A Comparative Study of Speech Rhythm in Arabic, English, and Japanese

Conventional rhythmic distinctions such as \stress-timing" vs. \syllable-timing" were investigated using a novel technique whereby speakers produced a phrase repeatedly along with a metronome. When stable rhythmic productions of phrases in Arabic, English, and Japanese were compared, Japanese speakers preferred to place the phrase-nal syllable at \simple harmonic phases", such as halfway between the start of successive repetitions. Arabic and English speakers, by contrast, placed stressed syllables at these points. However, Arabic and English were found to diier from each other in the timing of stressed syllables within a phrase. English speakers more closely approximated isochrony of stressed syllables than did Arabic speakers.