Acoustic Characteristics of Pre- and Post-vocalic /l/: Patterns from One Southern White Vernacular English
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2022
Abstract
This study examined acoustic characteristics of the phoneme /l/ produced by young female and male adult speakers of Southern White Vernacular English (SWVE) from Louisiana. F1, F2, and F2-F1 values extracted at the /l/ midpoint were analyzed by word position (pre- vs. post-vocalic) and vowel contexts (/i, ɪ/ vs. /ɔ, a/). Descriptive analysis showed that SWVE /l/ exhibited characteristics of the dark /l/ variant. The formant patterns of /l/, however, differed significantly by word position and vowel context, with pre-vocalic /l/ showing significantly higher F2-F1 values than post-vocalic /l/, and /l/ in the high front vowel context showing significantly higher F2-F1 values than those in the low back vowel context. Individual variation in the effects of word position and vowel contexts on /l/ pattern was also observed. Overall, the findings of the current study showed a gradient nature of SWVE /l/ variants whose F2-F1 patterns generally fell into the range of the dark /l/ variant, while varying by word position and vowel context.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Language and Speech
First Page
513
Last Page
528
Recommended Citation
Chung, H. (2022). Acoustic Characteristics of Pre- and Post-vocalic /l/: Patterns from One Southern White Vernacular English. Language and Speech, 65 (2), 513-528. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309211037368