Abstract
This paper describes an experiment which attempted to determine the degree of consensus, if any, on the perception of syllable/stress-timed rhythm in seven languages–Arabic, Polish, Argentinian Spanish, Finnish, Japanese, Indonesian and Yoruba. Recorded language samples in reading and conversational styles were presented to English and French Phoneticians and English and French Non-Phoneticians. Results indicate that all groups classified Arabic as strongly stress-timed. Predictably, phoneticians showed greater discrimination than non-phoneticians. For the reading style, statistically more reliable than the conversational style, phoneticians classified Spanish as clearly stress-timed and Yoruba as syllable-timed while Japanese, Finnish and Indonesian were not clearly assigned to either rhythmic type. Opinions differed on the categorization of Polish. Even so, languages appear not to fall clearly into dichotomous rhythmic types but to display features of both types in different proportions.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
