Времетраене на гласните и ритмична организация на фразата (в английския и българския език)

The purpose of the article is to relate vowel duration as an acoustic parameter to rhythm as a language-specific feature of the phrase in English and Bulgarian. Analysis of variance and the HSD-test are used to establish significant differences between vowel durations in sets of sen49 tences. The results demonstrate that while the syntagmatic relation between stressed and unstressed vowels does not emerge clearly from the differences between them in duration, a 1:1 ratio is preserved between the total vowel durations of rhythmic feet in the same English phrase. In Bulgarian vowel durations contrast adjacent syllables as stressed and unstressed within the same rhythmic foot and work across rhythmic feet to arrange stressed syllables according to degrees of prominence. Different patterns for the rhythmic feet in English and Bulgarian emerge and a criterion for establishing the boundaries between feet in Bulgarian is suggested. English data also confirm extra-length of final vowel and shortest duration for [ə] as reported elsewhere.