Previous research suggests that second language (L2) speakers of English whose first languages (L1s) are Spanish or French can produce the English /l/ allophony, using clear l in onset position and dark ɫ in coda position (Colantoni et al., 2023). However, many L1 backgrounds remain unexplored in this context, and few studies have employed ultrasound imaging. This study uses acoustic and ultrasound analyses to investigate the production of English /l/ and the corresponding sound in the L1 by three L1 French speakers and three L1 German speakers, since both languages lack ɫ, alongside three L1 English speakers. Acoustic and articulatory results showed that L2 speakers produced ɫ in English codas, indicated by significantly lower F2 and F2–F1 values, lower tongue bodies, and retracted tongue dorsums. One French and one German speaker produced English /l/ nearly identically to their L1 /l/, indicating assimilation to their L1 category. All other speakers maintained distinct lateral categories for English and their L1. Overall, English /l/ was darker than French and German /l/. These findings confirm that L2 English speakers can acquire the positional allophony despite lacking a dark /l/ in their L1 and highlight variation in how individual L2 speakers produce non-native sounds.
Alexis Sprung (Wed,) studied this question.