isochrony (n.)

A term used in PHONETICS and PHONOLOGY to refer to the rhythmic characteristic of some LANGUAGES; also sometimes called isochronism. In isochronous RHYTHM, the STRESSED SYLLABLES fall at approximately regular intervals throughout an UTTERANCE. This is ‘subjective’ isochrony, based on the perception of the listener – a more realistic interpretation of this notion than that of ‘objective’ isochrony, where the intervals would be measurably identical. One implication of this is that the theory predicts that unstressed syllables between stresses will be uttered in similar periods of time. If there are several unstressed syllables, accordingly, they will be articulated rapidly, to get them into the time span available. In such sentences as The ‘cconsequences of his ‘action are ‘several, the speed of ARTICULATION of the five syllables after ‘con- will be greater than the two following ‘ac-. Isochrony is said to be a strong tendency in English, for example, which is accordingly referred to as a STRESS-TIMED (as opposed to a ‘syllable-timed’) language. The UNITS of rhythm in such languages, i.e. the distances between stressed syllables, are called FEET by some phoneticians. The theory is not without its critics, who doubt the extent of the principle’s applicability, given the many variations in TEMPO heard in speech.