Portal:Language/Language topic/November 2006

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Language timing is the rhythmic quality of a particular type of speech, in particular how syllables are distributed across time. There are two types of language timing: stress timing and syllable timing. If a language has a simple syllable structure with few consonants per syllable (such as Spanish and French), the language will usually have a syllable-timed rhythm. However, if a language has complex syllables with consonant clusters, (such as the syllables in English and Russian) the language will probably have an alternating stress-timed rhythm. Find out more...