Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

Richard Cauldwell: Stress-timing: observations, beliefs, and evidence

RICHARD CAULDWELL STRESS-TIMING: OBSERVATIONS, BELIEFS, AND EVIDENCE Abstract: Researchers are in two minds about stress-timing because their studies show that stress-timing does not exist, yet there remain observations which seem explainable only if one continues to believe that stress-timing exists. The belief that stress-timing exists is thus necessary, but goes counter to results of research. Scholars argue that there is a 'strong tendency' for English to be stress-timed despite the fact, which they concede, that 'other factors' militate against stresstiming being observed. The belief continues (I surmise) because (a) the data focused on consists of short stretches of speech (usually nursery rhymes) which can be made to display rhythmical alignment of stresses (b) perceptions of differences between Lis and L2s in second and foreign language learning (c) teachers and students find rhythm-based exercises useful. There exists no account of rhythm in speech for these observations other than the stress-timing hypothesis. I present an alternative interpretation of findings from the work of three scholars (Roach, 1982; Couper Kuhlen, 1993; Halliday, 1994). I argue that their findings can be reinterpreted to take account of these observations, without having to continue believing in stresstiming. I argue that their research shows that stress-timing is not an underlying feature of spoken English. I suggest why the avoidance of stress-timing might be functional. 1 Schizophrenia: belief versus evidence Linguists and language teachers are schizophrenic about the issue of stress-timing. On the one hand they acknowledge that experimental evidence is against the stress-timing hypothesis; on the other hand they adhere to the belief that English is 'underlyingly' stress-timed. In this paper I want to suggest reasons for the existence 33