Variability of Retroflex Perception and Production in Heritage Tamil Speakers

This thesis investigates how social factors, such as input and identity, affect heritage Tamil perception and production of the alveo-dental and retroflex liquid contrast ([l]-[ɭ]). Heritage Tamil speakers participated in perception discrimination tasks, minimal pair production tasks, heritage language questionnaires, and sociolinguistic interviews. Quantitative results showed a high degree of variation in productive salience, as some speakers clearly produce the contrast while others did not. There was evidence of incomplete heritage language acquisition, dominant language substitution, and incomplete category formation. Perceptual distance was also variable, with some participants clearly showing categorical discrimination while others did not. Qualitative results revealed that a concrete embedding of the heritage language within their culture and a strong linguistic identity can serve as a reliable indicator of accuracy in perception and production. This research addresses whether acoustically fragile contrasts are realized in heritage Tamil, and importantly, how identity and language motivations serve to maintain them.