UC Berkeley

Abstract Catalan exhibits a systematic velarization of alveolar lateral /l/ to (dark) [ɫ], somewhat infamously and even pejoratively recognized by speakers as la ela catalana ‘the Catalan l,’ in salient opposition to the non-velarized (or light) realizations of the parallel alveolar lateral Spanish category, realized as [l] ( Bibiloni 2006 ; Davidson 2019 ; Hualde 2005 ). In light of an attested negative social stigma afforded to velarized /l/ ( Davidson 2019 ; Pieras 1999 ; Simonet 2010a ), in this study I examine the variable acquisition of Catalan /l/ by L1-Spanish speakers. In so doing, I problematize the assessment of successful second language acquisition for an L1 sociolinguistic stereotype (cf. Labov 2001 ), ultimately demonstrating how L2-speakers adopt native-like sociolinguistic variation with non-native-like speech variants.