/l/ velarisation as a continuum

In this paper, we present a production study to explore the controversial question about /l/ velarisation. Measurements of first (F(1)), second (F(2)) and third (F(3)) formant frequencies and the slope of F(2) were analysed to clarify the /l/ velarisation behaviour in European Portuguese (EP). The acoustic data were collected from ten EP speakers, producing trisyllabic words with paroxytone stress pattern, with the liquid consonant at the middle of the word in onset, complex onset and coda positions. Results suggested that /l/ is produced on a continuum in EP. The consistently low F(2) indicates that /l/ is velarised in all syllable positions, but variation especially in F(1) and F(3) revealed that /l/ could be “more velarised” or “less velarised” dependent on syllable positions and vowel contexts. These findings suggest that it is important to consider different acoustic measures to better understand /l/ velarisation in EP.