Selected Acoustic Features of the Welsh Lateral Fricative /ɫ/

Michał Baran

doi:10.18778/1731-7533.22.1.03

Authors

Michał Baran University of Szczecin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1731-7533.22.1.03

Keywords:

laryngeal fricative, aspiration, spectral moments, fricatives, Welsh consonants

Abstract

The Welsh language exhibits a number of features uncommon from a cross-linguistic point of view, one of which is a relatively large number of fricative phonemes. This paper analyses selected acoustic features of the Welsh lateral fricative /ɬ/ in order to contribute to the debate on the laryngeal system in Welsh and the classification of /ɬ/ within that system. Total articulation length, voicing length and SMA parameters of the friction period are measured and analysed on the basis of recordings of 6 native speakers of Welsh. The results confirm the classification of /ɬ/ as a fortis sound proposed in earlier studies (Asmus and Grawunder 2017, Baran forthcoming) and suggest that the Welsh /ɬ/ may exhibit aspiration.

Author Biography

Michał Baran, University of Szczecin

Michał Baran works as Assistant Professor at the Institute of Linguistics (University of Szczecin, Poland). His main research interests include acoustic phonetics and phonetics and phonology of the Celtic languages, in 2024 he defended his PhD thesis entitled “Defining the fortis/lenis and voiceless/voiced distinction of consonants in Welsh and English” written under the supervision of prof. Sabine Asmus.

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