Variation in Second and Heritage Languages

Catalan exhibits a systematic velarization of alveolar lateral /l/ to (dark) [ɫ], somewhat infamously and even pejoratively recognized by speakers as la ela catalana ‘the Catalan l,’ in salient opposition to the non-velarized (or light) realizations of the parallel alveolar lateral Spanish category, realized as [l] (Bibiloni 2006; Davidson 2019; Hualde 2005). In light of an attested negative social stigma afforded to velarized /l/ (Davidson 2019; Pieras 1999; Simonet 2010a), in this study I exam