摘要：Background in ethnomusicology. It is widely known that dialects of the vocal tradition differ
not only in the traits of their musical structures but also in the vocal techniques, articulation,
etc. In part, our earlier studies have shown that there are certain dialectal differences between
the vocal techniques of northeast and southern Lithuanian (Ambrazevičius, 2001, 2002).
Background in phonetics. Obviously, spoken dialects differ to a greater or lesser extent in
their phonetics, lexis and other aspects. For example, numerous studies show that all Lithuanian
dialects have particular features. Southern and Eastern Aukštaitian (Southern and Northeast
Lithuanian) are similar in different levels of the language. Nevertheless, these dialects differ in
the acoustics of the vowels (spectrum, intensity, and pitch) (Leskauskaitė, 2004; Urbanavičienė,
2003, 2004).
Aims. We aim to clarify the possible influences of the spoken dialect on the sung dialect.
Hypothetically, the acoustics of speech does not merely affect the phonetics of singing, but also
the vocal technique and other traits of singing.
Main contribution. Samples of the speech of eight speakers (three from Northeast Lithuania
and five from Southern Lithuania) were analyzed. SPLs, F1 and F2 of vowels were measured,
and temporal characteristics of consonants were evaluated. The same procedure was carried out
with seven samples of sung performances (three plus four singers, from the corresponding
regions). The collation of the results of vowel measurements in speech and singing suggested
the following conclusions: 1) a relatively narrow system of speech vowels, in terms of F1-F2,
results in covered vowels in singing; however, a relatively wide system of speech vowels
remains wide in singing; 2) a wide range of the vowel system corresponds to significant
dynamic alterations in the singing performance. Also, it seems that the typical posture of the
vocal tract has an influence on the typical (dialectal) ornaments in singing. The collation of the
results of consonant measurements led to the following inferences: a distinct enunciation in the
spoken dialect correlates with: 1) the accentuation and a marcato quality in the singing; 2) the
vocalization of consonants in the singing. Hence, some traits of the singing dialect are neither
‘purely musical’ nor ‘purely vocal’, but rather speech-dependent.
Implications. Ethnomusicology courses should include information on the phonetics of the
spoken dialect. Practitioners of traditional singing styles should pay attention to dialectal
phonetics, since some relevant features of vocal technique are based primarily on phonetic
nuances. A comprehensive study of traditional songs and, particularly of traditional vocal
techniques, requires expertise in both the humanities (ethnomusicology, music analysis,
linguistics) and the sciences (voice acoustics, statistics).
