Fortis and Lenis

Fortis And Lenis

In linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc. "Fortis" and "lenis" were coined as less misleading terms to refer to consonantal contrasts in languages that do not employ actual vocal fold vibration in their "voiced" consonants but instead involved amounts of "articulatory strength". For example, Germanic languages like English, Dutch, and German have "fortis" consonants (as exhibited in come, komen, and kommen, respectively) that exhibit a longer stop closure and shorter preceding vowels than their "lenis" counterparts (as exhibited in grass, goal, and Gras). "Tense" and "lax" are also common alternatives.

The terms are largely impressionistic. In many cases, the actual distinction is typically one of voice, length, aspiration, presence or absence of secondary articulation such as glottalization or velarization, differing length of nearby vowels, or some combination of such features. It is helpful to think of fortis and lenis as phonological terms, rather than specific phonetic descriptions.