Marijampolės šnektos dvibalsių priegaidės: kokybiniai požymiai
Syllable Accents of Diphthongs in the Marijampolė Sub-dialect: Qualitative Features

Summary/Abstract: Based on instrumental methods, the article analyses the qualitative features of syllable accents of diphthongs in the Marijampolė sub-dialect of the Western Aukštaitian dialect of Kaunas: spectrum, tonality, compactness, diffuseness and flatness. The study revealed that the syllable accent has a great influence on the quality of diphthongs, in particular their first component, in the sub-dialect. Tonality is the most universal feature related to syllable accent. Low-pitched components [a], [u], highlighted by the pressure of a relevant syllable accent, become lower, whereas high pitched components [e], [i] become higher. The feature of compactness / diffuseness is the second most important feature. Compact components [a], [e], highlighted by the syllable accent, are in most cases more compact than the components not highlighted by the syllable accent, whereas diffuse components [u], [i] become more diffuse. The feature of tenseness as an indicator of syllable accent is only important for high-rise vowels [u], [i] and vowel [e], which features a rather high position of the tongue in the sub-dialect. The feature of flatness is only important for the initial components of acute diphthongs [áu] and [éu]: they are less flat compared to relevant components of circumflex diphthongs undergoing a strong lip rounding.

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