Dabartinių baltų kalbų pučiamieji priebalsiai ir afrikatos: akustinių požymių lyginamoji analizė
Fricatives and Affricates of Contemporary Baltic Languages: Comparative Analysis of Acoustic/ Spectral Cues

Summary/Abstract: This current paper deals with the fricatives and affricates of standard Lithuanian and Latvian. In the framework of this research two acoustic cues of these consonants – spectral peak’s frequency and relative intensity – have been examined. The analysis of fricatives and affricates is performed according to one and the same approach both for standard Lithuanian and Latvian. The aim of this study is to compare the fricatives and affricates of contemporary Baltic languages in order to determine the essential spectral differences and the effect of palatalization, voicing, manner and place of articulation, as well as the effect of speaker’s gender displayed by spectral peak’s frequency and relative intensity. The results indicate that the acoustic cues examined in this research reveal similar effects both in standard Lithuanian and Latvian: spectral peak’s frequency is affected by palatalization (in Standard Lithuanian), manner and place of articulation, as well as by speaker’s gender, whereas relative intensity displays the effect of palatalization (in Standard Lithuanian) and voicing.

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