--- abstract: |- Linguists have traditionally classified languages into three rhythm classes, namely stress-timed, syllable-timed and mora-timed languages. However, this classification has remained controversial for various reasons: the search for reliable acoustic cues to the different rhythm types has long remained elusive; some languages are claimed to belong to none of the three classes; and few perceptual studies has bolstered the notion. We have previously proposed an acoustic/phonetic model of the different types of linguistic rhythm, and of their categorisation as such by listeners. Here, we present perceptual experiments that directly test the notion of rhythm classes, our model's predictions, and the question of intermediate languages. Language discrimination experiments were run using a speech resynthesis technique to ensure that only rhythmic cues were available to the subjects. Languages investigated were English, Dutch, Spanish, Catalan and Polish. Our results are consistent with the idea that English and Dutch are stress-timed, Spanish and Catalan are syllable-timed, but Polish seems to be different from any other language studied and thus may constitute a new rhythm class. We propose that perceptual studies tapping the ability to discriminate languages' rhythm are the proper way to generate more empirical data relevant to rhythm typology. altloc: - http://www.lscp.net/persons/ramus/ICPhS03.pdf chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: 3-9/08/03 conference: 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences confloc: Barcelona contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: Ramus given: Franck honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Dupoux given: Emmanuel honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Mehler given: Jacques honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2003 date_type: published datestamp: 2003-07-23 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/30/79 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 3079 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/3079/1/ICPhS03.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'speech rhythm, prosody, language discrimination, speech perception, stress-timing, syllable-timing' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:19 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: ~ publisher: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona refereed: FALSE referencetext: ~ relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 12 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:48:17 subjects: - psy-ling - cog-psy - percep-cog-psy - ling-phono succeeds: 871 suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: 'The psychological reality of rhythm classes: Perceptual studies' type: confpaper userid: 431 volume: ~