Synchronic Re Ections of the Life Cycle of Phonological Processes

Variation in English /l/: Synchronic reections of the life cycle of phonological processes

A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities

2014

Danielle Turton

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Contents

List of Figures 7

List of Tables 11

Abstract 15

Declaration 16

Acknowledgements 18

1 Introduction 20 1.1 Goals of the thesis ...... 21 1.1.1 Theoretical issues ...... 21 1.1.2 Empirical issues ...... 22 1.1.3 Peripheral goals ...... 22 1.1.4 Questions which will not be addressed ...... 23 1.1.5 Outcome of the present investigation ...... 24 1.1.6 Organisation of the thesis ...... 24

2 Previous studies of English /l/ 27 2.1 Phonological analyses ...... 28 2.1.1 Morphosyntactically conditioned phonological processes . . . . . 29 2.1.2 A note on syllabication ...... 31 2.2 Phonetic analyses ...... 33 2.2.1 Acoustic analyses ...... 33 2.2.2 Articulatory analyses ...... 35 2.2.2.1 Articulatory methodologies ...... 36 2.2.2.1.1 Ultrasound ...... 36 2.2.2.1.2 Electropalatography (EPG) ...... 37 2.2.2.1.3 X-ray microbeam ...... 37 2.2.2.1.4 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ...... 37 2.2.2.1.5 Electromagnetic (mid-sagittal) articulography (EM[M]A) ...... 37 2.2.2.1.6 Cineuorography ...... 38 2.2.3 Articulatory studies of /l/ ...... 38

2 Contents

2.2.3.1 Temporal Analysis ...... 40 2.2.3.2 Pharyngealisation vs. velarisation ...... 41 2.2.3.3 Frequency eects ...... 42 2.2.4 Duration ...... 43 2.2.5 Coarticulation ...... 45 2.2.5.1 Vowel o-glide ...... 46 2.3 /l/ in varieties of English ...... 47 2.3.1 /l/-darkening ...... 47 2.3.2 Vocalised /l/ ...... 51 2.3.2.1 Style-shifting ...... 52 2.3.2.2 Intrusive /l/ ...... 53 2.4 Summary ...... 53

3 The Life Cycle of Phonological Processes 55 3.1 The life cycle ...... 55 3.1.1 Phonologisation ...... 57 3.1.2 Stabilisation ...... 58 3.1.3 Domain narrowing ...... 59 3.2 Evidence for the life cycle ...... 60 3.2.1 English /l/ ...... 60 3.3 Rule generalisation ...... 63 3.4 Lenition trajectories ...... 66 3.5 Rule scattering ...... 68 3.6 Summary ...... 69

4 Categorical vs. Gradient Processes 70 4.1 Gradience and Categoricity ...... 70 4.1.1 Phonetics-phonology interactions and the speech community ...... 72 4.2 Approaches to /l/-darkening ...... 73 4.2.1 A categorical approach ...... 73 4.2.2 A gradient approach ...... 74 4.2.3 Evidence for both categoricity and gradience ...... 75 4.2.4 Further arguments for categoricity and gradience ...... 79 4.3 A modular approach ...... 81 4.4 Empirical diagnostics for categoricity ...... 82 4.5 Summary ...... 84

5 Methodology 86 5.1 Research Questions ...... 86 5.2 Experimental Procedure ...... 87 5.2.1 Recruiting participants ...... 87 5.2.2 Data collection ...... 88 5.2.2.1 Probe stabilisation ...... 89 5.2.3 Target Stimuli ...... 89 5.2.3.1 Experiment 1 stimuli ...... 90 5.2.3.2 Experiment 2 stimuli ...... 91 5.2.4 Participants ...... 92 5.2.4.1 Participants taking part in both experiments ...... 93 5.2.4.1.1 RP ...... 93 5.2.4.1.2 Manchester WC ...... 93

3 Contents

5.2.4.2 Experiment 1 ...... 93 5.2.4.2.1 Middlesbrough ...... 93 5.2.4.2.2 Essex ...... 93 5.2.4.2.3 American English ...... 93 5.2.4.3 Experiment 2 ...... 95 5.2.4.3.1 London Female ...... 95 5.2.4.3.2 London Male ...... 95 5.2.4.3.3 Manchester MC ...... 95 5.2.4.3.4 Belfast ...... 95 5.2.4.3.5 Liverpool ...... 95 5.3 Data analysis ...... 95 5.3.1 Data labelling and coding ...... 95 5.3.2 Spline selection ...... 98 5.3.3 Temporal analysis ...... 99 5.3.4 The problem of inter-speaker comparison ...... 99 5.3.5 Plotting splines ...... 100 5.4 Acoustic measures ...... 100 5.4.1 /l/-darkness ...... 100 5.4.2 Normalisation ...... 102 5.4.3 Duration ...... 103 5.5 Quantitative analysis ...... 103 5.5.1 Spline comparison and Smoothing Spline ANOVA ...... 103 5.5.2 Principal Components Analysis (PCA)