The article discusses the research which aims to ascertain whether the sonority of sounds could be used to determine boundaries of syllables in consonant clusters and if this principle is commonly ...employed by a sample of language users. The research consists of a) the overview of more significant foreign authors’ works, which is then used to identify the theoretic hierarchy of consonant clusters in Lithuanian, b) the exploratory analysis of consonant sonority, c) the investigation of sonority in consonant clusters, d) the research of tendencies in language users’ syllabification. The results have revealed that after establishing the hierarchy of consonant clusters in Lithuanian and applying the principle of syllabification by sonority, one fifth of the consonant clusters in the empirical data base is impossible to syllabify. Neither predicted phonetic syllable, nor the phonological syllable is commonly employed by the language users. The users are likely to assign at least one consonant of a cluster to a preceding syllable, while only the last consonant of polynomial clusters is assigned to the onset of a later syllable. Fricative consonants in consonant clusters are assigned to the coda of a previous syllable.
Different scientific studies provide many valuable recommendations how to manage crises in order to lessen their negative effect on relations with consumers. But the question whether the same ...business crises management rules can be applied for different industries, or they must be adapted depending on industries specifics, has not received sufficient scientific attention. Knowledge gaps about industry specific effect on consumer reactions to business crises remain. This study focuses on understanding the differences in consumers’ reactions in business crises situations with regard to controversial evaluation in the society of “the sin industries” (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.) and ordinary industries (not having controversial associations). Experimental research design, including online experiment with tobacco, beer and functional soft drinks consumers (in total 306 respondents), was chosen for competing research hypotheses testing. Empirical evidence was in line with theoretical argumentation about less negative consumers’ reactions during business crises in case of “sin industries” versus ordinary industry. This study shows that consumers attitudes, such as perception of company’s product quality, trust, social responsibility and behavioural intentions, such as intention to buy and recommend company’s products, are less negative during business crises in lower reputation “sin industries” than in ordinary industries.
The Lithuanian syllable has not been studied comprehensively. More attention has been paid to the analysis of structural patterns of phonological syllables. The aim of this study is to identify and ...describe the characteristics of the syllable of Standard Lithuanian, to establish its structure, and syllabification regularities. The syllable is described based on constituents’ hierarchy, syllable weight, phonemic structure, sonority, and optimality theory.
The aim of this article is to analyze the differences between Lithuanian and French sounds and to provide a general outlook of the Lithuanian articulatory phonetics mainly intended for French ...speakers. Such a comparative analysis is relevant because (a) there is no consistent equivalent between written and spoken language, even in Lithuanian, which has a relatively young written language, (b) the international phonetic alphabet does not always accurately reflect differences in pronunciation, (c) the contrastive perspective helps learners to focus on differences that could be unnoticed. Besides the articulatory aspects, the orthographic issues where the spoken form cannot be directly deduced from the written form by a simple relation from grapheme to sound but depends on the graphemic context (mainly related to some assimilation processes) are given a special attention. The questions that remain controversial between Lithuanian phoneticians (such as the retroflex status of the phonetic counterparts of <
and <
) are also mentioned. The comparative analysis shows that the two systems exhibit significant differences: most sounds are not shared. Nevertheless, differences are often slight, so that it is more an issue of orthoepics. Attention should be paid to the differences in the duration and qualitative characteristics of long and short vowels and the relation of graphemes <a, e, o, i> to sounds. From the point of view of consonants,
, r, r
, x,
are problematic, their pronunciation must be learned separately. The pronunciation of palatalized consonants as simple consonants, and not as clusters with j as the second element, is also challenging for French speakers.
The aim of this study is to determine whether consonant clusters t+s/tj+sj used at the junction of Lithuanian morphemes and words are pronounced as affricates t͡s/t͡sj or as clusters of separate ...consonants. The sentences with affricates and clusters were read three times at different rate (usual and fast) by 10 native speakers (5 men and 5 women with higher education, aged 24–55). The duration of the affricates and the clusters was measured, and their structural models were compared.
The duration of the affricates and the clusters analysed in the study is very similar. The frication of the clusters at the usual reading rate is a little (1.1 times) longer than the frication of the affricates. However, the duration of the frication at the fast reading is the same. While the duration of the closure of the affricates is longer at the fast reading, it is the same at the usual reading rate. There are three structural models of the affricates and clusters: a) closure and frication (62% of the researched clusters and 56% of the affricates), b) continuous or intensifying frication (17% clusters and 26% affricates), c) closure, slight plosion and frication (21% clusters and 18% affricates). The results of this research indicate that the consonant clusters t+s/tj+sj at the junction of the morphemes and clitics and words are pronounced as the affricates, and therefore are accordingly marked in transcribed texts.
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