Split Beat (Schizorhythmos) and Isolated Beat (Solirhythmos)

The Sense of Judging Whether the First Beat Is a Strong Beat or a Weak Beat Is Influenced by Language Rhythm

Music always has weak beats and strong beats. Is the beat first heard a weak beat or a strong beat? The moment one hears that beat, if there is only one kind of beat, only one kind of interpretation of that beat can exist. However, if there are two kinds of beats, weak beats and strong beats, then two kinds of interpretation also exist. Depending on the interpretation of that beat, completely different interpretations can simultaneously hold for exactly the same sequence of beats. That means that completely different methods of notation can be considered for exactly the same sequence of beats.

Is the beat first heard a weak beat or a strong beat? How should one judge the strength or weakness of that beat? This can be said to be a very basic element in interpreting music. And this method of judging strong and weak beats is influenced by the language rhythm that the person speaks as a native language.

  • Syllable-timed languages
    • There is a tendency to recognize the first beat as the weak beat of an eighth note.
  • Stress-timed languages
    • They recognize the first beat as the weak beat of an eighth note, or as the weak beat of an eighth note preceding the weak beat of a quarter note.
  • Mora-timed languages
    • They always recognize the first beat as the strong beat of beat 1.

The following matters are explained regarding this problem.

  • Method of observation
  • Theory necessary for analyzing the observation results
  • Method of analyzing the observation results
  • Hypothesis obtained from the observations

What Is Onset Structuring Axis

Up to now, we have looked in order at the characteristics of language rhythm in syllable timing, stress timing, and mora timing. There are differences among languages in the order of strong beats and weak beats. The positional relationship between the syllable nucleus and the onset consonant is the direction of the order of strong beats and weak beats. This is called here Onset Structuring Axis.

  • Syllable-timed-rhythm languages (order of beats -> weak-strong)
    • Vowels are pronounced at equal intervals.

    • Maximum Onset Principle (MOP)

      • Final consonants are grouped and pronounced as onset consonants as much as possible.
  • Stress-timed-rhythm languages (order of beats -> weak-strong)
    • They follow all the rules of syllable-timed-rhythm languages and add rules.
    • Accented vowels are pronounced at equal intervals.
    • Unaccented vowels and consonants are reduced so that the equal spacing of accented vowels is preserved.
    • Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP = Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle)
      • Coda syllables are grouped and pronounced as onset syllables as much as possible.
  • Mora-timed languages (order of beats -> strong-weak, or strong-strong…)
    • Vowels or consonants are arranged at equal intervals.
    • Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP = Minimum Onset Principle)
      • Final consonants and consonant clusters create new syllables so as to follow behind the previous syllable, and are pronounced after separating each consonant.

In this way, depending on the language, there is a difference in the direction that determines the position where onset consonants are grouped. This is Onset Structuring Axis.

What Is Linguistic Rhythm Projection Theory (LRPT)

Onset Structuring Axis determines the order of strong beats and weak beats in music. This is called here Linguistic Rhythm Projection Theory (LRPT).

By the hypothesis that, through Recursive Prosodic Equivalence Principle (RPEP), Onset Structuring Axis can also be applied recursively, what applies OSA to musical rhythm across language is Maximal Metric Onset Principle (MMOP) and Minimum Metric Onset Principle (MiMOP).

And what reflects this not only in language and music but further in other principles of behavior such as ways of walking and sports/fighting is here called Proactive Divisionism (PD) (PD = Proactive Divisionism) and Reactive Appendism (RA) (RA = Reactive Appendism).

  • Maximum Onset Principle (MOP) of syllable timing / stress timing, and Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP) of stress timing
    • -> weak-strong rhythm recognition is also applied to music
      • -> Maximal Metric Onset Principle (MMOP)
        • -> Proactive Divisionism (PD)
  • Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP) of mora timing
    • -> strong-weak rhythm recognition is also applied to music
      • -> Minimum Metric Onset Principle (MiMOP)
        • -> Reactive Appendism (RA)

Proactive Divisionism (PD) and Reactive Appendism (RA)

The positional relationship between Nucleus and Onset: this is exactly the fundamental difference between Japanese and other languages. The nucleus in language plays a role like the strong beat in music. The difference in cognitive tendency among languages as to whether onset consonants are placed before the nucleus on the auditory side, or placed after it, is reflected in the difference in rhythm recognition in music, that is, the difference in rhythm order of placing weak beats before strong beats, or after them. The hypothesis that this recognition of the order of strong beats and weak beats has a correlation with the beat-rhythm recognition of language pronunciation structure is here called the Rhythmic Maximal Onset Principle (RMOP = Rhythmic Maximal Onset Principle).

The Nucleus is like the strong beat in music.

In syllable timing and stress timing, vowels are pronounced at the same time as the syllable nucleus. In other words, vowels are like strong beats. And consonants are like weak beats. And consonants are before and after vowels. However, by the Maximize Onset Principle (MOP = Maximize Onset Principle), all final consonants are grouped into onset consonants. In other words, consonants are always arranged before vowels. From this, syllable timing and stress timing recognize weak beats as things that come first, and recognize strong beats as being behind weak beats.

In mora timing, consonants are pronounced at the same time as the syllable nucleus. In other words, consonants themselves become like strong beats. And consonants are extremely short, and vowels are pronounced immediately after consonants. When there are no consonants, vowels are pronounced at the same time as the syllable nucleus. And mora timing has no final consonants and does not have the Maximize Onset Principle (MOP = Maximize Onset Principle). Instead, by the Minimum Onset Principle = MiOP, all consonants and final consonants are first broken apart, new syllables are created for each of them, and they are added so as to follow farther and farther behind, so the number of syllables extends farther and farther backward. In other words, mora timing has only strong beats. Everything is a succession of strong beats extending backward. Because it does not have weak beats, it cannot distinguish between strong beats and weak beats that continue behind.

This is the large difference from syllable timing and stress timing, which have weak beats.

The essence of recognizing that weak beats are before strong beats is prediction of the position of the strong beat. It is precisely because, when clapping hands, one assumes the existence of a strong beat that is not there yet and predicts its position, that the weak beat one claps sounds before the strong beat.

In order to predict the position of the not-yet-existent strong beat that follows after a weak beat, it is necessary to predict what the current tempo is. And not only that, it is necessary to predict in advance what the note value of the next note is: whether it is an eighth note, a quarter note, a half note, and so on. Because it is a prediction, it can miss. When it misses, correction also becomes necessary. In this way, it is necessary to continue constantly performing the act of continuing to play weak beats while correcting the position of the strong beat during performance.

The essence of recognizing that weak beats are behind strong beats is passive following. Rather than predicting the position of the future beat that will happen next and has not yet happened, one passively follows and determines the position of the weak beat while reacting to a beat that has already happened and already exists, and therefore one feels that the weak beat is behind the strong beat that already exists.

After hearing the strong beat, one starts an action, and after hearing the strong beat, one waits a fixed time and moves one’s hand. After hearing the strong beat, one waits a fixed time and plays the next strong beat. All actions are based on the principle of starting by following after hearing some kind of trigger.

This metaphorically indicates that Japanese people do not have the sense of dividing time. This can be easily proved by observation. The method is for two people to form a pair and clap hands alternately. One finds after trying for a while that Japanese people cannot maintain alternating timing and converge into simultaneity. This is very easy for people other than Japanese, but only Japanese people cannot perform alternating clapping.

This sense of following cannot become division. The reason is that a person predicting the next beat can determine the midpoint because they know the position of the future beat and know the position of the past beat. When one recognizes weak beats with a sense of following, one knows only the position of past beats and does not know the position of future beats, and therefore cannot determine the midpoint.

The rhythm concept with division of stress timing and syllable timing is here called Proactive Divisionism (PD) (Proactive Divisionism). Also, the rhythm concept without division of mora timing is here called Reactive Appendism (RA) (Reactive Appendism).

Schizorhythmos and Solirhythmos

For strong beats and weak beats to exist, two beats are always necessary. If there is only one beat there, it becomes neither a strong beat nor a weak beat. Only when a strong beat is there and a beat that divides it appears do they first become a strong beat and a weak beat. Strong beats and weak beats are the essence of the rhythm structure possessed by the pronunciation structure itself of stress-timed rhythm and syllable-timed rhythm. The reason this rhythm is always performed as a pair of two beats comes from the habit that syllables always have onset consonants, always have vowels, and always connect final consonants to onset consonants and pronounce them divided into two beats in the order onset consonant and vowel.

However, mora-timed rhythm (Japanese) itself does not have the habit of continuously performing two or more beats. The beats of mora-timed rhythm are always isolated.

As can be seen by looking at things like the ring-entering ceremony of Japanese sumo, Japanese rhythm is not continuously at equal intervals and is often isolated. This is thought to come from the pronunciation structure of mora-timed rhythm. Mora-timed rhythm, which has no consonant clusters or final consonants and divides as much as possible into one syllable (one mora), one onset consonant, trying to pronounce each as an independent beat, has each beat isolated. It is not the concept of division into strong beats and weak beats, but a rhythm in which each remains isolated and follows the previous beat.

The rhythm that appears in the music of stress-timed rhythm and syllable-timed rhythm, in which division like strong beats and weak beats is the premise, is here called Schizorhythmos. Also, beats of mora-timed rhythm that are not divided and are isolated are here called Solirhythmos.

About Japanese Reactive Rhythm

We have seen that Reactive Appendism (RA) (Reactive Appendism) affects not only language but also music. Reactive Appendism (RA) deeply affects not only music but all habits of Japanese people including music. This is Japanese reactive rhythm.

For example, endless overtime work corresponds to this. It has long been said that it is a bad Japanese habit that starting times are very accurate while ending times are not accurate at all, but there is absolutely no sign either of it improving or of anyone trying to improve it. This is exactly one example of Japanese reactive rhythm. When one person goes to the register in a convenience store, everyone goes to the register and the register becomes crowded: this too is one example of Japanese reactive rhythm. When one person goes to the toilet, everyone feels dissatisfied unless they go to the toilet together. This too is Japanese reactive rhythm. On a wide roadside, two people run into each other. If one avoids to the right, the other also avoids to the right; if one avoids to the left, the other also avoids to the left. No matter how many times they avoid, they almost collide. In Japan it is possible to shift responsibility by saying “It is because you were not looking!”, but in crowds overseas this behavior stands out extremely. This too is a typical example of Japanese reactive rhythm. There are many other examples as well. All behavior of Japanese people is governed by Japanese reactive rhythm. As for this, it will be discussed in detail separately in The Hypothesis of the Influence of Japanese on the Recognition of Human Action.

Here, from the next section onward, we will look at the large influence that Japanese reactive rhythm gives to musical rhythm. And we will see that this lies under the essence of Japanese people’s weakness in English.

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