The ⁴⁶Ti^* compound nucleus, as populated by the fusion--evaporation reaction ²⁷Al + ¹⁹F at the bombarding energy of 144MeV, has been investigated by charged particle spectroscopy using the multidetector array  ICARE at the VIVITRON tandem facility of the IReS (Strasbourg). The light charged particles have been measured in coincidence with evaporation residues. The  CACARIZO} code, a Monte Carlo implementation of the statistical model code CASCADE, has been used to calculate the spectral shapes of evaporated \alpha -particles which are compared with the experimental spectra. This comparison indicates the possible signature of large deformations of the compound nucleus.

PACS numbers: 25.70.Gh, 25.70.Jj, 25.70.Mn, 24.60.Dr