Contextual variants of the plosives /k/, /g/ in standard Latvian: acoustic characteristics (in comparison with the plosives /kj/, /gj/ and /k/, /g/ of standard Lithuanian).

The current paper deals with the acoustic characteristics of contextual variants (palatovelar [k̟], [g̟ ] and velar [k], [g]) of the velar plosive phonemes /k/, /g/ in Standard Latvian. The acoustic characteristics of these contextual variants are based on a set of three acoustic cues: 1) duration of the release phase; 2) frequency of the spectral peak; 3) F2 transition from plosive (C) to vowel (V), described using locus equations. As it is known, the effect of vowel environment on the place of articulation for velar consonants is greater in comparison to consonants articulated at other places. According to the latest edition of the Latvian Grammar (2015), the place of articulation for so-called “velar” plosives in a different vowel environment varies from truly velar to palatovelar, if they are pronounced before monophthongs /i/, /iː/, /e/, /eː/ and diphthongs that start with a component corresponding to the monophthongs /i/ or /e/. In contrast, for consonants produced at other places only slight modification of the main place of articulation in different vowel contexts is found. This phonetic variation, observed for the velar plosives in a different vowel environment, has a low importance in the framework of Standard Latvian, but can become a theme of interest for comparative studies of the consonant inventory of the two contemporary Baltic languages, Latvian and Lithuanian, as the latter has a phonological distinction between non-palatalized and palatalized consonants. [...