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

speakers have to 'search for the right word' and 'refine a thought while in the middle of expressing it'. Thus we have a situation in which there is considerable evidence that stress-timing does not exist, yet the belief is adhered to and the evidence is ignored because of the lack of an alternative explanation for observations about speech rhythm. 5 Measurements and tendencies In sections 5.2, 6, and 7, I re-interpret the findings of scholars (Halliday, 1994; Roach, 1982; Couper-Kuhlen, 1993). I hope to show that this reinterpretation can resolve the conflict between the three observations and experimental results and thus cure our schizophrenia. Prior to doing so, it is necessary to discuss the nature of rhythm. 5.1 Rhythm Rhythm can be defined as a series (or pattern) of 'events' which occur at (roughly) equal intervals of time. There is a also a definition of rhythm, 'a regular pattern of changes' (COBUILD, 1995, p. 1428) which has a more approximate relationship to time: this is the sense in which we speak of the rhythm of the seasons of the year. Research into rhythm thus varies from investigation of short equal intervals of time (in which there are questions such as 'Are intervals of 2.0 and 2.1 seconds perceived as equal in length?') to investigation of 'regular patterns of changes' in which the relationship to time is more approximate. Perceptions of rhythm thus depend first on one's purpose in measuring, and second the criteria for rhythmicality. If one is investigating changes in the rhythm of the seasons of the year as part of research into global warming, one will have very different criteria from those used if one is measuring rhythmicality of ten seconds of speech. What happens with research into stress-timing is that the criteria for what is, and what is not rhythmical are not tightly drawn. The danger is that anything which occurs frequently in time can be described as rhythmic (such as the visits of birds to a birdtable) if one allows oneself the luxury of redefining the criteria for rhythmicality whenever irrythmicality threatens. 5.2 Measuring rhythm 39