The role of catalexis in Spanish rhythm structure : a phonological and phonetic study of catalexis in Spanish syllable-time poetry

Abstract: In the present study a fragmentary foot structure, associated with word stress, is assumed to be available in Spanish. In addition catalexis is introduced in the metrical analysis of Spanish stress. Acoustic evidence for catalexis is presented. The material consists of Spanish syllabic verse. Phrase-final stressed syllables assumed to be followed by catalexis were found to have 1.6 times longer duration than stressed syllables in general. In conclusion catalexis in phrasefinal position is found to be realized through segmental lengthening. The phonological analysis, the presented acoustic evidence and verse meter restrictions indicate that Spanish, traditionally categorized as a syllable-timed language, has stress-timed tendencies and can be characterized as a language with a mixed rhythm structure.