lenisadj.n.

1929 G. K. Zipf in Harvard Stud. Classical Philol. XL. 63 Then, if our theory be true, the German p must be fortis, the German b lenis.

1929 G. K. Zipf in Harvard Stud. Classical Philol. XL. 64 I hazard the guess..that the same condition of lenis-fortis obtains there also.

1962 A. C. Gimson Introd. Pronunc. Eng. iv. 32 A voiceless/voiced pair such as [s, z] are distinguished not only by the presence or absence of voice but also by the degree of breath and muscular effort involved in the articulation... Those English consonants which are usually voiced tend to be articulated with relatively weak energy, whereas those which are always voiceless are relatively strong. Thus, it may be important to define [s]..as strong or fortis and [z] as weak or lenis.

1964 Jakobson & Halle in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 100 The distinctive mark in a fortis-lenis pair.

1969 Word 25 20 l is sometimes realized as a very lenis unreleased t and ŋ as a nasalized vowel.

1971 F. W. Householder Ling. Speculations xi. 206 In Iranian Azerbaijani..the back velar stop is normally lenis only, unopposed by any fortis aspirated [k].

1932 W. L. Graff Lang. & Langs. vii. 274 In Alsace people..of French tongue often pronounce voiceless sounds or lenes as in Southern German.

1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. 99 Pressure and action are gentle in lenes, vigorous in fortes... In English the unvoiced stops are aspirated fortes, but other types occur as non-distinctive variants, notably the unaspirated lenis type after [s].

1935 G. K. Zipf Psycho-biol. Lang. iii. 63 In the voiceless fortes and the voiceless lenes we have stops which differ appreciably in magnitude.

1965 Amer. Speech 40 7 Four groupings within the lenes.