A new Hebrew University of Jerusalem study analyzing spontaneous speech in 48 languages found that people across the globe structure their speech into rhythmic units at a consistent pace of one every 1.6 seconds.

These Intonation Units—short prosodic phrases—appear with striking regularity, pulsing through human speech at the same rhythm worldwide.

The researchers said this low-frequency rhythm is stable across cultures, ages and languages, pointing to a universal cognitive mechanism underlying human communication. The findings shed light on how the mind structures language in time and could have implications for neuroscience, language learning and speech technology.

The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , analyzed more than 650 recordings in 48 la

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