I think the problem is that you should use compiler in Windows instead of gcc within Cygwin. The role in Cygwin for building Festival is to run configure
to generate a Makefile for VC. Then run nmake
in Windows command line not make
within Cygwin.
Cygwin cannot build a native Windows application like what MINGW does. Application build in Cygwin can only run within Cygwin.
*.a is the static library for Linux, which is built by gcc. *.lib is the static library for Windows, which is built by VC.
So I suggest you taking a look at README, INSTALL files in FestVox. To find whether there is description for make a Makefile for Windows like process "3. Make makefile for VC in Cygwin" in my document (http://www.eguidedog.net/doc_build_win_festival.php)
Cameron