Effects of metric hierarchy and rhyme predictability on word duration in The Cat in the Hat

Abstract

Word durations convey many types of linguistic information, including intrinsic lexical features like length and frequency and contextual features like syntactic and semantic structure. The current study was designed to investigate whether hierarchical metric structure and rhyme predictability account for durational variation over and above other features in productions of a rhyming, metrically-regular children's book: The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss, 1957). One-syllable word durations and inter-onset intervals were modeled as functions of segment number, lexical frequency, word class, syntactic structure, repetition, and font emphasis. Consistent with prior work, factors predicting longer word durations and inter-onset intervals included more phonemes, lower frequency, first mention, alignment with a syntactic boundary, and capitalization. A model parameter corresponding to metric grid height improved model fit of word durations and inter-onset intervals. Specifically, speakers realized five levels of metric hierarchy with inter-onset intervals such that interval duration increased linearly with increased height in the metric hierarchy. Conversely, speakers realized only three levels of metric hierarchy with word duration, demonstrating that they shortened the highly predictable rhyme resolutions. These results further understanding of the factors that affect spoken word duration, and demonstrate the myriad cues that children receive about linguistic structure from nursery rhymes.

Metric Structure and Rhyme Predictability Modulate Speech Intensity During Child-Directed and Read-Alone Productions of Children’s Literature

“…This structure causes the stanza-final rhyme target to be both phonologically and semantically predictable, which should cause the rhyme targets to be reduced during production. Breen (2018) observed equivalent word duration but lengthened inter-word-onset intervals for predictable rhyme targets relative to rhyme primes in The Cat in the Hat , which may be interpreted as a reduction of the rhyme target. However, the temporal characteristics alone do not conclusively support this interpretation.…”

“…Multiple more recent studies directly comparing the relative contributions of acoustic correlates during continuous natural speech suggest that duration and intensity in particular are the strongest predictors of prominence under these conditions (Kochanski, Grabe, Coleman, & Rosner, 2005; Kochanski & Orphanidou, 2008; Silipo & Greenberg, 2000). Therefore, in the present paper we examine the effects of meter and rhyme in The Cat in the Hat on the intensity of words in continuous child-directed and read-alone productions, and compare the results to previous findings of impacts on word duration (i.e., Breen, 2018).…”

“…Breen (2018) recently demonstrated that the metric and rhyme structures of The Cat in the Hat (Dr. Seuss, 1957) are realized in the duration and temporal spacing of words in child-directed and read-alone productions of the text.…”

“…It is unclear whether intensity in continuous speech imparts metric prominence in a similarly hierarchical manner, or only in a binary manner. The strongly hierarchical metric structure of The Cat in the Hat is reflected in hierarchically produced word duration (Breen, 2018), suggesting that it may also be signaled through hierarchical modulation of produced word intensity.…”

Event-Related Potential Evidence of Implicit Metric Structure during Silent Reading

“…There are constraints on the ordering of strong and weak beats in stress-timed languages, as strong beats tend to occur at regular intervals [19], speakers avoid clashes of strong beats and lapses of weak beats [20], and under some circumstances, speakers shift the location of stress on words to maintain metric regularity (e.g., thirTEEN MEN → THIRteen MEN) [18]. Speakers signal strong syllables in speech with a variety of acoustic cues, including longer duration and higher intensity [21,22,23,24]. Strong syllables also hold a privileged position in auditory language comprehension; listeners are faster to detect phonemes in stressed syllables [25], lexical access is more disrupted by the mispronunciation of stressed syllables than unstressed syllables [26], and listeners tend to interpret stressed syllables as word onsets [27,28].…”