Processing pronunciation variation with independently mappable allophones
Rachel Soo, Molly Babel · Journal of Phonetics · 2025
• A long-standing merger of /n/ to /l/ in Cantonese has produced [n]- and [l]-initial pronunciation variants that are effectively allophones of syllable-initial /l/ and /n/. • [n] and [l]-initial allophones are distinguishable in perception. • In recognition and encoding paradigms, [n] and [l] allophones are processed neither equivalently nor distinctly when the targets bear the more common [l]-initial allophone. • Error rates are high when the targets bear the [n]-initial allophone. • [n] and [l] are allophonic variants independently mapped to a phoneme, with connection strengths varying. Sound change can present synchronic variation with categorical pronunciation variants. This is the case in Cantonese, where syllable-initial /n/ is merging with /l/, occasionally creating homophones (e.g., lou5 腦 “brain”/ 老“old”) and giving rise to [n]- and [l]-initial pronunciation variants that are allophones. This pronunciation variation offers insight into how variation is processed in spoken word recognition because [n] and [l] in Cantonese are not associated with an orthographic standard. Across four experiments, we examine the perception, recognition, and encoding of Cantonese [n] and [l], and use Bayesian analyses where gradient interpretations are more straightforward. We observe perceptual evidence that these allophones are distinguishable (Exp 2). In recognition (Exp 1) and encoding (Exp 3) paradigms, we find that the [n] and [l] allophones are processed neither equivalently nor distinctly when the targets bear the more common [l]-initial allophone. When the targets bear the [n]-initial allophone (Exp 4), we observe high error rates, and somewhat contradictory results. Altogether, the results suggest that [n] and [l] are allophonic variants independently mapped to a phoneme, with connection strengths varying as a function of the frequency, such that the more common [l]-initial pronunciation demonstrates an overall recognition advantage.