English Speech Rhythm and the Foreign Learner

This study of native and non-native utterance was based on the theory that the impression of rhythm in spoken English is produced by the serial recurrence of more or less isochronous intervals marked off by stressed syllables and that the periodic movement associated with the rhythmic impulse is produced by the respiratory muscles. Thus a major part of the experimental work was concerned with stress which, in a stress-timed language such as English, is fundamental to the phenomenon of speech rhythm, since it is the feature by which the temporal units are marked. The relationship of the acoustic parameters of fundamental frequency, amplitude, and duration to stress was examined, and electromyographic (EMG) investigation of the internal intercostal muscles in connected speech was undertaken as a means of determining whether increased activity of these (expiratory) muscles could be associated with the utterance of stressed syllables.