Durational variation across inner/outer/expanding circle varieties of English

Abstract The durational variation, often referred to as speech rhythm, of outer and expanding circle varieties has often been described as different from inner circle varieties due to L1 influence. In an attempt to quantify previous subjective accounts, this preliminary study investigates durational variation across Kachru’s three circles, analyzing data of four inner circle, one outer circle and three expanding circle varieties, using durational variation metrics. The results indicate that these metrics can be used to identify the three circles in a comparative analysis of varieties, however categorizing a single variety into one of the three circles is not possible. Furthermore, the variation in metric is not uniform across all metrics, with only some metrics showing significant results in the statistical analysis. A future study using a more balanced sample of varieties and speakers can bring additional insights on the descriptiveness and reliability of different metrics of durational variation.