Speech rhythm: a metaphor?

Is speech rhythmic? In the absence of evidence for a traditional view that languages strive to coordinate either syllables or stress-feet with regular time intervals, we consider the alternative that languages exhibit contrastive rhythm subsisting merely in the alternation of stronger and weaker elements. This is initially plausible, particularly for languages with a steep ‘prominence gradient’, i.e. a large disparity between stronger and weaker elements; but we point out that alternation is poorly achieved even by a ‘stress-timed’ language such as English, and, historically, languages have conspicuously failed to adopt simple phonological remedies that would ensure alternation. Languages seem more concerned to allow ‘syntagmatic contrast’ between successive units and to use durational effects to support linguistic functions than to facilitate rhythm. Furthermore, some languages (e.g. Tamil, Korean) lack the lexical prominence which would most straightforwardly underpin prominence alternation. We conclude that speech is not incontestibly rhythmic, and may even be antirhythmic. However, its linguistic structure and patterning allow the metaphorical extension of rhythm in varying degrees and in different ways depending on the language, and that it is this analogical process which allows speech to be matched to external rhythms

Communicative functions of rhythm in spoken discourse - the case of radio broadcasting

Time is one of the most precious resources in the audio-visual media. Journalists working in radio broadcasting are particularly subject to time constraints. Their message has to be passed on by the speech signal in a few minutes or seconds without visual support of written text or pictures. Therefore, the message has to be structured in a way that the most important aspects of the information are made prominent and interesting for the audience. On the other hand, journalists have to keep in time and need strategies to orient themselves in time in order to achieve exact timing of their spoken discourse. In this article, I lend support to the notion that the rhythmic structure of speech is one of the major tools for journalists to succeed in this endeavor. First, I review some of the literature on the nature of speech rhythm and its role for speech perception, language acquisition, processing and interaction. Second, the state of the art about what we know about rhythmic prominence in radio broadcasting is given. Finally, the idea will be advanced that speech rhythm, sometimes in conjunction with gesture, improves timing and time estimation in journalists speaking on air. A rich set of literature from different domains is presented in order to identify major questions and pathways for future research on speech rhythm in radio broadcasting.Le temps est une ressource précieuse dans les médias audio-visuels. Les journalistes qui travaillent à la radio sont particulièrement soumis aux contraintes temporelles. Leur message doit être diffusé en quelques minutes ou secondes sans le support visuel d'un texte ou des images. Ainsi, le message doit être structuré de telle façon que les aspects les plus importants seront proéminents dans le discours et intéressent l'audience. D'un autre point de vue, les journalistes ont besoin de bien contrôler le temps qu'ils mettent eux-mêmes pour prononcer leur discours et de s'orienter dans le temps pour ajuster le temps de leur intervention le plus précisément possible. Dans cette contribution, j'examine l'hypothèse que le rythme de la parole fournit les structures nécessaires pour la réussite dans ces défis journalistiques. Dans un premier temps, je présente la littérature sur la nature du rythme de la parole et son rôle dans la perception et le traitement de la parole, l'acquisition de la langue et dans l'interaction. Deuxièmement, je passe en revue les résultats principaux des études concernant la proéminence rythmique dans le phonostyle radiophonique. Finalement, l'hypothèse défendue est que le rythme de la parole, parfois concurremment avec les gestes, conduit à un meilleur timing et une meilleure estimation du temps par les journalistes eux-mêmes quand ils sont à l'antenne. L'article fournira au lecteur un aperçu détaillé et multidisciplinaire de la littérature et identifiera les enjeux et de nouvelles pistes pour la recherche future à propos du rythme de la parole à la radio

Design and Development of a Spanish Hearing Test for Speech in Noise (PAHRE)

[Abstract] Background: There are few hearing tests in Spanish that assess speech discrimination in noise in the adult population that take into account the Lombard effect. This study presents the design and development of a Spanish hearing test for speech in noise (Prueba Auditiva de Habla en Ruido en Español (PAHRE) in Spanish). The pattern of the Quick Speech in Noise test was followed when drafting sentences with five key words each grouped in lists of six sentences. It was necessary to take into account the differences between English and Spanish. Methods: A total of 61 people (24 men and 37 women) with an average age of 46.9 (range 18–84 years) participated in the study. The work was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, a list of Spanish sentences was drafted and subjected to a familiarity test based on the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the sentences; as a result, a list of sentences was selected for the final test. In the second phase, the selected sentences were recorded with and without the Lombard effect, the equivalence between both lists was analysed, and the test was applied to a first reference population. Results: The results obtained allow us to affirm that it is representative of the Spanish spoken in its variety in peninsular Spain. Conclusions: In addition, these results point to the usefulness of the PAHRE test in assessing speech in noise by maintaining a fixed speech intensity while varying the intensity of the multi-speaker background noise. The incorporation of the Lombard effect in the test shows discrimination differences with the same signal-to-noise ratio compared to the test without the Lombard effect

A comprehensive curriculum on how to teach the alphabet to bilingual kindergarteners

There are numerous methods teachers use to teach the alphabet to children. This thesis is a curriculum on how to teach the alphabet to English learners and English speakers. The author teaches kindergarten to students who are English speakers and to students who are Spanish speakers learning English as a second language. The school\u27s instructional Reading Based Program (the Houghton Mifflin Lectura of California) offers many ideas and strategies but is missing some components necessary to meet distinct standards for kindergarten. The author developed this curriculum to meet the standards of teaching English speakers and English learners the alphabet to meet district standards

Pragmatics and Prosody

Most of the papers collected in this book resulted from presentations and discussions undertaken during the V Lablita Workshop that took place at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, on August 23-25, 2011. The workshop was held in conjunction with the II Brazilian Seminar on Pragmatics and Prosody. The guiding themes for the joint event were illocution, modality, attitude, information patterning and speech annotation. Thus, all papers presented here are concerned with theoretical and methodological issues related to the study of speech. Among the papers in this volume, there are different theoretical orientations, which are mirrored through the methodological designs of studies pursued. However, all papers are based on the analysis of actual speech, be it from corpora or from experimental contexts trying to emulate natural speech. Prosody is the keyword that comes out from all the papers in this publication, which indicates the high standing of this category in relation to studies that are geared towards the understanding of major elements that are constitutive of the structuring of speech

Translating Translations: A study of Ngā Rūpaiaha o Oma Kaiama, a Māori translation of the English version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyám, a Persian poet who died in 1131, wrote a number of quatrains in Farsi which are regarded by some as representing the very summit of Sufism (that is, of the mystical dimension of Islamic thought) and by others as being essentially agnostic and hedonistic in nature. Those who are of the latter view are often strongly influenced by the ‘translation’ into English of some of these quatrains by Edward Fitzgerald, a British poet and writer whose first edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám appeared in 1859, at the height of the Victorian era. Although there have been several other translations of Khayyám’s quatrains, none has been as popular or, perhaps, as highly regarded as an artistic work as that of Fitzgerald. It has rarely, however, been regarded as a work that is faithful to the intent of the original. In deciding to translate into Māori Fitzgerald’s rendering into English of some of Khayyám’s Farsi quatrains (5th version), Pei Jones was faced with a peculiarly complex set of problems (linguistic, literary, cultural and religious). Pei Jones’ translation, a translation of a translation, is generally regarded as being faithful to Fitzgerald’s version of the Rubáiyát. It would appear, therefore, that he decided to treat Fitzgeralds’s text, in spite of the reference in its title to the original text, as his source text. This gives rise to a number of questions, including questions about what it means for a translator to be faithful or unfaithful to a source text. With particular reference to Pei Jones’ translation of Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, this thesis explores the concept of ‘fidelity’, a concept that, it is argued here (see Chapter 3), is often treated in the literature on translation in a way that belies its extremely complex nature. The thesis proposes a new approach to the concept of fidelity, one that is based on nine fidelity types: grammatical, lexical, informational, metrical, imagistic, rhetorical, historical, didactic and functional fidelity. In terms of this nonagonal analytical model, twenty-five of Pei Jones’ quatrains are analysed in relation to the equivalent quatrains in Fitzgerald’s version (Chapter 4). The analysis indicates that Pei Jones’ translation has neither metrical fidelity (a consequence of the very different nature of the source and target languages) nor functional fidelity (a consequence of the very different expectations and sensibilities that a Māori audience has in relation to the verbal arts). Metre and function are both, however, fundamental to the enduring appeal of Fitzgerald’s quatrains. The overall conclusion is that since it is often impossible to achieve all nine types of fidelity, translators need to carefully consider what their primary aim is in undertaking the translation of artistic works and be prepared to sacrifice certain types of fidelity (e.g. historical and informational fidelity) in order to create a work that fulfils the aesthetic expectations of the target audience. Pei Jones was undeniably successful in achieving those types of fidelity that were possible. However, the work may have had more widespread appeal if he had sacrificed some of them in order to create a work that was more closely aligned with the aesthetic expectations of Māori readers

Instrucción temprana en inglés como lengua extranjera y desarrollo de literacidad en primera lengua

This study investigates the relationship between early English as a foreign language (EFL) learning and L1 literacy development in Mexican public schools. Researchers sought confirmatory findings about whether and in which ways early EFL exposure may affect students’ L1 literacy skills via a study evaluating the L1 Spanish literacy of 61 first graders using an adapted literacy assessment. Experimental group participants received EFL instruction during grades K-1, and those in the control group did not. A one-way independent samples comparison of means on the literacy assessment revealed that participants from the experimental group who had received EFL instruction scored significantly higher on all sections of the assessment than those participants in the control group. Results may inform programmatic decision-making about simultaneous or sequential approaches on the impact of early EFL on biliteracy development, with broader implications that examine who has access to early EFL instruction, and whether it will ultimately lead to higher L2 proficiency.Este estudio investiga la relación entre enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera y el desarrollo de habilidades de literacidad en las escuelas públicas mexicanas. Los investigadores buscaron resultados confirmatorios sobre si y en qué manera la exposición al inglés como lengua extranjera durante la escuela primaria afectaría el desarrollo de su literacidad. En una investigación cuantitativa, ellos evaluaron la literacidad de 61 estudiantes del primer grado con un examen que mide su literacidad. Participantes en el grupo experimental fueron expuestos a instrucción en Inglés, y los del grupo control, no. Una comparación de los puntajes promedios entre los dos grupos reveló una diferencia significativa en que los participantes del grupo expuesto a la instrucción en Inglés salieron mejor que los participantes que no recibieron instrucción en Inglés. Los resultados pueden informar decisiones sobre programas de Inglés en escuelas primarias y si deben ser simultáneo o secuencial. También, los resultados tienen implicaciones que pueden informar de quien y cuales tipos de escuelas tienen acceso a programas de inglés en escuelas primarias, y si la participación en programas de Inglés ayudaría con el desarrollo con la literacidad en su primer idioma