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Antrajame Archivum Lithuanicum tome Eugenija Ulèinaitë nagrinëja Lietuvos vardo kilmës aiškinimà XVI-XVII amþiaus raðtuose ir akcentuoja lotyniškosios tradicijos átakà žodžio Litua resp. Lit(h)uania tarimui: "galime šá žodá skaityti Li-tu-a"
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Estonian text-to-speech synthesis relies in its determination of pronunciation on the Dictionary of Standard Estonian (ÕS 2013), which is the basis of standard Estonian. However, for roughly 300 words, this dictionary allows pronunciation with both the second and third quantity degree. This causes problems in the text-to-speech synthesis system, since the automatic text analysis cannot handle multiple outputs. It is necessary to give preference to one of the pronunciation variants in the text analysis process, and therefore it is important to identify which variant is more common among language users in actual speech.For the studies of quantity degrees, words were chosen which ÕS 2013 lists as being pronounced with both the second and third quantity degree. This study is based on a reading experiment conducted with 23 informants (15 women and 8 men), in which each informant read 52 sentences aloud. These sentences contained 47 target words, i.e. words of variable quantity degrees; in total, the study yielded 1080 pronunciation instances to examine. The group of target words includes those with varying vowel quantity degrees as well as those with varying consonant quantity degrees; the duration ratios characteristic of each quantity degree were calculated on the basis of the primary-stress syllable and the unstressed syllable following it. The average duration ratio for the second quantity degree is 1.8, and for the third quantity degree 2.9. These results are similar to those obtained in previous studies.On the basis of the informants’ pronunciation, the words were grouped into three categories: second quantity degree, variable quantity degree (where neither the second nor the third quantity degree accounted for more than 2/3 of all pronunciations) and third quantity degree. Based on the duration ratio, 8 words fell into the second quantity degree group; however, based on auditory assessment, this group increased to 17 words. The variable quantity degree group contained 15 words based on duration ratios, but only 5 words based on auditory assessment. The third quantity degree group contained 24 words by duration ratio and 25 words by auditory assessment.Finding trends in word structure among words in the same quantity degree groups would make it possible to draw inferences about other words of the same type as well, which would increase the applied value of the study. Generally, though words of the same syllable structure and part of speech did not exhibit the same pronunciation patterns. However, it can at least be stated that the third quantity degree dominated among both two- and three-syllable adjectives formed with the suffix lik. Of the 15 such words analysed in the study, only two were pronounced predominantly with the second quantity degree.
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The article is devoted to the investigation of the role of the vocal characteristics of the oral speech in the rhetorical discourse. The author described the features of phonetic aspects of oral public speech at various stages of its preparation and utterance. The main attention is paid to the requirements for breath and articulation, orthoepic normativity, using of sound repetitions, onomatopoeia, rhyme and the expressive potential of different kinds of accents and components of intonation.
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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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The article analyses the language attitudes of Samogitians in Skuodas district, namely the native dialects and the evaluation of people speaking a dialect. The broad-brush trinomial model is applied in the analysis which helps to unveil different dimensions of dialect evaluation, such as ideal, inevitability, limitation. The analysis presents the conceptions of dialect evaluation and native language as well as the possible connections of psychological distinction.
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The article presents the first-time use of the quantitative methods of dialectometry to analyse Lithuanian dialects. After quantifying the differential features of the Eastern Aukštaitians of Panevėžỹs and Širvintos subdialects, it aims to identify the dialectal dependence of the points of Lithuanian Language Atlas (LLA) under analysis – Stumbriškis (171), Šilai (338), Kavárskas (340), Taujenai (374), Vidiškiai (375 a), Déltuva (409), Jakùtiškiai (446), Pabáiskas (475), Mančiušinai (500), Čiõbiškis (520). The research material consists of 12 hours of audio recordings of the Eastern Aukštaitians of Panevėžỹs and Širvintos. The selected differential dialectal features are analyzed by the web application Gabmap based on dialectometry methods. It is designed for the research of linguistic (and geographical) variability. On the basis of phonetic transcriptions of words, the Levenshtein distance is calculated between LLA points, the statistical computations are performed and the differential dialectal features of the Eastern Aukštaitians of Panevėžỹs and Širvintos are determined.
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The article is the first-time presentation of the use of emphatic particle -agei and its variants -agė, -agi in combination with verbs and other parts of speech to the scientific community. This local linguistic phenomenon was discovered in the course of fieldwork carried out in 2013 in Point No. 73 of the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language (hereinafter – ALL),which marks the Western Aukštaitian subdialect of Šiauliškiai (hereinafter – VAŠ) (Dargaičiai). It specifies the likely reasons behind the formation and use of such a linguistic phenomenon. Certain linguistic peculiarities of VAŠ and the manifestations of cross-dialectal interaction observed in the records of the subdialect and mentioned in the works of Lithuanian dialectologists as far back as the 1950s–1960s are discussed. The material of the supplements is a valuable contribution to the text of the article.
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The article addresses the matters of morphology of the 19th century texts written in the Eastern Aukštaitian dialect. It reviews the language of religious texts written by several authors of that time – Mykolas Cerauskas, Laurynas Bortkevičius, Henrikas Balevičius, Mykolas Smolskis, Tadas Lichodzejauskas, Kazimieras Michnevičius-Mikėnas, Antanas Kitkevičius, Andrius Benediktas Klungys. The article focuses on the issues of morphology of the noun. It discusses the tendencies of substantive stem alteration. It has been observed that in the majority of cases substantive stem alterations are also characteristic of contemporary Eastern Aukštaitian dialect
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The article analyses the quantity of semi-diphthongs in three subdialects of West highlanders in Kaunas area (hereinafter referred to as VAK ) namely: Marijampolė, Vilkaviškis and Šakiai. The researched subdialects feature various syllable accent allotones: Marijampolė subdialect elongates the first components of acute accents with i and u; Šakiai subdialect possesses the so called continuous accent, meanwhile Vilkaviškis subdialect has none of the aforementioned features thus the prosodic composition of diphthong syllables is closest to the standard language. The article also discusses the the interpretation of VAK diphthongs quantity and marking in Lithuanian tradition of dialectology. The research results showed that the longest diphthongs are the acute diphthongs containing a and e and it is typical to all subdialects. They are substantially longer in Marijampolė and Vilkaviškis subdialects than circumflex variants; meanwhile in Šakiai subdialect this difference in length is not so sharp. The common length of diphthongs with i and u is shorter. The difference between the acute and circumflex diphthongs of this group is very slight. The length of the first component of diphthongs with a and e is an important accent feature in Marijampolė and Vilkaviškis subdialects. The duration of the first component in Šakiai subdialect is not considered as a crucial feature of accent. It is related to the existing continuous accent prevailing in the subdialect. In the group of diphthongs with i and u the duration of the first component clearly distinguishes accents only in Marijampolė subdialect, meanwhile in Vilkaviškis and Šakiai subdialects this feature loses importance.
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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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The main distinctive acoustic features of the nasals in the Eastern Kaunas Prienai subdialect have been investigated in the experimental study described in the present article. The obtained data suggest that the nasals are distinguished from the other sounds of the subdialect of Prienai on the basis of their format structure (they are like vowels in that they can be characterizes largely in terms of their format frequencies, but they differ in that the formants are not as loud as they are in vowels; besides, the nasals are made by blocking the sound from coming out of the mouth while allowing it to come out through the nose, and this affects the relative amplitude of the formats) and transitions between it and the context vowel. Since one of the main distinction between nasals during the nasal murmur is provided by the oral anti-resonance, the nasal sonorants [m], [m], [n], [n] as well as nasal-velar allophones are characterized by the frequency values of the oral zero.
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Personal correspondence written by less educated or less literate people becomes a useful resource for dialect research, since it reveals usage of certain dialectal features and emerging influence of the standard language. Therefore, in this article I analyze a set of 14 personal letters written by Marijona Krivickienė between 1955 and 1968 and sent to the U.S. from Lithuania. Since the letters were written in the North Panevėžiškiai subdialect, the main focus of this article was dialectal features of the writer’s language, possible impact of the standard language, and development of an individual orthographical system. The most salient and unique individual orthographical feature in the letters is the usage of the redundant graphemes <i> and <e> (rarely <a>) in consonant clusters to separate consonants by a vowel. Usage of the redundant graphemes is systematic. For instance, the grapheme <i> was inserted (1) in the middle of the word (2) in the word final position instead of reduced endings, and (3) in the end of one-syllable particles, conjunctions, and adverbs after the consonants. On the other hand, the grapheme <e> was usually inserted in front of a sonorant in word initial position. In this article I propose three possible accounts for the redundant grapheme usage: (1) palatalization of consonants, (2) anaptyxis, and (3) generalization of the most common syllable type CV to avoid consonant clusters.
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In an earlier article I proposed a scenario to explain the origin of the *-o stem dative, accusative and instrumental singular cases. Sandhi variation depending originally on whether the following word began with a vowel (V) or a consonant (C) created for an etymological single case different realizations which in the course of history adopted different functions, viz. -om + V > -om + V (i.e., no change), but -om + C > -ō + C. For the most part -om was generalized as the accusative singular and -ō was generalized as the dative and instrumental singular.
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The aim of this publication was to analyze and to compare the relationship between dialect, standard language, and literacy in three letters written in three different dialects— North Panevėžiškiai subdialect (E. I. letter), Vilniškiai subdialect (J. S. letter), and Šiauliškiai subdialect (S. P. letter). The comparison of the letters revealed that better literacy does not necesserally indicate higher impact of the standard language. As the analysis exposed, the least literate letter (E. I.) had the largest impact of the standard language, while the most literate letter (J. S.) was the least influenced by the standard language. This may be related to the environment and the influence of the local dialect that was spoken in the place where the authors lived. E. I. spent most of her life living among the non-native dialect speakers, while J. S. lived all of his life surrounded by the speakers of his native dialect. Therefore, I suggested that during the process of the blend of the dialect (language) systems written standard language is not as important as the spoken dialect of the changed local environment.
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It is well known that the basis of the actual literary Albanian was put during the National Awakening Movement (Rilindja Kombëtare, second half of the 19th century), while the standard Albanian was sanctioned in 1972 (The Albanian Congress of the Orthography, 20-25 November 1972). The Albanian assumed the function of a state language only after the Independence Declaration (28th November 1912). Therefore the dialectal varieties and the literary ones based on specific dialects have proved to be particularly vivacious in Albania. Given these circumstances the relations between literary (respectively standard) Albanian and dialectal speech, respectively dialectal varieties, has always represented one of the most treated topics in the Albanian linguistics. The author emphasizes the importance of the collection, evaluation and publication of the linguistic treasure of the popular varieties for the enrichment of the modern literary Albanian.
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This article investigates the role of syntactic variation in Albanian dialectology studies. Similarly to other dialectogical studies of different languages, variation of syntax in Albanian dialects has not been thoroughly and systematically reported. Studies have mainly looked at differences that dialects have in terms of phonology and lexical terms. In addition, the only four dialectological questionnaires, used for dialectological surveys for Albanian, were designed to address only a limited number of syntactic features differentiating dialects with one another. This study brings forth the contribution of these questionnaires to the study of syntax of Albanian dialects. In addition, it highlights several syntactic features that were not addressed through these questionnaires, emphasizing, thus, the importance of future systematic and comprehensive research in this area.
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This article, written on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the birthday of Prof. Jorgji Gjinari to pay tribute to his contribution in the field of dialectology, aims to highlight the local dialect of Skrapari as part of the Toskë Dialect viewed in the spotlight of Albanian Dialectology. Considering this local dialect in the spotlight of the data that the Dialectological Atlas of Albanian Language (ADGjSh) provides for the lexicological platform, it can be noticed that all the 273 lexical maps of the ADGjSh are divided into four kinds: The map where the lexical variant of the local dialect of Skrapari complies with the standard variant of Albanian Language. The map where one out of two lexical variants of the local dialect of Skrapari does not comply with the standard variant of Albanian Language. The map where none of the lexical variants of the dialectological points of the local dialect of Skrapari complies with the standard variant of Albanian Language. The map where a common local lexical variant for both dialectological points of the local dialect of Skrapari complies with the standard variant of Albanian Language.
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Si l’on procède à l’analyse acoustique d’une occlusive, on remarquera que, du point de vue spectro-acoustique, la phase de l’occlusion ne produit aucun effet, du moment que, lors de cet intervalle, l’air est bloqué derrière l’obstacle. La phase de l’explosion produit par contre un bruit très intense, mais bref (appelé en anglais burst ou spike). Cette phase est généralement suivie d’une brève intervalle de silence, appelée DEV, Délai d’Établissement du Voisement, que l’on appelle en anglais Voice Onset Time et qui correspond à la période nécessaire aux organes de l’articulation pour recommencer à produire la voix de la voyelle subséquente. Chez les occlusives non-voisées, les traces de l’explosion et du DEV semblent être plus évidentes. La durée du DEV y est plus grande que chez les voisées. Voici comment Lisker et Abramson définissent le Délai d’Établissement du Voisement : « the time interval between the burst that marks the release of the stop closure and the onset of quasi-periodicity that reflects laryngeal vibration »'
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The article deals with the history and language of the Mari settlers in Siberia who arrived in the Tomsk province in the early 20th century. Тwo expeditions from Yoshkar-Ola were organized in 1969 and 1975 to study their folklore, language and music. In the article the collection of Tomsk materials kept in the archive of the Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History has been described, some characteristic features of the Mari dialect of Tomsk have been noted and several texts have been published.
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Bearing in mind last efforts of Arabian linguists directed towards numerous studies and papers for the purpose of a more correct understanding of linguistic uniqueness of the hamza consonant, especially on phonetically- phonological and orthographical level of words, as well as disagreement among modern and classical grammarians concerning evaluating of its qualities on the above mentioned levels, hamza is at present considered to be a specific phenomenon of Arabian linguistics. Despite the fact that the use of disconnecting hamza in the standard Arabian language is set by a norm, the key issues of disagreement among Arabian linguists which originate from the very founding of Arabian linguistics and last up to the present day are: precise defining of the articulatory place of this consonant, different understanding of its acoustic qualities, common elision from speech which questions its phonemic quality, different orthography conditioned by the type of a vowel of the preceding radical, as well as uncordinated suggestions about the introducing the same orthography in all three positions of a word.
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