Speech Rhythm in Indian English and British English

Abstract

This chapter presents the results of the analysis of differences in the production of speech rhythm in educated Indian English and British English. A variety of correlates of prominence is tested within a multidimensional model of speech rhythm. In addition, the influence of a number of methodological parameters is considered to control for these factors by determining whether any differences in rhythm between educated Indian English and British English depend on them. This includes the minimal length of utterances, the inclusion or exclusion of final syllables or vocalic intervals and different syllabification methods (for syllable-based metrics). Overall, the majority of the acoustic correlates of prominence support a description of the speech rhythm of Indian English as more syllable-timed than British English. Only a minority of the acoustic correlates of prominence considered in the study do not show a significant difference between the varieties, and only one correlate supports a description of Indian English as more stress-timed than British English. Previous research on the speech rhythm of dialects of British English allows a comparison of the results on the speech rhythm of Indian English with further dialects of British English. The comparison shows that some British English dialects are as syllable-timed as Indian English, but only with regard to the variability of vocalic durations (there being no data on other acoustic correlates of rhythm). Although this comparison is restricted to vocalic variability, it suggests that while Indian English is more syllable-timed than Southern Standard British English, it might be similar in rhythm to some dialects of British English.