Rhythm Measures and Language Endangerment: The Case of Deori

This paper presents a study on the rhythm in read speech for Deori (L1), a Tibeto-Burman language and Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language (L2) spoken by the Deori speakers in the state of Assam, India. This study aims to explore and analyze the rhythmic patterns exhibited in read speech for Deori, focusing on aspects such as syllable timing, and duration for both L1 and L2 read speech. To analyze the speech rhythm, rhythm measures such as %V, nPVI, rPVI, varco-V, varco-C, Delta V, and Delta C were calculated for the read speech. Regardless of the rhythmic class of Deori (L1), the results on read speech showed that Assamese (L2) are similar to Deori (L1) in terms of nPVI-V, rPVI-C, whereas it exhibits a shift towards the mora-timed class in terms of %V and Delta C. This study provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between L1 and L2 rhythm patterns. These findings highlight the significance of considering factors such as speech rate and prosodic structure when examining rhythmic differences in bilingual speech.