Communicative function and prosodic form in speech timing

摘要: Abstract Listeners can use variation in speech segment duration to interpret the structure of spoken utterances, but there is no systematic description how speakers manipulate timing for communicative ends. Here I propose a functional approach prosodic timing, with particular reference English. The disparate findings regarding production effects are evaluated against requirement that durational should be perceivable and interpretable by listener. In resulting framework, held influence directly only at heads edges domains, through large, consistent lengthening effects. As each such effect has characteristic locus within its domain, cues potentially disambiguated listener, even absence other information. Diffuse – particular, quasi-rhythmical compensatory processes implying relationship between throughout utterance found weak inconsistently observed. Furthermore, it argued articulatory perceptual constraints make shortening less useful as structural cues, they must regarded peripheral, best, parsimonious functionally-informed account.