noun
- Plural of lenis; consonants pronounced with relatively weak muscular tension and little air pressure, contrasting with fortis consonants.
Usage: linguistics; technical term
Examples
- In phonetics, lenes are distinguished from fortes by their reduced articulatory force.
- The linguist explained that lenes consonants require less muscular effort to produce.
- Many languages contrast lenes with fortis consonants in their phonological systems.
- Students of phonology learn to identify lenes through careful acoustic analysis.