Abstract
The rhythm of ordinary English speech derives from the patterns of stress in words and utterances. It is generally agreed that the stressed syllables in speech tend to occur at roughly regular intervals — the technical term is isochrony — especially in deliberate speech, for example (−s = unstressed syllable; +s = stressed syllable).
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References
Derek Attridge, The Rhythms of English Poetry (Longman, 1983).
Geoffrey Leech, A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry (Longman, 1969).
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© 1993 Dennis Freeborn, Peter French, David Langford
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Freeborn, D., French, P., Langford, D. (1993). The language and sound patterns of verse. In: Varieties of English. Studies in English Language series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22723-5_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22723-5_11
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