essay on stress and rhythm

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• > The Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics
• > Stress and Rhythm

Book contents

• The Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics
• Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics
• Copyright page
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Section I Segmental Production
• Section II Prosodic Production
• 6 Stress and Rhythm
• 7 Lexical Tone
• 8 Intonation
• 9 Voice Quality
• Section III Measuring Speech
• Section IV Audition and Perception
• Section V Applications of Phonetics

6 - Stress and Rhythm

from Section II - Prosodic Production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2021

This chapter covers two related prosodic phenomena: stress, i.e. the relative perceived prominence of individual syllables, and speech rhythm, the distributed prominence of syllables across stretches of speech and their perceived regularity in time. Both stress and rhythm can be viewed from the angles of perception and production, and speakers of different languages differ in how stress and rhythm are produced, perceived and interpreted for linguistic meaning. The chapter explains which articulatory and phonatory factors have been found to play a role in the production of stressed syllables, and distinguishes between stress and accent. The historically important concepts of rhythm classes and isochrony are presented in the context of current developments and debates. Three recent issues for research are presented in some detail: the analysis of stress in different languages, rhythm metrics, and rhythm and perception. The chapter further explores the role of rhythm for turn-taking in everyday talk, showing that conversationalists aim to rhythmically integrate their turns at talk with those of other speakers.

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• Stress and Rhythm
• By Marina N. Cantarutti , Beatrice Szczepek Reed
• Edited by Rachael-Anne Knight , City, University of London , Jane Setter , University of Reading
• Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Phonetics
• Online publication: 11 November 2021
• Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108644198.007

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Stress and rhythm in English

• November 1991
• Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses

• Autonomous University of Barcelona

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On stress and linguistic rhythm

In this essay a new theory of stress and linguistic rhythm will be elaborated, based on the proposals of Liberman (1975).'It will be argued that certain features of prosodic systems like that of English, in particular the phenomenon of" stress subordination", are not to be referred primarily to the properties of individual segments (or syllables), but rather reflect a hierarchical rhythmic structuring that organizes the syllables, words, and syntactic phrases of a sentence.

Related Papers

Mark Liberman

In this essay a new theory of stress and linguistic rhythm will he elaborated, based on the proposals of Liherman (j975), IIt viIl he argued that certain features of prosodic systems like that of English, in particular the phenomenon of “stress subordination,” are not to he refi. rred primarily to the properties of individual segments (or syllables), hut rather reflect a hierarchical rhythmic structuring that organizes the s Ilahies, words, and syntactic phrases of a sentence. The character of this structuring. properly under stood.

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary English Pronunciation

Boikanyego Sebina

Journal of Phonetics

Robert Port

Rhythm in speech is interpreted as the hierarchical organization of temporally coordinated prosodic units. This is a departure from conventional phonetic approaches which have focused on isochrony. Speech cycling, a novel experimental vehicle for investigating rhythmic constraints, is introduced. In a speech cycling task, subjects repeat a phrase together with a periodic stimulus and the temporal distribution of onset events (beats) is examined. Two speech cycling experiments are presented which probe the degree to which the relative durations of inter-stress intervals within a series of repeated phrases are independent. The data reveal the presence of strong rhythmic constraints on stress timing which have hitherto eluded experimenters. It is argued that these constraints are evidence for a task-specific dynamical system in which prominent events (stress beats) are constrained to occur at specific, predictable, phases of an enclosing cycle. The dynamical system is characterized by entrainment between metrical levels, a principle which underlies rhythmic coordination in other activities such as locomotion. It is demonstrated that the hierarchical nesting of metrical levels arises inevitably within a repetition task, and what is more, the construction of individual prosodic units depends to some extent on the resulting rhythmic pattern. By structuring an utterance so that prominent events lie at privileged phases of a higher-level prosodic unit, rhythm is seen as an organizational principle which has its roots in the coordination of complex action and its effect in the realm of prosodic structure.

Kristine Hildebrandt

Abstract In recent research on cross-linguistic differences in linguistic rhythm, it has been hypothesized that the traditional dichotomy'stress-timed'versus' syllable-timed'might be recast with respect to which level of the Prosodic Hierarchy constitutes the most prominent domain for the organization of prosodic structure. In this paper, we test the prediction that'stress-timed'languages are characterized by a dominance of the prosodic word against a typological sample of 58 languages.

Marina Nespor

Akinjobi, A. and Atolagbe, A. (eds.) English Phonology in a Non-Native Speaker Environment: Theory, Analysis and Practice

carol anyagwa

Stress is, unarguably, the most widely researched prosodic concept. Consequently, attempts at analysing the stress systems of different human languages, that are stress dependent, have yielded a number of theories, notably rule-based and constraint-based theories. While the rule-based theories seek to establish the sequences of rules which derive the surface form from the underlying form, the constraint-based theories focus on the interaction between series of (in)violable constraints that determine which of the infinite candidates associated with an input representation is the most well-formed output form. Focusing on the Sound Pattern of English (SPE) model of the Generative theory (a rule-based approach) and Optimality theory (a constraint-based approach), this chapter reviews both approaches identifying their conceptual distinctions. It establishes that, to a large extent, rules and constraints achieve the same goal and neither can be reasonably judged superior to the other.

Linguistic Inquiry

John McCarthy

ResearchGate

Temidayo J Afolabi

This research focuses on how stress placement in English can be justified as a nonarbitrary phenomenon. In fact, it is guided by the dictates of certain morphological, syntactic, and phonological rules.

Artur Josias

In English we do not say each word with the same force or strength. And this differences in pronouncing words with a different force and strength is what we call word stress or lexical stress. What is more, word stress in English is quite variable: some words are stressed on their first syllable (e.g., sister, decorate, Arabic), some are stressed on the second (e.g., present, arcane, America, attention), some on the third (e.g., decoration, historicity, and referee), and still others on the fourth (e.g., exasperation). Furthermore, being English a stressed language, one should pay closely attention to the pattern of stress in that language, seeing that “word stress is an important pattern in word shape. Besides, a change of this pattern may lead to misunderstanding in communication. Nevertheless, this short piece of writing, strictly speaking, describes the nature of word stress and highlights its importance in mastering English pronunciation fluency.

Reza Rezaei

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In: Actes du IV Congreso de Fonética Experimental (thematic area : prosody), Granada 11-14 febrero 2008 (Espagne), dans Language Design, special issue, 2 (2008) Experimental Prosody, Antonio Pames, Mari Cruz Amorós & Jose Manuel Pazos, Granada, Método Ediciones, 315-322

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On stress and linguistic rhythm

• M. Liberman , A. Prince
• Published 1977
• Linguistics

1,232 Citations

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M. hammond, constraining metrical theory: a modular theory of rhythm and destressing . (outstanding dissertations in linguistic series.) garland: new york a london, 1988. pp. 235., the structure of intonational meaning: evidence form english, transfer of l1 parameter settings: some empirical evidence from polish metrics, word-formation in english, noun faithfulness: evidence from accent in japanese dialects, the role of agreement in natural language, prosodic morphology : constraint interaction and satisfaction, 35 references, the sound pattern of english, stress and syntax: a reply., an introduction to the pronunciation of english, formal properties of phonological rules, catalan phonology and the phonological cycle, the phonology and morphology of tiberian hebrew., use of nonsense‐syllable mimicry in the study of prosodic phenomena, hearing "words" without words: prosodic cues for word perception., word formation in generative grammar, morphophonemics of modern hebrew, related papers.

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