Voicing of Intervocalic Fricatives in Welsh and Welsh English

This thesis presents an acoustic investigation into the production of voicing in Welsh-English bilingual speakers. It contributes to previous research into devoicing and focuses on providing more research into Welsh fricatives. The study consists of analysing the production of fricatives in intervocalic position by 4 Welsh-English bilingual speakers. The amount of voicing produced, place of articulation, vowel height, and duration were investigated to make a comparative analysis between Welsh and Welsh English. The results showed no difference in the production of voicing between Welsh and English [+/-voice] fricatives, but the descriptive results did show differences demonstrating that participants were more consistent at producing voicing in Welsh than in English.