag e

Dur

atio

n in

cent

isec

onds

46

F ig . 9 D ura tion of 32 S a ihp les of S tre s s G roups

in Im prom ptu Speech. S ubject 4.

140

120

100

40 .U

3 4 5 6 7 8 91 2

N um ber of sy lla b le s

• Sam pleo M ean a v e ra g e

Dur

atio

n in

cent

isec

onds

47

F ig . 10 D u ra tio n of 33 S am ples of S tre s s G roups

in Im prom ptu Speech. S ubject 5.

140

120

100

IT TT

T i r r

Number of syllables

• Sam pleo M ean a v e rag e

Dur

atio

n in

cent

isec

onds

48

F ig . 11 D ura tion of 35 Sam ples of S tre s s G roups

in Im prom ptu Speech. Subject 6.

nr j_i.

140

u.120

100

J J . . I .j j j

Lu j m*:

□j ..Li.

40

.1. 1. 1.

20

N um ber of sy llab le s

• Sam pleO M ean av e rag e

F ig . 12 C om bined R e su lts . 180 S am ples.

}-*!_!_• j U_U-U ..1_|. L UjJXtuXdlLLU- U-U-L .t-l-LLUXn-CLi-EJTU.»-j— Lu _lTu _i_i C • _li_D_p ■ lCl.' ' * » ' : ■ • ' • j _ ' ■ ! 1 • t j ■ < i > ; ! I I r I | | r I F I I . I I [ I ' !

L LL1. J u . J .L |.i-U u ;_ iZ L U U -i U lL u t [ d z b - l - U - i - ( _ I II ' l l i t f 1 f l . t . l j M I 1 ! I T! ' t. ■ i ! 11 r ! 1.1'! 1111 rrr ‘ » .lcuziCO-l LL!.

L L .O -I .U

L L UU_L!LULL

i : I i I i !

J _ L J _ J _ U l D _ U J - L L i X L O -

' i l l ~ i 111 i r i ■ i i n | > p 1 1

tH

S S S E E E E tE B

• Sam ple

N um ber of sy llab le s vO

CHAPTER I I I . RESULTS

In te rp re ta tio n of D ata on Im prom ptu Speech

The random sam p les of s tre tc h e s of u n in te rru p te d speech

betw een p r im a ry s t r e s s e s u tte re d spon taneously by each su b jec t a re

p lo tted on F ig u re s 6 to 11, the com bined data on F ig u re 12. On each

g raph the independent v a ria b le , i. e. the num ber of sy llab les in each

s tre tc h of speech , is shown on the h o rizo n ta l a x is . The dependent v a r ­

iab le , du ra tion , m e a su re d in cen tiseco n d s, is shown on the v e r t ic a l

a x is . Only s tre tc h e s contain ing fro m one to e igh t sy llab le s a re shown

on F ig u re 12, the num ber of s tre tc h e s lo n g er than th ese not being su ffi­

c ien t fo r a p re d ic tiv e study.

Inspection of the g raphs show s two p o ss ib il i tie s of re la tio n

betw een the two v a r ia b le s :

1. a p robab le l in e a r r e g re s s io n fo r a ll re la tio n sh ip s te s te d ;

2. a p o ss ib le c u rv ilin e a r re la tio n in the e x tre m e s of the func­

tion fo r Subjects 1, 2, and 4.

The p o ss ib ili ty of a c u rv ilin e a r e ffec t in any su b jec t o r in the

com bined sub jec ts can be te s te d by applying the q u ad ra tic equation

y = bo +- bi x! + b 2 * 2

in which

y re p re s e n ts the p re d ic te d tim e in te rv a l fo r a g iven num ber

of sy llab le s ,

r e p re s e n ts the y - in te rc e p t,

50

51

bj r e p re s e n ts the l in e a r effect, and

b 2 r e p re s e n ts the c u rv ilin e a r effect.

The va lues fo r each fa c to r in the equation, ob tained f ro m the in i­

t ia l p ro c e ss in g of the data , a re shown in the tab le below .

TABLE I I

P re l im in a ry V alues of L in e a r and C u rv ilin ea r E ffec ts in the R ela tion betw een N um ber of S y llab les and D uration

bo V b2Subject 1 12. 00 13.99 . 16Subject 2 21 .62 8. 55 .6 5Subject 3 8. 37 14. 44 .09Subject 4 27. 14 6. 18 . 57Subject 5 20. 01 8 .7 4 . 12Subject 6 8 .46 14. 21 . 31Com bined sub jec ts 14. 19 12. 46 . 02

Since a co m p ariso n of th ese va lues s tro n g ly su g g ests the p o ss ib ility

th a t b^ m ay be sign ifican t w hile b^ m ay not be s ign ifican t, a t - t e s t is

now in d ica ted a s a defin itive te s t of the s ign ificance of b^ and b , th a t

is , a s a d e te rm in a tio n of w hether b and b a re d iffe ren t f ro m 0.1 2

The va lues of b j and b^ ob tained by running a t - t e s t a re shown in

the tab le th a t fo llow s.

52

TABLE I I I

S ignificance of L in e a r and. C u rv ilin e a r E ffec ts in the R e la tion betw een N um ber of Sy llab les and D uration

b l b 2

Subject 1 4 .4 1 . 50Subject 2 2. 00 . 14Subject 3 5 .49 .3 4Subject 4 1.58 . 14Subject 5 2. 34 . 33Subject 6 4. 21 .9 5Com bined sub jec ts 7 .49 . 17

F ro m a co m p ariso n of th ese va lues the conclusion can be d raw n th a t

the value of b j (the l in e a r effect) is sign ifican t, and th a t the va lue of b 2

is not sign ifican t fo r any su b jec t o r fo r th e com bined su b je c ts . T h e re ­

fo re , a c u rv ilin e a r e ffec t can be c o n sid e re d neg lig ib le .

To te s t the f i r s t p o ss ib ility , a l in e a r re g re s s io n , a f i r s t d e g re e

equation in x m ay be used . T his equation w ill y ie ld a coeffic ien t of

c o rre la t io n ; th a t i s , a s ing le num ber th a t shows to w hat ex ten t two

m e a su ra b le s a re re la te d . In th is p a r t ic u la r c a se , a coeffic ien t of

c o rre la t io n w ill show to w hat ex ten t the v a ria tio n s in tim e a re a s s o c i­

a ted w ith the v a r ia tio n s in num ber of sy lla b le s . In th eo ry , a s tra ig h t

line re la tio n should have a c o rre la t io n co effic ien t of 1 .; how ever, a

c o rre la t io n co effic ien t of ap p ro x im ate ly 1 ., such a s . 80, s tro n g ly sug ­

g e s ts a s tra ig h t line re la tio n betw een two v a r ia b le s .

A pplication of the g en era l equation of a s tra ig h t lin e ,

y - b„ + b j x

to the dat^. in th is in v es tig a tio n (202 p a ire d o b se rv a tio n s , 199 d e g re es

of freed o m ) y ie lds the va lues p re s e n te d in T able TV.

53

TABLE IV

C oeffic ien ts of C o rre la tio n betw een N um ber of S y llab les and D uration

Subject 1 .948Subject 2 .940Subject 3 .975Subject 4 .9 1 8Subject 5 .906Subject 6 .930

Com bined su b jec ts .916

The co effic ien ts above, in e v e ry c a se g re a te r than . 90, show a

high p o sitiv e c o rre la t io n betw een the num ber of sy llab les in a s tre tc h

and the d u ra tio n of the s tre tc h . T hey e s ta b lis h w ith l i t t le doubt tha t,

fo r any su b jec t s im ila r to those in v estig a ted , the du ra tio n of an un in­

te r ru p te d s tre tc h of im p ro m p tu speech con ta ined betw een p r im a ry

s t r e s s e s can be p re d ic te d on the b a s is of the num ber of sy llab le in the

s tre tc h . T his conclu sion does not support, bu t r a th e r n eg a tes , the

th e o ry of: iso ch ro n ic rhy thm , acco rd in g to w hich th e re can be no c lo se

re la tio n betw een the num ber of sy llab les in a s tre tc h and i ts d u ra tio n .

In te rp re ta tio n of D ata on S tru c tu re d Speech

As s ta te d in C hap ter I, a seco n d a ry p u rp o se of th is study is to

t e s t the v a lid ity of an assu m p tio n m ade by the a u th o rs of s e v e ra l te x t­

books, in effect, th a t even though the u tte ra n c e s in c e r ta in se ts of

exam ples con ta in a d iffe ren t num ber of sy llab le s , they a r e equal o r

ap p ro x im ate ly equal in to ta l d u ra tio n b ecau se they have th e sam e num ­

b e r of p r im a ry s t r e s s e s . As m ay be seen in T able V below , Sets I to

IV c o n s is t of th re e pho n e tica lly and g ra m m a tic a lly s im ila r sen ten ces ;

TABLE Y

O b serv ed D ura tion of. F ra m e d U tte ran ces

Sets of U tte ra n ce s D uration , in c s . , fo r each Subject M ean No. iS. 1 S. 2 S. 3 S. 4 S. 5 S. 6 A ver. Syll

I. B oys n eed m dney. 86 96 87 83 88 3The bdys w ill n eed som e m oney. 126 134 120 112 123 7The bdys w ill be need ing som e m o n ey 'i !)’. 144 183 128 139 148 9

n . E n g lish is easy . 83 111 72 97 90 5E n g lish is v e ry easy . m e n 112 152 95 130 122 7The E n g lish le s s o n is v e ry e a sy ' 162 216 144 162 171 10

m . The speech ended. * 90 106 88 90 74 89 4The speech w as b d rin g . 110 113 116 118 94 110 5The p ro g ra m w as b d rin g ' 112 132 130 130 101 121 6

IV. The p rd g ra m w a sn 't b d rin g . 170 131 111 127 134 7The p rd g ra m w as v d ry b d rin g . . 162 156 120 138 144 8The p rd g ra m w a sn 't v e ry b d rin g ' i 176 164 130 148 154 9

V. F in d a b o a rd fo r m e . 96 118 120 111 5In te rp re t th is p d e try fo r m d ' '. 142 162 156 153 9

VI. G re a t p ro g re s s is m ad e’daily . 174 136 178 162 7The b 6y is in te re s te d in en la rg in g h is

v o ? a £ la ry < 125>. 277 210 234 240 17

vn. Ldok! Ldok! Ldok! . 177 146 108 86 129 3T h a t 's a ll I a sk , th a t you ldok ' 133 161 160 140 148 7

^ F ram ed b y in v e s tig a to r to extend a g roup by S m a lle y ^ ^ ^ . ^

55

Sets V, VI, and VII a r e p a ir s of u tte ra n c e s th a t d iffe r phonetica lly ,

g ram m atica lly , o r bo th . The to ta l d u ra tio n of those u tte ra n c e s in each

se t w hich w ere re a d w ith the sam e num ber of stro n g s t r e s s e s and w ith

no p a u ses (excep t the u tte ra n c e s in Set VII) w as m e a su re d fro m the

f i r s t d isp lay of speech until the la s t . T hese m e a su re m e n ts , to g e th er

w ith the num ber of sy llab les and the o b se rv ed d u ra tio n of each u t te r ­

ance , as re a d by d iffe ren t su b je c ts , a re shown in Table V.

Inspection of T able V shows th a t in e v e ry c a se excep t two (the

read in g of Set VII by Subject 1 and of Set IV by Subject 2) the second

u tte ra n c e had a lo n g e r o v e ra ll d u ra tio n than the f i r s t , and the th ird a

lo n g er d u ra tio n than the second. M o reo v er, the m ean av e rag e fo r

e v e ry se t shows the sam e r e s u l t , of c o u rse . Though the da ta ob tained

fro m th e se read in g s a r e con tam ina ted by the in c lu sio n of sy llab les p r e ­

ceding the f i r s t and follow ing the la s t s tro n g s t r e s s , the conclusion

m u st be rea ch e d th a t in f ra m e d se ts such as th e se , iso c h ro n ic rhy thm

is no t evident.

A p ra c t ic a l t e s t of the e m p ir ic a l s ta te m e n t found in m any te x t­

books fo r teach ing E nglish a s a fo re ig n language, th a t the d u ra tio n of

u tte ra n c e s in A m e ric an E ng lish can be c o n s id e re d in te rm s of an is o ­

ch ro n ic th eo ry , m ay be m ade by com paring the a c c u ra c y of p re d ic tin g

the d u ra tio n of p a ire d u tte ra n c e s in te rm s of the iso c h ro n ic th e o ry w ith

the a c c u ra c y of p re d ic tin g d u ra tio n in te rm s of a hypo thetica l l in e a r

re la tio n betw een the d u ra tio n of an u tte ra n c e and the num ber of sy lla ­

b le s i t con ta in s .

Since, acco rd in g to the th e o ry of iso c h ro n ism , each of the p a ire d

u tte ra n c e s in T able V should occupy the sam e tim e , the a c c u ra c y of

th is th e o ry in te rm s of i ts p re d ic tiv e value can be c a lcu la te d by

56

dividing the d iffe ren ce betw een o b se rv ed tim e (tQ) and expected tim e

p e rc en ta g e of e r r o r in the ca lcu la tio n . By su b tra c tin g i t f ro m 100, the

p e rc en ta g e of a c c u ra c y can be d e riv ed . The b a s ic fo rm u la to be

app lied is

The p e rcen tag e of p red ic tio n a c c u ra c y in te rm s of a hypo thesis

of l in e a r i ty can be ob tained by using the sam e fo rm u la a s above. How­

e v e r, the expected d u ra tio n (te ) of the second of two p a ire d u tte ra n c e s

is ob tained in th is c a se by m ultip ly ing the a v e rag e d u ra tio n of sy llab les

in the o b se rv ed u tte ra n c e b y the num ber of sy llab le s in the u tte ran c e

the d u ra tio n of w hich is to be p red ic te d .

C om p ariso n s of the p e rc e n ta g e s of p re d ic tio n a c c u ra c y found in

the u tte ra n c e s shown in T able V a re given in the ta b le s th a t follow .

C om parison of the N um ber of A ccu ra te P re d ic tio n s of D uration in T e rm s of th e T h eo ry of Iso c h ro n ism and in T e rm s of a

H ypothesis of L in e a r ity

(te ) by the expected tim e . The re su ltin g fig u re would r e p re s e n t the

P e rc e n ta g e of p re d ic tio n a c c u ra c y s 100 —e

TABLE VI

N um ber of P re d ic tio n sIso ch ro n ic L in e a r

M ore A ccu ra te M ore A ccu ra te

S im ila r u tte ra n c e s 34 7 (20%)D is s im ila r u tte ra n c e s 10 3 (30%)

T otal 44 10 (22%)

27 (79%) 7 (70%)

34 (77%)

57

TABUS VII

C o m parison of the M ean A verage P e rc e n ta g e of P re d ic tio n A ccu racy in T e rm s of the T heo ry of Iso c h ro n ism and in T e rm s of a

H ypothesis of L in e a r ity

Iso ch ro n ic L in e a rSets of S im ila r U tte ran ces P re d ic tio n P re d ic tio n

A ccu racy A ccu racy

Set I 49% 55%Set H 38% 97%Set i n 70% 93%Set IV 87% 93%

A verage 61% 85%

Sets of D iss im ila r U tte ran ces

Set V 62% 78%Set VI 68% 67%Set v n 64% 54%

A verage 64% 65%

O v era ll A verage 62% 77%.

A nalysis of the a c c u ra c y of p re d ic tio n in te rm s of su b jec ts show s

th a t p re d ic tio n on a b a s is of a l in e a r re la tio n is c o n s is te n tly h ig h er fo r

a ll su b jec ts excep t Subject 2, in w hose c a se i t is low er in two out of

fo u r p red ic tio n s m ade fo r th a t sub jec t. In S ubjects 1, 4, 5, and 6 a

l in e a r p re d ic tio n is h ig h er in a ll co m p ariso n s excep t one fo r each su b ­

jec t.

The p reced in g c o m p a r is o n s 'a re , of c o u rse , c ru d e te s ts ; bu t they

ind ica te th a t the assu m p tio n w h ereb y the s tro n g s t r e s s e s in an u t te r ­

ance m ay be taken a s co effic ien ts of i ts d u ra tio n does not ho ld up under

p re lim in a ry a n a ly s is . In fac t, even in g ra m m a tic a lly and p h o n e tica lly

s im ila r u tte ra n c e s , in which, a cco rd in g to C la s s e ^ ^ ) , the c irc u m ­

s tan ces a re m o st fav o rab le fo r iso c h ro n ism , p re d ic tio n s b a se d on th is

58k

th e o ry a re l e s s a c c u ra te than those b a se d on a hypo thesis of l in e a r ity .

The fa c t th a t p re d ic tiv e a c c u ra c y b a se d on a th e o ry of l in e a r i ty

is no t m o re th an 77% a c c u ra te m ay be due to unanalyzed f a c to r s , such

a s d iffe re n c e s in tem po . M ore p ro b ab ly it is due to one o r bo th of the

follow ing fa c to rs : ■

1. the inclu sion , in som e c a s e s , of the d u ra tio n of one o r two

u n s tre s s e d sy llab les o c c u rr in g b e fo re the o n se t of s tro n g

- - s t r e s s in one of two p a ire d u tte ra n c e s ;

2. th e o b s e rv e d d e c re a s e in m ean av e rag e d u ra tio n of sy lla ­

b le s in m u ltisy lla b ic s t r e s s g roups.

The d e c re a s e in m ean av e rag e d u ra tio n of sy llab les in m u lt isy l­

lab ic s t r e s s g roups is a com m only accep ted o b se rv a tio n often c ited a s

an e s se n tia l e lem en t in ach iev ing iso c h ro n ic rhy thm . The d a ta p r o ­

v ided by the sam p le s of f r e e speech in th is study co n firm th is o b se rv a ­

tion . In spection of T able VIII below shows th a t the a v e rag e d u ra tio n of

sy llab les in s t r e s s g roups d e c re a s e s a s the num ber of sy llab le s in the

group in c re a s e s . The d e c re a s e , how ever, is n e ith e r d ire c tly p ro p o r ­

tiona l to the in c re a s e in num ber of sy llab le s n o r la rg e enough to equal­

ize the d u ra tio n of g roups contain ing an unequal n u m b er of sy lla b le s .

M o reo v er, though in sp ec tio n of T able VIII co n firm s the w ell-know n

fa c t th a t s tre s se d m o n o sy lla b le s a r e p ro p o rtio n a lly lo n g er than sy llab le s

in p o ly sy lla b le s , i t m ak es a p p a ren t, n e v e r th e le s s , th a t the m ea n a v e r ­

age d u ra tio n of 2- and 3 -sy llab le s t r e s s g roups is a lm o st the sam e, d if­

fe r in g by only 0.6 c s . (The equal d u ra tio n of sy llab le s in the m o re co m ­

m on 2 -sy lla b le s t r e s s g roups h as long b een o b se rv ed by D aniel

J o n e s ^ ^ . ) In spection of the tab le a lso show s th a t the a v e rag e d u ra tio n of

59

sy llab les in lo n g er s t r e s s g roups, contain ing f ro m 4 to 8 sy llab le s ,

v a r ie s w ith in a m ax im um of only 1. 5 c s . It m a y be re a so n a b ly

a ssu m ed , then , th a t th e sh o rten ed d u ra tio n of sy llab les in m u ltisy lla b ic

s t r e s s g roups is a negative fa c to r affecting a p o ss ib le 1:1 ra tio b e tw e e n

an in c re a s e in num ber of sy llab le s and an in c re a s e in du ra tion .

TABLE YinA verage D ura tion of S y llab les in 180 Sam ples of S tre s s G roups

fro m the F r e e Speech of A ll Subjects

N um ber of S y llab les in Group

M ean A verage D uration

1 2 7 .6 c s .

2 19.2 c s .

3 19. 8 c s .

4 15.6 c s .

5 14.9 c s .

6 15.0 c s .

7 14. 2 c s .

8 14. 1 c s .

A c u rs o ry look a t the d u ra tio n of abutting s t r e s s g roups found

in c id en ta lly in the sam p le s of f r e e speech random ly se le c te d fo r th is

study y ie ld s w hat m ay be fu r th e r ev idence a g a in s t the iso c h ro n ic th eo ry .

The d isp a r ity in the d u ra tio n of ad jacen t s t r e s s g roups p re s e n te d

g rap h ica lly in F ig u re s 13 and 14 in d ica te s th a t, even in in s ta n c e s of

exact con junction of s t r e s s g ro u p s, th e re is no t equal d u ra tio n . Of the

16 p a ir s of abu tting s t r e s s g roups in F ig u re 13, none a r e equal. Two

p a ir s , d iffe rin g by 6 c s . o r le s s , m ay be sa id to be a p p ro x im ate ly

/

60

equal. In both p a ir s , how ever, the two abutting s tre tc h e s con ta in the

sam e num ber of sy lla b le s . F ig u re 14 p re s e n ts g rap h ic a lly the d u ra tio n

of 12 p a ir s of a d ja c e n t s t r e s s g roups in the f r e e speech of Subject 4,

who show ed the s tro n g e s t tendency tow ard iso c h ro n ic rhy thm . N e v er­

th e le s s , only 5 of the p a ir s a re equal o r ap p ro x im ate ly equal, and one

of th ese con ta ins the sam e num ber of sy lla b le s . T he p ro p o rtio n of

equal o r a p p ro x im ate ly equal abutting s t r e s s g roups fo r a ll su b jec ts is

p re se n te d in T able IX.

TABLE IX

P e rc e n ta g e of E qual o r A pprox im ate ly E qual A djacen t S tre s s G roups in S am ples f ro m th e F r e e Speech of A ll Subjects

♦

No. of No. of P a i r s No. of P a i r s of

No. of E qual o r A pprox im ate ly E qual

P a i r s C ontainingA djacen t of E qual A ppr ox im ate ly Sam e N um ber of

Subject P a i r s D uration E qual D uration Syllab les

1 16 0 2 22 6 0 1 03 9 0 0 04 12 1 4 15 4 1 1 16 9 0 2 1

T otal 56 2 10 5

P e rc e n ta g e 3. 5% 17. 8% 41.6%

The f ig u re s p re s e n te d in T able IX a re , of c o u rse , raw d a ta b a sed

on a v e ry lim ite d num ber of sa m p le s . T hey do su g g est, how ever, the

need fo r fu r th e r r e s e a r c h and s ta t is t ic a l a n a ly s is . N eed less to say ,

they have not b een tak en in to c o n s id e ra tio n in the conclusions of th is

study, w hich a re p re s e n te d in C hap ter IV.

Dur

atio

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isec

onds

61

F ig . 13 D ura tion of A djacen t S tre s s G roups in F r e e Speech. Subject 1.

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115

110

105

100

95

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7 2-3 3-3 3-5 3-7 3-5 4 - 6 '

CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSIONS

S um m ary

The p u rp o se of th is study is to te s t the v a lid ity of the g e n e ra l

b e lie f th a t the rhy thm of A m e ric an E ng lish speech is iso ch ro n ic , th a t

is , a rh y th m c h a ra c te r iz e d by the re c u r re n c e of equal o r ap p ro x i­

m a te ly equal sequences of u n s tre s s e d o r w eakly s t r e s s e d sy llab les

a lte rn a tin g w ith s tro n g ly s t r e s s e d sy llab le s w hich m a rk the rh y th m ic

bea t.

Two p rev io u s s tu d ies have a ttem p ted to t e s t e x p e rim e n ta lly th e

th eo ry of iso c h ro n ic rhy thm in E ng lish . In the f i r s t , pub lished in 1939,

A ndr€ C la s se ^ ^ ^ concluded th a t, u n der fav o rab le c irc u m s ta n c e s , the

rhy thm of E n g lish speech is in e ffec t iso c h ro n ic ; and th a t, even under

un favorab le c irc u m s ta n c e s , a tendency, tow ard iso c h ro n ism is ev ident.

In the second study, pub lished in 19&2, Yao Shen and G iles P e te rso n ^ ® ^

found no evidence of iso c h ro n ism in E ng lish rh y th m . Both of th e se

in v es tig a tio n s w ere b ased on m e a su re m e n ts of p ro s e rea d in g s .

A seco n d a ry p u rp o se of th is study is to te s t the a s s e r t io n m ade

in som e tex tbooks fo r the teach ing of E ng lish as a fo re ig n language

tha t, b e ca u se of the isoch ronous c h a ra c te r of E ng lish rhy thm , the

num ber of p r im a ry s t r e s s e s in an u tte ra n c e d e te rm in e s i ts to ta l d u ra ­

tion, r e g a rd le s s of the nu m b er of sy llab le s the u tte ra n c e m ay contain .

In effect, the assu m p tio n is tha t, fo r any given sub jec t, the p r im a ry

s t r e s s e s in an u tte ra n c e m ay be c o n s id e re d as co effic ien ts of its

63

64

du ra tio n , so th a t two u tte ra n c e s contain ing the sam e num ber o f stro n g

s t r e s s e s a re p re su m e d to be of equal d u ra tio n r e g a rd le s s of the num ­

b e r of sy llab les in e ith e r u tte ra n c e .

The co rp u s fo r the m a in p a r t of th is study c o n s is ts of 1200 sa m ­

p le s of s tre tc h e s of speech ob tained fro m ten -m in u te re c o rd in g s of

im p ro m p tu speech by s ix hom ogeneous su b jec ts , a ll sp e a k e rs of s ta n d ­

a rd N orth M idland d ia le c t of A m e ric an E ng lish . The co rp u s fo r the

seco n d a ry p a r t of th is study c o n s is ts of re c o rd in g s , by the sam e sub ­

je c ts , of 128 exam ples of iso c h ro n ic rhy thm taken fro m tex tbooks. A ll

re c o rd in g s w ere m ade w ith p ro fe s s io n a l equipm ent.

The 200 sam p les of u n in te rru p te d f re e speech by each su b jec t

w ere g rouped acco rd in g to the num ber of sy llab les th ey contained ,

rang ing fro m one to e leven , and random ized . F o u r sam p les f ro m each

group, and a ll sam p les f ro m g roups contain ing few er than five , w ere

sp e c tro g rap h e d . Syllabic c e n te rs and s tro n g s t r e s s e s w e re id en tified

on each sp e c tro g ra m , and the d u ra tio n of each s tre tc h w as m e a su re d

f ro m th e o n se t of one s t r e s s e d vow el to the onse t of the nex t s t r e s s e d

vow el. The d u ra tio n of each s tre tc h a s w ell a s the num ber of sy llab les

in each s tre tc h w as p lo tted on a freq u en cy d is tr ib u tio n fo r each sub jec t,

each d is tr ib u tio n contain ing f ro m 30 to 35 p a ire d m e a su re m e n ts . A fte r

d isc a rd in g s tre tc h e s contain ing m o re than e igh t sy llab le s b e ca u se of

th e ir sm a ll num ber and b e ca u se of p o ss ib le e r r o r , the data fo r the 180

rem a in in g s tre tc h e s contain ing f ro m 1 to 8 sy llab les w e re p lo tted on a

com bined freq u en cy d is tr ib u tio n .

S ince in sp ec tio n of a ll seven g rap h s show ed a p ro b ab le l in e a r

re la tio n and a p o ss ib le c u rv ilin e a r re la tio n betw een d u ra tio n and n u m ­

b e r of sy lla b le s , the data w e re subm itted to m a th em a tica l a n a ly s is fo r

65

th ese two e ffec ts . The a n a ly s is fo r each su b jec t and fo r the com bined

su b jec ts shows that, w hile the c u rv ilin e a r e ffect is n o n -s ig n ifican t, the

l in e a r e ffec t is sign ifican t in a ll c a s e s . A high d eg ree of c o rre la tio n ,

in e v e ry c a se above . 90, e x is ts betw een the d u ra tio n of and the num ber

of sy llab le s in a s tre tc h of speech bounded a t each end by the o n se t of

stro n g s t r e s s .

The 128 rec o rd in g s of f ra m e d u tte ra n c e s p re se n te d in v a rio u s

tex tbooks as exam ples of the e ffec t of iso ch ro n ic rhy thm on d u ra tio n

w ere analyzed fo r s im ila r i ty of ren d itio n . Seventeen g roups of th re e

s im ila r u tte ra n c e s each and 10 p a ir s of d is s im ila r u tte ra n c e s , to ta ling

6 l sam p le s , w e re found to have b een spoken w ith the sam e num ber of

stro n g s t r e s s e s by th re e o r m o re in fo rm a n ts . T hese sam p le s w ere

sp ec tro g rap h ed , th e ir d u ra tio n w as m e a su re d f ro m abso lu te beginning

to ab so lu te end, and the m e a su re m e n ts w ere co m p ared . In spection of

T able V shows tha t in 42 of the 44 c o m p ariso n s the u tte ra n c e co n ta in ­

ing m o re sy llab les h as a g re a te r o b se rv ed d u ra tio n than the u tte ra n c e

contain ing few er sy lla b le s .

To te s t fu r th e r the v a lid ity of the a ssu m p tio n th a t, b ecau se of the

e ffec t of iso c h ro n ism , the d u ra tio n of an u tte ra n c e can be p re d ic te d on

a b a s is of the num ber of s tro n g sy llab les w ith w hich i t is spoken ra th e r

than on a b a s is of the num ber of sy llab le s i t con ta in s , p re d ic tio n s of

the d u ra tio n of these f ra m e d u tte ra n c e s w e re m ade in te rm s of the two

th e o r ie s . On a b a s is of the th e o ry of iso c h ro n ism , the p re d ic te d d u ra ­

tion of th e second of a p a ir of d is s im ila r u tte ra n c e s and of the second

and th ird of a s e t of s im ila r u tte ra n c e s , spoken w ith the sam e num ber

of s tro n g s t r e s s e s , w as a ssu m e d to be the sam e a s th a t of the f i r s t

u tte ra n c e . On a b a s is of a th e o ry of l in e a r re la tio n , the d u ra tio n of a

66

second and of a th ird u tte ra n c e w as e s tim a te d to be the p ro d u c t of the

num ber of sy llab les in i t tim e s the av e rag e d u ra tio n of sy llab le s in the

f i r s t u tte ran c e .

C om parison of the a c c u ra c y of each type of p red ic tio n shows th a t

1. in te rm s of the num ber of p re d ic tio n s , those p red ic tio n s

b a se d on a th e o ry of l in e a r i ty a r e m o re a c c u ra te in 77%

of the 44 co m p ariso n s m ade;

2. in te rm s of p e rcen tag e of p re d ic tiv e accu racy , those p r e ­

d ic tio n s b a sed on a th e o ry of l in e a r i ty have an a v erag e

a c c u ra c y of 75% as a g a in s t 62% fo r those b a sed on a th e ­

o ry of iso ch ro n ic rhy thm .

G enera l C onclusions

In te rp re ta tio n of the lim ite d data in th is study lead s to the con­

c lu s io n th a t iso ch ro n ic rhy thm , a s defined in C hap ter 1, does no t e x is t

in the f r e e c o n v ersa tio n of sp e ak e rs of N orth M idland d ia le c t of A m e ri­

can E ng lish . As p o stu la ted , the th e o ry of accen tu a l p e rio d ic ity r e s t s

on the assu m p tio n th a t s tro n g s t r e s s e s r e c u r re g u la r ly in the s tr e a m

of speech re g a rd le s s of the num ber of sy llab le s en co m p assed by the

s t r e s s e s . N e v e rth e le ss , the p hysica l m e a su re m e n ts of tim e in te rv a ls

be tw een s t r e s s e s p re s e n te d in th is study do no t su p p o rt such a th eo ry .

On the c o n tra ry , the .ev idence h e re p re s e n te d c o n tra d ic ts the a s su m p ­

tion by rev ea lin g the ex is ten ce of a d ire c t re la tio n sh ip betw een the n u m ­

b e r of sy llab les in s tre tc h e s of speech d e lim ited b y s tro n g s t r e s s e s

and the d u ra tio n of th o se s tre tc h e s . In fac t, in a ll su b jec ts s tud ied the

high d eg ree of c o rre la t io n betw een th e se two v a r ia b le s m ak es it

67

p o ss ib le to se t up a ten ta tiv e hypo thesis of l in e a r re la tio n betw een

d u ra tio n and num ber of sy llab le s .

The hypo thesis h e re p re se n te d is th a t the d u ra tio n of s tre tc h e s of

speech d e lim ited by the o n se t of s tro n g s t r e s s in c re a s e s a s the n u m ­

b e r of sy llab le s in the s tr e tc h in c re a s e s . Though the in c re a s e is no t

d ire c tly p ro p o rtio n a l, since the m ean av e rag e d u ra tio n of sy llab le s in

m u ltisy lla b ic s t r e s s g roups, e sp e c ia lly in those contain ing fou r o r

m o re sy lla b le s , tends to be sm a lle r than th a t of sy llab les in sh o r te r

g roups, i t is c le a r ly eviden t in a ll su b je c ts . F u r th e rm o re , in none of

the su b jec ts does the a v e rag e d u ra tio n of ind iv idual sy llab le s in m u lt i­

sy llab ic s t r e s s g roups contain ing a d isp a ra te num ber of sy llab les

d e c re a se enough to equalize the to ta l d u ra tio n of the g roups.

E vidence p ro v id ed by the co m p a riso n of the d u ra tio n of f ra m e d

u tte ra n c e s a n sw e rs the seco n d a ry p u rp o se of th is investiga tion : to te s t

the v a lid ity of the a s s e r t io n th a t u tte ra n c e s con tain ing an equal num ber

of p r im a ry s t r e s s e s bu t a d isp a ra te num ber of sy llab les a r e equal in

to ta l d u ra tio n . The conclu sion to be d raw n fro m the m e a su re m e n ts

m ade in th is study is th a t th is a s s e r t io n h as no b a s is in fa c t, s ince in

95% of the co m p ariso n s the u tte ra n c e contain ing the g re a te r num ber of

sy llab le s a lso has a longer d u ra tio n . The assu m p tio n , then , th a t

b e ca u se of the e ffec t of iso c h ro n ism the num ber of stro n g s t r e s s e s in

an u tte ra n c e m ay s e rv e a s a co effic ien t of its du ra tion , m u s t be

re g a rd e d a s fa lse . M o reo v er, the fa c t th a t in the m a jo r ity of the co m ­

p a riso n s the d u ra tio n of the lo n g e r u tte ra n c e could be p re d ic te d m o re

a c c u ra te ly on a b a s is of av e rag e sy llab le leng th than on a b a s is of'

equal leng th of s t r e s s g roups p ro v id es s t i l l m o re ev idence a g a in s t the

th eo ry of iso ch ro n ic d is tr ib u tio n of s t r e s s e s and in fav o r of a

68

h y p o th esis of l in e a r ity .

Suggestions fo r F u r th e r Studies

Though i t has b een g e n e ra lly accep ted th a t rhy thm is an e sse n tia l

c h a ra c te r is t ic of speech , is i t w a rra n te d to a s su m e 'th a t f re e , u n re ­

h e a rse d , c o n v ersa tio n a l speech is a lso rh y th m ic a l? Since a ll p rev ious

s tu d ies of the rhy thm of speech have b een b a se d on o ra to ry o r on r e a d ­

ings, in m o s t c a se s read in g s of l i t e r a r y p ro se , i t is not y e t p o ss ib le to

a s s e r t th a t o rd in a ry , in fo rm a l speech is rh y th m ica l. I t se e m s th a t the

m o s t fundam ental and hence m o st n e c e s s a ry in v es tig a tio n to be m ade

on th is su b jec t would be one to d e te rm in e w hether o r not l is te n e r s p e r ­

ce ive a rhy thm ic im p re ss io n fro m th is type of speech . If im prom ptu

speech should be found to be rh y th m ica l, the nex t s tep would be to

d e te rm in e w hat fa c to rs co n stitu te i ts rhy thm .

Rhythm is , by g en era l consen t, a re p e tit io n o r re c u r re n c e of

som e so r t , involving som e kind of tim e re la tio n ; if app lied to speech ,

i t m u s t involve a r e c u r re n c e of som e s o r t am ong sounds. T his r e c u r ­

re n c e , how ever, m ay involve not only un its of d u ra tio n o r in ten sity ,

bu t a lso o th er aco u stic fa c to rs such a s changes in p itch , tem po, o r

sound quality , o r even p e rio d s of s ilen c e . In addition , i t is p o ss ib le

th a t a rhy thm ic im p re ss io n m ay be conveyed.by o th er types of e x p re s ­

sion un its such a s rh e to r ic a l o r sy n tac tic a rra n g e m e n ts . It is a lso

p o ss ib le th a t the rhy thm ic q u a lity of speech m ay be a com plex phenom ­

enon com bining m any fa c to rs . It would c e r ta in ly be adv isab le to in v e s ­

tig a te the follow ing p o ss ib ili tie s ;

1. th a t the b e a ts in a rhy thm ic sequence m ay be supplied

69

not only by s t r e s s e s bu t a lso by p itch changes o r by

p a u ses ;

2. th a t the rhy thm ic im p re ss io n m ay be conveyed m e re ly by

the a lte rn a tio n of s t r e s s and u n s tre s s w ithout the co n ­

s t r a in t of p e rio d ic ity ;

3. th a t the rhy thm ic im p re s s io n conveyed by speech m ay be

so le ly o r p r im a r ily a sub jec tive phenom enon in w hich

su c c e ss iv e un its a r e p e rc e iv e d in p ro p o rtio n ed o rd e r

w ithout b a s is in ob jec tive m e a su re m e n ts .

It would be ad v isab le , of c o u rse , to conduct fu r th e r in v e s tig a ­

tions in the a lleged iso ch ro n ic n a tu re of speech rhy thm . A c o m p a riso n

of the d u ra tio n of ad jacen t s tre tc h e s in a rhy thm ic s e r ie s , view ed c u r ­

so r i ly in th is study, m e r i ts s ta t is t ic a l a n a ly s is . An in v es tig a tio n of

the e ffec t of h e s ita tio n s , in v o lu n ta ry re p e titio n s , c u r ta ile d rhy thm

u n ite d I’ ), n o n -te rm in a l p a u se s , and ju n c tu re d raw l (slow -dow n) on the

a lleg ed re g u la r ity of s t r e s s d is tr ib u tio n m ay c la r ify o r, on the o th er

hand, invalida te the find ings of th is study. So m ay the in v es tig a tio n of

phenom ena such as sy llab le s w ith double n u c l e i ^ ^ and com plex

rhy thm un its contain ing two o r m o re s tro n g s t r e s s e s ^ w h i c h p e r ­

haps a c t a s d isru p tin g fa c to rs in the p o stu la ted equality of s t r e s s

g roups.

The fa c t re m a in s , n e v e r th e le s s , th a t the evidence re su ltin g f ro m

th is study does not co n firm the ex is ten ce of iso c h ro n ic rhy thm in A m e r­

ica n speech .

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*

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81

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APPENDIX

STRESS GROUPS R EPR ESEN TED IN FIGURES 6-11

Subject

Type of G roup D u ra ­tion in c s .

1 -sy llab le

nex t fd ll 26stage tu rn ed 29leap ed back 346dd jdbs 34

2 - sy llab le

thd t o r not 27th is and down 29pdked w ith hd les 36th ings th a t happened 38

3 - sy llab le

fd ir ly good c£at 42caboose and a cdal 44h£li of an i r m 48cdal c a r and every th ing 50

4 - sy llab le

down into a cdat 59tigh tened up lik e th is 62take a ll s o r ts of odd 76tu rn ed on th is huge spot 88

5 -sy llab le

I th ink i t ’ s p re t ty good 65D doditch w as play(i)ng

the v illa in 80axe th e re to knock the

door 91bdck up on to the p ie r 96

Type of Group D u ra ­tion in c s .

6 -sy lla b le

pdss(i)b ly go on fo r ad d c to ra te 79

ap p ea red th a t I only had ha lf 83c£at p a r ty a s I re c a l l 90Alm ost knocked m e off the

p ie r 103

7 - sy llab le

probably end up in a c d lleg e 94 ndt for any a sso c ia tio n 94Coibin on the edge of the

stdge 108 sm ashed th e door aw ay

. w ith the £xe 112

8 - sy llab le

I don’t know it m u st havebeen a t le a s t 92

dn stage we w ere havinga good tim e 122

b linded m e I w as lookingr ig h t £t 123

9 - sy llab le

idda a s to w hat I w antedto dd 123

d re a th a t I fe lt a li( tt) lem o re co m fo rtab le 124

10-sy llab le

everybody in the audiencew as laughing 98

f don’t re m e m b e r w hetheri t w as m y se lf 110

82

83

S ubject 2

D u ra ­tio n in c s .

Type of Group

1 -sy llab le

bad a f te r 20b£ck out 25f i r s t One 36each shOt 43

2 - sy llab le

m is ta k e of m y 34exce l a t £11 34u n d e rs tan d the fueling 44succeed th is yOar 51

3 - sy llab le

gOtten in shape 50five hundred yOrds 52d id n 't excOl 52being le ft-h an d ed 61

4 - sy llab le

gOes into the golf 56did have a good tim e 62th is w as the m is ta k e 74le ft-h an d ed in p ra c t ic a l ly 77

5 - sy llab le

hole w as about a hundred 58positio n to p lay the bOll 71a fte r about the th ird 83th is p o rtio n of the gOme 86

6 - sy llab le

hcive to d isc ip lin e y o u rse lf 96th ings th a t y o u 're sup ­

posed to p ra c t ic e 106ju s t the w ay i t should be

dOne 106exac tly as you should be

standing 108

Type of G roup D u ra ­tion in c s .

7 - sy llab le

p r£ c tic (a ) lly every th ing I do 103 Answering m y p ro b lem

a t Oil 115com petition a g a in st

yoursO lf 122

8 - sy llab le

MOgador is no t a v e ryd ifficu lt 9 2

r e a l ly going to m a s te rth a t g im e 140

try in g to b e tte r h isp rev io u s scO re 144

gOme beg ins to g e t theb e s t of yOu 146

84

S ubject 3

Type of Group D u ra ­tio n in c s .

1 -sy llab le

ge t Anywhere 14h e r w orking 22he s ta r te d 26ndw a lso 26

2 - sy llab le

any m £n 30is a m in is te r 37student teach ing 38gone to B a p tis t 58

3 - sy llab le

g6 to a fo re ig n 46he i s n 't p e rfe c t 52g£t through to th em 52sen io r r ig h t now 56

4 - sy llab le

fo rg e t about th e m is s io n a ry 48m is s io n a ry f ie ld 58pl£n to go to se m in a ry 74th a t 's a ll I could d6 76

5 - sy llab le

Anyone in m y fam ily 70£ lso a p o ss ib il i ty 74Anything th a t 's w orth-w hile 92a lso w ent to m y ch u rch 92

6 -sy lla b le

d id n 't th ink m aybe I couldget 98

s h e 's a ccep ted the id£a 100them so th ey could u n d e r­

stand 104I w ant to do th is w o rk eilso 104

Type of Group D u ra ­tion in c s .

7 - sy llab le

s ta r te d h e re a t the un i­v e rs i ty 107

h£d w anted m e to be am is s io n a ry 116

d o n 't fee l a s if I could g6 120I w ant to be the one up

th e re 122

9 -sy lla b le

decided th a t we w e re go­ing to go into 142

anything e v e r happens tothe husband 144

85

D u ra ­tion in c s .

Type of Group

1- sy llab le

n6 sp £ re 27sp a re t i r e 286ne su p e rm a rk e t 30£ll nav igab le 34

2- sy llab le

out of tdwn 38tdwn we stayed 44K nlgh tsb ridge S tation 50h ig h -c la s s b u tch e r 52

3 -sy llab le

sta tio n to p ick 44pick up the c a r 52U nivers(i)ty of Ldndon 52O xford and C am bridge '6 6

4- sy llab le

d rd (i)n a r ily do 50eifter i t w as d v e r 62£11 v e ry w ell ddne 64give m e a sh o rt td u r 80

5 - sy llab le

everyone goes to bed 60C am bridge and th(e)

U n iv e rs ity 64 tw enty and the l a s t bus 67com es fro m having the

governm en t 70

6 - sy llab le

6ver we re n te d a c £ r 60f w ant to go in a st<5re 87se rv ic e angle they don’t

c £ re 101 cabbage g ree n s th a t have

been cdoked 102

Subject 4

Type of Group

7 - sy llab le

D u ra ­tion in c s .

cdok w as a v e ry v e ry n ice 75peop le as I sa id th e re w e re

five 84fa m ilia r iz e m e w ith the

c o n tro ls 110

8 - sy llab le

f i r s t th ing I no ticed w as ithad no 103

shdw ed h im tha t I r e a l lyd idn’t t£ke 116

bus le f t a t e leven tw en ty -two 128

£ach pub c a te re d to a d if­fe re n t sec tio n 134

9 - sy llab le

H itchen a s I say w as atown of ten

10-sy llab le

11-sy llab le

su p e rm a rk e ts alw ayssm e ll heav ily of soap

123

p ro v is io n m e rc h a n t to buya b o ttle of pdp 132

162

86

Subject jj

Type of Group D u ra ­ Type of G roup D u ra ­

1 -sy llab letion in c s . tion in c s .

7 - sy llab le

cu te f 17 m a r r ia g e w as n e v e r onf i r s t g ir l 26 m y m ind 84five six 34 expec ta tions of w hat i theld h£d 36 w ould be like

p ro b ab ly end up w ith a88

2- sy llab le m d jo rstdff announcer th e re l a s t

92

two y e a rs old dach is speech

2840

s e m e s te r 96

sdm e tim e back dight y e a rs did

4243

8 - sy llab le

sh e ’s been w ork ing th e re3 - sy llab le about a y e a r

m d th e r cam e ov er when81

six th of O ctober 41 she w as dight 93bdck in the th ir t ie s 48 every th ing se em s to betu rn ed a g a in s t speech 56 fa llin g r ig h t 113spdech a lto g e th e r 57 exac tly in w hat you would

c a ll a d iligen t 1324 - sy llab le

a p p a ren tly i t happened stdyed fo r about a m onth E ng lish is m y m in o r fee l th a t I*m com patib le

5 - sy llab le

f d idn’t en joy th a t thdught about tu rn ing

anyway In teg ra te d w ith E ng lish debate ju s t about the b e s t

6 - sy llab le

everybody seem s to a sk c a te g o rie s in the speech f looked a round qu ite a b it hdlf a s m uch a s 1 did th is

36565868

6 l

677070

56667989

9 - sy llab le

planning on getting m a r ­r ie d in O ctober

10-sy llab le

th ink s h e 's go(i)ng to do it in public a d d re ss

11-sy llab le

teach ing a ss ig n m en t a tJennings Ju n io r High

92

104

151

87

Subject 6

Type of G roup D u ra ­tion in c s .

1 -sy llab le

m isn o m e r 21sam e con flic t 24th a t1 s I t 25d6 b 6 26

2 - sy llab le

thing th a t’s Always 27go again 32sdm e p ro fic ien c y 34I look fd rw a rd 36

3 -sy llab le

fdilow ing p o litic s 37sdm ething to push 43dctive p a rtic ip a tio n 51fifteen d o o rs open 71

4 - sy llab le

lik e i t v e ry m uch 51v e ry im m a tu re 48dlw ays go tten m e 56p ro fic ien cy in speech 65

5 - sy llab le

hope I can get a jdb 64p a rtic ip a tio n in p o litic s 65f th ink th e r e 's a s m uch

p d litic s 84ho n estly say I s leep 88

6 - sy llab le

p o litic s in education 79not tha t I d o n 't w ant to

tea ch 84jdb th a t I co u ld n 't a ffd rd 91av e rag e th is y e a r in the

b u s in e ss 97

Type of Group D u ra ­tion in c s .

7 -sy lla b le

v e ry valuab le ex p erien ce 78 fa th e r and I d o n 't get along 9 1 cdnt(i)nuity d ire c to r qu it 9 8job in the A kron public

schdol 105

8 - sy llab le

education as th e re is any ­w here e ls e 86

education is v e ry rew ard in g 97 m isn o m e r th a t 's going

around the spdech 110 ld t m o re m oney doing

o th e r th ings 111

9-sy lla b le

re sp d n s ib ility fo r-som ebodye ls e 94

thdn I 'd lik e to s t a r t w orkingon m y M a s te r 's 104

b u s in e ss d e p a rtm e n t hasbeen about six 136

10-sy llab le

ev er b een in t(e ) re s te d inrad io w drkshop 110

88

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

D om itila D om enech de B e laval w as b o rn to P u e r to R ican and

A m erican p a re n ts in P once , P u e r to R ico , in 1912. She w as educated

fo r the m o s t p a r t in the public schoo ls of the is lan d . She re c e iv e d a

B. S. d e g re e in E ng lish and F re n c h fro m E lm ira C ollege in 1933, an

M. A. d e g re e in co m p ara tiv e l i te r a tu r e f ro m Colum bia U n iv e rs ity in

1947, and a P h . D. d e g re e in l in g u is tic s f ro m L ou is iana S tate U n iv e r­

s ity in 1966.

Since 1933 she h as taugh t E n g lish a t the U n iv e rs ity of P u e r to R ico

and is a t p re s e n t a m e m b e r of the D ep artm en t of E ng lish in the C ollege

of H um anities of th a t u n iv e rs ity .

She is m a r r ie d to E d g ar S. B e lav a l, a law y er, and liv e s a t 612

B elaval S tre e t, S an tu rce , P u e r to R ico.

EXAMINATION AND THESIS REPORT

Candidate: B e la v a l , D o m it i la Domenech de

MajorField: L i n g u i s t i c s

Title of Thesis:

An In v e s t ig a t io n of

Isochronism in the

Rhythm of American

E n glish Speech

EXAMINING COMMITTEE:

9) . 'eJL c J ? . &

Approved:

^ 7- ^ /JMajor Professor and ClChairman

Dean of the Graduate School

Date of Examination:

May 2 , 1966