The Influence of Speech Rate and Pause on Sociolinguistic Variables

Abstract

In this final part of the book we change gears considerably from looking at speech rate and pause as the objects of study to considering their potential influences on, or roles as predictors of, the realization of other, more traditional sociolinguistic variables. Thus far, we have found more robust sociolinguistic patterns for speech rate than we have for pause. A range of factors were found to influence articulation rates and the statistical models achieved good fits (with R ² values reaching just above 0.60). In light of all of the factors we did not consider (like communicative intent, discourse- and topic-related factors, affect, and so on), the modeling results were, I believe, quite impressive.