Patterns in the acquisition of the Welsh lateral fricative

Effects of language dominance, developmental stage, & phonetic characteristics on variation in the acquisition of the Welsh lateral fricative [(belted l)] are examined in an analysis of results from a larger study of English & Welsh phonology acquisition in bilingual contexts described by Ball et al (1998) & Munro et al (2000). Fifty words per language were sampled from each of five 6-month age groups of Welsh-dominant bilinguals from 2:6 to 5:0 (N = 6, 9, 10, 10, & 9, respectively) & four age groups of English-dominant bilinguals from 3:0 to 5:0 (N = 8, 9, 11, & 11 respectively). Results indicate that %s of correct [(belted l)] articulations are higher overall in Welsh-dominant subjects reaching 100% in all word positions by age 4:6; the prevalence of [x] & [xl] among subjects' erroneous realizations is taken as evidence that perception, not production, dominates in the acquisition of Welsh [(belted l)]. 2 Tables, 7 References. J. Hitchcock