Categoricity and gradience: A case study of Sakha lateral liquids

Abstract

I report on a recent acoustic study on the lateral liquid /l/ variation in Sakha (Turkic). I investigated /l/ darkening in Sakha in multiple lexical (including mono- and bi-morphemic) environments. In particular, I show that the effects of neighboring vowels on /l/ darkening are quite remarkable, to the extent that one is tempted to conclude that /l/ is participating in vowel harmony. I do not necessarily make this claim, but it is quite clear that adjacent vowels play a major role in Sakha/l/ darkening. The results show that /l/ variation in this language, like English, is both categorical and gradient. Backness of vowels determines which /l/ to appear. Therefore, the major finding of the study is that, rather than syllable structure, it is primarily vowel backness that determines /l/ variation in this language. This, in turn, indicates that variation of this consonant is categorically affected by vowel harmony. At the same time, I also discuss how one could potentially argue for a completely phonetic (i.e., gradience) approach. Still, based on the investigation of /l/ variation in several environments, I conclude that categoricity and gradience each plays a distinct role.