REASONS FOR AN UNDERLYING UNITY IN RHYTHM DICHOTOMY

Despite the empirically based rejection of the simple dichotomy between syllable-timed & stress-timed speech rhythms first formulated by Kenneth Pike (1945), an underlying cross-linguistic unity is suggested by a statistical tendency for stress group durations to be a simple linear function of the number of syllables in the stress group; the function contains a constant that varies with the traditional dichotomy, thereby validating it without positing a simple rhythmical organization. To account for the mechanism underlying these phenomena, averaged phase difference theory is applied to develop a model of coupled oscillators, ie, a stress group oscillator & a syllable oscillator, each with its own eigenfrequency, & a coupling function dependent on the number of syllables in the stress group. Modifications of the model address inter alia the duration of the stressed syllable, the effect of different syllable types, & consequences of adding hierarchical levels. 1 Table, 1 Figure, 18 References. J. Hitchcock