Correlates of linguistic rhythm in the speech signal

Abstract

Spoken languages have been classified by linguists according to their rhythmic properties, and psycholinguists have relied on this classification to account for infants' capacity to discriminate languages. Although researchers have measured many speech signal properties, they have failed to identify reliable acoustic characteristics for language classes. This paper presents instrumental measurements based on a consonant/vowel segmentation for eight languages. The measurements suggest that intuitive rhythm types reflect specific phonological properties, which in turn are signaled by the acoustic/phonetic properties of speech. The data support the notion of rhythm classes and also allow the simulation of infant language discrimination, consistent with the hypothesis that newborns rely on a coarse segmentation of speech. A hypothesis is proposed regarding the role of rhythm perception in language acquisition.

Language Discrimination by English-Learning 5-Month-Olds: Effects of Rhythm and Familiarity

“…By this classification, most Romance languages (e.g., French, Italian, and Spanish) have a rhythm based on the syllable, most Germanic languages (e.g., English, Dutch, and German) have a rhythm based on the stress unit, while languages such as Japanese have a mora-based rhythm. Evidence for these rhythmic classes is reported in several recent investigations (Arvaniti, 1994;den Os, 1988;Fant, Kruckenberg, & Nord, 1991;Nazzi, 1997;Shafer, Shucard, & Jaeger, 1999;Ramus, Nespor, & Mehler, 1999).…”

The role of accentual pattern in early lexical representation

“…English, on the other hand, is known for its strong stress, with vowel reduction a common concomitant of the unstressed syllable (Cruttenden, 1986;Cutler & Carter, 1987). English and French, respectively, are considered models of the two contrasting types, Ôstress-timedÕ and Ôsyllable-timedÕ languages, a longstanding intuitive classification for which investigators are still seeking the relevant acoustic correlates (see Grabe & Low, 2002;Ramus, Nespor, & Mehler, 1999). It is possible, then, that the effect of changing the onset consonant of the accented syllable is experienced differently by infants acquiring a language in which the accented syllable is prominent (as in English) vs. a language in which the accented syllable is less acoustically salient (as in French).…”

Rise time perception and detection of syllable stress in adults with developmental dyslexia

“…As noted by Greenberg (2006), rise time is also important for perceiving intonational grouping because of its links with prosody. This has interesting implications for the notion that languages can be grouped into different rhythm classes, such as stress-versus syllable-timed, on the basis of different formulae quantifying consonantal and vocalic variability (e.g., Arvaniti, 2009;Grabe & Low, 2002;Ramus, Nespor, & Mehler, 1999). These formulae typically depend on durational acoustic differences, but the criteria used to place languages on a rhythmic continuum do not reflect durational variation per se, rather they depend on the extent to which a language has easily-defined prominences or accents (see Dauer, 1983Dauer, , 1987; and extended discussion in Arvaniti, 2009).…”