Processing of English Coda Laterals in L2 Listeners: An Eye-Tracking Study

This study explores speech processing of English coda laterals (dark L's) in second language (L2) listeners whose native language does not permit laterals at syllable coda positions. We tested L2 listeners' (native Mandarin) perception of coda laterals following three Australian English vowels differing in phonological backness, including /iː/, /ʉː/, and /oː/, which represent a front vowel, and central vowel, and a back vowel, respectively. L2 listeners first completed an AX task which tested their ability to discriminate between /iː/-/iːl/, /ʉː/-/ʉːl/, and /oː/-/oːl/, and then they completed an identification task with eye-tracking which tested their ability to distinguish vowel-lateral sequences and bare vowel categories using explicit phonological-orthographical labels. The results show that vowel backness plays a key role in L2 listeners' perceptual accuracy of English coda laterals, whereas the eye-tracking and identification data suggest some paradigmatic differences between the two tasks. Mandarin listeners show excellent discrimination and identification of coda laterals following a front vowel and poor performance following a back vowel, whereas the central vowel has led to intermediate patterns.