Prosodic rhythm is the timing of [[speech sound]] in speech. The timing characteristics depend on the language. In a syllable-timed language, every [[syllable]] is perceived as taking up roughly the same amount of time. French, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese are commonly considered examples of syllable-timed languages. In mora-timed language, the references for equal duration are units smaller than the syllable. Examples of mora-timed languages are Japanese and Slovak. In a stress-timed language, the intervals between two stressed syllables are approximately equal. Syllables may last different amounts of time, but the amount of time between consecutive stressed syllables is perceived to be fairly constant. Examples of stress-timed languages are English, German, Danish Swedish, Dutch and European Portuguese.