RHYTHM AND THE HOLISTIC ORGANIZATION OF LANGUAGE STRUCTURE1

Abstract

A living language is not just a collection of autonomous parts, but, as Sapir (1921) stressed, a harmonious and self-contained whole, massively resistant to change from without, which evolves according to an enigmatic, but unmistakably real, inner plan. We will draw on the structures and histories of the Munda and Mon-Khmer families of Austroasiatic languages2 to argue that this holistic organization is far more extensive even than Sapir imagined, linking all levels of linguistic structure—from syntax through phonetics—to each other in the synchrony and the long-term evolution of each language. And we will argue that the inner plan behind this holism of structure and evolution is the rhythmic pattern of phrases and words. The Munda languages differ widely in detail, but they are similar in typology, and so are the Mon-Khmer languages. But Munda and Mon-Khmer are typologically opposite at every level: