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The aim of the paper is to examine how acoustic contrast manifests itself between /l/ and /ʎ/ in Latvian, as well as /l/ and /lʲ/ in Lithuanian. For the study, speech recordings of 6 adult informants (3 Lithuanian and 3 Latvian male speakers) have been analysed. Initial and final laterals in closed symmetric [l]V[l] sequences and intervocalic syllable-initial laterals in V[l]V sequences have been examined. During the analysis, the focus is placed mainly on locus equations, as well as changes in formant structure (especially F1 and F2) triggered by position and vocalic context. Acoustic data demonstrates differences in coarticulation effects between Latvian palatal /ʎ/ and Lithuanian palatalized /lʲ/. The formant structure of /ʎ/ and /lʲ/, unlike the corresponding non-palatal laterals, is more stable and less dependent on the quality of adjacent vowels. Vowel context affects the degree of palatalization, e. g. palatalized [lʲ] next to [ɪ], [iː] and [eː] is pronounced “softer” than next to [ɔ̟ ], [o̟ ː], [ʊ̟ ], and [u̟ ː]. Latvian /ʎ/ is characterized by a more stable vowel F2 locus, which indicates higher degree of coarticulatory resistance to vowel effects; the quality of /lʲ/, on the contrary, depends more on vowel context. The same is true (although to lesser degree) for the Lithuanian /l/. The assumption about the similarity of Latvian non-palatal /l/ and Lithuanian palatalized /lʲ/ is only partly supported by the recent data. In terms of the degree of coarticulation (indicated by slope values of locus equations), Latvian /l/ is closer to Lithuanian /lʲ/, while its formant structure, especially low F2, brings it closer to Lithuanian /l/. Keywords: Lithuanian language; Latvian language; laterals; acoustic features; palatalization; formants; locus equations.

Darbs ir veltīts reducēto patskaņu izrunas īpatnību analīzei latviešu krieviskajā runā. Tā mērķis ir izpētīt latviešu spontāno krievisko runu, lai konstatētu fonētiskās interferences ietekmē radušās novirzes no krievu valodai raksturīgās reducēto patskaņu /a/ un /u/ pareizrunas. Autors veic augstāk minēto patskaņu eksperimentālo analīzi un iegūtos rezultātus salīdzina ar atbilstošo krievu un latviešu valodas fonēmu pareizrunu. Darbs sastāv no divām daļām – pirmajā tiek apskatīti ar pētījumu saistītie teorētiskie jautājumi, savukārt otrā ir veltīta divu diktoru izrunas analīzei. Pētījums var ieinteresēt filologus, kas specializējas fonētikas un krievu valodas kā svešvalodas apmācības jautājumos, kā arī visus interesentus. Atslēgvārdi: fonētiskā interference, kvantitatīvā patskaņu redukcija, kvalitatīvā patskaņu redukcija, pareizruna., The Bachelor’s Paper is devoted to the research of native Latvian speakers’ pronunciation peculiarities of Russian reduced vowels. The aim of the research is to find out the Latvian speakers’ pronunciation peculiarities of Russian reduced vowels in spontaneous speech, caused by the interfering influence of their native language. The author of the Paper undertakes the experimental analysis of pronunciation peculiarities of the vowels /a/ and /o/ after hard consonants in spontaneous speech of the Latvians, as well as compares the gained data with the characteristics of the corresponding Russian and Latvian vowels in the received pronunciation. The Paper consists of the two sections. The first section deals with the theoretical issues related to the research, meanwhile the second presents the research part, in which pronunciation of two speakers is analysed. The research might be of interest to philologists dealing with the phonetics and teaching Russian as a foreign language, as well as to any reader interested in this topic. Keywords: phonetical interference, quantitative reduction, qualitative reduction, received speech.