Acoustic characteristics and distribution of variants of /l/ in the Nanjing Dialect

This paper reports acoustic characteristics of variants of /l/ and their distributions in the sound system of the Nanjing Dialect (NJ) in China. Prevocalic /l/ in NJ is reported to have different variants conditioned by the vowel context, yet no empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. This study provides an analysis on temporal and spectral properties of allophonic variants of /l/ in the Nanjing Dialect, incorporating a set of statistical methods sequentially applied such as cluster analysis and discriminant analysis. Our approach is tested and proves valid in addressing the allophonic distribution of /l/ in the contemporary NJ. Statistical analysis and acoustic examination reveal two variants of /l/ in different vowel environments in this dialect.