The Status of Variable Phonetic Output in Early Speech

This paper presents an analysis of variable outputs in the speech of English-, Spanishand Catalanspeaking 2 year-olds, to evaluate the evidence for multiple targets. Temporal analysis shows syllable duration is determined by actual segmental composition, compatible with either multiple targets or a process of categorical deletion. However, spectral analysis suggests deletions may be ‘gradient’, with the possibility of a single target subject to variable implementation. This mismatch between (pervasively categorical) temporal and (optionally gradient) articulatory behaviour suggests variable output is not due to a multipleentry lexicon as such, but to a shifting association between articulation and timing tiers, possibly as a result of competing structural templates.