Syllable-timed rhythm

In a stress-timed variety (such as RP), the stressed syllables occur at regular intervals. For this to happen, the unstressed ones have to be ‘squeezed in between’ the stressed syllables. This can often lead these unstressed syllables to undergo further reduction so that speakers not familiar with the stress-timed variety may often have difficulty hearing the unstressed/reduced syllables.

In contrast, the syllable-timed rhythm of CollSgE essentially means that all syllables take up the same amount of time, regardless of whether the syllables are stressed or not. According to Platt and Weber (1980: 57), this gives Singapore English “an even, somewhat staccato rhythm” and Tay (1993: 27) has been quoted as saying that “(t)his ‘machine-gun rhythm’ is one of the most prominent features of Singaporean English.”

However, Brown (1988: 116), while agreeing that CollSgE does lack a stress-timed rhythm, disputes the sharp dichotomy being made between stress-timed and syllable-timed rhythms. He suggests (1988: 117) instead that it is premature to treat CollSgE as syllable-timed “merely because it lacks the relatively strong stress-based rhythm of native accents.” Thus, Brown prefers a negative characterization of timing in CollSgE, speaking in terms of the absence of a strongly stress-timed rhythm rather than the presence of an unambiguously syllable-timed rhythm.