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The book entitled “Welsh as a Fortis-Lenis Language” presents the results of a study on the laryngeal system of the Welsh consonants. The analysis of the laryngeal system in Welsh is conducted on the basis of phonetic evidence, phonological facts and a brief comparison with the laryngeal system operating in English. The main conclusion is that the Welsh language exhibits a fortis-lenis distinction of consonants complemented with some further phonologically distinctive contrasts resulting from the mICM system.

Chapter 1. states that the goal of the thesis is establishing the laryngeal system suitable for the Welsh language and comparing that system to the one employed in the English language. Next, the initial assumptions regarding the laryngeal system in Welsh are presented. In the last part of Chapter 1., the attention is switched to the English language as the nature of the Welsh-English language contact is discussed.

Chapter 2. provides the theoretical background necessary for this thesis. Main consonants distinctions are discussed from a phonological perspective, but also from a phonetic point of view focused on acoustic correlates of the features of consonants. Then, Welsh and English consonants are introduced and later compared to each other.

Chapter 3. presents the experiment conducted for the purpose of writing this thesis. First, the methodology is explained. Then, the results are presented separately for (i) the Welsh plosives, (ii) the Welsh fricatives and (iii) the Welsh stop-fricative pairs. The results are later discussed by reviewing the theoretical assumptions and hypotheses and analysing the apparent acoustic cues of the fortis-lenis distinction in Welsh plosives, fricatives and stop-fricative pairs.

Chapter 4. compares the results of the experiment described in Chapter 3. to the data from selected acoustic studies on the English obstruents. These acoustic studies are described at the beginning of the…

Schlagworte

Laryngalsystem, Laryngale Merkmale, Walisisch, Walisische Phonetik, Konsonantenunterscheidung, Fortis-Lenis-Unterscheidung, Kehllaute, Linguistik, laryngeal system, laryngeal features, Welsh, Welsh phonetics, Consonant distinctions, Fortis-lenis distinction, linguistics