Rhythmic analysis and quantitative measures: the essence of rhythm as temporal patterning

A comparison of Standard Italian and Southern Italian dialects is carried out using acoustic measures related to structural properties: Vowel-interval and consonantal inter-vowel-interval durations are used to obtain rhythmic measures based on a number of approach. Italian is usually considered to be ‘syllable-timed’. The structural features found in the dialects offer support for a divergence from the traditional assumption of syllable-timing. Rhythm measures are calculated according to Ramus at al. 1999, Grabe-Low 2002, Barry et al. 2003, Russo-Barry to appear. In agreement with predictions derived from phonological observation, the results of the measures show a ‘rhythm plot’ in which the ‘Pairwise Variability Indices (PVIs) place the Italian dialect speakers nearer to the stress-timed’ languages than traditional typology statements would lead one to expect .