Contextual reduction of word-final /l/ in Spanish: An EPG study

This article presents data on the contextual reduction of /l/ in Spanish. Electropalatography (EPG) was used to examine realisations of word-final /l/ in prevocalic and preconsonantal environments in order to determine to what extent articulatory reduction of the /l/ is attributable to coarticulation with following segments. Previous studies using static palatography (Josselyn 1907) describe continuous RELAXATION of the articulatory stricture associated with /l/ in different phonological environments. These descriptions, in turn, have informed standard reference works on Spanish phonetics (e.g. Navarro Tomás 1957; Gili Gaya 1966). Additionally, theoretical work on other languages has argued in favour of syllable-based accounts of /l/-allophony and reduction patterns (e.g. English /l/-darkening and vocalisation), whereas instrumental studies have revealed complexities to these patterns that challenge syllable-based analyses. The findings of the EPG study reported on here confirm that /l/-reduction in Spanish is a gradient phenomenon that arises due to antagonistic coarticulatory forces. Thus, the reduction patterns that emerge in the data cannot be predicted on the basis of syllabification algorithms alone.