Is speech really rhythmical? What does “speech rhythm” mean?

The conference abstract just published in Frontiers argues that speech tends not to be rhythmical – in the sense of being regularly timed – in order to communicate information.

As  Gustave Flaubert wrote in Madame Bovary: “Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”