Substantive Bias and Variation in the Acquisition of /n/~/l/ Alternation

Phonological biases suppose that language learners are predisposed toward certain sound patterns. A widely studied phonological bias is substantive bias, a bias that favors phonetically natural or motivated patterns. Experimental results for substantive bias have been mixed. Against this background, this study explores the possible factors influencing the effect of substantive bias, and the focus is on the input variability. An artificial language learning study on /n/~/l/ alternation by native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese was conducted. There were two categorical learning conditions and two variable learning conditions. In the categorical learning conditions, all the initial /n/ changed to /l/ either in phonetically motivated or unmotivated contexts. In the variable learning conditions, the dominant percentage of initial /n/ changed to /l/ in phonetically motivated or unmotivated context. Substantive bias arose only in variable learning conditions, which suggests that the substantive bias effect is not global, but it is activated under certain circumstances. This study found that the shape and distribution of input could influence the effect of substantive bias.