The speech rhythm of the Lithuanian and Latvian languages

Studies on the rhythm of living Baltic languages are scarce (especially comparative ones) and their conclusions are usually ambiguous or even controversial. The aim of this research was to determine the values of the acoustic correlates of Lithuanian and Latvian languages and to compare them with the values found in other languages, identified by researchers as belonging to particular rhythm groups. The empirical material of this study consisted of 5 Lithuanian and 5 Latvian native speakers reading Aesop's fable The North Wind and the Sun in their respective native languages. The acoustic analysis of the audio recordings was performed using Praat and Correlatore applications. The analysis showed that the values of the acoustic rhythm correlates in both Baltic languages were found unequal. Nevertheless,according to the studied acoustic correlators, Lithuanian belongs to stress-timed languages, while Latvian is closer to syllable-timed languagesHumanitarinių mokslų fakultetasLituanistikos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta