Speech rhythm of the Danish-Chinese interlanguage relies on rhyme structure

Although speech rhythm is a highly important factor in theevaluation of nativeness, it is usually not explicitly taught insecond language acquisition. Moreover, acquisition studiesof Mandarin prosody typically focus on the acquisition oftone. We investigated durational patterns of MandarinChinese as produced by Danish learners. Native MandarinChinese rhythm is characterized by, first, sentence-finalsyllable lengthening, then tone-intrinsic duration, andfinally, rhyme structure. Danish speech rhythm isfundamentally different, since Danish is a stress languagewith only primary stress on the level of the phonologicalphrase, and extensive reduction of unstressed syllables. Weshow that the interlanguage of Danish learners of Chinese iscomparable to native Mandarin Chinese duration patternswith regard to rhyme structure. However, differentiation ofduration based on tone and final lengthening lags behind inDanish acquisition of Chinese.Language Use in Past and Presen

Some parallels between language and music from a cognitive and evolutionary perspective

Abstract Parallels between language and music are considered as a useful basis for examining possible evolutionary pathways of these achievements. Such parallels become apparent if we compare clauses and syllables in language with phrases and notes in music: Clauses as well as musical phrases typically span about 2 sec and about 5 to 10 pulses, i.e., syllables or notes. The n of syllables per clause or intonation unit also can be used as a measure of tempo across languages and thus also as a means for a better understanding of typological co-variations in the rhythm of speech and music. A second type of correspondence was found between the size of the sound-relevant inventories, i.e., vowels and musical intervals. In both inventories we encounter a minimum of roughly 3 and a maximum of roughly 12 elements as well as a frequency peak at 5 elements. These parallels are discussed from an evolutionary perspective that either sees music as a precursor of language or both language and music as descendents of a common, "halfmusical" precurso