Purpose: We investigated whether rhythm discrimination is mainly driven by the native language of the listener or by the fundamental design of the human auditory system and universal cognitive mechanisms shared by all people irrespective of rhythmic patterns in their native language. Method: In multiple experiments, we asked participants to listen…

Perceptual grouping is fundamental to many auditory processes. The Iambic-Trochaic Law (ITL) is a default grouping strategy, where rhythmic alternations of duration are perceived iambically (weak-strong), while alternations of intensity are perceived trochaically (strong-weak). Some argue that the ITL is experience dependent. For instance, French…

Though research has shown that rhythmic training is beneficial for phonological speech processing, little empirical work has been carried out to assess whether rhythmic training in the classroom can help to improve pronunciation in a second language. This study tests the potential benefits of hand-clapping to the rhythm of newly learned French…

In five experiments, we tested segmentation of word forms from natural speech materials by 8-month-old monolingual infants who are acquiring Canadian French or Canadian English. These two languages belong to different rhythm classes; Canadian French is syllable-timed and Canada English is stress-timed. Findings of Experiments 1, 2, and 3 show that…

The goal of this study was to determine which linguistic aspects of second language speech are related to accent and which to comprehensibility. To address this goal, 19 different speech measures in the oral productions of 40 native French speakers of English were examined in relation to accent and comprehensibility, as rated by 60 novice raters…

Phonological development was assessed in six alphabetic orthographies (English, French, Greek, Icelandic, Portuguese and Spanish) at the beginning and end of the first year of reading instruction. The aim was to explore contrasting theoretical views regarding: the question of the availability of phonology at the outset of learning to read (Study…

In addition to the phrase-final accent (FA), the French phonological system includes a phonetically distinct Initial Accent (IA). The present study tested two proposals: that IA marks the onset of phonological phrases, and that it has an independent rhythmic function. Eight adult native speakers of French were instructed to read syntactically…

An analysis of rhythm in French. The research project concentrated on two points: the perception of a "click" superimposed on an utterance and the reproduction of the click by a knock simultaneous with the stimulus. Conclusions based on linguistic and non-linguistic aspects are drawn. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Analysis of the quantitative metrical verse of French Renaissance poet Jean-Antoine de Baif finds that the metrics, often seen as unscannable and using an incomprehensible phonetic orthography, derive largely from a system that is accentual, with the orthography permitting the poet to encode quantitative distinctions that coincide with the meter.…

Certain apparently deviant, inverted forms of the French imperative (e.g. "pas touche!" for "ne touche pas!") are analyzed. A number of phonosyntactic explanations that focus on phonological order, rhythm, and intonation are examined. The strength of the imperative intention is also considered. (MSE)

Students of French learn to pronounce the syllables of the same rhythmic group with the same stress and the same intonation while lengthening slightly only the last syllable uttered. Several techniques designed to help students acquire correct French rhythm patterns are described here. They include: (1) counting aloud, (2) syllable division, (3)…

A three-tiered statistical model for predicting the temporal structure of French, as produced by a single, highly fluent subject at a fast speech rate, is outlined. The first tier models segmental influences due to phoneme type and contextual interactions between phoneme types. The second tier models syllable-level influences of lexical versus…

The phonological rhythm of French is characterized by a tendency to syllabic isochrony within an utterance and a clear final lengthening, whereas the rhythm of English is stress-timed. A study of babbling at a turning period of the child's development has shown that the French child acquires adult phonological rhythm quite early in interactive…

The collection of essays on phonetics and phonology, entirely in French, includes: "Le calcul de la frequence intrinseque. Necessite du rapport a une ligne de reference" (calculation of intrinsic frequency; necessity of a line of reference) (Conrad Ouellon); "Caracteristiques microprosodiques de duree et d'intensite en lecture et en…

This collection of papers on linguistic experiments includes: "Initial Tones and Prominence in Seoul Korean" (Ken de Jong); "The Domains of Laryngeal Feature Lenition Effects in Chonnam Korean" (Sun-Ah Jun); "The Timing of Lip Rounding and Tongue Backing for /u/" Gina M. Lee); "Prosody and Intrasyllabic Timing in…