Aspects of Swedish speech rhythm

This study examines some aspects of speech rhythm, with particular reference to Swedish. A background to the problem area is given and some fundamental problems pointed out. Some theoretical issues are also studied. The question of how to describe and model interstress interval duration is addressed. It is shown, using published data from five languages, that interstress interval duration can be described as a linear function of the number of syllables. Languages seem to fall into two classes, however. It is suggested that this is due to differences in the duration of stressed syllables. It is also shown that a linear growth in interstress interval duration, as a function of the number of syllables in the interval, does not preclude the existence of interval-internal temporal compensations. Speech rhythm in Swedish is studied experimentally in both production and perception. In the production study, the hypothesis that interstress interval duration may be described as a linear function is tested on a recorded material consisting of 5 sentences read by 30 speakers. An analysis of the results gives supportfor the hypothesis. The possible existence of compression of syllables, as a function of interval length, is also studied, but no significant effect is found. The perception part of the study describes two sets of experiments. In one type of experiment the locations of stress beats in a phrase of read poetry are studied. Stress beats are found to be closely associated with the onsets of the stressed vowels. Duration perception of interstress intervals is also studied in a series of experiments, in which stimuli and experimental conditions are varied. Duration perception is shown to be quite accurate, indicating that subjects are capable of determining that interstress intervals are of unequal durations in speech.