Rhythmic typology and variation in first and second languages
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Laurence White
Abstract
This paper explores the concept of linguistic rhythm classes through a series of studies exploiting metrics designed to quantify speech rhythm. We compared the rhythm of ‘syllable-timed’ French and Spanish with that of ‘stress-timed’ Dutch and English, finding that rate-normalised metrics of vocalic interval variability (VarcoV and nPVI-V), together with a measure of the balance of vocalic and intervocalic intervals (%V), were the most discriminant between the two rhythm groups. The same metrics were also informative about the adaptation of speakers to rhythmically-similar (Dutch and English) or rhythmically-distinct (Spanish and English) second languages, and showed evidence of rhythmic gradience within accents of British English. Patterns of scores in all studies support the notion that rhythmic typology is not strictly categorical. A perceptual study found VarcoV to be the strongest predictor of the rating of a second language speaker’s accent as native or non-native.
Abstract
This paper explores the concept of linguistic rhythm classes through a series of studies exploiting metrics designed to quantify speech rhythm. We compared the rhythm of ‘syllable-timed’ French and Spanish with that of ‘stress-timed’ Dutch and English, finding that rate-normalised metrics of vocalic interval variability (VarcoV and nPVI-V), together with a measure of the balance of vocalic and intervocalic intervals (%V), were the most discriminant between the two rhythm groups. The same metrics were also informative about the adaptation of speakers to rhythmically-similar (Dutch and English) or rhythmically-distinct (Spanish and English) second languages, and showed evidence of rhythmic gradience within accents of British English. Patterns of scores in all studies support the notion that rhythmic typology is not strictly categorical. A perceptual study found VarcoV to be the strongest predictor of the rating of a second language speaker’s accent as native or non-native.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
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Part 1: Segments and processes
- Detection of liaison consonants in speech processing in French 3
- Patterns of VCV coarticulatory direction according to the DAC model 25
- The stability of phonological features within and across segments 41
- Pre- and postaspirated stops in Andalusian Spanish 67
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Part 2: Prosodic structure
- Variation in the intonation of extra-sentential elements 85
- Voicing-dependent cluster simplification asymmetries in Spanish and French 109
- The phonetics and phonology of intonational phrasing in Romance 131
- Disentangling stress from accent in Spanish 155
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Part 3: Acquisition of segmental contrasts and prosody
- On the effect of (morpho)phonological complexity in the early acquisition of unstressed vowels in European Portuguese 179
- The perception of lexical stress patterns by Spanish and Catalan infants 199
- Logistic regression modelling for first and second language perception data 219
- Rhythmic typology and variation in first and second languages 237
- Subject Index 259
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Part 1: Segments and processes
- Detection of liaison consonants in speech processing in French 3
- Patterns of VCV coarticulatory direction according to the DAC model 25
- The stability of phonological features within and across segments 41
- Pre- and postaspirated stops in Andalusian Spanish 67
-
Part 2: Prosodic structure
- Variation in the intonation of extra-sentential elements 85
- Voicing-dependent cluster simplification asymmetries in Spanish and French 109
- The phonetics and phonology of intonational phrasing in Romance 131
- Disentangling stress from accent in Spanish 155
-
Part 3: Acquisition of segmental contrasts and prosody
- On the effect of (morpho)phonological complexity in the early acquisition of unstressed vowels in European Portuguese 179
- The perception of lexical stress patterns by Spanish and Catalan infants 199
- Logistic regression modelling for first and second language perception data 219
- Rhythmic typology and variation in first and second languages 237
- Subject Index 259
