Articulatory Coordination in L2-Speakers of Spanish

Although recent research has shed some light on relative timing in laryngeal and oral articulatory gestures, little is known about articulatory patterns of second language (L2) users along the trajectory from novice to expert. We report results of an electromagnetic articulographic (EMA) investigation of two native English speakers' L2 Spanish— languages in which voicing and word-initial overlap in C1C2 clusters are markedly different. We examine how voicing implementation and onset cluster overlap change as a function of L1 by comparing these speakers to previously recorded native Spanish speakers (under review). Analyses of L1 and L2 groups' articulatory overlap in voicedand voicelessstop clusters revealed subtle group differences, the L2 speakers not producing some fine-grained native differences in overlap. However, analyses of voiceless-stop VOTs in singleton/complex clusters revealed substantial differences partially attributable to syllable complexity. Results will be discussed in light of recent research addressing the acquisition of novel coordination patterns in an L2.