--- In phoNet@egroups.com, "Sergejus Tarasovas" <s.tarasovas@s...>
wrote:
> Piotr wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
>
> I've been looking forward to your contribution hoping you would
tell us
> someting about these diphthongs. I'd be interested in two things:
from the
> descriptions I've read and from my own informal observations of
spoken
> Lithuanian I gather that they are in fact long mid-high vowels
([e:] and
> [o:]) preceded by semivocalic onglides. If so, something like
[je:], [wo:]
> could do as a rough transcription. Do you agree?
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> The most interesting peculiarity of Lithuanian here is that the term
> semivocalic may not suit (at least in the meaning applied to
English [j] and
> [w]). They are so weak and momentary, that I would rather called
them the
> 'way [e:] and [o:] are articulated in the first stage of
articulation'
> (somebody, please remind me the term!).
>
> Sergei

That's what I meant by saying that their place is within the syllable
nucleus, not in the onset (in simpler terms, they are clearly
vocalic, not consonantal). Juozas Spanish parallel seems good enough
to me. The technical term you're looking for is probably "onglide".

Piotr