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large numbers of onamatopoeic forms.

Rule 4 : This is a semantic rule for sequence of echo words. The meaningful word occupies the first place, and the second part is occupied by such other form which is partly meaningful in the compound.

Sometimes these forms may be only bound forms, i.e., they occur only in compound forms, but never in isolation.

Examples:

word, talk

ma:ta:manti:' 'talk and c h a t 1 *manti p e ^ e ' trunk 1

pe 'trunk and other luggage' *b£c^a (manti and b£c^a do not occur as independent forms.)

Some exceptions may be found to these rules. These exceptions, however, are not specific to any group of speakers. It is the personal (ideolectal) choice of the speaker that determines the sequence. For instance:

In theory both [ka:ya] and [ku:ra] are of equal syllable weight and [ka:ya]

being an open vowel form should have precedence over [ku:ra] which has a

close and an open vowel. Rule 1 states that open-vowel forms have precedence over others. Hence ka:yagu:ralu is the form found mostly in the Coastal dialect and in other educated speech of the entire region. The form ku:raga:yalu is also used, but with a slightly smaller distribution.

4.6.0

Rhythm Properties

Is there a difference between production and perception of rhythm!?

This question has been considered by Lehiste (1977) in her paper 'Isochrony reconsidered'. Lehiste's analysis of production durations indicate that a clear isochrony does not exist in speech production, but at the same time isochrony 12 is perceived, in spite of large differences in the stress intervals.

ku:ra 'vegetable ka:ya 'unripe fruit'

ku:ra + ka:ya + lu --- > ku:ra ga:yalu or ka:ya guiralu 'vegetables'.

12. 'Isochrony' is the inherent tendency of rhythm to produce approximately equal intervals of stress (in stress-timed rhythm) or of syllables (in syllable timed rhythm).

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According to Dauer (1983), the manifestation of differences in the perception of rhythm in stress-timed and syllable-timed languages comes from three major structural areas. They are (1) syllable structure;

(2) vowel reduction, and (3) stress. According to Puppel (1986:108), who considers syllable structure, the factors which bear on the different perceptions of rhythm are (i) variations in syllable length which is

determined by the occurrence of long vs, short syllable nuclei (for example, English); (ii) variation in closed ys. open syllables which often contribute to the perceptual impression of greater or less regularity of syllable

occurrence (for example, frequent repetitions of structurally similar open syllables in French); (iii) strong tendency for heavy syllables which are to be stressed and light syllables which are left unstressed (for example, English). Puppel observes that the phenomenon of centralisation of

unstressed vowels is common in stress-timed languages. This maximises the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables. As opposed to this, in syllable-timed languages vowel reduction is not regular in unstressed position. Unstressed syllables may have shorter duration in syllable-timed languages, but are not completely reduced.

The observations of Puppel (1986) strengthen my argument about Coastal and Telangana dialects. Centralisation of unstressed vowels is common in stress-timed languages and vowel reduction is regular, thus developing internal Sandhi. In the Telangana dialect we observe this feature, whereas in the case of the Coastal dialect, which follows syllable-timed language properties, the unstressed syllables may have shorter duration, but are not completely lost.

Many textbooks and scholarly works attempt to distinguish stress-timed and syllable-timed languages, but nowhere is the distinction made really clear.

Lenneberg (1967) observes that rhythm belongs to central regulated mechanisms of motor co-ordination. That is to say, an individual employs this mechanism in order smoothly to execute a great number of co-ordination patterns, or combine and recombine movements. These regulatory mechanisms invole a co-ordinated interaction of a considerable number of muscles.

Rhythm possesses a temporal dimension. Lenneberg (1967:108) observes 'The essential nature of a time pattern is an underlying pulse or beat'.

This underlying pulse provides the rhythmic framework. The nature of rhythm is marked by equidistant pulses which are also called oscillations. The sole function of rhythm is to maintain some kind of balance in the speech chain.

Rhythm is a manifestation of biological rhythm and it is an organising principle and timing device for articulation. When it functions as a timing device rhythm aids the ordering of articulatory complexities.

This leads us to believe that there is a '^'preplanning" level which is responsible for the sequential arrangement of muscular events in speech as well as for a contingent anticipation of later muscular states' (Puppel 1986:

106). This preplanning level, Puppel assumes, leads to production. Thus the neural programme is manifestly responsible for the planning and production of rhythmic patterns. The rhythmic patterns can assume different surface forms.

By stress-timed rhythm is generally meant that stressed syllable^ occur at approximately regular intervals, regardless of whether they are separated by unstressed syllables or not. This type of rhythm theory explicitly

states that the intervening time between one stressed syllable and the other would be approximately the same, irrespective of the number of intervening unstressed syllables. Syllable-timed rhythm theory states that all syllables,

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whether stressed or unstressed, tend to occur at regular time intervals.

Pike (1947) and Abercrombie (1967) propose similar definitions. Roach (1983:103) states that 'It has not been possible to show a real difference between stress-timed and syllable-timed languages' by the use of measuring techniques.

Abercrombie (1967) states thus:

As far as known, every language in the world is spoken with one kind of rhythm or with the o t h e r . F r e n c h , Telugu and Yoruba are syllable-timed languages... English, Russian and Arabic...are stress-timed languages. Many teachers of phonetics often face a question from students how to differentiate these. It is easy to construct and perform examples. It is difficult to set out clear rules as to assigning a language to one of the two categories.

(ibid.:97) From Abercrombie1s later explanations on the same paper one may come to the conclusion that the distinction between stress-timed and syllable-timed languages may rest entirely on perceptual skills acquired through training.

Abercrombie claims certain rules. He observes that there is

considerable variation in syllable length in a language spoken with stress- timee^ rhythm, whereas in a language spoken with a syllable-timed rhythm, the syllables tend to be equal in length.

4.6.1

Rhythm in Telugu Speech

Telugu is recognised by many phoneticians as a syllable-timed language.

This brings out the fact that in the Telugu word all syllables, whether stressed or unstressed, tend to occur at regular time intervals. It is also agreed that the time between stressed syllables will vary depending upon the number of unstressed syllables.

In modern Telugu the word-initial syllable is stressed, and in normal speech this is easily perceptible. In disyllabic words

the second syllable is equally stressed when spoken in isolation. In connected speech it is not so. In connected speech the second syllable of a disyllabic word is unstressed if it is preceded by an open syllable.' If the first syllable is a closed syllable, then the second syllable has a secondary stress. For example, ’kala - 'dream' : 'kal,la - 'false1.

The second syllable of a trisyllabic wordTis always weak. The word-final syllable of a trisyllabic word may have secondary stress. The

manifestation of secondary stress may be a long vowel.

In a compound word, when words of equal syllable weight are joined

together, we find the word-final syllable in both the words bearing secondary stress in the form of a long vowel. This type of balancing is what

comprises rhythm. In the case of compound word formation, a word with fewer syllables followed by a word with more syllables results in a rhythmic pattern.

In such cases, the plural suffix -lu plays a significant role. In cases of words with an equal number of syllables and no secondary stress, the

additional syllable -lu gives a slight edge over syllable numbers. In connected speech, a stressed syllable followed by one or two unstressed

syllables and then another stressed syllable, contributes towards , The presence of junction prosodies like voicing of unvoiced sounds is considered as a feature of rhythm.

People who use reduced syllables or more close vowels are considered asq„rhythmic speakers.

This above account of rhythm will now be illustrated by some Telugu examples in which accentuation is marked in order to bring out the rhythmic qualities.

1. Word-initial syllable is stressed in polysyllabic words, and in disyllabic words the second syllable is unstressed if it contains a short V or C (see Rules 1 and 2, Section 3.2.2.0) .

1kala 1 dr e a m 1 1 a :ta 'play'

kJ-, '9aicjci 'hard, strong' 'kaltla 'false*

The second syllable of a trisyllabic word is always weak, and the final syllable of a trisyllabic word has secondary stress.

The second syllable may thus be lost.

'pala,ka 'slate' 'kala,pa 'timber*

'nac^a,ka 'walk'

These examples in fast speech lose the second syllable and the following changes are observed, whereby new consonant clusters emerge in the language. (This is more pertinent to Telangana dialect, see 6.2.3.)

'pal,ka 'slate' 'kal,pa 'timber' 'nac^.ka 'walk'

The manifestations of secondary stress in a trisyllabic form may be length of vowel. Examples are:

'ki1^i,ki > 'kil^ki > 'ki^,ki‘ 'window' 'venaka > 'venka > 'venka' ’b e h i n d 1

The word-final short vowels which are perceived as having increased length arfe not as long as long vowels; they are phonetically

longer than short vowels, but are phonologically short vowels.

Word-final syllables of both the words of a compound form have secondary stress. This secondary stress is manifested as a long vowel .■

'u:ru +'pe:ru ---> 'u:r,u:^pe:,ru: 'village (name) and personal n a m e ' 'village' 'name'

ra :lu +cu:lu > 'a :1,u :,c u :,l u : 'wife and (her) pregnancy 1 'wife' 'pregnancy'

A stressed syllable followed by a secondary stressed syllable, 'CV(C),CV, is the pattern of disyllabic words. This is one of the rhythmsin Telugu.

5. The number of syllables in each word also plays a key role. A word with fewer syllables followed by a word of more syllables

in a compound word, contributes towards rhythm. The addition of the plural suffix -lu at the end of the second word increases the number of syllables in the second word where both the words would otherwise be of equal syllable weight, and hence aids the rhythm.

In Section 4.5.2 I have illustrated that Telangana dialect has compound formation withTout -lu suffix. In fact Rules I and II of compound formation (i bid.) exhibit the difference between rhythmic and arythmic speech. Further examples are:

'atta +'ma:ma + lu > ^attamarmalu i

'mother-in-law' 'father-in-law' pi. 'parents-in-law' 'pe:da +'sa:da + lu > lpe:dasa:dalu

'poor' 'common' pi. 'poor and common people' A stressed syllable followed by unstressed syllables (one or more) or a secondary stress syllable and then again by a stressed syllable, is the pattern favoured by rhythmic speakers. Stress in the second word of a compound may be manifested as a junction prosody, like voicing:

'anna + 'tammuc^u + lu --- > ' a n n a , dammulu 'elder brother' 'younger brother' pi. 'brothers'

ka:ya + 'ku:ra + lu > 'ka:ya,g u :ralu

•unripe fruit' 'vegetable' p l . 'vegetables'

Rhythmic differences in speech/are noticed accurately by many speakers.

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CHAPTER FIVE