Temporal Organization and Rhythm in Swedish

This is a report on a pilot study of speech and pause timing in various modes and speeds of prose reading. We have also performed an analysis of the reading of word lists conforming with the text. The degree of durational reduction in connected speech compared to the isolated words varies with the particular word class and allows an hierarchical ordering of content and function words. Stressed syllables tend to expand more than unstressed syllables in a change from a normal to a distinct reading mode. From the overall statistics of the growth of stressed and unstressed syllables with number of phonemes one can predict a major part of the fluctuation of speech rate within sentences and between phrases. The prediction error represents the reader's deviation from a neutral unengaged reading.