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
this means that (as Roach noted) speakers changed their rhythm within a turn. The analysts were allowed to redefine the criteria for rhythmicality as often as they liked: this, as I have mentioned above allows one to find a rhythm for almost anything. Even with this flexibility however, some of the text occurs outside the 48 isochronous chains - 36% of the total number of syllables in fact. This might not matter if these syllables were unstressed (because it is occurrences of stresses which is perceived as rhythmic). However, this is not the case: 17% of stressed syllables occur outside isochronous chains. It is useful to consider the case of the longest isochronous chain in the recording, the following stretch of twenty-seven (twenty-eight if you count family as three syllables): /?/7vately I agree entirely with you, but when you've been Dick as long as I have because your family (Chain 9). Couper-Kuhlen's informants perceived there to be a high order rhythm at the level of the 'intonation phrase' there are 'stresses' in the words privately , entirely , where , I, and family. But Couper Kuhlen's analysis also identifies other isochronous chains in this same stretch of speech: p/v'vately I agree entirely with you [Chain 10 Intonation group level] I -Agree entirety with you [Chain 11 Phrase group There are a number of points to be made about this type of analysis. First the analysis is derived from attending to the recording, and the orthographic transcription of it, as if it were a product. This is a luxury available only to the analyst listening to a recording, it is not one available to the participants. It has been subjected to repeated listenings in order to identify these isochronous chains, and it is probable that it is only through such repeated listenings that such chains are perceptible. In other words, it is possible they are not relevant to the original speaker and the hearer, who were operating under real-time constraints. It is also unlikely that speakers and when you've been Dick Dick as long as / have because level] [Chain 12 Group level] [Chain 13 Group level] 43
