Presented by:

1. Stress-timed rhythm& syllable-timed rhythm

2. foot and tree diagram
3. Rhythm in normal speech
4. The practical value of “rhythm exercise”
 A speech rhythm in which the stressed syllables
are said to recur at equal intervals of time
English has often been called stress-timed.
English speech is rhythmical, and that rhythm is
detectable in the regular occurrence of stressed
syllables.
 The theory that English has stress-timed rhythm
implies that stressed syllables will tend to occur at
relatively regular intervals whether they are
separated by unstressed syllables or not.

1 2 3 4 5
’Walk ’down the ’path to the ’end of the ca’nal.

The stress-timed rhythm theory states that the

times from each stressed syllable to the next will
tend to be the same, irrespective of the number of
intervening unstressed syllables.
 A speech rhythm in which all syllables are said
to recur at equal intervals.
French is usually referred to as syllable-timed.
Ⅰl / est / ar / ri / vé / à / six / heures /
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
“he arrived at six o’clock”
The segments marked 1, 2, 3, etc. would each
take the same time to utter, and each segment
consists of a single syllable.
 Some writers have developed theories of English
rhythm in which a unit of rhythm, the foot, is used.
The foot begins with a stressed syllable and
includes all following unstressed syllable up to
(but not including) the following stressed
syllable.
1 2 3 4 5
’Walk ’down the ’path to the ’end of the ca ’nal
Some theories of rhythm go further
than this.
 Some feet are  The word “twenty”
stronger than others,
producing strong-
weak patterns in
larger pieces of s w
speech above the twen ty
level of the foot.
 “twenty places”

The word “places”

w s

s w s w
s w
twen ty pla ces
pla ces
 “twenty places further back”

w s

w s w s

s w s w s w s
twen ty pla ces fur ther back
 By analyzing speech in this way we are able to
show the relationships between strong and weak
elements, and different levels of stress that we
find.
The strength of any particular syllable can be
measured by counting up the number of times an s
symbol occurs above it.
s
s s s
s s s s
twen ty pla ces fur ther back
With respect to normal speech:
It is widely claimed com’pact (adj)
that English speech ’compact ’disc
tends towards a
regular alternation thir’teen
between stronger and ’thirteenth ’place
weaker, and tends to
adjust stress levels to West’minster
bring this about. ’Westminster ’Abbey
 In speaking English we vary in how
rhythmically we speak: sometimes we speak
very rhythmically (this is typical of some
styles of public speaking) while at other
times we speak arhythmically (without
rhythm)—for example, when we are hesitant
or nervous.
 Stress-timed rhythm is thus perhaps
characteristic of one style of speaking, not of
English speech as a whole.
minimum value
People always
(arhythmical)
speak with some
degree of
rhythmicality.
maximal value
(completely stress-timed rhythm)
 Some languages do not have noticeable difference
between strong and weak syllables like English. For
native speakers of such languages learning English
it can be helpful to practise repeating strongly
rhythmical utterances since this forces the speaker
to concentrate on making unstressed syllables weak.
Speakers of languages like Japanese, Hungarian and
Spanish, which do not have weak syllables to
anything like the same extent as English does, may
well find such exercises of some value.