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  • 16 - Phrasal Rhythmicity and the Sources of Temporal Intermittency in Speech

  • from Section 3 - Rhythm in Prosody and at the Prosody–Syntax Interface
  • Edited by Lars Meyer, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Antje Strauss, University of Konstanz
  • Book:
    Rhythms of Speech and Language
    Published online:
    23 April 2026
    Print publication:
    07 May 2026, pp 274-295
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  • Summary

    On phrasal timescales, spontaneous conversational speech is not very rhythmic. Instead, periods of speech activity are intermittent: Words tend to come in short bursts and are often interrupted with hesitations. Nonetheless, it has been suggested that there is a production mechanism that generates phrasal rhythmicity in speech. This chapter examines the empirical evidence for such a mechanism and concludes that speakers do not directly control the timing of phrases. Instead, it is argued that temporal patterns associated with phrases are epiphenomena of processes involved in conceptual-syntactic organization. A model is presented in which coherency-monitoring systems govern the initiation and interruption of speech activity. Hesitations arise when conceptual or syntactic systems fail to achieve sufficiently ordered states. The model provides a mechanism to account for intermittency on phrasal timescales.