Bilingualism: Comparison of Speech Rate between Portuguese and English

Claudia Andrade and Maria Regina Terralavoro

This study compares the speech rate in bilinguals – Brazilian Portuguese and English. Participants were 10 adolescents, regularly enrolled in an English school in the city of São Paulo. Results indicate that males, speaking English, presented a statistically significant higher speech rate in words per minute. Females, speaking English, presented a statistically significant higher speech rate in syllables per minute. There was also a statistically significant difference between languages: regarding words per minute, the English language presented higher results; as for syllables per minute, the English language presented lower results. Results are discussed in light of previous findings.