BLC Talk by Prof. Alexei Kochetov (UofT) on October 3

Abstract: 

L2 acquisition of the English lateral allophonic variation: Insights from electropalatography

In many English varieties, /l/ is produced differently in onsets and codas. Compared to ‘light’ syllable-initial realizations , ‘dark’ syllable-final variants involve reduced tongue tip-alveolar ridge contact and a raised/retracted tongue dorsum (e.g. in leap, play vs. peel, help). This study investigated whether native French and Spanish speakers whose L1 lacks such positionally conditioned variation can acquire English-/l/ allophony, testing the hypotheses that (a) the allophonic pattern will be acquired by both groups but (b) learners will differ from native speakers in their phonetic implementation, particularly in codas. The production of syllable-initial and -final /l/ (singletons and clusters) in words read in isolation and a carrier sentence by French- and Spanish-speaking learners as well as control native English speakers was analyzed via electropalatography (EPG), the method that uses an artificial palate to track the contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth during speech. The results showed that some learners produced distinct onset and coda variants and all learners had moved away to some extent from their L1 production (which was also examined). They all, however, differed from the native speakers in certain ways. The results thus highlight the difficulty of acquiring the target-like realization of positional allophonic variation in a second language.

[Work with Laura Colantoni and Jeffrey Steele]

When: October 3, 2025 at 3:00PM

Where: JF321 (Seminar Room)