Acoustic Characteristics of Eastern and Western Bulgarian Types of Articulation of Soft Consonants (Pilot Study)

: This pilot study compares and analyzes the acoustic characteristics of soft bilabial plosives in the speech of representatives of Eastern and Western Bulgarian dialects. Six acoustic parameters follow the CVC syllable structure. The results show that there is a notable difference in the consonant duration and the F 2 transition duration between the Eastern and Western types of articulation. The paper confirms that consonant duration, F 2 onset, F 2 offset and F 2 transition duration are informative enough to differentiate between Eastern and Western types of soft consonants on the one hand, and soft consonants and non-palatalized consonants on the other hand.