Prosodic rhythm in Australian English (Gender differentiation)

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of rhythmic classes through the approaches based on metrics designed to quantify speech rhythm. The emergence of a number of PC software packages, that considerably facilitate the analysis of a speech signal, inspired linguists to renew their interest in speech rhythm which waned when Rhythm Class Hypothesis did not prove to be supported with experimental data. New approaches to speech rhythm study are based on the so-called rhythmic metrics – the Deltas, the PVIs and those based on voice timing which are viewed as acoustic rhythmic correlates. Thus, the idea of the paper is to test within the scope of one study the validity of all the three methods using the material of Australian English. The paper also aims at analyzing rhythmical patterns of Australian English, comparing the obtained data with the results on other varieties of English and finding out whether the gender factor has any influence on Australian English speech rhythm. The evaluation of the research data testifies to the ability of each of the three methods to be quite reliable in quantifying speech-rhythm differences. The profiles of the metrics provide acoustic evidence for gender differentiation in Australian English speech rhythm with female speech being more stress-timed.