A STUDY OF THE RHYTHM OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

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The aim of the projected study is to take a systematic look at the rhythm of spoken languages. We will carry out comparable studies in languages which differ in specific ways with regard to the use of the time dimension within the phonological system. English will be used as the basis for comparison while the other language include French and Japanese. These three languages differ significantly in terms their rhythmic organization (stress-timed), syllable-timed, and mora-timed, respectively) and how duration functions linguistically. This systematic examination of rhythm is divided into two separate parts: (1) an acoustic study of utterances produced by speakers of the language under investigation and (2) a study of the perceptual cues to rhythm (e.g., ascertaining the acoustic factors determining perceptual centers in monosyllabic and multisyllabic words both in and out of sentential contexts). A major thrust of the perceptual studies will be to formalize, compare and contrast acoustic models of perceptual center location in each of the three language of interest. Thus both correlated production and perception experiments will be conducted. These studies will be carried out primarily in the Speech and Hearing Science and Linguistics Department laboratories at OSU, but collaboration with particular research institutions in Japan and France will be sought (primarily for access to monolingual speakers in an environment where English is not the dominant language). Results of this study will be evaluated in terms both of temporal patterning and auditory processing, language dysfunction and temporal sequencing; as well as language acquisition.