LT1 - release 1.0 - September 2003
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A Lithuanian male voice for the MBROLA synthesizer
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Description of the Lithuanian diphone database
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The Lithuanian diphone database is built on the basis of 34 vowels, 57 consonants
and pause (92 in total). The voice of A. S. Girdenis was used.

Vowels

Stressed and unstressed vowels are treated to be different phonemes.
Short unstressed vowels are denoted with a single small letter, e.g. "a".
Short stressed vowels are denoted with a single capital letter, e.g. "A".
Long unstressed vowels are denoted with a double small letter, e.g. "aa".
Long vowels stressed with falling accent are denoted with two letters, e.g. "Aa".
Long vowels stressed with rising accent are denoted with two letters, e.g. "aA".
Long vowel /e/ is denoted with two letters "ea".
Long vowel /ė/ is denoted with two letters "ee".

Phoneme Examples         Transcription                English translation

i       ikona            i k o n A                          icon 
e       elektra          e l' e k t r A                     electricity
a       ašis             a S' I s                           axis
o       opozicija        o p o z' I ts' i j' a              opposition
u       ugnis            u g' n' I s                        fire
I       iždas            I Z d a s                          treasury
E       testas; kiaulė   t' E s t a s; k E W l' ee          test; pig
A       aš; laikas       A S; l A J k a s                   I; time
O       opera            O p' e r a                         opera
U       upė; zuikis      U p' ee; z U J k' i s              river; hare
ii      pyragas          p ii r aA g a s                    pie
Ii      įtampa           Ii t a m p a                       voltage
iI      dydis            d' iI d' i s                       size
ie      diena            d' ie n A                          day
Ie      pienas           p' Ie n a s                        milk
iE      dievas           d' iE v a s                        god
ee      mėsa             m' ee s A                          meat
Ee      mėta             m' Ee t a                          mint
eE      tėtis            t' eE t' i s                       dad
ea      lęšiukas         l' ea S' U k a s                   crystalline lens
Ea      spręsti; elnias  s' p' r' Ea s' t' i; Ea l' n' e s  to solve; deer
eA      ežeras           eA Z' e r a s                      lake
aa      žąsis            Z aa s' I s                        goose
Aa      ąžuolas, amžius  Aa Z uo l a s, Aa m' Z' u s        oak, century
aA      asilas           aA s' i l a s                      donkey
oo      oda              oo d A                             skin
Oo      oras             Oo r a s                           air
oO      sodas            s oO d a s                         garden
uo      uola             uo l A                             rock
Uo      uoga             Uo g a                             berry
uO      šuo              S uO                               dog
uu      ūmėdė            uu m' ee d' eE                     russule
Uu      grūdas           g r Uu d a s                       corn
uU      ūsas             uU s a s                           moustache
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Consonants

The symbol ' (apostrophe, ASCII 39), written after the consonant symbol, denotes
palatalisation. Most consonants come in pairs, "hard" (non-palatalised) and
"soft" (palatalised).
Consonants included into mixed diphthongs that are stressed with rising accent
are denoted with capital letter, e.g. "N".
Sound similar to English fricative in the word "ship" is denoted with capital letter "S".
Sound similar to English fricative in the word "measure" is denoted with capital letter "Z".

Phoneme Examples         Transcription               English translation

p       pupa             p u p A                            bean
p'      pipiras          p' i p' I r a s                    pepper
b       batas            b aA t a s                         shoe
b'      bitas            b' I t a s                         bit
t       taika            t ai k A                           peace
t'      tema             t' e m A                           theme
d       durys            d U r' ii s                        door
d'      dydis            d' iI d' i s                       size
k       karas            k aA r a s                         war
k'      kelis            k' eA l' i s                       knee
g       galas            g aA l a s                         end
g'      genys            g' e n' iI s                       woodpecker
ts      cukrus           ts U k r u s                       sugar
ts'     centas           ts' E N t a s                      cent
dz      dzūkai           dz uU k a j                        Dzukai
dz'     dziudo           dz' u d O                          judo
tS      čardašas         tS Aa r d a S a s                  czardas
tS'     čekis            tS' E k' i s                       check
dZ      džaulis          dZ Aa w l' i s                     joule
dZ'     džiazas          dZ' eA z a s                       jazz
s       sala             s a l A                            island
s'      sesuo            s' e s uO                          sister
z       zona             z o n A                            zone
z'      zebras           z' E b r a s                       zebra
S       šalmas           S A L m a s                        helmet
S'      šiaurė           S' E W r' ee                       north
Z       žalias           Z aA l' e s                        green
Z'      žiogas           Z' Oo g a s                        grasshopper
x       chaosas          x a O s a s                        chaos
x'      chemija          x' E m' i j' e                     chemistry
h       haremas          h a r' E m a s                     harem
h'      hercas           h' E R ts a s                      Hertz
f       fonas            f O n a s                          background
f'      figūra           f' i g uu r A                      figure
j'      jardas; jis      j' Ea r d a s; j' i s              yard; he
j       daina            d a j n a                          song
J       laikas           l A J k a s                        time
v       vardas           v A R d a s                        name
v'      vilkas           v I L k a s                        wolf
w       auka             a w k A                            victim
W       aukštis          A W k' S' t' i s                   height
l       lapas; galva     l aA p a s; g a l v A              leaf; head
l'      ledas; šaltinis  l' eA d a s; S a l' t' I n' i s    ice; spring
L       kulnas           k U L n a s                        heel
L'      ilgis            I L' g' i s                        length
r       ragas; barzda    r aA g a s; b a r z d A            horn; beard
r'      riba; varlė      r' i b A; v a r' l' eE             limit; frog
R       vartai           v A R t a j                        gate
R'      karštis          k A R' S' t' i s                   heat
m       matas; gamta     m aA t a s; g a m t A              measure; nature
m'      mylia; kempinė   m ii l' E; k' e m' p' I n' ee      mile; sponge
M       kampas           k A M p a s                        angle
M'      vamzdis          v A M' z' d' i s                   pipe
n       nagas; banga     n aA g a s; b a n g A              nail; wave
n'      ne; rinkimai     n' E; r' i n' k' I m a j           no; election
N       skundas          s k U N d a s                      complaint
N'      dangtis          d A N' g' t' i s                   cover
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Diphthongs

Mixed diphthongs should be built as follows:
Unstressed: vowels {a e i u} and consonants {l l' m m' n n' r r'};
Stressed with falling accent: vowels {Aa Ea I U} and consonants {l l' m m' n n' r r'};
Stressed with rising accent: vowels {A E I U} and consonants {L L' M M' N N' R R'}.

The diphthongs ie and uo are treated to be separate phonemes, the other diphthongs
(their unstressed and stressed variants) should be build like mixed diphthongs using
vowels and consonants {j J w W} (in a written text they are usually denoted as
i (sometimes j) and u).
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Replacements

8464 diphones can be built using 92 phonemes. But many such combinations are
impossible in Lithuanian. The diphone database contains only 5003 diphones.
Impossible diphones will trigger the following replacements:

1) Palatalised consonants before non-palatalised consonants, pause and vowels
{a A aa Aa aA} (except "j'") will be replaced with non-palatalised ones.
Non-palatalised consonants before palatalised consonants and vowels
{e E ea Ea eA ie Ie iE i I ii Ii iI ee Ee eE} will be replaced with palatalised ones;

2) Voiced consonants {b b' d d' g g' z z' Z Z' dz dz' dZ dZ' h h'} before unvoiced
consonants {p p' t t' k k' s s' S S' ts ts' tS tS' x x' f f'} and pause will be replaced
with unvoiced ones. Unvoiced consonants {p p' t t' k k' s s' S S' ts ts' tS tS' x x' f f'}
before voiced consonants {b b' d d' g g' z z' Z Z' dz dz' dZ dZ' h h'} will be replaced
with voiced ones;

3) Non-hissing consonants {s s' z z' ts ts' dz dz'} before hissing consonants
{S S' Z Z' tS tS' dZ dZ'} will be replaced with hissing ones;

4) Stressed consonants {L L' M M' N N' R R' J W} that doesn't meet the rules for building
diphthongs will be replaced with unstressed ones;

5) Vowels that are stressed with falling accent at the end of word will be replaced
with vowels stressed with rising accent;

6) Some other less general replacements.
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Prof. Habil. Dr. Aleksas Stanislovas Girdenis
Faculty of Philology
Vilnius University

Dr. Pijus Kasparaitis
Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
Vilnius University
E-mail: pkasparaitis@yahoo.com

