Minkštųjų priebalsių poveikis lietuvių bendrinės kalbos ilgųjų kirčiuotų balsių spektrui
The Influence of Soft Consonants on the Spectrum of Long Stressed Vowels in Standard Lithuanian

Summary/Abstract: Several studies have convincingly shown the regressive effect of soft consonants on vowels in standard Lithuanian (Kliukienė, 2003; 2004; 2005). The present research is focused on long stressed vowels and their acoustic features. More specifically, it deals with spectral features of long stressed front vowels of high [i·], medium [·], low [e·] and varying [ie] raising as well as back vowels of high [u·], medium [o·], low [a·] and varying [uo] raising in the positions where they precede soft (palatalized) and hard consonants. It is hypothesized here that soft consonants have a regressive effect on the quality of long vowels. The material of this study was processed by the speech analysis software PRAAT (v. 5.0.06) developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink from the University of Amsterdam, while the significance of the findings was tested by the Student’s criterion. The experimental investigation of the acoustic features of the stressed long vowels in standard Lithuanian provided convincing evidence which proves that soft consonants regressively modify the quality of vowels, namely, phonemes [i·], [·], [e·], [ie], [o·], [a·] are realized by variants of different quality and articulation before soft and hard consonants; the most significant differences have been observed between the allophones of front vowels of low and varying raising; less prominent differences characterize the back long vowels [u·] and [uo] occurring before soft and hard consonants.

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